Vatican Appoints Jesuit Canon Lawyer as Advisor to Legion of Christ

Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda to Act as Consultant on New Canonical Configuration

A Jesuit priest has been appointed by the Vatican as an advisor to the Legion of Christ.

Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, announced that canon law maven Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ, has been appointed advisor to the central government of the religious congregation for the next few years.

His task will be to serve the Legion’s government as a consultant, especially in the area of relations between the different components of Regnum Christi and in the search for a canonical configuration for the movement as a whole.

US: Archbishop orders investigation into allegations against himself

The man in question is John Nienstedt, leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He has been accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with other priests

The archbishop of a major American city has decided to open an inquiry into a Prelate accused of making inappropriate sexual advances toward other priests and of placing the inquiry in the hands of an auxiliary bishop and an independent agency that specializes in this field of work. All this would seem normal and humdrum if the person at the centre of the inquiry was not the archbishop himself. The man in question is John Nienstedt, leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The diocese released a statement announcing the launch of the inquiry: “Upon my direction, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is conducting an internal investigation involving allegations made against me. These allegations are absolutely and entirely false. Nonetheless, I ordered Bishop Lee Piché to oversee an independent, thorough investigation and that he hire an outside firm unaffiliated with the Archdiocese to conduct the investigation,” it reads.

Pope Expected to Meet Clerical Sex Abuse Victims in Coming Days

Vatican to Issue Statement Only After Meeting Takes Place

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Pope Francis is expected to meet for the first time victims of clerical sex abuse over the next few days.

Six individuals who have suffered from such abuse by priests will reportedly meet the Holy Father at his St. Martha residence, after which they will join him for Mass.

Some reports say the Pope will meet with them on Monday, but this has not been confirmed by the Vatican which has said “no formal statement will be made until after that meeting has taken place.”

Pope’s Angelus: Be of Solace and Comfort to Poor and Marginalized

Calls on Faithful to Provide Help, Imitating Christ’s Meekness and Humility

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Pope Francis has called on the faithful to imitate Christ’s meekness and humility, especially when helping the poor and the marginalized.

To be meek and humble of heart, he told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, “helps us not only to take the weight of the other, but also to not impose upon them our own personal views, our judgments and our criticism.”

Addressing the crowd under hot, sunny Rome skies before reciting the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father focused on the words of today’s Gospel from the book of Matthew, in which Jesus says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.

The poor and the marginalized always ran after Jesus to listen to “his word that gives hope”, the Pope said, and, in turn, Jesus sought out such people, calling them to himself and promising them relief and solace.

New wave of violence takes on human face, priest in Israel says

The Latin Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem has decried the new eruption of violence in Israel and Palestine following the murder of 4 teens, stating that it can only be ended by humanizing the other side.

“This cycle of violence is always hovering over us but this particular episode brings it home in a horrific way because suddenly it took on real humanity,” Fr. David Neuhaus, S.J., said in reference to the recent kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers.

“We got to know the three boys, their courageous and noble mothers, their families … it is often more anonymous… people dying whose stories we do not know, whose families we never see.”

Pope: service to others frees us from ‘existential grayness’

In his homily during Mass for Saturday’s trip to Molise, Pope Francis explained that the Church is a people that both serves God and lives in the freedom that he gives from oppression.

“This is the freedom that, by the grace of God, we experience in the Christian community when we put ourselves at each others’ service, without jealousy, without taking sides, without chatter… Serving one another. Serving!” the Pope explained in his July 5 homily.

“He frees us from fear, internal emptiness, isolation, regret and complaints…Christ frees us from this existential grayness.”

Taking place in the Campobasso’s Romagnoli Stadium, the Pope’s Mass was the second event in his one-day trip to Italy’s southern region of Molise.

All of us need rehabilitation, Pope Francis reminds prisoners

At a visit Saturday with the imprisoned in the Italian city of Isernia, Pope Francis stated the need of every human person for rehabilitation, and conversion to God.

“To walk the way of rehabilitation, this is something we all need to do. All. We all make mistakes in life. And all of us must ask forgiveness for these mistakes and make a journey of rehabilitation, to not make any more,” the Pope said July 5 at Isernia’s Casa Circondariale prison.

“Some do this at home, at their workplace; others, like you, in a prison. But all, all … anyone who says he does not need this way of rehabilitation is a liar! We all make mistakes in life, and also, all are sinners.”

He emphasized that when we turn to the Lord to be forgiven our sins and mistakees, “he always forgets us, never tires of forgiving. He tell us: ‘Come back this way, it will be good for you to do this.’”

“And he helps us,” Pope Francis stressed. “And his way of rehabilitation, is a way we all must walk.”