Vatican City, Jun 11, 2018 / 03:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Former Vatican diplomat Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella is facing trial this month after having been indicted by the Holy See on charges of alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.
C… […]
Vatican City, Jun 11, 2018 / 04:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Friday that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid from his post in the diocese of Osorno, who has been accused of covering-up for Chile’s most notorious abuser priest, Fernando Karadima.
The announcement came in a June 11 communique from the Vatican, along with the resignation of two other Chilean bishops.
Barros submitted his resignation to Pope Francis alongside every other active bishop in Chile at the close of a May 15-17 meeting between the pope and Chilean prelates, during which Francis chastised the bishops for systematic cover-up of abuse throughout the country.
Taking over as in Barros’ stead is Bishop Jorge Enrique Conchua Cayuqueo, O.F.M., auxiliary bishop of Santiago, who will serve as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Osorno.
In addition to Barros, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Cristián Caro Cordero of Puerto Montt, naming Fr. Ricardo Basilio Morales Galindo, provicinial for the Order of Mercy in Chile as apostolic administrator.
He also accepted the resignation of Bishop Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar of Valparaíso, naming Bishop Pedro Mario Ossandón Buljevic, auxiliary bishop of Chile, as apostolic administrator.
Francis had summoned the bishops to Rome following an in-depth investigation and report into the Chilean clerical abuse crisis carried out by Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in February, resulting in a 2,300 page report on the scandal.
The decision of whether to accept the bishops’ resignations is up to Pope Francis. So far Barros, Caro and Duarte are the first bishops whose resignation Pope Francis has formally accepted.
The announcement of Barros’ resignation coincides with a new pastoral mission that Scicluna and Bertomeu will make another visit Chile June 12-19, this time traveling to the diocese of Osorno, which Barros has led since 2015. The investigators will spend June 14-17 in Osorno, and the remainder of their time will be spent in Santiago.
Pope Francis’ appointment of Barros to Osorno in 2015 was met with a wave of objections and calls for his resignation. Dozens of protesters, including non-Catholics, attempted to disrupt his March 21, 2015 installation Mass at the Osorno cathedral.
Opponents have been vocal about their opposition to Barros ever since, with some of the most outspoken being victims of Karadima, who in 2011 was found guilty by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of sexually abusing several minors during the 1980s and 1990s, and sentenced to a life of prayer and solitude.
Barros maintained his innocence, saying he didn’t know the abuse was happening. Pope Francis initially backed him, refusing to allow Barros to step down from his post and calling accusations against him “calumny” during a visit to Chile in January.
However, after Scicluna and Bertomeu’s investigation, the pope in April apologized for having made “serious mistakes” in judging the case due to “a lack of truthful and balanced information.”
Since then, he has met with two rounds of abuse survivors in addition to his meeting with Chilean bishops.
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2018 / 09:23 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis discussed the incomprehension Christ faced during his earthly ministry, from both the scribes and his own family.
The scribes’ assertion t… […]
Vatican City, Jun 8, 2018 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A preparatory document for next year’s Pan-Amazonian synod was released Friday, indicating that key themes for the meeting will be the role of women in the Church, the rights and traditions of indigenous people, and efforts to find “new ways” to provide greater access to the Eucharist.
“Amazonia: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology,” was published June 8 as the official preparatory document for the October 2019 synod on the Pan-Amazonian region of South America, which includes parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname.
The document highlighted several priorities for the upcoming synod discussion, one of which was the need for greater pastoral presence in the Amazonia region.
One of the main areas of discussion, it said, will be “the cry of thousands of communities deprived of the Sunday Eucharist for long periods of time.”
The text stressed the importance of creating the possibility “for all the baptized to participate in the Sunday Mass.”
The document noted “an urgent need to evaluate and rethink the ministries that today are required to respond to the objectives of a Church with an Amazonian face and a Church with a native face.”
It further stressed that “new ways should be considered for the People of God to have better and more frequent access to the Eucharist, the center of Christian life.”
In March 2017, Pope Francis suggested openness to the possibility that married men might be ordained priests in some Roman Catholic dioceses where there are few priests. His comments sparked speculation that the Pan-Amazonian synod could open the door to the ordination of viri probati– a term referring to mature, married men.
The ordination to the priesthood of viri probati is thought by some to be a possible solution to a shortage of priestly vocations in Brazil.
During a June 8 press conference presenting the preparatory document, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, declined to answer questions about the ordination of viri probati directly, but said there is a need for “new paths” responding to the needs delineated in the text.
“New paths above all will impact the ministries of the liturgy and theology,” he said, quoting the text, adding that “we did a big investigation…and we have seen these needs.”
