Catholic News
- Synod, October 14: abuse of nuns, need for women in seminary formation discussed (CWN)
On October 14, participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall for their final full day devoted to the session’s third module, “Pathways” (synod agenda). - Synod, October 12: participants pray for migrants on synod's least transparent day (CWN)
On October 12, participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall to continue their consideration of the session’s third module, “Pathways” (synod agenda). - Cardinal Hollerich introduces final 'module' of Synod working document (Vatican News)
In an October 15 address to the Synod on Synodality, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general for the meeting, introduced the “module” of the working document that will guide the participants in the third and final stage of their discussions. The module is focused on “Places,” the cardinal observed, and the instrumentum laboris explains that “the Church cannot be understood without being rooted in a place and a culture.” In his comments on the working document, Cardinal Hollerich said that the understanding of place “has much less of a spatial and geographic connotation than in the past, not least due to globalism and the new digital reality.” - Cardinal-designate Radcliffe links African bishops' opposition to homosexuality to pressure from evangelicals, Moscow, and Muslims (CWN)
In an article published in the Italian daily edition of the Vatican newspaper, Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe, OP, one of the synod session’s two spiritual assistants, took repeated issue with statements made by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap, the cardinal who leads the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. - Cardinal Zuppi in Moscow again for peace talks (Crux)
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is in Moscow this week for new talks aimed at finding common ground for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. The Italian cardinal, acting as a special envoy for Pope Francis, met on October 14 with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. This is his second visit to Moscow, to meet with Russian leaders and promote further diplomatic efforts. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the immediate goal of Cardinal Zuppi’s mission is “the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families and the exchange of prisoners.” The more ambitious objective is work toward a peace agreement. - Leading Vatican diplomat deplores violations of children's rights, including enslavement, abortion (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a UN meeting, a leading Vatican diplomat deplored violations of children’s rights. “160 million children worldwide are subjected to forced child labor, the worst forms of which include enslavement,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. “They are victims of and forced to fight in armed conflicts, exposed to sexual violence and abuse, and fall prey to human trafficking,” he continued. “It is shameful that this exploitation continues to be a part of our global economy while damaging children’s health, education, and future prospects.” Archbishop Caccia also decried child marriage; “prenatal sex selection and female infanticide, which end the lives of girls at the earliest stages”; “abortion, which ends the lives of millions of children every year”; and surrogacy, which “deprives children of their mothers.” He added: The primary rights and responsibilities of parents should be properly understood as reflecting a duty of care which is in the best interests of the child. It is deeply regrettable that the importance of the family is increasingly being challenged, despite the recognition in international law that it should be afforded the “widest possible protection and assistance.” - Norwegian Christians unite against gender ideology (Coram Fratribus)
Thirty Christian organizations in Norway—including formal church groups and lay associations—have joined in a statement supporting traditional marriage and rejecting gender ideology. The statement argues that gender ideology “has no biological and scientific foundation,” and states: “It is immensely problematic to teach children and young people that there are ‘boys, girls, and other genders.’” It affirms that sexual relationships outside marriage are “at odds with the Bible’s theology of creation and with Jesus’ ethical teaching.” The statement also opposes artificial forms of reproduction: To deprive children deliberately and intentionally of the right to know their biological mother or father, and their wider families – for example through assisted fertilisation or surrogacy – violates God’s will for creation and children’s rights. The statement is endorsed by the Norwegian Catholic bishops and by Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Evangelical leaders. - Pray for warmongers, Pope tweets (@Pontifex)
