Pope Discusses Current Social Crises and Challenges in New Interview

Exhorts Politicians to Defend Life, Says Rome is “Mirror of Society’s Moral Decay”

---

Pope Francis has given another wide-ranging interview in which he shares his thoughts on moral decay in society, especially in Rome, his views on communism, and looks forward to his upcoming trips to Asia.

In the interview for the Rome daily “Il Messaggero” published on Sunday, he also discusses the role of women in the Church and the “cultural drift” of selfishness and hedonism.

In the face of challenges of change in the current “era” and “culture,” which has consequences for political, financial, and social life, the Pope said the Church, along with various civil and social institutions, must respond to these challenges by protecting the common good and defending human life and dignity.

Vatican document for synod on family balances mercy and cultural blame

An analysis by Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 26, 2014

---

Struggles faced by faithful around the world in following Catholic teachings stem mainly from ineffective education in those teachings and the pervasive effect of a relativistic culture, states the guiding document for an upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family.

The document, anticipated by many Catholics as a barometer for what to expect from the synod, also strongly reinforces church teachings regarding the indissolubility of marriage, the restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples, and that partners must be open to having children.

At the same time, the document states, the church must respond with mercy to the struggles of families to adhere to sometimes controversial teachings — like those prohibiting divorce and remarriage, contraception, cohabitation, and same-sex marriage — and “support her children on the path of reconciliation.”

Released by the Vatican on Thursday, the document was prepared for an extraordinary Synod of Bishops to be held in October. Called by Pope Francis last year, the 2014 synod is the first of two back-to-back yearly meetings of the world’s Catholic bishops at the Vatican on the theme of “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization.”

The Vatican’s office for the Synod of Bishops drafted the preparatory document after a consultation unusual for the breadth of comment it encouraged prelates to seek from priests and laity.

Synod working paper is boring and joyless

An analysis byThomas Reese

---

A document “intended to provide an initial reference point” for the October Synod of Bishops on the family was released Thursday at the Vatican. The document acknowledges that “the primary task of the church is to proclaim the beauty of the vocation to love,” but there is little beautiful or inspiring in this document. If married life is as boring and joyless as this document, I am glad I am celibate.

The 85-page document, called an instrumentum laboris or working paper, is based on responses to a questionnaire sent out from the Secretariat of the Synod in October. Compiling input from numerous sources does not lead to a coherent presentation or scintillating prose. Drawing up the paper was more difficult than usual because of the large number of responses and the limited time the secretariat had to do its job.

The secretariat undoubtedly did what it did for earlier synods: put the responses into two piles. Into the first and most important pile go the responses from bishops’ conferences, the Roman Curia, and those bishops who will attend the synod. The second pile contains responses from individual bishops and others, including the laity. The first pile gets the most attention.

For anyone familiar with the 1980 synod on the family, reading the new instrumentum laboris fosters a feeling of déjà vu.

Many of the same issues are discussed: divorce, cohabitation, irregular marriages, abortion, birth control, poverty, polygamy in Africa, interfaith marriages, annulments, extramarital sex, child upbringing, etc.

Audiences & Pontifical Acts

AUDIENCES

Today, the Holy Father received in audience:

– Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

– Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel, apostolic nuncio in the Arab Republic of Egypt, delegate of the Holy See to the League of Arab States.

– Archbishop Marek Zalewski, apostolic nuncio in Zimbabwe, with members of his family.

– Archbishop Hubertus Matheus Maria van Megen, apostolic nuncio in Sudan and Eritrea.

– Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet of Montevideo, Uruguay.

– Charles Ghislain, ambassador of Belgium, on his farewell visit.

– Fernando Felipe Sanchez Campos, ambassador of Costa Rica, on his farewell visit.

Correcting a caricature with a caricature

---

A comment by Michael Sean Winters
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF AMERICAN RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
By Steven D. Smith

---

Steven Smith’s new book, The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom, is provocative but woefully uneven in its treatment of this increasingly contentious and important topic. Smith, a law professor at the University of San Diego, wants to demonstrate that the “received” understanding of how First Amendment jurisprudence developed from the Founding Fathers until the present is deeply flawed and that he has arrived just in time to correct the record.