In terms of what these “new paths” might entail, he said the synod of bishops has simply outlined the needs, and that answers to this question will depend on the proposals from local bishops in the Amazonia region.
He noted that the term viri probati was not used in the text- that “ministries” were discussed instead, because “we want to decant this expression [viri probati], which continually comes back.”
“We let people say [viri probati], but not demanding that we have to say it,” he said, noting that there is currently no formal declaration from the Holy See on the possibility of ordaining of viri probati.
“We let the people take their course with this topic, and we’ll see what could happen,” he said, referring to the synod discussion.
Canon law for the Latin Catholic Church prohibits the ordination of married men to the priesthood, though there are already some limited exceptions to this, especially regarding the ordination of formerly Anglican and Protestant ecclesial leaders who have converted to Catholicism.
Another priority highlighted in the text was the need to specify “the contents, methods, and attitudes necessary for an inculturated pastoral ministry capable of responding to the territory’s vast challenges,” and to propose “new ministries and services for the different pastoral agents, ones which correspond to activities and responsibilities within the community.”
To this end, the text called for a deeper reflection reflection on “indigenous theology” based on local practices and traditions, as well reflections on what official ministries can be carried out by women given the “central role” they play in the Amazonian Church. The text also urged the encouragement of more local, indigenous vocations to the priesthood.
On the role of women, Baldisseri underlined the need to “create space for women in the Church at all levels,” but stressed that these spaces “are the ones that the doctrine of the Church teaches and the current discipline.”
The Church, he said, is “very prudent” and will leave it up to the discussion to decide what new ministries and spaces can be created for women in the region, but always in line with “her classic position, her teaching and discipline on priesthood from the Latin Church.”
The document also stressed the importance of having greater respect for the dignity and rights of indigenous populations in the area, and of caring for the diverse terrain characteristic of the Amazon region.
The preamble of the text, which is divided into three parts dedicated to the “see, judge (discern), and act” model, says the main goal of the gathering is to listen to indigenous people in the area and make them the the “first interlocutors” of the discussion.
To do this, “we want to know the following: How do you imagine your serene future and the good life of future generations? How can we work together toward the construction of a world which breaks with structures that take life and with colonizing mentalities, in order to build networks of solidarity and inter-culturality? And, above all, what is the Church’s particular mission today in the face of this reality?”
The first part of the document outlined the historical, social and ecological context of the Pan-Amazonian region, praising the rich cultural and bio-diversity of the area, and condemning the “culture of consumerism and waste turns the planet into one giant landfill.”
“New ideological colonialisms hidden under the myth of progress are being imposed, thereby destroying specific cultural identities,” it said, and cautioned against “distorted” policies which seek to conserve nature without taking into consideration the needs and rights of the people who live there.
Specific concern was raised about the many Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation (PIAV), who have chosen to live in a way that is distant from the outside world and, at times, from other indigenous populations.
These people, the document said, are the most vulnerable population in the area, since they “do not possess the tools required for dialogue and negotiation with the outsiders that invade their territories.”
The second part of the document, dedicated to discernment, touched on the social, ecological, sacramental and ecclesial-missionary needs of the area, with specific attention placed on the role of local faithful and their unity with their pastors.
It stressed the unity of humanity’s relationship with God, with others and with creation, saying these three “vital relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us.”
To evangelize, then, means “promoting the dignity of each individual, the common good of society, social progress, and care for the environment.”
The document also stressed the importance of unity between Catholic laity in the area and their bishops, saying “the upholding of Church tradition – carried out by the whole people of God – requires the unity of the faithful with their pastors when examining and discerning new realities.”
It emphasized the importance of bishops accompanying their pastors, saying the synod discussion will require “an extensive exercise in reciprocal listening, especially between the faithful and the Church’s magisterial authorities.”
The document closed with a questionnaire consisting of three sets of questions related to each section of the text which will be sent out to bishops in the region, the answers to which will help form the basis of the synod’s working document.
Vatican City, Jun 8, 2018 / 08:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican Friday announced that Pope Francis has appointed two new auxiliary bishops for the United States, one of whom will serve the Archdiocese of Washington and one the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Msgr. Michael William Fisher, 60, will step on as auxiliary bishop for Washington, headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, and Msgr. Richard Henning will serve as auxiliary bishop for Rockville Centre, which is overseen by Bishop John O. Barres. Their appointments were announced in a June 8 communique from the Vatican.
Born in Baltimore March 3, 1958, Msgr. Fisher attended the city’s Polytechnic Institute high school and later received a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Maryland in 1984.
