Vatican cardinal promotes rural tourism as sector projected to lose billions

Vatican City, Mar 24, 2017 / 03:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a significant show of unity, officials from every Vatican department – including at least half a dozen cardinals who head various dicasteries – attended a recent Rome seminar on saf… […]

Vatican City, May 7, 2019 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis said Tuesday that the Vatican commission exploring the possibility of female deacons continues its study, but does not have any consensus that would lead soon to a plan of action.

“For the female diaconate, there is a way to imagine it with a different view from the male diaconate,” Pope Francis said May 7 during an in-flight press conference returning from North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

“Fundamentally, there is no certainty that it was an ordination with the same form, in the same purpose as male ordination. Some say there is doubt, let’s go ahead and study,” the pope said.

Much of the Pope Francis’ May 5-7 visit to Bulgaria and North Macedonia was dedicated to ecumenical dialogue with Orthodox Christinity. Among the differences from Catholicism, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has female deaconesses.

The diaconate, as part of the Church’s sacrament of Holy Orders, is currently only open to men. Pope Francis appointed a commission in 2016 to examine the possibility of women serving in some diaconal role, with or without the sacrament of ordination.

During the in-flight press conference, Pope Francis revealed that some in the Vatican commission have concluded that historically the female diaconate was different from the role of male deacons, namely without sacramental ordination.

“For example, the formulas of female deacon ‘ordination’ found until now, according to the commission, are not the same for the ordination of a male deacon and are more similar to what today would be the abbatial blessing of an abbess,” he said.

Pope Francis said that others in the commission hold that there was  “a female deacon formula,” but it is not clear whether it was a sacramental ordination or not.

The pope went on to explain that in the past female deacons assisted with the liturgy, for example, with the full-immersion baptisms of women or to serve as an aid to the bishop in determining the authenticity of domestic abuse with matrimonial disputes.

Archbishop Luis Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was appointed president of the study commission on the project, consisting of 12 members – 6 men and 6 women.

These comments by Pope Francis’ on female deacons are very similar as to what he said in 2016 on the subject.

A 2002 document published by the International Theological Commission concluded that female deacons in the early Church had not been equivalent to male deacons, and had “no liturgical function,” nor a sacramental one. It also maintained that even in the fourth century “the way of life of deaconesses was very similar to that of nuns.”

During the press conference, Pope Francis also spoke about the cause for sainthood for Croatian Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937-1960.

Pope Francis told reporters that there are “unclear historical points” on Stepinac’s canonization.

“This is a historical case: the canonization of Stepinac. He is a virtuous man and for this the Church has proclaimed him Blessed, you can pray [for his intercession]. But at a certain point in the canonization process, there are unclear points, historical points,” he said.

“Who is helped by a declaration of sanctity if the truth is not clear?” Pope Francis added.

Stepinac’s cause for canonization remains pending after many in the Serbian Orthodox community expressed skepticism of the cardinal’s wartime record, while other Croatian Catholics claim the record was tainted by a Soviet propaganda smear campaign.

Pope Francis arranged a special commission of Catholic and Orthodox leaders to examine Stepinac’s record, which resulted in disagreement in 2017.

The pope said he was “deeply touched” by his experience in Bulgaria and North Macedonia May 5-7, particularly by his encounter with the poor and the Missionaries of Charity at the Mother Teresa memorial in North Macedonia.

“These sisters who treated every person like Jesus,” he said. “It is one of the most beautiful things to feel the motherhood of the Church.”

Hannah Brockhaus contributed to this report.

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Vatican City, Oct 21, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A bishop from Lebanon shared at the 2018 Synod of Bishops how his online catechesis program in Arabic has helped him to unite young Catholics across the Middle East.

“Thanks to the web I am able to connect many young people from the Middle East. We’ve also had conversions of young people who have recognized Jesus through our social presence,” Bishop Joseph Naffah said at the a Vatican press conference Oct. 19.

Synod fathers from Africa, South America, and the Middle East spoke Friday about their hopes for the future of evangelization and catechesis in a digital age.

Bishop Naffah is the auxiliary bishop of the Maronite Catholic eparchy of Joubbé, Sarba, and Jounieh in Lebanon.

For five years Naffah has been running an online catechetical program that connects over 500 Arabic-speaking Catholic students in conversations about the faith.

Students in the online program include youth in prison, as well as young people with disabilities.

“I’ve been moved in particular by one person who is totally paralyzed,” Bishop Naffah said.

While positive about the potential of online catechesis, the Maronite bishop also expressed concern that there are websites that contain false Catholic teaching online.

Naffah sees a need for a mechanism for Vatican approval of catechesis and teaching shared online, such as a special office to monitor Catholic webpages and then certify sites that accurately reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Bishop Kofi Fianu of Ho, Ghana has also found success connecting with young people in Africa through the daily online Bible reflections that he shares with them.

“From this apostolate of digital reflections I have been in contact with many of the youth,” said Bishop Fianu. “They interact with me. They ask questions about what I have written in the reflection.”

“All of us, first of all, we the bishops, clergy need to be real ministers of the word. When we are able to drink deeply into the word of God, when we are on fire for this word, we can transmit it faithfully and more actively to the youth and the rest of the members of the Church,” Fianu continued.

Father Valdir Jose Castro from Brazil said that young people know the language and the grammar of the world of social media and are crucial in assisting the Church to reach out and open the doors.
 
“The Church needs to study in depth and improve its understanding of technology and the internet in particular so as to discern how she should live there and where fertile soil can be found,” Father Castro said.

The internet is a venue where the Church can encourage young people to be “protagonists in evangelization, not just the beneficiaries.”

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