Denver, Colo., Jul 6, 2018 / 02:52 pm (ACI Prensa).- Priests, theologians, and lay pastoral workers have responded to recent comments from a senior Vatican official, which suggested that priests lack the necessary experience to offer marriage preparati… […]
Abuja, Nigeria, Jul 6, 2018 / 02:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In response to a recent wave of violence and mass killings among Nigerians, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria issued a statement last week reiterating the need for a proactive response … […]
Washington D.C., Jul 6, 2018 / 12:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Senate should not use a nominee’s stance on Roe v. Wade as a litmus test on suitability for appointment to the Supreme Court, the president of the nation’s bishops’ co… […]
Seoul, South Korea, Jul 6, 2018 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s top diplomat expressed hope Thursday that efforts to bring lasting, stable peace on the Korean peninsula will bear fruit.
“We don’t have any doubt that there will be many challenges and many difficulties ahead, but the determination that the Korean people have always shown in determining their future, I am sure with the prayers and support of Christians and other men and women in good faith around the world that many good things will be achieved in the coming months. We pray for that,” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, said July 5 at the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
Archbishop Gallagher arrived in Seoul July 4 for a six-day trip to South Korea on an invitation from the country’s government. In addition to visiting the DMZ, he will meet with President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
The Vatican official’s visit comes at the same time that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in North Korea to discuss Pyongyang’s denuclearization. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had met with US President Donald Trump last month, signing a joint statement making commitments “to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”
Archbishop Gallagher, touring the Joint Security Area, said, “it is a very historic period, a period of hope and the Holy Father is supporting that movement.” The area is the one portion of the DMZ where North and South Korean soldiers stand face-to-face, and it is used for diplomatic meetings between the countries.
He prayed that “in the future, it will be a place for hope and reconciliation.”
Addressing North Korea, he said that “humanity has always got to move forward.”
“Whatever side of the border we may be on, whatever situation we find ourselves in, we have to try and work for advancing the development of society.”
He said he is “sure that there will be much good that will come in everything that is happening throughout the Korean Peninsula” and among their international partners.
Reflecting July 6 on his visit to the Joint Security Area, Archbishop Gallager said that the “very delicate situation” there “makes the efforts to promote denuclearization, unification and peace on the peninsula very, very pertinent indeed.”
“What is surprising is that the division of only six or seven decades turned what was previously one country into very different nations. I was freshly reminded that we have so much to do about that,” he added.
The archbishop called on Catholics to “mobilize every possible (opportunity) to make peace” between the Koreas.
Washington D.C., Jul 6, 2018 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- As a passionate soccer fan, Jennifer Bryson has been faithfully watching every game she can during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. But as a religious freedom expert, she’s found herself wondering how, and … […]
Adelaide, Australia, Jul 6, 2018 / 10:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the continued fallout of his conviction for failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse, Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has faced calls both inside and outside of the Church to resign.
Wilson, who earlier this month received a 12-month detention sentence, most of which is likely to be spent under house arrest, said he intends to appeal.
In a July 4 statement posted on the Archdiocese of Adelaide’s website, Wilson said he is aware of the calls for his resignation, and has “taken them very seriously.”
“However, at this time, I am entitled to exercise my legal rights and to follow the due process of law. Since that process is not yet complete, I do not intend to resign at this time,” he said, adding that should his appeal prove unsuccessful, “I will immediately offer my resignation to the Holy See.”
Until that time, “the legal process must now be allowed to proceed in the normal way,” he said, adding that he plans to make no further public statements for the time being.
Wilson, 67, stepped aside from his role as Archbishop of Adelaide after being convicted in May of failing to report multiple allegations of child sexual abuse disclosed to him in the 1970s; however, he did not resign.
On June 3, Pope Francis named Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ of Australia’s Diocese of Port Pirie as apostolic administrator of Adelaide, entrusting him with day-to-day leadership responsibilities. At 76, O’Kelly is unlikely to take over for Wilson should the latter tender his resignation.
In a July 5 statement, published the day after Wilson issued his, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Bishops Conference, noted that “a number of survivors, prominent Australians and other members of the community have publicly called on Archbishop Wilson to resign.”
