New Zealand bishop resigns over ‘unacceptable behaviour’ with young woman

Seoul, South Korea, Mar 9, 2018 / 04:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s recent diplomatic appointment to South Korea gained added significance as President Donald Trump announced that he will meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for nuclear negotiations within the next two months.

Pope Francis’ appointed Monsignor Alfred Xuereb to serve as the Apostolic Nuncio to Korea beginning March 19.

“As the pope continually shows his concern for the reconciliation of the two Koreas and [prays for] peace on the Korean Peninsula, the new nuncio will play an active role in bridging the gap between the two Koreas and working for peace in the region,” said the Acting Apostolic Nuncio to Korea, Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, according to UCA news.

Monsignor Xuereb, who previously served as a private secretary to both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI, will be consecrated a bishop as he takes up his first diplomatic posting for the Vatican.

Although he lacks the diplomatic experience of his predecessors in the Korean nunciature, the Maltese cleric is reported to be close to Pope Francis.

“Monsignor Xuereb is one of the closest allies of Pope Francis and reads the pope’s thinking very well,” continued Monsignor Sprizzi.

Trump announced March 8 that he had accepted an invitation to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to negotiate the North’s nuclear weapons program. Trump will be the first sitting U.S. president to meet face to face with a North Korean leader.

Trump followed up yesterday’s announcement with calls to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the prospect of dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea and to confirm a shared commitment to maintaining sanctions until tangible steps toward denuclearization are taken, according to the White House.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in helped to facilitate the upcoming meeting between the U.S. and North Korea. Moon sent his National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong to Pyongyang on Monday and then quickly on to Washington to convey the North Korean leader’s invitation to Trump.

Moon is a practicing Catholic who has pledged himself to peaceful dialogue on the Korean peninsula. Shortly after taking office in Seoul, Moon commissioned a Korean envoy to meet with Pope Francis in Rome last May to advocate for Vatican support for Korean reconciliation.

Catholic bishops in South Korea have long advocated for a peaceful solution on the Korean peninsula. In response to North Korea’s nuclear provocations, the bishops appealed for peace talks in an official statement in Aug. 2017.

“The ultimate and genuine peace on the Korean Peninsula can never be achieved by nuclear armament. Therefore we urge the authorities of North and South Korea to open dialogue for peace and to cooperate with the surrounding countries of Korea in search of a stable system to guarantee peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

The Korean bishops continued, “we encourage the faithful Catholics in Korea to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring peace on the Korean Peninsula … We desperately ask our brothers and sisters in the world for their care, prayers, discernment, and cooperation to resolve this crisis on the Korean Peninsula peacefully.”

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Cardinal William Goh of Singapore celebrates Mass at the city-state’s Indoor Stadium on July 4, 2015. / Credit: Archdiocese of Singapore

CNA Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Following the announcement of Pope Francis’ apostolic journey to the Asia Pacific region later this year, Cardinal William Goh, archbishop of Singapore, has expressed his hope that the Holy Father’s visit to the city-nation from Sept. 11–13 “will bring renewed fervor to all Catholics in Singapore.” 

In a media release, Goh encouraged the Catholic population of Singapore to unite and pray for the Holy Father’s upcoming visit. “Let us, as a community, pray for the continued health and safety of the Holy Father and ask the Lord to grant us a truly meaningful and grace-filled visit,” he said. 

Pope Francis’ visit will come 10 years after Goh outlined his 10-year pastoral plan for the Catholic Church in Singapore. 

At a 2014 meeting held with approximately 750 parish ministry representatives, Goh stated that the Church may appear vibrant because of “so many Masses, baptisms, confirmations,” but it nevertheless faces challenges, including the declining practice of faith among local Singaporeans. 

“Half of the Catholics go to church. The Church is full thanks to the migrants,” he said.

To help Singaporean Catholics to spiritually prepare “to meet Jesus through Pope Francis’ pastoral visit,” the Archdiocese of Singapore also recently launched a dedicated website containing prayers, online resources, and other updates regarding the coming of the Holy Father in September. The website also unveiled the archdiocese’s chosen trifold theme of “Unity, Hope, and the Cross” to mark the occasion of the 2024 papal trip. 

To date, there are about 395,000 Catholics living in the country who belong to diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Masses are predominantly celebrated in English but are also available in Mandarin, Tamil, and other Southeast Asian or European languages for local and expatriate communities. 

