Pope Francis: ‘The Christian must be open to the word of God and to the service of others’

Vatican City, Feb 11, 2019 / 12:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican Secretariat of State received Monday a delegation from Venezuela affiliated with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by the United States and a dozen other countries as the country’s interim president.

In the meeting, the Vatican’s “grave concern was underlined that a just and peaceful solution be urgently sought to overcome the crisis, respecting human rights and seeking the good of all of the inhabitants of the country and avoiding bloodshed,” Holy See Press Office Interim Director Alessandro Gisotti said Feb. 11.

The Venezuelan delegation was in Rome to meet with Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini in their bid for official recognition. Francisco Sucre, the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly’s commission on foreign affairs and Antonio Ledezma, former mayor of Caracas and a former political prisoner, met with Salvini Monday, as well as an undisclosed member of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The Holy See Press Office did not state who took part in the meeting, but confirmed that it took place.

Pope Francis has sought to maintain neutrality on Venezuela, telling reporters Jan. 28 it would be “pastoral imprudence” on his part to choose a side in the current split in Venezuela.

Both Guaido and Nicolas Maduro currently claim to be the Venezuela’s legitimate president. Maduro was inaugurated at the start of his second term Jan. 10, following a contested 2018 election. Both the National Assembly and the Venezuelan bishops’ conference declared Maduro’s reelection to be invalid. Guaidó, president of the National Assembly, declared himself the nation’s interim leader Jan. 23. He has pledged a transitional government and free elections.

“The proximity of the Holy Father and of the Holy See to the people of Venezuela was reaffirmed, particularly in regard to those who are suffering,” Gisotti stated.

The meeting came after Pope Francis confirmed last week that he had received a letter from Maduro asking him to mediate in Venezuela, where both

In response, the pope said Feb. 5 that mediation would require the willingness of both parties and “little steps” diplomatically to “start the possibility of dialogue.”

Before becoming Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin served as apostolic nuncio to Venezuela, where he took part in meetings between the bishops’ conference and the Venezuelan government under Hugo Chavez. Parolin was Venezuela’s nuncio from 2009 until 2013, the year that Maduro assumed the presidency.

Maduro’s leadership in Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading millions of Venezuelans to emigrate.

The status of Venezuela’s governance is currently split, as the United States, Canada, and more than a dozen European and South American nations no longer recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president. China and Russia are among the countries that continue to support Maduro’s leadership.

“I support in this moment all of the Venezuelan people – it is a people that is suffering – including those who are one side and the other. All of the people are suffering,” Pope Francis said Jan. 28.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government officials held bilateral meetings with Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin on July 27, 2022, during the pope’s trip to that country. / Credit: pool VAMP

Denver Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 19:00 pm (CNA).

The Catholic population in Canada has declined by almost 2 million people in the last 10 years, the Canadian census has found in a report that indicates the religiously unaffiliated now outnumber Catholics.

The latest census figures, compiled in 2021, show the Catholic Canadian population has declined to 10.9 million. Catholics now make up about 29.9% of the country’s people. According to the 2011 census, the Catholic population that year was 12.8 million.

Just 53.3% of Canadians, 19.3 million people, now identify as Christian, a decline from 67.3% in 2011 and 77.1% in 2001. Statistics Canada, Canada’s national statistical office, presented the latest figures in an Oct. 26 report.

Catholicism is still the most popular religious affiliation in all provinces and territories except for Nunavut, the sparse population of which has a large Anglican component.

Quebec is the only majority Catholic province, but Catholic numbers declined “considerably,” Statistics Canada said. In 2011, 74.7% of Quebec residents reported that they were Catholic. The 2021 figures indicate 53.8% of Quebec residents identified as Catholic.

CNA contacted the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archdiocese of Quebec for comment but did not receive a response by publication.

Among other Christian identities in Canada, the most numerous are the 7.6% of Canadians who identify as Christian without specifying a denomination. This is double the proportion from 2011.

About 3% of Canadians are adherents to the United Church of Canada, a mainline ecclesial community, and another 3% belong to the Anglican Church. Orthodox Christians, Baptists, and Pentecostal and other Charismatic Christians make up the remainder.

Among Christians, only the Orthodox Christian population and the non-specific Christian population grew in the last decade.

Religious practice has also declined. A separate Canada Statistics summary, released in October 2021, said that in 2019 only about 20% of Canadians attended group religious activities at least monthly. This compares to 40% of Canadians who reported the same in 1985. Women were more likely than men to declare a religious affiliation, as were people born in older generations.

The religiously unaffiliated now make up 34.6% of the Canadian population, according to Statistics Canada’s latest report.