Smith takes issue with what he terms the “standard accounts” of the novelty of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state, stated most clearly in Hugo Black’s majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education in 1947. Black told a tale of horribles about religious persecution pre-1776, and how a group of enlightened secularists, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, put an end to all that by placing a “wall of separation” between the spiritual and temporal realms and by enshrining liberty of conscience in the nation’s founding documents.

Sadly, in his arguments (and in his footnotes), Smith gives no indication of any real familiarity with the vast historiography of the American founding. Anyone who writes about the religious history of the American founding and does not cite the work of Patricia Bonomi is not being serious.

Ultimate freedom means choosing the good, bishop says

Bishop James Conley joined other religious leaders in Lincoln, Neb. for a prayer service for religious liberty, reminding those present that choosing goodness is what constitutes ultimate freedom.

“We are set free by Christ so that we can love as God loves,” the bishop said June 27.

“Freedom is the responsibility to choose goodness over profit, or comfort, or consequence. As the letter of St. James says, freedom is the responsibility to ‘be doers of the word, not hearers only.’”

The ecumenical prayer service was held at Zion Presbyterian Church in Lincoln and fell during the most recent “Fortnight for Freedom” announced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The two week period from June 21 to July 4 is to be a time of prayer and fasting for religious freedom in the United States.

The story of Father McGivney, extraordinary priest

A new Italian edition of a book about the life of Father Michael McGivney tells the story of his extraordinary life as a parish priest, the inspiration that led him to found the Knights of Columbus, and the chronicle of his ongoing canonization process.

“In reading this book, it will be clear that Father McGivney isn’t only a model for American priests, but for all priests as well,” Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, stressed at a June 25 presentation in Rome.

The Italian edition of “Parish Priest,” by Douglas Brinkley and Julie M. Fenster, has been published by Vatican Publishing House.

The book provides a portrait of the situation of the American Catholicism in the mid-nineteenth century.

In that period, the United States was still considered a land of mission. The dioceses were few in number and the bishops were under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Propagation for the Faith, which supervised missionary lands.

Council of Cardinals to continue Curia review in upcoming meeting

The group of eight cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the governance of the Catholic church is set to meet with him for the fifth time, presumably to more seriously consider an overall blueprint for a new structure of the Vatican’s central bureaucracy.

While the cardinals have not indicated exactly what the group will be focusing on during its July 1-4 meetings, the Vatican signaled in an April statement that the prelates have already finished a review of the Vatican’s nine main governmental bodies, known as congregations, and are now proceeding to review its 12 auxiliary bodies, known as councils.

Likewise, unsubstantiated reports in June were speculating that Francis was considering creating several new secretariats to combine similar Vatican departments into one structure for the sake of expediency and effectiveness.

Francis established the advisory group, known formally as the Council of Cardinals, last year to “study a project of revision” of the Vatican’s bureaucracy, known as the Roman Curia. The group met together for the first time in October.

Among papal decisions known to be influenced by the cardinals’ group in the past year are the establishments of a new Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, headed by council member Australian Cardinal George Pell, and of a new papal advisory commission on clergy sexual abuse, which includes council member Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Disgraced priest threatened to sue following papal dismissal

When a Catholic priest was formally dismissed by the Pope in the wake of sexual misconduct claims, he made a “veiled threat” to sue the Bishop who delivered the news.

Wollongong Bishop Peter Ingham told the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that John Nestor refused to accept that he was to be dismissed by papal decree after a lengthy battle to oust him from the ministry which went all the way to the Vatican.

Bishop Ingham told Mr Nestor he was not going to make the Pope’s decision in 2008 widely known.

“I told him the situation and I said I’d be letting the clergy know but I wasn’t planning to make it public,” he told the commission.

Francis’ message to the Orthodox: “Let us walk together along the path to full unity despite our differing starting points”

Yet another display of Francis’ tour de force. At yesterday’s audience with the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Vatican, the Pope called the embrace between Athenagoras and Paul VI in Jerusalem 50 years ago, a “prophetic gesture”

Yesterday Francis received the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, in audience. After this, he received the President of Madagascar, Hery Rajaonarim Ampianina, followed by a Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to whom he gave a speech to. Finally, he met with the President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, Mgr. Zygmunt Zimowski. He also tweeted: “To be friends with God means to pray with simplicity, like children talking to their parents.” Some said Francis looked a bit tired, others noticed he had a bit of a cough, while others still assured that the Pope was on top form and smiling. One thing is clear: after yesterday’s mild indisposition which prevented him from visiting Rome’s Agostino Gemelli” hospital, the Pope resumed his activities as normal and with great energy, as always.

