Catholic News
- Pope Francis writes to world's parish priests, encourages 'synodal and missionary' Church (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has written a letter to the world’s parish priests emphasizing the importance of becoming a “synodal and missionary” Church. “I ask you first to live out your specific ministerial charism in ever greater service to the varied gifts that the Spirit sows in the People of God,” he wrote in his May 2 letter. “With all my heart, I suggest that you learn to practice the art of communal discernment, employing for this purpose the method of ‘conversation in the Spirit,’ which has proved so helpful in the synodal journey and in the proceedings of the synodal Assembly itself,” the Pope continued. “Finally, I would like to urge you to base everything you do in a spirit of sharing and fraternity among yourselves and with your bishops.” The Pope wrote to the world’s parish priests at the conclusion of Parish Priests for the Synod. The four-day Vatican meeting was announced in February amid criticism that parish priests were insufficiently included on the Synod on synodality. - Pope says society must accept transgender people (National Catholic Reporter)
“Transgender people must be accepted and integrated into society,” Pope Francis wrote in a letter to Sister Jeannine Gramick. The Pontiff wrote to Sister Gramick—one of the founders of New Ways Ministry, whose advocacy for homosexuals drew a caution from the Vatican from the US bishops’ conference in 2010—after she had written to complain about the condemnation of gender ideology in Dignitas Infinita. Responding quickly to the complaint, the Pope said that the Vatican document’s negative judgement “refers not to transgender people but to gender ideology, which nullifies differences.” - New Orleans archdiocese is target of child sex-trafficking inquiry, officials say (The Guardian)
A week after Louisiana state police obtained a warrant to search for documents in the files of the New Orleans archdiocese pertaining to the handling of sex-abuse complaints, a courthouse clerk released a copy of the warrant. The warrant stated that “previous archbishops, the highest-ranking official in the archdiocese, not only knew of the sexual abuse and failed to report all the claims to law enforcement, but spent archdiocese funding to support the accused.” The warrant also contended that “multiple victims” were transported “outside of Louisiana where they were sexually abused”; that some victims were brought to the seminary to swim in the nude before being “sexually assaulted or abused”; and that “in some instances, ‘gifts’ were given to abuse victims by the accused with instructions to pass on or give the gift to certain priests at the next school or church. “It was said that the ‘gift’ was a form of signaling to another priest that the person was a target for sexual abuse,” the document continued. - Pope seeks 'patient' ecumenical dialogue with Anglicans (Vatican News)
At a May 2 meeting with leader Anglican clerics, Pope Francis called for a “patient and fraternal dialogue” on the question of papal primacy. The Pontiff acknowledged that “the role of the Bishop of Rome is still a controversial and divisive issue among Christians.” He said that the papal role must be understood as “a service of love for all.” In his meeting with the Anglican leaders—including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Justin Welby—the Pope did not mention other issues that have become impediments to unity, including the Anglican acceptance of homosexuality and ordination of women. - USCCB committee chairman criticizes requirement to perform transgender procedures (USCCB)
The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty criticized the Biden administration for announcing regulations which, the bishops’ conference noted, “generally require health care workers to perform ‘gender transition’ procedures in the name of nondiscrimination.” “The same core beliefs about human dignity and the wisdom of God’s design that motivate Catholics to care for the sick also shape our convictions about care for preborn children and the immutable nature of the human person,” said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana. Bishop Rhoades said that the Department of Health and Human Services’ final regulations implementing a section of the Affordable Care Act offered modest improvements over draft regulations issued in 2022. “We appreciate that the final rule does not attempt to impose a mandate with regard to abortion,” he said. The final regulations, according to the bishops’ conference, “make modest improvements to the proposed regulations’ protections for the exercise of conscience, religious belief, and clinical judgment.” - Trump gaining among Catholic voters, poll shows (CNA)
Former President Donald Trump has opened a lead of more than 10 percentage points over President Joe Biden among Catholic voters, according to a new Pew poll. Pell finds Trump favored by Catholic voters by a 55%—43% margin. In 2020 the two candidates were virtually equal among Catholic voters, with Trump winning by just a 1% margin. The Trump surge with Catholic voters is due primarily to a major shift among Hispanic Catholics. In 2020, a pre-election Pew poll found Biden winning Hispanic Catholics by a huge 69%-26% margin. In April 2024 the numbers were nearly even, with Biden ahead by 49% to 47%. - Father Rupnik's alleged victims rue upcoming mosaic dedication at world's 2nd-largest church (Our Sunday Visitor)
