Francis makes appointments to Roman Rota, Vatican Court of Appeal

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2017 / 12:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There should be no opportunity for appealing canonical cases of sexual abuse against minors when allegations have been proven by evidence, Pope Francis said in spontaneous comments Thursday.

In off-the-cuff remarks to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) Sept. 21, the Pope said that “if pedophilia, an abuse of minors, is proven it is enough to not receive appeals.”

“If there is the evidence, period: it is definitive.”

Pope Francis also explained that he would not consider direct appeals for clemency or reconsideration from priests who have been found guilty of allegations of sexual misconduct. “I have never signed one of these,” he said, “and I will never sign it.”

The Pope elaborated, saying that the Church must consider that a person that commits abuse “is sick, that they suffer from a disease.” He explained “today he is sorry, we forgive him, and then after two years he falls again.”

He also expressed regret for a case in which he chose to impose lenient sanctions against an Italian priest abuser, saying, “I learned in this.”

Speaking at the opening of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Francis set aside his prepared remarks, handing them out to be read, explaining that he preferred to talk in a more informal manner.

“I know it was not easy to begin this work,” he told commission members. “It was necessary to go against the current, because it is a reality, the conscience of the Church…came a bit late.”

Because awareness of the problem came late, “the means to solve the problem have come late,” he continued. “I am aware of this difficulty. But it is the reality, I tell you so: we arrived late.”

The practice of moving clergy who were suspected or accused of abuse to a different diocese may have contributed to a slowing of our consciences, he reflected. He said that the Lord has raised “prophetic” men in the Church who have worked to bring this issue to the surface.

One such person the Pope pointed to is Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the president of the PCPM, who frequently raised the issue of the problem of abuse to Pope Francis. The Pope said that Cardinal O’Malley spoke to him about the ministry of Jesus to children.

“Now what I think is that it should be the way to continue with our work,” Francis said. “I say ‘ours’ because it is not (only) a commission, because it is a commission within the Holy See with the Pope too.”

Speaking about the process for how the Holy See handles abuse cases, Pope Francis said that he believes “for the moment” the responsibility for the resolution of abuse cases should continue to reside with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as it has since 2001.

Some had speculated that the Pope was considering suggestions that the laicization of priests found to have committed abuse be reassigned to the Roman Rota and other tribunals of the Vatican.

“But in this moment the problem is real… it is grave that some have not taken notice of the problem,” he said, and for this reason the competency must remain with the CDF until the whole Church becomes aware.

There are many cases, at the moment, that do not move forward quickly, the Pope noted, but the newly-appointed secretary and prefect of the CDF, Bishop-designate Giacomo Morandi and Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, are working to add more people to work on the process of abuse cases, he said.

The Pope concluded by thanking the commission for their work, saying without them it would not have been possible to carry out the work already done, nor would it be possible to continue their future work within the Curia.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you spontaneously,” he said, “then you have the most formal, educated speech there, but I think that this you have the right to know.”

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Vatican City, May 10, 2017 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, who has worked as an astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican for more than 20 years, told journalists Monday that faith and reason are hardly at odds.

“If you have no faith in your faith, that is when you will fear science,” Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., said May 8.

He spoke to journalists at a press conference ahead of a May 9-12 summit on “Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Space-Time Singularities” being held in Castel Gandolfo at the Vatican Observatory, just outside Rome.

Presser w/ Br. Guy Consolmagno (@specolations) & col. on Vatican conference on Black Holes, Gravitational Waves & Space-Time Singularities pic.twitter.com/Q8FYJMD2y5

— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) May 8, 2017

“The Vatican Observatory was founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII to show that the Church supports good science, and to do that we have to have good science,” Br. Consolmagno said, explaining the reasoning behind the conference.

The hope is that the encounter will foster good science, good discussion, and even friendship. Among the speakers will be a Nobel Prize winner in physics and a Wolf Prize winner.

Among the topics of papers being presented at the conference are Strong evidence for an accelerating universe; Black hole perturbations: a review of recent analytical results; and Observing the Signature of Dynamical Space-Time through Gravitational Waves.