Pope Francis: Dialogue is the Only Path for Peace

Pontiff Appeals to Iraqi Government to Avoid War

During his Sunday Angelus address to thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis appealed for peace in Iraq, which has experienced an upsurge in violence.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Al-Qaeda splinter group, have launched increasing attacks in the country in order to establish a caliphate that would stretch from Iraq all the way to northern Syria. The militant group has overrun two villages in the Kirkuk province, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

The Holy Father addressed the reports of violence in the country, saying they were “unfortunately painful.”

“I unite myself with the Bishops of the country in appealing to the governments so that, through dialogue, they can preserve the national unity and avoid war,” the Holy Father said.

“I am close to the thousands of families, especially the Christian [families], who have had to leave their houses and who are in grave danger.”

“Violence,” he concluded, “generates more violence; dialogue is the only path for peace.”

Trust in God overcomes worldly fears, Pope tells archbishops

On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul Pope Francis installed 24 new archbishops with the pallium, urging them, like Peter, to place their security in the Lord when faced by the fear of their own weakness.

“I wonder, dear brother bishops, are we afraid? What are we afraid of? And if we are afraid, what forms of refuge do we seek, in our pastoral life, to find security?” the Pope asked in his June 29 homily.

“Peter experienced how God’s fidelity is always greater than our acts of infidelity, stronger than our denials. He realizes that the God’s fidelity dispels our fears and exceeds every human reckoning.”

Following the installation of the pallium onto the Metropolitan archbishops, Pope Francis took a moment to offer special greetings to the Delegation sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, which was led by Metropolitan Ioannis, and to pray for the unity of the two churches.

The pallium is a white woolen garment that represents the traditional and peculiar sign of the metropolitan office, and is given annually to the new archbishops appointed during the throughout the year.

Sako: I asked Muslims for a fatwa against sectarian violence

This is an interview with the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church on his visit to the villages that have welcomed the displaced people of Mosul and Qarqosh. “So far there has been no targeted violence against Christians”

“People fled because they were afraid of the war. But so far Christians have not suffered oppression because of their faith. Christians and Muslims alike have fled their homes.” The words uttered by His Beatitude are crystal clear and credible, partly because they come directly from the epicentre of Iraq’s freshly erupted chaos. The Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon, Louis Raphael I Sako and his bishops have not kept a safe distance from the new upheavals the Iraqi people have been subject to. They have just concluded their annual Synod in Ankawa, a predominantly Christian suburb of the city of Erbil, which was invaded in recent days by thousands of refugees coming from Mosul and cities in the Niniveh Plain who fled an offensive by Sunni rebels led by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Today, straight after the synodal meeting, Sako together with the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, AmelShimon Nona, wanted to visit other villages affected by the mass exodus. A quick ride through terror and hardship, hunger and heat. In a country that seems to be on the brink of a definitive collapse.

The 77-year-old Pope’s tour de force

The Pope’s health is under the spotlight on principle. Gone are the days when any ailment suffered by a Pope, even if it was serious, was denied or played down because the Vatican’s white-clad resident closed himself away in his apartments; although today, much of the Pope’s daily life is spent under the spotlight, whenever any meeting or event is cancelled, alarm bells start to ring and rumours of all kinds begin to spread. So how is the Pope? He was meant to visit Rome’s “Agostino Gemelli” hospital Friday afternoon to celebrate mass out in the open, under the scorching sun, at the hottest hour of the day; the Popemobile was ready to go but in the end he didn’t show up.

This is not the first time it has happened and this has led to mounting speculation and questions being asked. Fr. Federico Lombardi informed that meetings scheduled for Saturday and Subday would go ahead as planned – including the mass celebration in St. Peter’s Square for the feast of Peter and Paul, the patron saints of Rome. He added that there is “no cause for concern over the Pope’s health.” It makes sense, for had the Pope been seriously ill he wouldn’t have stayed in the Vatican but would have been taken to the Gemelli hospital quick fast. As a patient.

Archbishop’s last stand in Iraq

One archbishop and twenty priests are alleged to be the only people remaining in the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh.

