Pope Francis demands obedience from priests of Nigerian diocese

Pope Francis during the weekly general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

In the first general audience since the opening of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims that Catholics should be aware of the “prohibitions of the Holy Spirit” to ensure the unity and universality of the Church is not compromised.

Continuing his catechesis on the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church, the pope emphasized that unity cannot be “achieved on the drawing board” but only through the will and action of the Holy Spirit.

“The unity of Pentecost, according to the Spirit, is achieved when one makes the effort to put God, not oneself, as the center,” the pope said at the end of his address. “Christian unity is also built in this way.”

Addressing hundreds of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father encouraged his listeners to become “instruments of unity and peace” moved by the Holy Spirit instead of being driven by “one’s own point of view.”

“We all want unity. We all desire it from the depths of our heart and yet it is so difficult to attain that,” he said. “Unity and concord are among one of the most difficult things to achieve, and even harder to maintain. The reason is that, yes, everyone wants unity but based on one’s own point of view.”

In order to achieve unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said it is necessary to also consider the “surprising prohibitions of the Spirit.”

Holy Father cites experience of St. Paul

Referring to the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Father spoke about how even St. Paul and his disciples had to listen to the “prohibitions” of the Holy Spirit about where to preach the Gospel.

“Paul, we read again in Acts, wanted to proclaim the Gospel in a new region of Asia Minor, but it is written that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit,” the pope said. “The following night, the apostle received in a dream the order to pass into Macedonia. Thus the Gospel left its native Asia and entered into Europe.”

Pope Francis also spoke about the synodal “movement of the Holy Spirit” at the Council of Jerusalem, which discussed whether pagan converts to Christianity needed to adopt customs of the Mosaic Law such as circumcision.

“The Holy Spirit does not always create unity suddenly, with miraculous and decisive actions, as at Pentecost. He also does so — and in the majority of cases — with discrete work, respecting human time and differences, passing through people and institutions, prayer and confrontation. In, we would say today, a synodal manner,” the Holy Father said.

Following the catechesis, the Holy Father greeted the crowds of international pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square and encouraged them to continue to pray for peace and unity in the world.

Before concluding the audience with the prayer of the Our Father in Latin, Pope Francis asked his listeners to also turn to Our Lady and pray the rosary during the month of October.

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Pope Francis views a historic relic of the chair of St. Peter on Oct. 2, 2024. / Credit: Holy See Press Office

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 4, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the Holy Father had the opportunity to view the histor… […]

Cardinal Marc Ouellet takes part in the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Plenary Assembly on Women’s Cultures in Rome, Feb. 6, 2015. / Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

Denver Newsroom, Aug 19, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, on Friday denied having made inappropriate gestures on a woman who has alleged he sexually assaulted her.

“Having become aware of the false accusations made against me by the complainant (F.), I firmly deny having made inappropriate acts on her person and I consider the interpretation and dissemination of these allegations as sexual assaults defamatory,” Ouellet said Aug. 19.

“If a civil investigation should be opened, I will actively participate in it so that the truth is established and my innocence is recognized.”

Ouellet was accused of sexual assault by a woman identified as F. in a civil suit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec Aug. 16.

He is accused by a woman who says that he assaulted her multiple times while she worked as a pastoral intern for the Quebec archdiocese between 2008 and 2010, while he was Archbishop of Quebec. She described him kissing her and sliding his hand down her back to her buttock.

A Vatican spokesman said Aug. 18 that the conclusion of a preliminary investigation by Father Jacques Servais, SJ, found “that there are no elements to initiate a trial against Cardinal Ouellet for sexual assault.”

The Vatican statement included a quote in French from Servais, who said that “there are no grounds to open an investigation into the sexual assault of F. by Card. M. Ouellet. Neither in his written report sent to the Holy Father nor in the testimony via Zoom that I subsequently took in the presence of a member of the Diocesan Ad Hoc Committee, did this person make an accusation that would provide grounds for such an investigation.”

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni added that “following further pertinent consultations, Pope Francis declares that there are insufficient elements to open a canonical investigation for sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet against person F.”

The class action suit in which the allegations were made includes the testimony of 101 people who say they were sexually assaulted by clerics or Church staff from 1940 to the present. Eighty-eight clerics face accusations in the suit.

The suit says that F. wrote to Pope Francis about Ouellet in January 2021, and she received an email Feb. 23, 2021 had appointed Servais to investigate the cardinal. Her last communication with Servais was the following month, and as of now “no conclusion concerning the complaints against Cardinal Marc Ouellet has been sent” to her.

Ouellet, 78, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Amos in 1968, at age 23. He joined the Sulpicians in 1972. In 2001 he was appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and consecrated a bishop.

He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 2002 to 2010, when he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Ouellet has been outspoken about sex abuse, and priestly formation.

At a 2018 meeting of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, he said that “We would need participation of more women in (training) of priests” to prevent abuse.

He reiterated this point in a 2020 interview with Donne Chiesa Mondo, saying, “for the priest, learning to relate to women in the context of formation is a humanizing factor which promotes the balance of man’s personality and affectivity.”

The cardinal said he thought the Church would benefit greatly from an increased presence of women on seminary formation teams, as theology, philosophy, and spirituality teachers, and “in particular in vocational discernment.”

Ouellet verbally sparred with Archbishop Vigano as details of Vatican knowledge of Theodore McCarrick emerged in recent years. 

In an October 2018 letter, Ouellet said it was communicated to Vigano in 2011 that McCarrick “had to obey certain conditions and restrictions because of rumors about his behavior in the past,” and that he “was strongly urged not to travel and not to appear in public, in order not to provoke further rumours about him. It is false to present the measures taken against him as ‘sanctions’ decreed by Pope Benedict XVI and annulled by Pope Francis.”

And in January 2019, Ouellet wrote that his congregation had blocked the U.S. bishops from voting on proposals to address the sex abuse crisis in November because it believed more time was needed to discuss the measures.

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