Pope Francis called for prayers for warmongers on October 12, a day after he appealed for a ceasefire in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. “Let us pray together for those who seek war and those who spark them, stir them up senselessly, prolong them uselessly, or cynically profit from them,” the Pope tweeted on October 12. “May God enlighten their hearts, and set before their eyes the trail of misfortune they cause!” Later in the day, he added: I appeal to the international community to work to end the spiral of revenge in the Middle East and prevent further attacks that could force the region into an even greater war. #Peace - Papal encouragement of children's Rosary for unity and peace (Aid to the Church in Need)
Pope Francis has encouraged participation in Aid to the Church in Need’s “one million children praying the Rosary” campaign for unity and peace. “Next Friday, October 18, the Aid to the Church in Need foundation is organizing the ‘One million children praying the Rosary for peace in the world’ initiative,” the Pope said on October 13. “Thank you to all the boys and girls who are participating! Let us join with them.” - Vatican Secretary of State pays tribute to late progeria advocate Sammy Basso (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Sammy Basso, a molecular biologist who suffered from progeria, died on October 5 at the age of 28. He was the longest survivor of the rapid aging disease. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope’s Secretary of State, sent a message of condolence that was read at the funeral Mass, celebrated by Bishop Giuliano Brugnotto of Vicenza. Cardinal Parolin recalled, “I met him one Christmas, at my house and later when he came to an audience with Pope Francis. I consider this a special grace, because Sammy was a great light that was turned on in the night of the world.” Bishop Brugnotto read aloud a lengthy testimony written by Basso in 2017. “Since Jesus died on the cross, as a sacrifice for all our sins, death is the only way to truly live, it is the only way to finally return to the Father’s house, it is the only way to finally see His face,” wrote Basso. “Never tire, my brothers, of serving God and behaving according to His commandments, because nothing makes sense without Him and because each of our actions will be judged.” “Never tire, my brothers, of carrying the cross that God has assigned to each of us, and do not be afraid to ask for help in carrying it, as Jesus was helped by Joseph of Arimathea,” Basso added. - How 'Special Interest Advocacy' works at the Synod on Synodality (National Catholic Register)
Jonathan Liedl of the National Catholic Register explains how special-interest groups promote their ideas during the Synod meetings: by stuffing participants’ mailboxes, staging events outside the meeting, providing content for news-starved reporters, and “cleverly coordinated speech sequences” in the Synod hall. - Synod, October 11: opacity shrouds discussion of transparency, accountability in the Church (CWN)
On the morning of October 11, 341 of the 365 participants in the second and final session of the synod on synodality gathered in Paul VI Audience Hall for the second of their four days of consideration of the session’s third module, “Pathways” (synod agenda). 346 had attended the synod session on the previous afternoon, according to L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. - Italian abbey marks 1,000 years (Il Giornale dei Castelli Romani)
The Territorial Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata has announced a series of events to commemorate its 1,000th anniversary, culminating in a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints since 2020 and apostolic administrator of the abbey since 2013. The territorial abbey is one of the three jurisdictions of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See. - Pope reflects on Jesus and the rich young man (Vatican Press Office)
During his Angelus address on October 13, delivered to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis reflected on the encounter between Jesus and the rich young man in Mark 10:17-30, the Gospel reading of the day. The Pope asked: Brothers and sisters, that rich man did not want to risk, to risk what? He did not want to risk love, and he went away with a sad face. And us? Let us ask ourselves: what is our heart attached to? How do we satiate our hunger for life and happiness? Do we know how to share with those who are poor, with those who are in difficulty or in need of listening, of a smile, of a word to help them regain hope? Or who need to be listened to? “Let us remember this: the true wealth is not the goods of this world, the true wealth is being loved by God, and learning to love like Him,” the Pope concluded. “And now let us ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, so that she may help us discover in Jesus the treasure of life.” - Renewed papal appeal for Middle East ceasefire, including in Lebanon (@Pontifex)
