Fort Worth, Texas, Jun 20, 2018 / 03:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As thousands of children have been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border in recent weeks, Catholic Charities Fort Worth has opened its doors to shelter the unaccompanied mig… […]
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2018 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an interview with Reuters, Pope Francis said more space has to be created for women to take on leading roles in the Roman Curia, but that priestly ordination is not an option.
Responding to a question about women’s ordination to the priesthood, the pope said “there is the temptation to ‘functionalize’ the reflection on women in the Church, what they should do, what they should become.”
“We cannot functionalize women,” he said, explaining that while the Church is referred to as a woman, the Sacrament of Holy Orders is out of the question “because dogmatically it doesn’t work.”
“John Paul II was clear and closed the door, and I will not go back on this. It was something serious, not something capricious,” he said, adding, “it cannot be done.”
However, Francis stressed that while the priesthood is out, women do need to be given more opportunities for leadership in the Roman Curia – a view he said has at times been met with resistance.
“I had to fight to put a woman as the vice-director of the press office,” he said, referring to his decision in 2016 to name Spanish journalist Paloma Garica Ovejero as the Vatican’s deputy spokesperson.
He said he at one point offered a woman the job of heading the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, but she turned it down because “she already had other commitments.”
Women in the Curia “are few, we need to put more,” he said, adding that it can be either a religious sister or a laywoman, “it doesn’t matter,” but there is a need to move forward with an eye for quality and competency in the job.
“I don’t have any problem naming a woman as the head of a dicastery, if the dicastery doesn’t have jurisdiction,” he said, referring to the fact that some Vatican departments have specific functions in Church governance that require a bishop to do the job. Lay men are also ineligible to oversee offices that require the jurisdictional authority of a priest or bishop.
For example, he said the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy has jurisdiction, so it has to be led by a bishop, but for others, such as the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, “I would not have a problem naming a competent woman,” Francis said.
Women must continue to be promoted, but without falling into “a feminist attitude,” the pope said, adding that “in the end it would be machismo with a skirt. We don’t want to fall into this.”
Pope Francis spoke during an interview with American journalist Phil Pullella of Reuters, which took place Sunday at the pope’s Vatican residence, and was published June 20.
In the interview, the pope touched on a variety of topics, including a possible deal with China on the appointment of bishops, clerical abuse and the ongoing scandal in Chile, the reform of the Roman Curia, and criticism he’s faced.
On the topic of women, Francis said that in his experience, things are usually done better when there is a mixed group working on a task, rather than just men.
“Women have an ability to understand things, it’s another vision,” he said, noting that whenever he has visited prisons run by women, they “seemed to do better,” because women know how to be “mothers” and care for inmates and their needs in a unique way.
“Women know how to manage conflicts better. In these things, women are braver,” he said, adding, “I think it would be so also in the Curia if there were more women.”
Francis noted that some have said inviting more women into the mix might mean there is more gossip, however, he said he does not believe that would be the case, “because we men are also gossipers.”
Managua, Nicaragua, Jun 20, 2018 / 02:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Peace talks mediated last week by the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, between the government of President Daniel Ortega and his opposition, proved to be short-lived as clashes have yet again d… […]
Austin, Texas, Jun 20, 2018 / 01:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The 23 bishops of Texas will not have to turn over emails and other communications to an abortion provider, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
The ruling came in response to a Texas Cathol… […]
Rome, Italy, Jun 20, 2018 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The papal charity Caritas Internationalis hosted a lunch Tuesday in Rome with immigrants and refugees, hoping to foster a “culture of encounter” during its Global Action Week.
Caritas’ June 17-24 Global Action Week is part of its two-year Share the Journey initiative. Launched by Pope Francis in September 2017, the project is aimed at encouraging a “culture of encounter” and bolstering efforts to welcome warmly immigrants and refugees.
The goal of the project is to shed light on both the challenges and effects of migration at every stage of the journey in order to promote a “shift in thinking” on the issue. It has the support of the ACT Alliance, which is a network of 145 Christian agencies and a variety of other religious congregations and civil society groups worldwide.