Alleged victims of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, the Slovenian priest and artist accused of sexually abusing dozens of women, criticized the upcoming dedication of Rupnik mosaics on the southern facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida, the Brazilian shrine that is the second-largest Catholic church in the world. “In Rupnik, the sexual dimension cannot be separated from the creative experience,” said one former member of Rupnik’s religious community. “In portraying me, he explained that I represented the eternal feminine: his artistic inspiration stems precisely from his approach to sexuality.” “Today’s mosaics have their roots in the time when he used women as models and half an hour later abused them,” added another former member, who is now a diocesan hermit. In October, amid an outcry, the Pope waived the statute of limitations in the Rupnik case, allowing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to investigate multiple charges of sexual abuse against the former Jesuit. The priest in now a priest in good standing in a Slovenian diocese. In March 2020, Father Rupnik was invited to take the place of the Preacher of the Papal Household in preaching a Lenten sermon to the Roman Curia—despite Rupnik’s canonical conviction, two months earlier, of the offense of absolving an accomplice in a sexual sin. Rupnik was subsequently excommunicated, and the excommunication was swiftly lifted. - Federal court upholds forced resignation of Indiana teacher who declined to use preferred pronouns (Religion Clause)
A federal district court has upheld an Indiana school district’s decision to force the resignation of an orchestra teacher who declined to use transgender students’ preferred pronouns. The Brownsburg Community School Corporation (BCSC) at first granted a religious accommodation to John Kluge, an orchestra teacher, that permitted him to refer to students by their last names. The school district, located in a small city of 30,000, then withdrew the accommodation and forced him to resign. Siding with the school district, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, an Obama appointee, ruled that the school district “could either support its transgender students in pursuit of its mission and comply with the law, or accede to Mr. Kluge’s accommodation and risk harm to students and the learning environment.” Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin, “does not require BCSC to continue an accommodation that actually resulted in substantial student harm, and an unreasonable risk of liability, each sharply contradicting the school’s legally entitled mission to foster a supportive environment for all,” Judge Magnus-Stinson added. - Bishops' conference posts 30-minute video touting CCHD (USCCB)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has posted to YouTube a 30-minute video touting the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), its controversial anti-poverty program. The conference posted the video on April 30, days after it was reported that its director, Ralph McCloud, resigned amid CCHD’s financial woes. The video was produced before McCloud’s resignation; its description reads, “Learn about the inspiring mission of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) with Ralph McCloud, Director of CCHD, and Jill Rauh, Director of Education & Outreach, and Helder Hernandez, Poverty Education & Outreach Coordinator.” - Holy Land prelate mystified by US campus protests (Crux)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, expressed dismay about the campus protests in the US about the war in Gaza, in remarks to reporters during a visit to Rome. Cardinal Pizzaballa, who was in Rome to take formal possession of the titular church assigned to him when he was made a cardinal, spoke about the suffering of the people in the Holy Land, and his hope that “something will start to change. But he said of the campus protests: I confess that I struggle to understand it. Universities are places where cultural engagement, even heated, even harsh, must be open 360 degrees, where engagement with strong ideas that are completely different, must be expressed not with violence, not with boycotts, but knowing how to engage. - Florida bishops' conference 'pleased' by public school chaplains (CNA)
A spokeswoman for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed a new state law authorizing volunteer chaplains at public schools. “We recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs,” said Michelle Taylor, associate director of communications. “We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs.” Under the law, parental consent is required for students to take part in a chaplain’s programs. - Arizona lawmakers vote to repeal law protecting most unborn children from abortion (AP)
Arizona lawmakers have voted to repeal an 1864 law that protects most unborn children from abortion. The measure to repeal the legislation passed the state house and senate by narrow margins (32-28 and 16-14). The votes came weeks after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state may enforce the 1864 law. Current Arizona law, which is not affected by the repeal, protects most unborn children from abortion after the 15th week of life, but permits their killing before that time, with nearly 1,100 children aborted in the state each month. - Jordan's king meets with Pontiff (Vatican News)
Pope Francis met on May 2 with King Abdullah II of Jordan. King Abdullah, who also met with Italian government officials during his visit to Rome, has been warning against an expansion of the war in Gaza and the potential for violence against Christians in Israel. In his talks with the Pope he reportedly reaffirmed Jordan’s commitment to a two-state solution for the Holy Land, and protection of the shrines sacred to all faiths. - Ukraine reports progress in Vatican mission to free children (Office of the President (Ukraine))