“I call for an immediate ceasefire in all theatres of conflict in the Middle East, including Lebanon,” Pope Francis tweeted on October 11, ten days after Israel invaded the nation. “Let us pray together for the Lebanese people, especially for residents in the south who have been forced to flee their homes,” he added. “May they soon be able to return and live in peace.” - Pope meets again with US LGBT group previously denounced by Vatican (New Ways Ministry)
On October 12, Pope Francis received a delegation from New Ways Ministry, which dissents from Catholic teaching on sexual morality. The meeting with a “diverse group of transgender, intersex, and ally Catholics, including a medical doctor who provides gender transition care,” lasted for 90 minutes and was not included on the Vatican’s list of papal audiences for the day. “The group urged Pope Francis to move past the Church’s negative approach to gender-diverse people, and to encourage Church leaders to listen more attentively to the lives and faith of LGBTQ+ people,” according to New Ways Ministry. Sister Jeannine Gramick, who cofounded the ministry, added: I am grateful to Pope Francis that he was willing to listen to the experiences of intersex and transgender people. It is only by listening to stories of these individuals, as well as the individuals who care for and about them, that the Church will be able to fully hear the voice of the Holy Spirit calling the Catholic community to break out of old, ill-informed teachings and practices. New Ways Ministry was the subject of a notification by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1999) and a statement by the US bishops (2011). Pope Francis, however, praised Sister Gramick in a handwritten letter. In 2023, he met with Sister Gramick and other leaders of the group for 50 minutes. - Papal address: Christian unity is an unexpected gift, a journey, harmony, and for the sake of mission (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis took part in an ecumenical prayer vigil with synod participants on October 11, the 62nd anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). In his address, which he did not read aloud, Pope Francis emphasized that Christian unity is an “unexpected gift,” a “journey,” “harmony,” and “for the sake of mission.” “Let us focus on the common ground of our shared Baptism, which prompts us to become missionary disciples of Christ, with a common mission,” the Pope wrote in his address. “The world needs our common witness; the world needs us to be faithful to our common mission.” He concluded: Dear brothers and sisters, it was before an image of the Crucified Christ that Saint Francis of Assisi received the call to restore the Church. May the Cross of Christ also guide us on our daily journey towards full unity, in harmony with one another and with all creation: “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col 1:19-20). - Michigan governor denies anti-Catholic motive in video parody of Eucharist (National Catholic Register)
After infuriating Catholics with a video in which she seemed to ridicule the Eucharist, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement claiming that she “would never do something to denigrate someone’s faith. Whitmer recorded a video in which she “administered” a Dorito chip to another woman, who received it on the tongue, kneeling in a reverential posture. Among the many Catholic leaders who objected, Paul Long of the Michigan Catholic Conference said that the video was “not not just distasteful or ‘strange;’ it is an all-too-familiar example of an elected official mocking religious persons and their practices.” The governor responded, implausibly, by saying that the video was intended to promote an employment bill, and “has been construed as something it was never intended to be.” - Eyes raised, hands joined, feet bare: papal letter to new cardinals (Vatican Press Office)
The Holy See Press Office released a letter from Pope Francis to the 21 new cardinals. “I urge you to make every effort as a Cardinal to embody the three attitudes with which an Argentinian poet (Francisco Luis Bernárdez) once characterized St. John of the Cross, and which are also applicable to us: ‘eyes raised, hands joined, feet bare,’” Pope Francis wrote in the letter, released on October 12, but dated six days earlier. After reflecting briefly on each of these phrases, the Pope concluded: I thank you for your generosity and I assure you of my prayers that the title of “servant” (deacon) will increasingly eclipse that of “eminence.” Pray for me, and may Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin accompany you. - Three arrested in killing of Honduran church worker (Fides)
Police in Honduras have arrested three suspected in the shooting death of Juan Antonio Lopez, a Catholic Church worker who was gunned down in September. Lopez, who headed the office of “pastoral care for integral ecology” in the Trujillo diocese, was killed shortly after he testified that local government officials had linkns to organized crime. He had also charged that illegal mining had polluted local waterways. Investigators are hoping that the three suspects, who have been indicted for the murder, will provide information about who was ultimately responsible. - More...