Some regions are less affiliated than others. Almost 60% of the people in Yukon are religiously unaffiliated, as are 52% of those in British Columbia.

Non-Christian religious adherents make up 12.1% of Canada’s population.

About 5% of Canadians are Muslim. Their population has doubled in size since 2011. About 2.3% of Canadians are Hindu and 2.1% are Sikh. The Jewish population numbers about 335,000, a slight increase over the last decade, but their proportion of Canadians has declined to 0.9%. They are slightly outnumbered by self-identified Buddhists.

Non-Christian religious adherents disproportionately live in large urban centers and their numbers have increased largely due to immigration. They make up 16.3% of the population in Ontario, with Muslims and Hindus the most populous. About 16.7% of British Columbia residents adhere to non-Christian religions and Canada’s Sikhs have their largest presence there.

Canada’s 1.8-million indigenous people are largely unaffiliated, with 47% reporting no affiliation. About 26.9% identified as Catholic. Only 81,000 people overall, about 0.2 percent of the total Canadian population, reported adhering to a traditional Indigenous spirituality.

Catholic involvement with government-subsidized residential schools for Indigenous Canadians has come under scrutiny in recent decades because of these schools’ efforts to eradicate indigenous culture and assimilate children to the dominant culture. Many of the schools were poorly run and poorly funded, while staff could be negligent or even abusive towards children. Thousands of children died of injury, neglect or diseases like tuberculosis, often at a rate far higher than other children in Canada.

In 2021, reports suggested there were several hundred unmarked graves at two former residential schools. Though the suspected graves have not been exhumed, the reports led to a wave of protests and burnings and vandalism of churches, including churches that still serve Indigenous communities.

The number of hate-based incidents targeting Catholics increased by more than 260% between 2020 and 2021, according to crime figures from Statistics Canada.

Pope Francis visited Canada in 2022 to apologize for Catholics’ role in the residential schools.

In addition to abuse scandals, Canadian law and culture continue to diverge from Catholic belief on abortion, euthanasia, and LGBT issues. There are also disputes over the identity and effectiveness of Catholic schools, some of which are state-funded but supervised by elected lay Catholics, not Church officials. These could be other factors in the decline of Catholic numbers in Canada.

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Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over a brief ritual upon the arrival of Benedict XVI’s body in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 2, 2023, sprinkling the body with holy water and offering prayers for the repose of his soul. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 2, 2023 / 04:54 am (CNA).

The mortal remains of Benedict XVI were moved early Monday morning to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the late pope will lie in state until Jan. 4.

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over a brief ritual after Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body was carried up the center aisle of the basilica at 7:15 a.m.

The cardinal solemnly incensed the body and sprinkled it with holy water as a choir chanted sung prayers offered for the repose of his soul. 

Benedict XVI is lying in state directly in front of the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, above the tomb of the Church’s first pope, St. Peter. 

The former pope was dressed in red and gold vestments and wearing a gold miter. Popes are traditionally dressed in red for their funerals. 

Benedict XVI had his rosary in his folded hands. He was wearing ordinary black clerical shoes, not the red shoes he famously wore during his reign.

Thousands of people waited in a long line on Jan. 2 to enter the basilica, some waiting before sunrise, to pray and pay their respects to Benedict XVI, who led the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013.

Father Alexander Lashuk, a Byzantine Catholic priest from Toronto, was in line early Monday morning. He told CNA that the line to see the late pope “was the usual Roman chaos, but when you entered St Peter’s it turned into a great hush.”

“People of all ages and from all over the world approached a dead father. You could hear whispers of the rosary. I was very blessed to be in Rome these days,” he said.

Lashuk reflected: “I am part of that generation that was really impacted by Benedict XVI – certainly as pontiff but even before his election through his theological writings that really planted seeds of our vocations. I know many people who were drawn to seminary or even became Catholic after encountering his writings.”

Religious sisters, priests, and families took time to pause and pray in front of Benedict’s body throughout the day on Monday. Some were visibly moved to shedding tears. Others remained silent or quietly prayed the rosary.

Two Swiss Guards flanked Benedict’s body and some mourners were able to kneel and pray on either side of the deceased pope.

The public will be able to view his body until 7 p.m. in the days leading up to his funeral on Jan. 5. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the basilica will open earlier at 7 a.m., allowing 12 hours each day for the faithful to say their final goodbyes to the beloved former pope.

St. Peter’s Basilica is continuing to hold Masses at the Altar of the Chair throughout the day immediately behind where Benedict XVI is lying in state. 

Following the funeral for Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square, the late pope’s remains will be entombed in the Vatican crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.

You can watch EWTN’s live coverage of Benedict’s death from Rome here, and a video of EWTN’s coverage Monday below.

This is a developing story.

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