He then worked as a comptroller for a psychiatric practice in Bethesda before discerning his vocation to the priesthood. He entered Mount Saint Mary’s seminary in Emmitsburg in 1986, and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal James Hickey in 1990.
After his ordination, Fisher was assigned to Sacred Heart parish in La Plata. He then served in various other pastoral roles before being given the title of “Monsignor” by Pope John Paul II in 2005.
Later that year, Fisher was tapped by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who at the time was archbishop of Washington, to be the vicar general for the apostolates, a role in which he oversaw the diocese’s ministries for education, social justice, parish life, youth ministry and ethnic ministry.
In 2006, Cardinal Donald Wuerl named Fisher vicar for clergy and secretary for ministerial leadership, which is a position the bishop-elect has held for the past 12 years and in which he is tasked with overseeing the formation and care of clergy for the archdiocese.
In addition to his pastoral roles, Fisher has served on a number of boards and committees, including the archdiocese’s College of Consultors, Priest Council, Administrative Board, Priest Retirement Board, Deacon Review Board, Needy Parish Committee and Forward in Faith Committee.
He has also served as an ecclesiastical counselor to the archdiocese’s Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice foundation, and has dedicated a large portion of his priestly ministry to assisting new pastors in their roles, educating priests and organizing priestly training through conferences and retreats.
Bishop-elect Henning, 53, born Oct. 17, 1964, in Rockville Centre, is currently the interim vicar for the Central Vicariate of the Rockville Centre diocese. He also serves rector of the seminary of the Immaculate Conception and Director of the Sacred Heart Institute in Huntington.
He obtained a bachelor’s degree in history in 1988. He entered the seminary of the Immaculate Conception the same year, and was ordained a priest for the Rockville Centre diocese in 1992.
The bishop-elect then obtained a licentiate degree in biblical theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington in 2000, and later earned a doctorate in the subject from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 2007.
After his ordination, Henning served in various pastoral roles while continuing to pursue his studies. He also held several teaching positions at the Immaculate Conception seminary before being named rector in 2012.
The same year he was named to his position as director of the Sacred Heart Institute for the ongoing formation of clergy in the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Other recent positions Henning has held include director of the Parresia Project, which is a grant-funded initiative aimed at improving the welcoming process for international priests living in the United States. He was given charge over the project in 2010, and continues in that role today.
In 2008 he was given the title of “Monsignor,” and he was named a member of the diocesan college of consultors in 2013. In addition to his native English, Henning also speaks Spanish and Italian, and is able to read French, Greek and Hebrew.
In a June 8 press release on his appointment, Henning voiced his gratitude to Pope Francis for being named auxiliary bishop, saying his nomination is “a moment of deep reflection and the humble acknowledgment of my dependence upon the grace of God and my joy in His service.”
Bishop Barres, who oversees the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said he is grateful for Henning’s appointment, and praised the bishop-elect’s “pastoral charity and intelligence, his commitment to a demanding life of daily prayer, his love for the Hispanic community and evangelization, his biblical scholarship and experience in seminary formation, his national contributions to the ongoing formation of priests and assistance to international priests who serve in this country.”
These qualities, Barres said, give Henning a broad pastoral experience and the skills “to help advance the New Evangelization and dramatic missionary growth on Long Island.”
Barres will preside over Henning’s episcopal ordination July 24, 2018, at the Cathedral of Saint Agnes, Rockville Centre, New York.
Rome, Italy, Jun 7, 2018 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- For the first time in its 245-year history, a lay professor has been appointed rector of the Pontifical Lateran University, also known as the “Pope’s university.”
Vincenzo Buonomo, a professor of international law and a consultant to the Holy See since the 1980s, was appointed rector of the Pontifical Lateran University by Pope Francis.
He will begin the position July 1, succeeding Archbishop Enrico dal Covolo, who has been rector of the university for 8 years and two consecutive mandates.
Born April 16, 1961 in the southern Italian city of Gaeta, Professor Buonomo is married with two children.
He earned from the Pontifical Lateran University a doctorate juris utriusque- an academic doctorate in both canon and civil law, and began teaching there in 1984.
He became a full professor of the university in 2001, he was from 2006–2012 dean of the civil law department, and presently serves as coordinator of the university’s doctorates. He is also the scientific director of the Masters in New Horizons of Cooperation and International Law program, which the Lateran University manages with the NGO FOCSIV.
Although his career has been mostly linked to the Pontifical Lateran University, Buonomo is also a professor of international organization at the Catholic-inspired LUMSA University in Rome and visiting professor of international law at the Sophia University Institute of Loppiano.
Beyond his academic career, Buonomo has has long-term involvement with the Holy See.
