UK Catholic bishops discourage medical and social gender transition in pastoral statement

The Palacio de las Cortes in Madrid, where Spain’s Congress of Deputies meets. / Luis García via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Madrid, Spain, Feb 4, 2022 / 10:39 am (CNA).

Spain’s lower house, the Congress of Deputies, agreed Feb. 1 to debate the creation of a commission to investigate sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church.

The request to create the commission was filed by Podemos, a left-wing party that is part of the governing coalition, as well as the Republican Left of Catalonia and EH Bildu, Catalan and Basque nationist parties that give confidence and supply to the government.

The People’s Party and Vox, which are in the opposition, voted against the commission and made a motion that all cases of the abuse of minors be investigated and not just those that have taken place in areas related to religious institutions.

However, this motion was vetoed by Podemos and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, the largest group in the ruling coalition.

In the coming weeks, the Congress will vote on whether to create the investigative commission.

Bishop Luis Javier Argüello Garcia, Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid and spokesman and general secretary of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, said in a Feb. 2 interview with Ràdio Estel, the radio station of the Archdiocese of Barcelona, that if this investigative commission on sexual abuse in the Church is created, “political issues and the need for support (from other parties) will be more influential than the real interest of the victims of all abuses.”

“Experience tells us that these commissions are more of a platform for clashes between political parties than a search for the truth,” he said.

Bishop Argüello told Ràdio Estel that the parties promoting the investigation “are issuing a blanket judgement, saying that the Church isn’t a safe space,” and that “if there were real concern about all the abuse of minors, the commission would be different; it’s a problem for all of Spanish society that not only affects members of the Church.”

The Attorney General’s Office of Spain ordered Jan. 31 the head prosecutors of the country’s 17 regional autonomous governments to remit all open criminal proceedings for sexual abuse committed by members of the Church in Spain.

This procedure initiated by Spain’s Attorney General requires the head prosecutors to send, within 10 days, the complaints or charges in process that affect congregations, Catholic schools, dioceses, and any religious institution, not only Catholic, that have been initiated.

The Attorney General’s Office also stated that this requirement “doesn’t exhaust measures that the Government is studying to determine the facts and to prevent these incidents from being repeated.”

Sources in the Spanish Bishops’ Conference told Europa Press that “all the investigations carried out by the Judiciary “on the abuses committed against minors in the Church and in society are “well received, to the extent that they contribute to ending this social scourge.”

According to a report by the independent foundation Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk , cases of sexual abuse committed by people related to the Church represent 0.2% of the total.

Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella of Barcelona, president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, said during a press conference following his ad limina visit last month, that “in face of the issue of abuse, we all feel the great pain over that fact, in the midst of the society, and the desire at all times for our closeness (to the victims). All of us bishops have established commissions in each diocese to receive the complaints, to accompany those people who feel wounded and prevent these things from happening in the future, we have to use all means. We are clear on this and we have discussed this with the (Congregation of the) Doctrine of the Faith and with the pope.”

Since the publication of Pope Francis’ motu proprio Vos estis Lux mundi in 2019, each diocese as well as religious institutions have offices to serve the victims in order to facilitate reporting and confirm the application of the action protocols.

The motu proprio norms also establish obligatory reporting for clerics and religious, require that every diocese has a mechanism for reporting abuse, and put the metropolitan archbishop in charge of investigations of accusations against suffragan bishops.

The request to create a commission to investigate cases of sexual abuse by members of the Church took place after the newspaper El País delivered a report in December to Pope Francis and the Spanish Bishops’ Conference with possible abuse cases committed by 251 priests or laity from religious institutions.

The bishops’ conference noted that “it would be desirable for the accusations contained in the aforementioned report to be more rigorous, since its content, of a very disparate nature, makes it difficult to draw conclusions that could be used for a possible investigation.”

[…]

Fatima, Portugal, Apr 21, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The canonization of Fatima visionaries Francisco and Jacinta Marto has been hailed as an exciting moment for the Church, but the rector of the Marian shrine has said that it bears an even greater significance in terms of putting a spotlight on Our Lady’s message.

“I think the canonization in a certain way helps to give credibility to the apparitions and to the message of Fatima,” Fr. Carlos Cabecinhas told CNA.
 