“Those of us that are religious, will recognize the presence of God, but you don’t have to make a theological leap to search for the truth,” Br. Consolmagno said. “There are many things we know we do not understand. We cannot be good religious people or scientists if we think that our work is done.”

The summit is also taking place in recognition of Fr. Georges Lemaître, the Belgian physicist and mathematician who is widely credited with developing the “Big Bang” theory to explain the origin of the physical universe.

Addressing common misconceptions surrounding the Big Bang, such as the idea that it did away with the need for a creator, Br. Consolmagno said the solution isn’t just to put God at the beginning of things and call that good, either.

“The creative act of God is not something that happened 13.8 billion years ago,” he said. “God is already there before space and time exist. You can’t even say ‘before’ because he is outside of time and space.”

The creative act is happening continuously: “If you look at God as merely the thing that started the Big Bang, then you get a nature god, like Jupiter throwing around lightning bolts.”

“That’s not the God that we as Christians believe in,” he went on. “We must believe in a God that is supernatural. We then recognize God as the one responsible for the existence of the universe, and our science tells us how he did it.”

The organizer of the conference, Fr. Gabriele Gionti, S.J., said Fr. Lemaître always distinguished between the beginnings of the universe and its origins.

“The beginning of the universe is a scientific question, to be able to date with precision when things started. The origins of the universe, however, is a theologically charged question.”

Answering that question “has nothing at all to do with a scientific epistemology,” he added.

Br. Consolmagno commented that “God is not something we arrive at the end of our science, it’s what we assume at the beginning. I am afraid of a God who can be proved by science, because I know my science well enough to not trust it!”

“An atheist could assume something very different, and have a very different view of the universe, but we can talk and learn from each other. The search for truth unites us.”

He suggested that to demonstrate that the Church and science are not at odds, those who are both church-goers and scientists should make that fact more known to their fellow parishioners.

He threw out some practical ideas, such as setting up a telescope in the church parking lot or leading the parish’s youth group on a nature hike.

The Church, in a sense, developed science through the medieval universities she founded, he explained. For example, Bishop Robert Grosseteste, a 13th century Bishop of Lincoln and chancellor of Oxford University, helped develop the scientific method and was often cited by Roger Bacon.

“If there is a rivalry” between the Church and science, Br. Consolmagno said, “it’s a sibling rivalry.”

“And it’s a crime against science to say that only atheists can do it, because if that were true, it would eliminate so many wonderful scientists.”

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Pope Francis greets a representative of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, April 25, 2022. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 25, 2022 / 13:28 pm (CNA).

While meeting with members of the Trinitarian order on Monday, Pope Francis referred to his knee ailment, which kept him from standing to greet all of them.

“After the photo I will greet you, but excuse me, I have to do it sitting, not on foot, because of the knee … It is that malady that was once called ‘nun’s pain’, because it was the time in which the nuns prayed, and for so much praying on their knees they got sick! This will heal, but in the meantime we have to do things right,” he said April 25 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall to participants in the International Trinitarian Solidarity Conference.

The Trinitarians are a mendicant order founded in the 12th century by St. John of Matha to ransom Christian captives.

Francis, 85, has been suffering from pain in his right knee, causing him to take smaller roles in some liturgies and to remain seated more often.

His agenda was cleared April 22 for medical checkups, and he preached at, but did not preside over, Mass for the Octave Day of Easter on April 24.

The pope’s movements have been visibly more limited since the start of the year.

At the general audience on Jan. 26, he said the reason he was unable to greet pilgrims as usual was because of a temporary “problem with my right leg,” an inflamed knee ligament.

With a smile, he added: “They say this only comes to old people, and I don’t know why it has come to me, but … I don’t know.”

On Good Friday, Pope Francis did not prostrate himself before the cross.

The pope also opted to not celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass, though he attended, delivered the homily, and performed several baptism.

And on Easter Sunday, he had to sit down part way through his delivery of the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing.

Pope Francis has also received more assistance walking and going up and down stairs in recent weeks.

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