He has been the chief of office for the Holy See’s Representation to Food and Agriculture Organization and related UN bodies (namely, FAO, IFAD and World Food Program). He also represents the Holy See on the UN Human Rights Council’s advisory committee, and has twice been a part of the Vatican’s delegation to present reports before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Under Pope Francis, Buonomo provided advice for the Comprehensive Agreement signed by the Holy See an Palestine in June 2015.
On Jan. 25, 2014, he was also appointed an advisor to the Vatican City State’s administration.
Buonomo began collaborating with the Vatican in the 1980s, when Cardinal Casaroli was Secretary of State.
He was was also a close collaborator with former Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and edited a book of speeches Cardinal Bertone delivered in his capacity of Secretary of State.
His appointment as rector of the Pope’s university is a sign of continuity, and, at the same time, a break from tradition.
Buonomo has made his career in the Lateran and Vatican ranks without being linked to any particular ideological group, and so he will be able to carry on the tradition linking the Lateran Pontifical University directly to the pope himself. The Pope’s university will also keep its special bond with the pope through Cardinal-elect Angelo De Donatis, the pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome, who serves as the Lateran’s Grand Chancellor.
At the same time, Buonomo is the first lay person to be named for the post.
The appointment of a lay person signals that the Pope wants the Lateran University to make improvements: following his curriculum, it is likely Professor Buonomo will lead the Pontifical Lateran University in a more international direction, and increase the caliber and standards of academic offerings.
Any new approach must be made according to the university’s storied traditions. The Pontifical Lateran University is formally a university since 1959, but its origins date back to 1773. The university has four departments (philosophy, theology, civil law and canon law) and two Institutes (Redemptor Hominis and Utriusque Iuris), plus a post-graduate specialization center. Teachers and students come from five continents.
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2018 / 10:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has sent a birthday greeting to Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, widely considered the father of liberation theology, thanking him for his service to the Church and his dedication to the poor.
In a letter dated May 28, Pope Francis assured the Dominican priest of his prayers as he reaches the landmark age of 90, and said he thanked God “for what you have contributed to the Church and to humanity through your theological service and from your preferential love for the poor and discarded in society.”
“Thank you for your efforts and for your way of challenging the conscience of each person, so that no one can be indifferent faced with the drama of poverty and exclusion.”
Francis closed the letter encouraging Gutierrez to “continue with your prayer and your service to others, giving witness to the joy of the Gospel.”
Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez Merino, who will turn 90 June 8, was born in Lima and is considered by many to be the father of the liberation theology movement, which sprung up in Latin America in the 1950s.
Gutierrez is the John Cardinal O’Hara Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
In a 2015, Gutierrez, wrote an article in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, saying there are two schools of thought on poverty, both of which are rooted in the Gospel.
The first form of poverty, he said, is focused on Christ’s sensitivity toward the poor and their suffering, while the second is that Christ himself “had lived a life of poverty, and so Christians, from their origin, understood that in order to be his disciples they also had to live a life of poverty.”
The Peruvian said that both “poverty as scandal and poverty of spirit” can be useful, however, their meaning must be interpreted in the modern historical and global context.
Gutierrez said “a new notion of poverty” has emerged over the past century, and that “poverty, in bible and in our times, is not a merely economic issue. Poverty is very much more than this. The economic dimension is important, perhaps primary, but it is is not the only one.”
Liberation theology is often criticized for offering a Marxist interpretation of the Gospel, focusing on freedom from material poverty and injustice rather than giving primacy to spiritual freedom.
Gutierrez himself has never been censured by the Vatican, though the Vatican has warned about the implications of liberation theology and its excesses.
Under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith twice issued instructions regarding liberation theology, the first being 1984’s Libertatis nuntius, which drew attention to “the deviations, and risks of deviation, damaging to the faith and to Christian living, that are brought about by certain forms of liberation theology which use, in an insufficiently critical manner, concepts borrowed from various currents of Marxist thought.”
That document was followed in 1986 by Libertatis conscientia, which presented Christian doctrine on freedom and liberation.
“Through his Cross and Resurrection, Christ has brought about our Redemption, which is liberation in the strongest sense of the word, since it has freed us from the most radical evil, namely sin and the power of death,” the congregation said.
Truth beginning with the truth about redemption, which is at the heart of the mystery of faith, is thus the root and the rule of freedom, the foundation and the measure of all liberating action.
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2018 / 10:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Organizers of the international “Share the Journey” campaign are urging Catholics to step up and interact with migrants and refugees through shared meals or other activities as part of a global action week.
