Vatican City, Jun 28, 2019 / 04:51 am (CNA).- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said in an article published Friday that the unity of the Church has always prevailed over internal struggles and affirmed that there is currently only one pope.
“The Pope … […]
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Vatican City, Jun 27, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- In a meeting with the Apostleship of the Sea on Thursday, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of mercy, and said he was giving sea chaplains the same expansive faculties he had given to the Missionaries of Mercy.
“I would like to say a word about peace of heart. Many sailors approach or come to see chaplains and priests with problems of conscience that make them suffer greatly, problems that they have never had a chance to bring up in those circumstances, so far from home, far from their native land,” the Pope said June 27 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall to participants in a meeting for chaplains and volunteers of the Apostleship of the Sea.
“Dialogue with a chaplain may well open up new horizons of hope. So I would say to you: be merciful, be merciful. And to favour that mercy, I grant to all chaplains of sailors the same faculties I have gave to the Missionaries of Mercy. In this way, you will be able to bring peace to so many hearts.”
During the Jubilee of Mercy, the Missionaries of Mercy had no limits on where they could validly and licitly hear confessions, and they were able to absolve sins otherwise reserved to the Holy See: rofaning the Eucharistic species by taking them away or keeping them for a sacrilegious purpose; the use of physical force against the Roman Pontiff; the absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment; and a direct violation against the sacramental seal by a confessor.
Pope Francis noted the importance of maritime industry, and thus the chaplains who minister to seamen.
“Without sailors, the global economy would come to a standstill; and without fishermen, many parts of the world would starve. I would ask you to convey my esteem and encouragement to the sailors and fishermen whom you meet, many of whom work for lengthy periods of time, thousands of miles away from their native land and their families,” he said.
The pope noted that in addition to isolation and distance, sailors and fishermen can face injustice, trafficking, forced labor, and piracy.
“As chaplains and volunteers of Stella Maris, you have been entrusted with the mission of presence, bringing the Good News of the Lord Jesus to the complex and varied world of seafaring,” he told his audience.
“Your daily visits to the ships enable you to encounter people in concrete situations, at times serene, at other times anxious or even deeply troubled. With compassion and discretion, you give them a chance to pour out their hearts. This is the first and most precious service that you provide, above all to those who have few similar opportunities. Your ministry to sailors and fishermen is above all one of listening to them and to their material and spiritual needs.”
This listening can lead to action, he advised, encouraging them to confront “human trafficking, forced labour and violations of the human and labour rights of so many men and women who live and work on the seas.”
“Through your service, you can help restore to these persons their sense of dignity,” he said.
The pope added that “thanks to you, those who are most vulnerable can find hope for a better future. Your efforts can help them not to give up in the face of a life that is precarious and at times marked by exploitation. Your presence in the ports, large and small, is already a sign of God’s fatherhood and the fact that, in his eyes, we are all children, brothers and sisters to one another.”
He said that “your presence is also a sign of the primordial worth of the human person, prior to and above every other interest, and an incentive for everyone, starting with the poorest, to work for justice and respect for fundamental rights.”
Vatican City, Jun 27, 2019 / 06:07 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis said Thursday that world hunger must be addressed by all nations and encouraged the cooperation of individuals, governments, and businesses.
The pope spoke at the 41st General Conference of th… […]
“Comitato Papa Pacelli – Associazione Pio XII”, an organization for the beatification of Pope Pius XII, led by Roman Rota attorney Emilio Artiglieri, held a symposium on June 4th to commemorate the great work of […]
Madrid, Spain, Jun 27, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- The spokesman for the Spanish bishops’ conference has expressed the desire of the Church in Spain to collaborate with the attorney general’s office, after the publication of a report accusing the bishops of opacity in the identification of sexual abuse.
“We are willing and everything that we can do to join forces is good for everyone,” said Bishop Luis Javier Argüello Garcia, Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid.
On June 24, the nation’s attorney general’s office pointed to a “deficient” response from the Church in Spain regarding the problem of sexual abuse committed by its members.
The report of the AG’s Office was made at the request of the Department of Justice and was announced through the newspaper El País. So far it has not been sent to the Spanish bishops’ conference.
The document states that in the Church in Spain there are “environments traditionally endowed with a certain opacity where the identification of cases presents difficulties for various reasons.”
The report also encourages the creation of commissions like those in Australia, the Netherlands, or Austria, and it calls for “avoiding the case first being checked out or internal filters applied by the institution where it occurred before it being reported to the competent authorities, and that without prejudice to the measures that the institution should or could adopt to prevent reoccurrences of similar incidents within the scope of its competencies.”
In face of these accusations, Bishop Argüello explained that they learned of the report of the AG’s Office “only through the media” and expressed their desire to have it in its entirety “in order to evaluate it,” and stressed that “when they speak of opacity, I don’t know what they are referring to.”