Last week, fighting broke out between Kurdish peshmerga and ISIS fighters in this Christian town of 50,000. All inhabitants of the town are reported to have fled.

The Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Mouche has been working to negotiate between the Kurds and the Sunni ISIS fighters.

US Priests voice support for bishop selection reform, married priests

Members of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests meeting at their third annual assembly approved a number of resolutions, that included expressing support for a more open process for the selection of bishops and for a married clergy.

The members also voted for forming a task force to track difficulties with the 2011 Roman Missal translation and to work for immigration reform.

About 225 of the estimated 1,000 members were present for the assembly in St. Louis, which opened Monday evening and closed Thursday morning.

For voting on resolutions, the association uses a numbering system to indicate degrees of support. A vote of 3, the highest score, means the resolution was supported with “very strong favor.” The lowest score -3 represents “very strong disfavor.”

The resolutions and their scores are:

Cameroon: arrest made in abduction of 3 missionaries

Police in Cameroon have made an arrest in the kidnapping of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun.

The three missionaries, abducted on April 5, were released on June 1.

The Fides news agency reported that the suspect may have worked in conjunction with the Nigerian Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram.

Life is not ours to end, Canadians say against suicide bill

The Quebec National Assembly on Thursday passed legislation creating a right to assisted suicide in some circumstances, drawing criticism from pro-life advocates who argue that life is sacred.

“We have no right to take our lives. Our lives are not ours. Our lives are a gift from God,” Mary Ellen Douglas, national organizer of Canada’s Campaign Life Coalition, said.

“We have no right to take our own life or to take anyone else’s life. It violates the gift of the Creator,” Douglas said, noting that bill opponents “have to continue to emphasize the sacredness of human life.”

Quebec’s legislature passed Bill 52 by a vote of 94-22. It allows terminally ill Quebecois enduring “unbearable suffering” to request medical assistance to kill themselves, CBC News reports.

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Reading I: Acts 12:1-11
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Reading II: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19

I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race.
(Second Reading)

Cataclysms of the Heart

There are times when the world unravels. Who hasn’t had this feeling? “I’m falling apart! This is beyond me! My heart is broken! I feel betrayed by everything! Nothing makes sense any more! Life is upside down!”

Jesus had a cosmic image for this. In the gospels, he talks about how the world, as we experience it, will someday end: “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give forth its light, stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.” When Jesus says this, he is not talking as much about cosmic cataclysms as of cataclysms of the heart. Sometimes our inner world is shaken, turned upside down; it gets dark in the middle of the day, there’s an earthquake in the heart, and we experience, in effect, the end of the world as we’ve known it.

But, Jesus assures us too, in this upheaval, one thing remains the same: the word of God, God’s promise of fidelity. That doesn’t get turned upside down and, in our disillusionment, we are given a chance to see what really is of substance, permanent, and worthy of our lives. Thus, ideally at least, when our trusted world is turned upside down we are given the chance to grow, to become less selfish, and to see reality more clearly.

Christian mystics call this “a dark night of the soul” and they write it up as if God was actively turning our world upside down and causing all this heartache deliberately to purge and cleanse us.

Cardinal Baldisseri: Young People Must Be Told About Beauty of Marriage Synod Secretary General Explains Challenges of Upcoming Extraordinary Synod

In order to restore to Christians the beauty of the family, the Church must first of all become credible again. Speaking with journalists, at the end of the press conference to present the Instrumentum laboris, in view of the forthcoming Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the subject The Pastoral Challenges on the Family in the Context of Evangelization (October 5-19), Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, clarified some aspects regarding this widely debated and greatly awaited event.

The cardinal clarified first of all that the scandals connected in particular with pedophilia, which have implicated the Church in the last ten years, though having been particularly emphasized by the media, have been to a large extent “acknowledged” and have undermined the credibility of the Church, inducing her to “intervene in a very resolute way.”

However, he told reporters one cannot think that “Bishops and priests are angels”; they too can “sin.” As opposed to what happens in “other environments”, in the Church a sin is recognized and “can be repented,” admitting that there are “rotten apples.”

Cardinal Baldisseri explained that intervening in the Extraordinary Synod will be 23 lay auditors, seven of whom will be married couples, one of whom will render its testimony during the Synodal sessions.