As part of the action week, Caritas branches in all regions of the world will organize shared meals with immigrants and refugees, including the June 19 lunch at Rome’s Termini train station, as well as other events aimed at raising awareness and prompting interaction with refugees.
Korkiss Diallo, an Ivorian emigrant living in Italy, spoke at the June 19 lunch about the prejudice migrants face in their new homes.
He said he is not a bad person, but was forced to leave his home country and search for a better life elsewhere due to war.
“Many people think that Africans are bad, that they steal, that they do things that are illegal,” Diallo told journalists.
“I came here I think to have a good life and to have work,” he said, adding that each country has both good and bad people, “so not all are bad, to say that all are bad is not true.”
Diallo, 23, left Ivory Coast in 2011 when violence erupted following the election of a new president. Diallo’s family had supported the losing candidate, and feared they would be targets of the violent upheaval, so he left.
He travelled to Italy from Libya by boat. He had been told the boat ride would only last five hours, but he ended up spending a week stranded at sea with other migrants before being rescued in Italian waters.
Diallo then arrived in Sardinia in 2014, where he sought asylum. He then made his way to Rome and was put in touch with Caritas, who suggested that he participate in “A Refugee in My Home,” in which families welcome migrants or refugees to live with them.
The young migrant agreed, and was placed with an Italian family, who have accepted him as part of the family. Diallo soon learned Italian, enrolled in educational courses, and took a pizza-making class.
He now works seasonal jobs at pizza restaurants in Italy’s northern province of Trentino, and every Sunday he still has lunch with his Italian “parents” who initially took him in.
Diallo said he left behind a little sister and a grandmother in Ivory Coast, and plans to visit them for a month this summer before coming back to Italy. He said he eventually wants to bring his sister to Italy with him.
Speaking of the journey he took to get to Italy, Diallo said “I would not recommend to any of my friends in Africa to do this path.”
Speaking of his decision to travel through Libya, Diallo said he did not want to go “because it’s a country without a government. I entered Libya because I didn’t have another choice.”
“To all my friends in Africa I have said, that path is not good to take into Italy. If you don’t have another possibility, stay in Africa.”
However, Diallo said he was “surprised” by the welcome he received, and has gone on to accomplish things he did not think would be possible thanks the support he was given from the beginning of his arrival.
Tommaso, Diallo’s Italian “little brother,” told journalists that Korkiss “has taught a lot to our family, and I hope we have also taught something to him.”
Raffaella, Diallo’s Italian “mother,” told CNA her family chose to accept Diallo into their home because of Pope Francis’ call to welcome migrants. After hearing the pope’s petition, she said she felt moved, so she talked it through with her family, and the agreed to take someone in.
Raffaella said she has tried to create a stable home environment, and to teach Diallo “the same thing I taught my children; respect for people, respect for the rules, how to be a good citizen.”
Regarding the culture of fear and suspicion surrounding migrants, Raffaella said she has experienced this first-hand, especially after they first decided to welcome Diallo into their home.
However, she said the experience of her family has been wonderful, and they have no regrets about the decision to lend a hand to Diallo when he was in need.
She said part of the process has also meant learning how to accept and interact with other cultural and religious traditions. In Europe, “we are more individualistic,” she said, whereas “in African culture they are much more communal,” and often decisions are made together.
In terms of religion, Raffaella said she has also learned to have greater respect for non-Catholics. Diallo is Muslim, so she said the family has had the opportunity to learn things about the Muslim religion they did not know before, and they have learned “to respect him … and his times of prayer.”
In a message supporting the Caritas lunch, Pope Francis urged Catholics to participate in similar events organized throughout the world as part of the action week, such as meals or other activities, which he said raise awareness “on the global scale to support migrants and refugees.”
“Today, I would like to invite everyone – migrants, refugees, Caritas workers and institutions – to grasp the features of this journey that have marked you the most: what hope does your journey lead to? Try to share this thought and celebrate what we have in common,” he said.
Bridgeport, Conn., Jun 20, 2018 / 11:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Courage International, an apostolate of the Catholic Church which serves people with same-sex attraction who seek to live a chaste life, will host its 30th annual conference this July, focusing on the faith of its founder, Fr. John Harvey, OSFS.