These include Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten, who have argued that the archbishop is not in a position to lead.
“Although we have no authority to compel him to do so, a number of Australian bishops have also offered their advice privately,” said Archbishop Coleridge, adding, “Only the Pope can compel a bishop to resign.”
Coldridge said the conference has been “closely following” Wilson’s case and they respect his decision to appeal, which is “the right of any citizen,” but said that “we also recognize the ongoing pain this has caused survivors, especially those who were abused by Jim Fletcher.”
Wilson was found guilty of failure to report accusations of crimes carried out by abusive priest Fr. James Fletcher, who was convicted of nine counts of sexual abuse and was jailed in 2006. He died of a stroke within the year.
Two of Fletcher’s victims – Peter Creigh and another altar boy who is unnamed for legal reasons – said they had told Wilson of their abusive experience with Fr. James Fletcher, and that Wilson, who had only been ordained a priest for a year when Creigh came to him in 1976, dismissed their complaints.
Wilson has maintained his innocence throughout the process, saying he had no recollection of the accusations, and insisting that if he had been notified of the scandal, he would have offered pastoral care to the victims and their families, and reported the event to his superiors.
According to CNN, the archbishop’s legal team argued that in the 1970s, child sex abuse was not understood to be a serious crime that should be reported to authorities.
His legal team had attempted four times to have the case thrown out, including after the archbishop was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease late last year, but it was denied.
Vatican City, Jul 6, 2018 / 10:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- According to a release from the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, during a meeting with the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč on Tuesday, Pope Francis commended the Church for its witness to Christian unity.
The Pope thanked the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church for its martyrdom “as a confession of the Christian Faith and a testimony that the Successor of Peter the Apostle has a special mission of service to Cristian unity,” according to a statement from the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.
The Vatican announced that Pope Francis met with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk July 3 at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, but did not give details of their encounter.
The meeting was requested by Archbishop Shevchuk to commemorate “the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’-Ukraine.”
The event being celebrated was the 988 baptism of Vladimir (Volodymyr) the Great, Grand Prince of Kiev, which resulted in the Christianization of Kievan Rus’, a state whose heritage Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus all claim.
Archbishop Shevchuk told Francis that the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church’s path was a “testimony of the unity that Christ’s Church enjoyed in the First Millennium, at the time of the Baptism of Saint Volodymyr, and a particular witness of martyrs and confessors for Church unity, – in the 20th century.”
“Our Church’s path of martyrdom consists in a recognition of the particular mission of the Successors of the Apostle Peter as visible servants of the unity of Christ’s Church,” he said.
The Major Archbishop discussed the relationship of his Church to the other Churches rooted in the Christianization of Kievan Rus’, including the Russian Orthodox Church and several Orthodox Churches in Ukraine.
In addition to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), there are two other Orthodox Churches which have claimed autocephaly, but are not recognized by other Orthodox Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
These two latter Churches have asked the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew for recognition as autocephalous Churches, in a request forwarded by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and supported by the nation’s parliament.
Archbishop Shevchuk called the division among Orthodox Churches in Ukraine a painful reality, and recounted “shameful incidents where the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments), in particular the Mystery of Holy Baptism, had been used to humiliate or deny the Christian identity of faithful belonging to certain denominations.”
He said that the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church looks “positively upon the efforts to overcome the divisions in Ukrainian Orthodoxy, according to the ancient principal salus animarum lex suprema est (the salvation of souls is the highest law). At the same time, we regard these processes as internal Orthodox matters and, – on no account, – do we ever interfere in them or take part in them. We believe that the civil authority must ensure that conditions exist that allow for the freedom of all churches, in our country. We also believe that is unacceptable for the state, – to treat any Church as an official state church.”
The overtures of the UOC-KP and UAOC to the Ecumenical Patriarch have been denounced by the Russian Orthodox. Vatican Insider has reported that Metropolitan Hilarion, spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, told the Greek Orthodox website Romfea that “blood will be shed” if the Ukrainian Churches are granted autocephaly.
Metropolitan Hilarion claimed there are “three forces” behind the push for autocephaly in Ukraine: Ukrainian political leadership, the UOC-KP itself, and the “uniates” of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, each of which acts “for its own benefit.”
