Japanese sculptor, Notre Dame’s O’Regan to receive prestigious Ratzinger Prize

Vatican City, Feb 6, 2020 / 12:20 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis will make the final decision on when to publish a highly-anticipated report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Thursday.

“I think that [the report] will come out soon, I cannot tell you exactly when,” Parolin told a small group of journalists Feb. 6.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on holiness, the cardinal said “we are trying to speed up the time to arrive” at the publication of the report on the Vatican’s internal investigation into the disgraced former cardinal.

Parolin did confirm that he expects the document to be released “in the near future.”

“However, the publication depends on the pope. The work that is done is done, but the pope must give the final word,” he added.

The Vatican announced that it would conduct an internal review of files on McCarrick’s career in October 2018. McCarrick was a cardinal and the archbishop of two major American sees before he was found guilty of serial sexual abuse and laicized in 2019, following a canonical process.

Since the review was announced, American Catholics – including many bishops – have repeatedly called for the release of its findings.

Over the past several months, the bishops of the United States have been meeting with Pope Francis for their ad limina visits, travelling to Rome in regional groups. While there, several bishops have raised the issue of the McCarrick report. 

When the topic was came up during the USCCB meeting in Baltimore in November last year, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, recently returned from Rome, updated the U.S. bishops on the report’s progress, saying that the final draft was being translated into Italian for presentation to Pope Francis and was expected to be released at the beginning of 2020, if not sooner. 

In the 87 days since Cardinal O’Malley gave that update, other bishops have said they also raised the issue while in Rome.

In December, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing told EWTN News that he asked about the status of the McCarrick investigation and was “very glad to hear that a report is coming.”

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler also told reporters that he’d asked about the timing of the report’s release in a meeting with Pope Francis during his own ad limina visit in January.

McCarrick was laicized in February 2019, after he was found by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

Pope Francis announced an internal Vatican investigation into the career of McCarrick in October 2018.

[…]

Pope Francis presides at the end of year Vespers and Te Deum prayer at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Dec. 31, 2022. / Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Dec 31, 2022 / 10:33 am (CNA).

Pope Francis gave thanks for the good works and sacrifices of Benedict XVI, hours after the pope emeritus’ death on Saturday at the age of 95.

“The thought goes spontaneously to the dearly beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who left us this morning. With emotion we remember his person, so noble, so kind,” Pope Francis said at a prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 31.

In his first public comments since the pope emeritus’ death, Francis said: “We feel in our hearts so much gratitude: gratitude to God for having given him to the Church and to the world; gratitude to him, for all the good he accomplished, and especially for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his retired life.”

“Only God knows the value and strength of his intercession, of his sacrifices offered for the good of the Church,” he said.

Pope Francis addressed the news of Benedict’s death during a first Vespers liturgy for the vigil of the Jan. 1 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Before the start of the liturgy, Catholics in attendance prayed a rosary for the repose of the soul of Benedict XVI.

Benedict’s death, at the age of 95, was announced in Rome on Dec. 31. His body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica from the morning of Monday, Jan. 2, 2023.

Pope Francis will preside over the pope emeritus’ funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2023. He will be buried in the Vatican crypt under St. Peter’s Basilica.

First Vespers was prayed at the Vatican in anticipation of the Jan. 1 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The prayer service also included the singing of the “Te Deum,” a Latin hymn of thanksgiving from the early Church.

Pope Francis, who turned 86 earlier this month, arrived at the basilica in a wheelchair before presiding over the liturgy and delivering a homily.

Benedict XVI was remembered in the vigil’s prayer intentions.

Members of the Roman Curia and the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican were also present inside the basilica, where an estimated 8,000 people gathered in prayer on the last day of 2022.

It is Pope Francis’ custom to visit the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square following first Vespers on New Year’s Eve. Last year, his visit was canceled to prevent crowds from gathering during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on God being born “of a woman,” which was made possible through Mary’s “yes” to the divine plan for Jesus’ birth.

“Let us not take the mystery of divine motherhood for granted,” he said. “Let us be amazed by the choice of God, who could have appeared in the world in a thousand ways showing his power, and instead wanted to be conceived in full freedom in Mary’s womb, wanted to be formed for nine months like any child, and finally be born of her, born as a woman.”

“Let us not pass over this quickly, let us stop to contemplate and meditate on it, for here is an essential feature of the mystery of salvation,” the pope said.

The prayer service concluded with the singing of the Christmas hymn “Adeste Fideles.”

[…]

Pope Francis gives his Angelus address on Dec. 18, 2022 / Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Dec 18, 2022 / 05:30 am (CNA).
St. Joseph shows us how to “welcome surprises” when things do not go the way we expected, Pope Francis said Sunday in his week… […]