This year would have been Harvey’s 100th birthday. The conference will be held July 12-15 at Villanova University in Philadelphia.
Featuring speakers such as Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia and EWTN’s Johnette Benkovic, the theme of this year’s conference is “Faithful to a mission.” Several bishops have also confirmed their attendance.
“The program will focus on themes that were important to Father Harvey’s spirituality and pastoral approach, and we plan to include a number of speakers who worked closely with Father Harvey during the 28 years that he led the Courage apostolate,” said Father Philip Bochanski, Courage International’s executive director, in a June 19 statement.
Harvey was the director of Courage International from its inception in 1980 until his retirement in 2008. He died in 2010, at the age of 92.
Courage offers a 12-step program for people with same-sex attraction, similar to the program in Alcoholics Anonymous. The five goals of Courage International are chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, and “to live lives that may serve as good examples to others.”
Courage discourages the use of the terms “gay” and “lesbian” to refer to members, saying the organization “sees persons with same-sex attractions first and foremost as men and women created in the image of God.”
Since its founding, the organization has grown to have over 100 chapters in 14 countries. There is also a companion support group, EnCourage, for families and friends of those with same-sex attraction. Members of both Courage and EnCourage will share their personal testimonies at the conference.
In 2016, Courage and EnCourage received canonical status as a diocesan clerical public association of the faithful.
Immediately preceding the 2018 conference, there will be a “clergy day” for priests, deacons, and seminarians, featuring seminars aiming to teach clergy how to minister properly to people with same-sex attraction.
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2018 / 07:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of New York announced Wednesday that an investigation they conducted into allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who oversaw multiple major U.S. dioceses, has found the accusations to be “credible and substantiated.”
In the June 20 statement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said the alleged abuse happened nearly 50 years ago while McCarrick was a priest of the New York archdiocese. It is the only such accusation against the McCarrick that the archdiocese is aware of, Dolan said.
Once the archdiocese received the allegation, they turned it over to local law enforcement, and it was “thoroughly investigated” by an independent forensics team, Dolan said, noting that McCarrick has maintained his innocence, but is cooperating in the investigation.
The Vatican has been informed of the accusation, and as a result, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, by order of Pope Francis, has prohibited McCarrick from public ministry. No official statement from the Vatican has been released.
McCarrick, 87, is a native of New York and served as the Bishop of Metuchen from 1982-1986, Archbishop of Newark from 1986-2000 and Archbishop of Washington from 2000-2006.
In his own statement on the alleged abuse, McCarrick said he was informed by Dolan about the allegation of abusing a teenager several months ago.
“While shocked by the report, and while maintaining my innocence,” he said, “I considered it essential that the charges be reported to the police, thoroughly investigated by an independent agency, and given to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of New York. I fully cooperated in the process.”
The cardinal said he was sad to hear that the allegations had been deemed “credible and substantiated” by law enforcement officials.
He said that he accepts the Holy See’s decision to remove him from public ministry, and has pledged obedience to the decision.
“I realize this painful development will shock my many friends, family members, and people I have been honored to serve in my sixty-years as a priest,” he said, adding that while he has “absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people.”
In his statement, Dolan said the Archdiocese of New York is “saddened and shocked” by the accusations, and asked for prayers for everyone involved.
Dolan also issued a renewed apology to all victims abused by priests, and thanked McCarrick’s accuser for having the courage to come forward. He voiced hope that this case “can bring a sense of resolution and fairness.”
In a separate statement from the Archdiocese of Newark, Cardinal Joseph Tobin said news of the accusations against McCarrick were met with “a range of emotions,” and offered his apology to victims of abuse.
“I am thinking particularly of those who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse by clergy – whose lives have been impacted tragically by abuse,” he said. “To those survivors, their families and loved ones, I offer my sincere apologies and my commitment of prayer and action to support you in your healing.”
Tobin said the Archdiocese of Newark has never received any report or accusation against McCarrick.
He noted that many people in Newark likely know McCarrick well from his time leading the archdiocese, and that while the accusations might be hard to comprehend, “we must put first the serious nature of this matter with respect and support for the process aimed at hearing victims and finding truth.”