During his meeting with Pope Francis, Archbishop Shevchuk touched upon this “uniatism”, saying the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church rejects “uniatism” as a method for achieving Church unity, since it has received the Balamand declaration.
That 1993 declaration of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church said that seeking the conversion of persons from one Church to the other, which it said has been called “uniatism”, cannot be accepted as a model to follow or as a model for the unity sought by the Churches.
Archbishop Shevchuk stated to Pope Francis that “it is obvious that the ultimate act of uniatism, in the 20th century, was the 1946 Lviv pseudo-council.”
The 1946 Synod of Lviv was the means by which the Soviet Union acted to suppress the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and forcibly to absorb it into the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Accusations of uniatism directed at the UGCC, due of its active ecumenical position and its invitation to seek paths of unity with the Orthodox, are nothing less than a manipulation of the facts. The Eastern Catholic Churches, in and of themselves, are not ‘some sort of method,’ but are living members of Christ’s Church, which not only have the right to exist but are also called to engage in mission and in the work of evangelization.”
The release from the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church said Pope Francis assured the Church of his support and agreed that accusations of uniatism against it are groundless.
“He also thanked the UGCC for its active participation in rebuilding Ukrainian society based on the principles of Catholic Social teaching … He thanked the Church for its promotion of authentic Christian patriotism which, under no circumstances, should be used or manipulated for particular ecclesiastical or ideological goals,” according to the statement.
“The Holy Father also expressed his closeness to the Ukrainian nation which, as the victim of unjust aggression, is living through a painful period of its history.”
The statement added that Francis drew attention to the importance of Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, and said he would also remember Ukraine during his July 7 ecumenical prayer for peace in the Middle East which will be held in Bari.
Würzburg, Germany, Jul 6, 2018 / 09:58 am (CNA).- The Bishop of Würzburg issued an open invitation to all Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive the Eucharist on July 5 and 6 while attending Masses celebrated for married couples at the Cathedral of St. Kilian.
Referring to inter-denominational marriages as “denomination-uniting,” a press release published by the diocese says that Würzburg Bishop Franz Jung “especially invited” couples in which one spouse is Protestant to receive the Eucharist in his sermon on July 5.
Jubilee Masses are usually celebrated for couples who have been married for 25, 50 years or longer.
In May, the Vatican rejected a set of norms proposed by the German bishops’ conference on the question of intercommunion. Those norms were subsequently published by the conference as “guidance.”
Bishop Jung announced July 5 that he would discuss in detail the “recommendations made by the German bishops’ conference with his diocesan councils.”
“Today however, on the day of jubilees, I would like to express an invitation to receive the Eucharist to all denomination-uniting marriages in which the two partners have been faithful to one another for such a long time,” Jung continued.
The 51-year-old Jung was installed as Bishop of the Bavarian diocese of Würzburg in June 2018. He is the fifth German bishop to announce an implementation of the bishops’ “orientation document” thus far.
While that document does not universally allow for Protestant spouses of Catholics to receive the Eucharist, it does allows the practice “under specific circumstances” and “in individual cases.”
The Code of Canon Law permits baptized Protestants to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing in “danger of death,” or in another circumstance of “grave necessity,” determined by a diocesan bishop or bishops’ conference. However, the Church’s law requires that those receiving them “manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed.”
The other bishops to announce an “implementation plan” of the German bishops’ guidelines are Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker of Paderborn, who introduced the change with immediate effect on Sunday, July 1st, as did Archbishop Stefan Heße of Hamburg a few days later. Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg has also followed suit, describing certain requirements in addition to the document. Meanwhile Bishops Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg and Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück have declared their intentions but have not implemented the move just yet.
Vatican City, Jul 6, 2018 / 06:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When it comes to supporting a healthy future for the planet, Christians have an important role to play in helping people have a change of heart and mind regarding responsible protection of the eart… […]
Vatican City, Jul 6, 2018 / 05:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis called on Catholics to speak out in the face of injustice towards migrants at a Mass commemorating the fifth anniversary of his trip to Lampedusa at St. Peter’s Basilica July 6.
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