This is an “indirect credibility,” he said, but one which nonetheless “makes us look to the protagonists of the events of Fatima and to see their holiness, the holiness with which they challenge us to live this message.”

Mary appeared to Francisco, Jacinta and their cousin Lucia May 13, 1917, for the first time, asking them to pray the rosary and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, which they did with decisive commitment.

Our Lady continued to appear to them on the 13th of each month until October of that year, making constant appeals for an increase in faith, hope, conversion and prayers for peace. In addition, she also revealed to the children three “secrets,” which are now known to be a vision of hell interpreted as scenes from World War II, the rise and fall of Soviet Communism, and what was a foreshadowing of the 1981 assassination attempt on St. John Paul II.

After the apparitions, Francisco and Jacinta Marto died in 1918 after a serious bout of the Spanish flu at 9 and 11, but were known to pray often and offered up daily sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and an increase in love for God.

In this context, Fr. Cabecinhas said he believes the canonization of siblings Francisco and Jacinta “has this value: not only two Saints in the Church, but two Saints who challenge us to look to the message of Fatima and to understand that Fatima is also a school of holiness for each one of us.”

Fr. Cabecinhas has been the rector of the Fatima Marian Shrine since 2011, and is in charge of the bulk of preparations for the Pope’s May 12-13 visit.

He said the centenary of the apparitions, the canonization and the growing anticipation of Pope Francis’ visit “is a moment of great joy” for the people of Portugal, but also for him personally.

“For me it has been a great gift of God to be able to live this moment before the shrine and to have in my hands the decisions of the Shrine. It’s a gift of God, but also a great responsibility,” he said, explaining that they are in the midst of making final preparations.

In general, preparations are going “very well,” he said, noting that all of the big decisions have been made and things are falling into place, so it’s down to the final, last-minute work of getting ready to host an estimated 500-800,000 pilgrims during the May celebrations.

Speaking of the reason why pilgrims choose to visit Fatima in particular, the priest said it’s “without a doubt” because “they seek a strong experience of God, a strong encounter with God.”

“This is specific to Fatima,” he said, noting that while other shrines and holy sites are associated with physical healings or other fruits, the people who come to Fatima “come to have a strong experience with God, they come to change their lives, and many times this is the experience they transmit.”

“We say that at Fatima there are no physical healings – there are some, but (what is) specific to Fatima is the change of heart, the change of life, orienting one’s life toward God,” he said, saying that another characteristic unique to Fatima is “silence.”

Cabecinhas said that when pilgrims speak to him about their experience visiting the shrine, many of them comment on how silent and prayerful the environment is, which is something he hopes each person who comes is able to experience.

The shrine has also been a popular place for Popes to visit, with Bl. Paul VI being the first pontiff to do so in 1967. St. John Paul II followed suit in 1982, making a trip that was largely intended to pay homage to Our Lady of Fatima, whom he credited with saving his life when he was shot May 13, 1981.

Benedict XVI also visited the Fatima shrine in 2010, continuing the papal tradition of traveling to the holy site, and cementing even further it’s link to the Pope.

Fr. Cabecinhas said he believes Popes come to Fatima so often is because it has “a universal message, a message for the entire Church,” which is something each one of them have understood.

“They have seen that Fatima has something to say to the entire Church on the place of God in the life of the believer, and it’s because of this they have come, to highlight this message,” he said, adding that he has no doubt that the presence of Popes at the shrine “has helped to then diffuse the message in the entire world.”

With an entire year of celebrations extending beyond just the May celebrations, Cabecinhas said he hopes those who come even after Pope Francis’ visit get to experience and understand Our Lady’s message on a deeper level.

The priest said he wants pilgrims to have “a joyful experience of being at Fatima” and to have “an experience of encounter with God through the Madonna.”

“She is presented here as a path toward God and a refuge in our hardship,” he said, so “what we want is that each pilgrim who visits this year can have this experience and can say, ‘yes, I went to Fatima, and the Madonna for me was a refuge in difficult moments, but a path that guided me to God.’”

[…]

Luis Cardinal Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Rome, June 28, 2018. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Denver Newsroom, May 10, 2021 / 15:16 pm (CNA).
The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wr… […]