Though the Catholic Church is relatively young and diverse, and it is growing in numbers in a place of political peace where religious tolerance toward institutions and individuals is mandated by the law, Goh hopes Pope Francis’ visit will spur a renewal and strengthening of faith, conversion of heart, and missionary spirit within Singapore’s Catholic communities.   

Dominic Nalpon, a Singaporean theology student based in Rome, shares Goh’s sentiment that external factors, such as the numbers of Catholic faithful, do not necessarily indicate a “booming” Church. 

“Singapore is probably the most Western country in Asia, which is not in and of itself a bad thing, but we are also the most affluent, and I think there is a correlation between affluence and a decline in faith or religiosity,” Nalpon said. “I think that the challenge is that we can easily fall into the external practices of faith but without having a grounded relationship with the Lord. I think that’s the hardest issue.”   

One of the highlights of the pope’s visit to Singapore will be the papal Mass expected to take place on Sept. 12. 

The last and only other time a pontiff visited Singapore was in 1986 when Pope John Paul II made a five-hour stopover in the country and celebrated Mass with thousands of people at the national stadium. 

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Vatican City, Aug 5, 2017 / 09:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday, Pope Francis made several changes in the Syro-Malankara Church, found predominantly in India, establishing a new eparchy and naming several new bishops, as well as an apostolic visitor.

Announced in an Aug. 5 communique from the Vatican, the Pope has officially established the Eparchy of Parassala, a small village in the Kerala region of India, and named Bishop Thomas Mar Eusebios Naickamparambil as its bishop.

Bishop Naickamparambil was previously in charge of the Eparchy of Our Lady Queen of Peace for Syro-Malankara faithful in the United States and Canada.

Taking his place will be Bishop Stephanos Thottathil, who until now has served as auxiliary bishop of Tiruvalla, in India’s southern state of Kerala, which is predominantly Christian.  

An eparchy is similar to a diocese for Eastern Churches. The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church itself is one of the 23 “sui iuris,” or “independent” Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Catholic Church and the Bishop of Rome.

Cardinal Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis is the current Major Archbishop of the rite, and is also President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

In addition to the establishment of the Parassala eparchy and the nomination of its bishop, Pope Francis named Fr. George Kalayil as Bishop of the Eparchy of Puthur, also in Kerala. He had previously served as a priest in the same eparchy.

The Pope also named Fr. John Kuchuthundil as a Curial Bishop and Apostolic Visitor to the Syro-Malankara Church in Europe and Oceania, although no specific reason for the visitation was given.

Bishop Thottathil, who will be taking over the Our Lady Queen of Peace eparchy for the U.S. and Canada, was born in the Pathanamithitta district of Kerala May 9, 1952. He was ordained a priest in 1979, and after serving in various parish assignments, he obtained a doctorate in moral theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome.

He then returned to India, where between 2003-2005 he served in various roles, including Vice-Rector of his diocese’s Minor Seminary, Head of the Mission to Delhi, Director of the Pushpagiri Hospital, Professor of Moral Theology, Dean of Theology and Rector of St. Mary’s Malankara Major Seminary. He was consecrated auxiliary bishop of Tiruvalla March 13, 2010.

Bishop Naickamparambil, who will head the new eparchy in Parassala, was born June 6, 1961, in Mylapra, and was ordained a priest in 1986.

After completing his initial studies in philosophy and theology, he went on to earn his doctorate in philosophy in Rome. He speaks Malayalam, English, German, Italian and Hindi, and can read Syriac, Greek and French.

Following his priestly ordination and studies, Naickamparambil served in various roles, including: Vice Pastor and Pastor of several different parishes, Professor and then Dean of Philosophy at St. Mary’s Malankara Major Seminary, Public Relations Officer, Coordinator for interreligious dialogue and Secretary of the presbyteral council, Director of the Sarvodaya Vidalaya school and Treasurer of the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology.

He was named bishop in 2010 for the Syro-Malankara faithful in the United States, and, at the same time, named apostolic visitor of faithful living in Canada and Europe.

According to the Vatican communique, the new eparchy of Parassala that Bishop Naickamparambil will oversee has some 30,750 Syro-Malankara faithful in addition to 220,000 Christians of other rites in the area, which has a total population of roughly 952,500 people.

Overall, the pastoral care of the Syro-Malankara faithful is entrusted to some 22 eparchial priests in 95 parishes, in addition to various religious brothers and sisters, such as priests from the Order of the Imitation of Christ, the Franciscans, Daughters of Mary sisters, Sisters of Imitation of Christ and Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

In total, the Syro-Malankara Church manages more than 50 educational institutions, including 10 high schools.
 

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