“We are facing a matter of serious societal concern, we would like a dialogue with the AG’s Office spoken of in the report. Because we are willing and everything we can do to join forces is good for everyone,” the spokesman said.
The AG Office’s report states that in 2017 and 2018 about 1,000 cases were recorded per year, while the convictions were around 500 in 2017 and 737 in 2018.
Argüello said they would like to know how many of these complaints and convictions were against members of the Catholic Church: “We would like to be able to know … how many of these verdicts were convictions and how many were acquittals and how many cleric there were. Our perception is that the clerics convicted in those two years were quite few, but we don’t know and we would like to know. As we would like to know in what other sectors of society…We understand the reluctance of the AG’s Office, because it prosecutes persons, not social sectors.”
The report by the attorney general’s office was made at the request of the Minister of Justice, Dolores Delgado, who asked that cases of sexual abuse be investigated just in the environment of the Catholic Church in Spain. Argüello said that this request “doesn’t seem right to us, it’s unsettling to us, that only abuse within the Church be investigated. We couldn’t understand that the minister only inquired about the Church. It is just and necessary to inquire about the abuses that affect society as a whole.”
“If we want to address the prevention and cause, it would be good for us to know what social sectors are involved and the AG’s Office doesn’t say because it can’t say, because it is subject to the ground rules of criminal proceedings. This affects all of us, and that’s why we can have a conversation about this,” he stressed.
As part of the efforts being made in the Church in Spain to put an end to sexual abuse, Argüello said they have been waiting since April for the authorization by the Holy See of a general decree which would directly oblige all the dioceses and religious orders to act jointly and according to an established protocol.
The general decree could be approved in November during the bishops’ general assembly.
In addition, in late 2018 a commission was created to update the protocols in the fight against the abuse of minors in Spain, which until now had a juridical canonical profile. However, Argüello said this commission will admit from now on “people with different characteristics and will have the possibility of having professionals, men and women, who can help us look to the future and work for prevention.”
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Brussels, Belgium, Jun 27, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Despite European Union guidelines and the work of a special envoy for religious freedom and belief, the state of religious freedom inside and outside of Europe at times seems to be worsening, not impro… […]
New Ulm, Minn., Jun 27, 2019 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of New Ulm announced Wednesday it has reached a $34 million settlement with victims of clerical sexual abuse.
“The settlement represents our commitment to finding a fair resolution for victims and survivors of sexual abuse while continuing our ministry for those we serve throughout south and west central Minnesota,” Bishop John LeVoir stated June 26.
According to the AP, there are 93 victims party to the settlement.
Jeff Anderson, the attroney representing many of the survivors, said that $8 million of the settlement comes from the diocese and its parishes, while the remaining $26 million is from insurance coverage.
The New Ulm diocese had filed for bankruptcy in March 2017 in the face of 101 lawsuits regarding sex abuse claims dating back to the 1950s.
Most of the lawsuits concern incidents that allegedly took place from the 1950s through the 1970s. The suits were filed under a 2013 Minnesota law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for cases of sexual abuse of children.
Approval of the settlement will resolve the diocese’s bankruptcy.
The diocese will file the reorganization plan to the bankruptcy court, which will be reviewed by a judge. The settlement plan must then be voted on for approval by the claimants, and a trust from which payments will be made will be established. The diocese said this should be completed by the end of the year.
Bishop LeVoir said the diocese “remains committed to preventing sexual abuse, holding accountable those clergy who are credibly accused of abuse and helping victims and survivors find healing.”
“For more than 15 years, all priests and deacons, diocesan staff, parish and Catholic school employees, as well as volunteers having regular or unsupervised interaction with minors have been required to meet safe environment requirements,” which include adherence to a code of conduct, undergoing a background check, and participation in sexual abuse awareness and prevention training, he said.
The bishop added that “the diocese has committed to disclosing the names of all clergy with credible claims of abuse made against them” and that it “follows strict standards for determining suitability of clergy serving in the diocese, starting during the seminary formation process and including verifying the credentials of priests visiting from other dioceses or from religious orders.”
He said the diocese “promptly contacts law enforcement to report any allegations it receives regarding sexual misconduct by clergy or others involved in ministry within the geographic area the diocese serves.”
Bishop LeVoir also invited victims to contact the diocese for counseling or other assistance in healing, and invited them to meet with him as part of their healing process if they wish.
“I again extend my deepest apologies on behalf of the Diocese of New Ulm to victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse,” he concluded. “Victims and survivors have courageously worked to raise awareness about the tragedy of childhood sexual abuse and how we must address it. I hope and pray that today’s settlement helps victims and survivors on their healing journey.”
Several more Minnesota dioceses filed bankruptcy over sex abuse claims, including Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Duluth, and Winona-Rochester. The Diocese of Saint Cloud has said it will do so.
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