Pope Francis and bishops respond to Law’s death as funeral plans finalized

Pope Francis sat at the front of the congregation in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Solemnity of Pentecost on June 5, 2022. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 14, 2022 / 04:12 am (CNA).

There are many “restorers” in the United States who do not accept the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Speaking to the editors of Jesuit journals, he criticized what he called “restorationism” in the Church, which he defined as the failure to accept Vatican II, the ecumenical council held from 1962 to 1965.

He said: “Restorationism has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ — for example, in the United States there are many — is significant.”

“An Argentine bishop told me that he had been asked to administer a diocese that had fallen into the hands of these ‘restorers.’ They had never accepted the Council. There are ideas, behaviors that arise from a restorationism that basically did not accept the Council.”

“The problem is precisely this: in some contexts, the Council has not yet been accepted. It is also true that it takes a century for a Council to take root. We still have 40 years to make it take root, then!”

Pope Francis cited opposition to Vatican II when he issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, limited celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass.

In a letter to the world’s bishops, he said he was saddened that the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass was “often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself.”

To doubt the Council, he said, is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”

The pope’s conversation with editors, which also touched on the war in Ukraine and the German “Synodal Way,” was published in La Civiltà Cattolica on June 14, but was conducted on May 19.

[…]

Grace and Daniel have been stuck in Cyprus’ buffer zone for more than six months after they fled Cameroon. / Alexey Gotovskiy/EWTN

Rome Newsroom, Dec 3, 2021 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

As a sign of Pope Francis’ concern for migrants, the Vatican announced Friday that it is helping to arrange the transfer of about 12 refugees from Cyprus to Italy.

Among the migrants that Pope Francis is helping to bring to Italy are Grace, 24, and Daniel, 20, Christians who fled Cameroon after schools were shut down due to the Anglophone Crisis, provoked by tensions between the English-speaking minority and French-speaking majority.

The two migrants met after paying the same smuggler to help them cross from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus to the Greek-speaking south, where they hoped to find asylum in the European Union.

“We were misled,” Grace said. The smuggler told them where to cross over the 16-foot-high wall that divides the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, but they were promptly taken into custody by the United Nations forces stationed in the demilitarized buffer zone.

“The most scary moment in my life so far,” said Grace, who injured her leg after jumping from the wall.

Since crossing over the wall last May, Grace and Daniel have been stuck in the buffer zone that divides Cyprus, which is also called “no man’s land,” living in a tent for more than six months.

In an interview with EWTN News ahead of Pope Francis’ arrival in Cyprus, Grace said that faith in God helped to give her strength in the difficult times in Cyprus. She hopes for a better future in which she can find work.

Daniel, a Catholic, said that he would like to be able to continue his studies once he receives asylum in Europe.

“That’s what is keeping us strong because, like our faith, we believe that in any circumstances that you find yourself, never give up in life, so that saying has been keeping us strong and I believe God can do something,” Grace said.

Elizabeth Kassinis, the executive manager of Caritas Cyprus, told EWTN that the numbers of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers arriving in Cyprus “have been really dramatic.”

“Cyprus right now receives more asylum seekers per capita than anywhere in Europe,” Kassinis said.

“It is a frontline state … all of the local systems are overwhelmed,” she added.

Recently, Kassinis has noted the arrival of people from Lebanon, which is in the midst of an economic crisis, in addition to the flow of migrants from Syria and African countries.

The Caritas Cyprus migrant services center in Nicosia receives about 300 people requesting assistance each day.

“Most of the numbers that we’re getting now are people who’ve just arrived,” she said.

Pope Francis is currently in Cyprus, where he met on Dec. 3 with a group of migrants, who shared their stories with the pope in an ecumenical prayer service in Nicosia.

“It is he, the Lord Jesus, whom we encounter in the faces of our marginalized and discarded brothers and sisters. In the face of the migrant who is despised, rejected, put in a cage … but at the same time … in the face of the migrant journeying to a goal, to hope, to greater human companionship,” Pope Francis said.

[…]

Vatican City, Sep 1, 2017 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew sent a joint message for the World Day of Care for Creation, which says that we have lost sight of our responsibility for God’s creation, including our fellow human beings.

“The human environment and the natural environment are deteriorating together, and this deterioration of the planet weighs upon the most vulnerable of its people,” stated the message, published by the Vatican on Sept. 1.

“The impact of climate change affects, first and foremost, those who live in poverty in every corner of the globe. Our obligation to use the earth’s goods responsibly implies the recognition of and respect for all people and all living creatures.”

“The urgent call and challenge to care for creation are an invitation for all of humanity to work towards sustainable and integral development,” it continued.

Instituted by Pope Francis in 2015 shortly after the release of his environmental encyclical “Laudato Si,” the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation takes place each year on September 1.

Francis’ decision to implement the event is in keeping with themes expressed in the encyclical, and is also seen as a sign of unity with the Orthodox Church, which established September 1 as a day to celebrate creation in 1989.

This year marks the first time that Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, have issued a statement together for this particular day of prayer.

In the message, the two leaders explain that creation, as told throughout Scripture but especially the Book of Genesis, reveals that from the beginning “God intended humanity to cooperate in the preservation and protection of the natural environment.”

The earth was entrusted to us as a “sublime gift and legacy,” which gives us all a shared responsibility in its care, it continues. This is important because “our human dignity and welfare are deeply connected to our care for the whole of creation.”

However, the message continued, our attitude and behavior towards creation has over time obscured our calling as God’s “co-operators.” As morals decline, we have lost sight of the original purpose of creation, alienated by our tendency to destroy delicate ecosystems and our “greed for limitless profits in markets.”

We have also been controlled by an “insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources.” Instead of regarding nature and creation as a gift shared among everyone, we think we can rule over it like a private possession.

In the message the two leaders, “united by the same concern for God’s creation and acknowledging the earth as a shared good,” urged all people to dedicate a special time for prayer for the environment on Sept. 1.

“On this occasion, we wish to offer thanks to the loving Creator for the noble gift of creation and to pledge commitment to its care and preservation for the sake of future generations,” they wrote, explaining that prayer should be at the center of the celebration, since without the Lord any work is in vain.

One thing we should all pray for is a change in our perception of the world and the way we interact with it, they continued, stating that the goal of the promise to care for creation “is to be courageous in embracing greater simplicity and solidarity in our lives.”

They also appealed to those in positions of responsibility, especially in areas touching the social, economic, political and cultural, that they might listen to the “plea of millions” in need and “support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation.”

“We are convinced,” the message concluded, “that there can be no sincere and enduring resolution to the challenge of the ecological crisis and climate change unless the response is concerted and collective, unless the responsibility is shared and accountable, unless we give priority to solidarity and service.”

[…]