“The abuse crisis in our Church has been devastating. We cannot undo the actions of the past, but we must continue to act with vigilance today,” Tobin said, and renewed his commitment to seek forgiveness and healing, and to creating a safe environment for children in Newark.
Tobin pledged to continue reporting “immediately to civil authorities any accusation of sexual abuse of a minor by clergy and [I] will cooperate fully in the investigation and adjudication.”
He encouraged anyone abused by a priest to come forward “as brave survivors before you have done,” and urged priests, religious and faithful of the archdiocese to keep the situation in their prayers.
Details of the canonical process of McCarrick’s trial have not been released, however, Bishop James F. Checchio, current Bishop of Metuchen, said McCarrick “is appealing this matter through the canonical process.”
After hearing about the “very disturbing” from New York, Checchio said he had Metuchen’s records re-examined, and no accusations of sexual abuse had ever been raised against McCarrick. However, in the past, allegations of “sexual behavior with adults” had been brought forward.
Both the Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of Newark, he said, decades ago received three allegations of “sexual misconduct with adults,” and that two of these allegations have resulted in settlements.
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2018 / 04:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said the ten commandments are not heartless rules imposed on mankind by an oppressive God, but are rather words given by a father to his children in order to protect them from harm.
“Man is in front of this crossroads: does God impose things on me, or take care of me? Are his commandments only a law, or do they contain a word? Is God a master or a father? Are we slaves, or children?” the pope said June 20.
This is a “battle” which takes place both inside and outside of the person, and “is continually present: a thousand times we must choose between a slave mentality and a mentality of children,” he said, adding that the Holy Spirit is a spirit “of sons, it is the Spirit of Jesus.”
“A spirit of slaves can only welcome the law in an oppressive way, and it can produce two opposite results: either a life of duties and obligations, or a violent reaction of rejection.”
The whole of Christianity, he said, is the passage “from the letter of the law to the Spirit who gives life. Jesus is the word of the Father, he is not the condemnation of the Father.”
Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience, during which he continued a new series of catechesis on the Ten Commandments.
In his address, the pope noted how at the beginning of Chapter 20 of the biblical book of Exodus, in reference to the commandments, verse one reads “God spoke these words to all.”
The phrase might seem simple, but “nothing in the bible is banal,” Francis said, noting that the passage uses the term “word,” rather than “command.”
In Jewish tradition, the commandments, also called the “Decalogue,” are referred to as “the ten words,” he said, explaining that while they are also laws, the term “decalogue” in itself is meant to connote the term “word.”
Asking what the difference between “word” and “commandment” is, Pope Francis said a command is a something which “does not require dialogue,” while word, on the other hand, “is the essential means of relationship through dialogue.”
“God the Father creates through his word, and the son is the Word made flesh. Love nourishes the word, as does education and collaboration,” he said, noting that two people who do not love each other will not be able to communicate. However, “when someone speaks to our heart, our solitude ends.”
Another difference, he said, is that a command is to receive an order, rather than having a dialogue or a conversation.
Dialogue, the pope said, “is much more than the communication of truth,” but is realized in the pleasure “of speaking and of the concrete good, which is communicated between those who love each other through words.”
The devil, Francis said, wanted to trick Adam and Eve by convincing them that God had “forbidden” them to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge in order to keep “submissive.”
However, the challenge with God’s first “command” to them, he said, is to determine whether God this norm was meant to impose, or whether it was intended to protect “from self-destruction.”
“The most tragic, among the various lies the serpent tells Eve, is the suggestion of an envious and possessive deity,” Francis said, explaining that “the facts show the serpent lied.”
Pope Francis closed his audience saying it is obvious when people live as if they were children versus slaves, because people can recognize the logic. “The world does not need legalism, but care,” he said, “it needs Christians with the heart of children.”
Austin, Texas, Jun 20, 2018 / 01:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Dozens of pro-life laws in Texas are being challenged in a lawsuit claiming that they pose an undue burden on women, but a national pro-life group says abortion regulations are important for wome… […]
Philadelphia, Pa., Jun 19, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput turned over his weekly Catholic Philly column to a University of Notre Dame student, who hopes an upcoming Vatican synod will encourage young people to take perso… […]
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