Vatican media committee appointed to bring Church into digital era

The appointment of a committee to propose reforms for the Vatican media raises expectations for a substantial renewal of the Vatican media branch, bringing it ever more toward the digital age.

The 11 people appointed for the committee are entrusted with drafting a reform plan within the next months, with the goal of adapting Holy See media to changing media consumption trends, enhancing coordination, and achieving substantial financial savings.

President of the committee will be Lord Christopher Patten of Barnes, currently chancellor of Oxford University and co-chair of the UK-India Round Table, who chaired the governing body of the BBC until he resigned because of a heart attack.

Secretary of the Committee has been appointed Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

On Vatican side, the other members are: Mgsr. Carlo Maria Polvani, head of the Office for Information of the Vatican State Secretariat; Giacomo Ghisani of Vatican Radio; Msgr. Lucio Adrian Ruiz of the Vatican Internet Service; and Giovanni Maria Vian, editor in chief of “L’Osservatore Romano”.

Pope Francis pauses, prays for peace during angelus address

Following his reflections on the Sunday’s Gospel parable of the sower and the seed, Pope Francis called for peace in the Holy Land, asking participants to join him in a moment of silent prayer.

“I extend a heartfelt appeal to all of you to continue to pray earnestly for peace in the Holy Land, in light of the tragic events of recent days,” the Roman Pontiff stated after his July 13 weekly Angelus address.

Recalling the June 8 invocation for peace held at the Vatican with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents, the pontiff recounted how they “invoked the gift of peace and heard the call to break the cycle of hatred and violence.”

“Some might think that such a meeting took place in vain,” he observed, “But no, because prayer helps us not to allow ourselves to be overcome by evil, nor resign ourselves to violence and hatred taking over dialogue and reconciliation.”

Vatican’s new UN observer to face key challenges

Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza, the new head of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, served on the front lines in response to Haiti’s disastrous 2010 earthquake.

Now he will have to tackle key international issues like restricting the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Archbishop Auza, 55, hails from the Philippines and is a former nuncio to Haiti. He is the first Filipino to lead the observer mission at the U.N., and the fourth Filipino to serve as nuncio.

On July 2, Archbishop Auza was named to replace Archbishop Francis Chullikat, an Indian-born prelate who had led the Holy See’s main U.N. presence since 2010.

The new permanent observer is set to arrive in New York at the end of August.

Researcher questions data in same-sex parenting study

A study claiming better wellbeing among children of same-sex couples was based on data that merits “healthy scepticism” due to “suspect science” such as selective surveying, a sociology professor has said.

“In such a charged environment, the public – including judges and media – would do well to demand better-quality research designs, not just results they approve of,” Mark Regnerus, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a July 9 essay at the Public Discourse website.

His comments respond to the study “Parent-reported measures of child health and wellbeing in same-sex parent families: a cross-sectional survey,” which was published June 21 in the journal BMC Public Health by researchers from the University of Melbourne.

The study analyzed data from the Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families, which received surveys from 315 Australian parents representing 500 children. About 80 percent of these children were from households of female couples.

Church’s witness in South Korea has converted many, bishop says

The vitality of the Church in South Korea is behind the many conversions that have taken place in the nation which Pope Francis is set to visit Aug. 13-18, according to a Salesian bishop.

Bishop Mario Toso, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, visited South Korea June 21-26 to give lectures on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” in the nation’s archdioceses: Kwangju, Daegu, and Seoul.

Bishop Toso said that he was “profoundly stricken by the interest and love of the Korean Church for poor and those who suffer. I was especially struck by priests who advocate for the weakest people and share their pain in different social contexts.”

This commitment “proves that Korean priests are a good example of what Pope Francis said: ‘Priests must go to peripheries, be a shepherd with the smell of the sheep.”

Vatican backs a ‘Pause for Peace’ during World Cup final

The Pontifical Council for Culture launched an effort designed to unite the world in asking for peace in warring countries by observing a moment of silence during the final game of the World Cup.

“Sports were born around religious festivities. Sporting events were moments of peace when wars ceased, as for the Olympic truce,” Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca y Alameda said July 10 for the launch of the campaign.

“Why not for the World Cup? Why not a pause, a moment of silence, a truce for peace?”

Msgr. Sanchez, undersecretary at the Pontifical Council for Culture and head of the section for culture and sport, spoke in reference to the ancient Greek tradition “ekecheiria,” or “truce”, that was put into practice during wartimes in order to allow citizens safe travel to the Olympic Games.

World Cup final

Argentina and Germany will play World Cup Final this evening. Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict XVI will not be in agreement today! But Pope Francis promised Brazilian President he will remain neutral throughout the World Cup tournament. Will he keep his word for the final match?