The chief of staff to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on April 30 that he had spoken with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the special representative of Pope Francis, and “we are moving forward” in efforts to obtain freedom for Ukrainian children currently being held in Russia. Andriy Yermak thanked Cardinal Zuppi for his efforts, and had agreed with the cardinal that efforts to release prisoners should be ramped up as the Orthodox churches prepare to celebrate Easter. Yermak’s announcement came just after Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, had disclosed that there was “great movement” in negotiations for prisoner releases. - Leading Vatican diplomat criticizes push for abortion (Holy See Mission)
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, lamented “the push for abortion under the guise of politically correct language,” 30 years after the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. At the Cairo conference, the Holy See worked with many Muslim nations to head off attempts to declare an international right to abortion. The push for abortion “is not just a harmful misunderstanding” of the Cairo conference’s program of action, “but of development in a wider sense,” Archbishop Caccia said in an April 29 statement. “It also leads to the erosion of respect for the sanctity of human life and the inalienable dignity of the human person.” - Pope Francis, at general audience, reflects on virtue of faith (CWN)
At his May 1 general audience, held in Paul VI Audience Hall, Pope Francis reflected on the theological virtue of faith, in the latest talk in a series of Wednesday general audiences devoted to the virtues and vices. - Cardinal Parolin visits Brazil, discusses indigenous peoples, peace (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, recently concluded a six-day visit to Brazil, during which he met with President Lula da Silva. The president “praised Pope Francis’ role as one of the world’s great leaders to stand up against war and inequality,” according to the president’s office, as he and Cardinal Parolin discussed “the need to overcome inequalities, the importance of religious freedom, and the Brazilian government’s efforts on behalf of indigenous peoples.” Cardinal Parolin also spoke about the importance of prayer for peace as he visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida. Brazil has more Catholics than any other nation. Cardinal Parolin’s visit had added significance because he led a two-day retreat for the nation’s bishops, allowing the cardinals there to become better acquainted with the papabile Secretary of State. - AP sees 'an immense shift toward the old ways' in Church in the US (AP)
In a tendentious wire story, the Associated Press reports on a “shift, molded by plummeting church attendance, increasingly traditional priests and growing numbers of young Catholics searching for more orthodoxy,” that has “reshaped parishes across the country.” “I don’t want my daughter to be Catholic, not if this is the Roman Catholic Church that is coming.” said one woman in a Wisconsin parish, after “contemporary hymns were replaced by music rooted in medieval Europe.” (The AP reporter was presumably referring to Gregorian chant, which the Second Vatican Council decreed “should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”) - Pope denounces profits from arms industry (Vatican News)
At the conclusion of his regular weekly public audience on May 1, Pope Francis renewed his condemnation of arms trafficking. After urging prayers for peace, particularly in Gaza and Ukraine, the Pope said that “today the investments that yield the most income are the factories of weapons.” Pope Francis has made the same claim in the past, citing an economist whose name he did not mention as the source of his analysis. - Young American women are leaving church in unprecedented numbers (American Enterprise Institute)
Young women in Generation Z are more likely than young men to disaffiliate from religion, according to a survey of over 5,400 Americans conducted by the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life. In the previous generations—the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials—men have been more likely than women to disaffiliate. “There is a cultural misalignment between more traditional churches and places of worship and young women who have grown increasingly liberal,” said Daniel Cox and Kelsey Eyre Hammond of the Survey Center on American Life. “Since 2015, the number of young women who identify as liberal has rapidly increased ... This has also coincided with the rise in LGBTQ identity among young women—nearly three in ten women under the age of 30 now identify as something other than straight.” Carmel Richardson of The American Conservative commented, “What might it mean for young women to outnumber young men at elite universities, while young men outnumber young women at church? Certainly, these two pieces—women leaving church and men leaving college—say something about the relative status of men and women today, and perhaps also about the two sexes’ penchant for prestige ... Young women leaving church might be doing so due to a staunch commitment to egalitarianism, but more likely they are leaving because of a more general sense that church is not cool.” - More...