Pope Francis: Christ is not like other kings, he is a King for others

Vatican City, Mar 19, 2019 / 09:25 am (CNA).- French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin will remain the Archbishop of Lyon, the Vatican announced Tuesday. According to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis has not accepted the cardinal’s resignation, though Barbarin has stepped back from the day-to-day leadership of the diocese.

Barbarin was convicted by a French tribunal on March 7 on charges of failing to report allegations of sexual abuse committed by a priest of his diocese. He was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and plans to appeal the verdict.

Barbarin met with Pope Francis March 18 to submit his resignation as archbishop. Papal spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said March 19 that Francis chose to not accept the resignation of Barbarin as Archbishop of Lyon but, aware of the “difficulties” of the archdiocese at the present moment, “left Cardinal Barbarin free to make the best decision for the diocese.”

According to Gisotti, Barbarin has decided to “retire for a time,” leaving the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Lyon in charge during his absence.

In a statement on the Lyon archdiocesan website March 19, the cardinal said the pope did not want to accept his resignation, “invoking the presumption of innocence.”

“At his suggestion and because the Church of Lyon has been suffering for three years, I decided to retreat for a while and leave the leadership of the diocese to the vicar general moderator, Father Yves Baumgarten,” he said.

“The Holy See is keen to reiterate its closeness to the victims of abuse, to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Lyon and of the whole Church of France who are experiencing a particularly painful moment,” Gisotti’s statement concluded.

French tribunal president Brigitte Vernay declared Barbarin guilty March 7 “of non-denunciation of ill-treatment” of a minor, according to AFP.

The trial of Barbarin began in January on charges he did not report instances of abuse to judicial authorities between July 2014 and June 2015, in a case involving Fr. Bernard Preynat, who has been accused of abusing dozens of minors in the 1980s and early ‘90s.

In 2017, the cardinal told Le Monde that he did not conceal allegations against Preynat, but that his response to the allegations had been “inadequate.” He said he opened an investigation against Preynat after becoming aware of the allegations against him.

Allegations against Preynat became public in 2015. Prosecutors dropped the case the following year after an initial investigation, but a victims’ group with more than 80 members who say they were abused by Preynat led to a reopening of the case, the Guardian reports.

Preynat was banned from leading boy scout groups in the early 1990s, but remained in ministry until being removed by Cardinal Barbarin in 2015.

The priest will face his own trial later this year.

Barbarin’s trial and conviction comes as revelations of clerical sex abuse and cover up continue to send shock waves through the Catholic Church. The United States, Ireland, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Poland, and Germany are among the countries that have seen recent abuse scandals uncovered.

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Live Action’s new website on the development of a child through pregnancy, windowtothewomb.app. / Credit: windowtothewomb.app

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to have a window into the womb?

Well, that’s exactly what the pro-life group Live Action has attempted to provide with its new interactive website windowtothewomb.app.

The website launched Dec. 14 walks users through each trimester of pregnancy, day by day, by presenting an animated baby’s development starting from conception.

“The main idea behind the web app was to present something groundbreaking and something that was medically accurate,” Live Action spokeswoman Christina Bennett told CNA Friday. 

Users can either watch an animated video that progresses through each day of development or they can click through each week at their own speed. When clicking through the weeks, users will be able to read notes on the screen that describe certain aspects of the child’s development. 

At the eight-week stage, one note says: “At eight weeks, (six weeks from fertilization) brain waves can be recorded.”

At the 15-week stage, another note says: “Teeth! At 15 weeks, tooth development begins.”

Bennett said the website was made with the help of medical doctors and other medical professionals. She added that its production was in response, in part, to the misinformation about life in the womb that often circulates, such as the idea that a preborn baby is just a “clump of cells.”

“So we really wanted to combat this misinformation with groundbreaking, medically accurate, beautifully animated images of the baby growing in the womb to educate people, but also to give them an eye-opening, enlightening experience where they get to see what is really going on,” she said.

“That’s why we call it a window to the womb,” she said.

The website also includes a button that says “Pregnant & Need Help?” Clicking that link takes users to Live Action’s website where it offers several options to women who are either considering abortion, have had an abortion, have taken the abortion pill, are employed as an abortion worker, or are interested in adoption. 

When entering the website, users can choose a name and the biological sex of the baby they are seeing develop. 

Bennett said Live Action’s goal is for “everyone” to use the website, including those who work in pro-life pregnancy centers, which are institutions that help pregnant women in need of support. 

Diane Ferraro, CEO of Save The Storks, a large network of pro-life mobile medical clinics, said in an article on Live Action’s website: “Sharing Window to the Womb with women who board our mobile medical clinics will provide another compelling reason to make the decision for life for their babies.”

Another pro-life leader, president of Heartbeat International Jor-El Godsey, said: “It’s well said that ‘people perish for lack of knowledge.’ This is no more true than with the knowledge of fetal development.” 

“Live Action’s Window to the Womb is a visually powerful tool in ministering to those who are unexpectedly pregnant and need to know what is actually happening with the life developing within them. From the sidewalk to the center or from the church to the kitchen table, this is a tool for anyone to champion life,” he said.

The website can be accessed here.

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Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, leads the recession of the Mass on Ash Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on Feb. 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024… […]