“We invite you to sit down together with migrants and refugees in your community, to look into their eyes, listen to their stories and to share your own,” Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said in a press release on the initiative.
The cardinal, who serves as archbishop of Manila and is also the president of papal charity organization Caritas Internationalis, said each person’s journey starts “with a moment of sharing which helps us recognize the bonds which bind the whole of humanity together.”
“We are invited to have compassion and courage to open our hearts and minds to the people we don’t yet know and to share the journey with them.”
The Global Action Week will take place June 17-24 and is part of the wider, two-year Share the Journey campaign, which was launched by Caritas Internationalis in September 2017 with the goal of encouraging a “culture of encounter” and bolstering efforts to warmly welcome immigrants and refugees.
The project also aims 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, as well as other events aimed at providing opportunities for interaction.
In Rome, the Caritas soup kitchen at Termini, the city’s main train station, will host a meal with migrants and refugees June 19.
They have also promoted other activities, like the “My Mirror” social experiment promoted by Caritas Ambrosiana in Milan, which encourages strangers to look into each other’s eyes as a means of breaking down barriers.
Caritas Cyprus also organized a handbag event for women, giving each woman who came a handbag full of basic toiletries.
In the U.S., the bishops’ conference as well as Caritas organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA have promoted the campaign as a way for Catholics to pray for migrants and refugees and make concrete acts to help them.
In one activity, Catholic Relief Services partnered with a local clothing store, which agreed to donate 20 percent of all sock sales to the organization’s work with migrants and refugees.
The official website for the Share the Journey campaign in the U.S. is: www.sharethejourney.org.
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2018 / 04:26 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, will take part in the Bilderberg Conference, an annual private gathering of global political, business and media leaders, set to take place this year in Turin, Italy, June 7 – 10.
Cardinal Parolin’s name is included in the list of 131 participants in this year’s Bilderberg meeting.
His participation in the meeting has not been officially announced by the Vatican, though sources within the Secretariat of State have confirmed that he is scheduled to take part in the meeting.
If his participation were confirmed, it would be the first time high-ranking Vatican official has taken part in the Bilderberg Conferences.
Started in 1954 the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek, The Netherlands, and named after the same hotel, the Bilderberg Conference gathers each year some 120 – 150 participants, among them European and North American political élites, along with industrial, financial, academic and media figures.
The first meeting took place at the invitation of Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Co-founders of the meeting were Polish politician Jozef Retinger, former Belgian prime minister Paul van Zeeland and Paul Rijkens, who was then the head of Unilever.
The success of the first meeting brought the organizers to stage an annual meeting.
According to the groups’ official website, about two-thirds of the participants come from Europe, and the rest from North America, and one-third are political figures or government officials.
The original meeting objective was to strengthen US – European relations. Over the years, the annual meetings became a forum for discussion on a wider range of topics, from ecology to trade and monetary policies.
This year’s meeting is set to discuss populism in Europe, the challenges of inequality, the future of work, artificial intelligence, US midterm elections, free trade, US global leadership, Russia, quantum computing, Saudi Arabia and Iran, the post-truth world, and other current events.
The Bilderberg meeting’s official website stresses that discussions are private, no minutes are taken and no reports are written.
The meetings are held under the so-called “Chatham House Rules,” an agreement typical of off-record meetings among academics or political leaders. According to that agreement, participants are free to use the information received, but they cannot disclose the identity nor the affiliation of speakers, nor can they disclose the other participants taking part in the conversation.
Dubbed by critics to be a kind of “global shadow government”, and targeted by protesters who picket the meeting, the Bilderberg meeting has has an official website since 2011, and publishes the names of participants in the annual meeting the day before the gathering begins.
Cardinal Parolin’s participation may be an expression of the “culture of the encounter” encouraged by Pope Francis. The pope has often asked officials to engage a dialogue with the world.
Receiving the Charlemagne Prize May 6, 2016, Pope Francis stressed that ”today we urgently need to engage all the members of society in building ‘a culture which privileges dialogue as a form of encounter’ and in creating ‘a means for building consensus and agreement while seeking the goal of a just, responsive and inclusive society.’”
The cardinal’s participation in the Bilderberg Group could be part of a strategy of dialogue the Holy See is engaging with small influential élite group.
It is noteworthy that last year, Cardinal Pietro Parolin took part in the World Economic Forum in Davos, and there he delivered Jan. 19 a speech in which he listed the aims of pontifical diplomacy.
Vatican City, Jun 6, 2018 / 11:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his prayer video for June, Pope Francis asked that digital communications and social media platforms would be a place of inclusion and encounter, rather than isolation and “alienation.&rdq… […]
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