O'Malley is replacing Cardinal Donald Wuerl who led the Foundation for eight years.

The Philadelphia-based Papal Foundation gives grants in support of projects and proposals recommended by the Holy See. It has given over $100 million in grants in service to the Church since 1990.

In a statement on his election, O'Malley praised the Foundation's work.

Its grants have "provided profound improvements" in the lives of families and individuals in under-served areas around the world.

"Churches, education and healthcare programmes, evangelisation and vocation efforts all have been made possible through the extraordinary generosity of the women and men who work closely with the Holy See in providing funding for our brothers and sisters in need," he said.

Besides his longstanding membership of the Foundation's board for the past 12 years, O'Malley is president of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors and a member of Pope Francis' Council of Cardinals.

The Papal Foundation is managed by a three-tiered board of trustees.

American cardinals residing in the US serve as ex officio members, and bishops and elected laity serve as trustees.

Its members are Cardinals O'Malley, Blase Cupich, Daniel DiNardo, Timothy Dolan, Roger Mahony, Adam Maida, Justin Rigali, Joseph Tobin and Donald Wuerl.

Source

• Crux Now
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Crux Now

He has been under increasing pressure to step down since a Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy abuse criticised his handling of abuse cases when he was Bishop of Pittsburgh.

Last month, Wuerl went to Rome to ask Pope Francis to accept his resignation.

In his letter accepting Wuerl's resignation, Francis said:

"Your renunciation is a sign of your availability and docility to the Spirit who continues to act in his Church.

"In accepting your resignation, I ask you to remain as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese until the appointment of your successor."

Francis also wrote: "This request rests on two pillars that have marked and continue to mark your ministry: to seek in all things the greater glory of God and to procure the good of the people entrusted to your care."

Francis said in Wuerl's resignation request he recognised "the heart of the shepherd who, by widening his vision to recognise a greater good that can benefit the whole body, prioritizes actions that support, stimulate and make the unity and the mission of the church grow above every kind of sterile division sown by the father of lies who, trying to hurt the shepherd, wants nothing more than the sheep to be dispersed (cf. Matt. 26-31)."

He also made clear he considers Wuerl's actions when he was bishop of Pittsburgh as "mistakes," not a cover-up or neglecting to deal with problems of abuse, and acknowledged that the cardinal could have defended himself in this field.

Francis also commended Wuerl for not engaging in self-defense, saying "Of this, I am proud and thank you.

"In this way, you make clear the intent to put God's project first, before any kind of personal project, including what could be considered as for the good of the church."

Source

• Catholic Herald
• America Magazine
• Image: CNN.com

He told them he will be going to Rome soon to discuss his possible resignation.

Wuerl's letter followed an extraordinary meeting at which he talked with archdiocesan priests about the best way to address the mounting criticism following a Pennsylvania grand jury's report about sex abuse.

The report alleges that, even though Wuerl argued that parishioners have a right to know if a priest accused of child sex abuse had been reassigned to another parish, he reassigned priests with histories of abuse. In doing so, the report says Wuerl shielded the abusers from accountability.

Since the report was released, a prominent deacon has said he would refuse to participate in the Mass alongside the cardinal, and some priests have suggested Wuerl should resign.

In his letter, Wuerl spoke of "how to begin effectively to bring a new level of healing to survivors" of abuse.

It was in this context he said that "sooner rather than later" he would need to make a decision about his possible resignation.

He did not say whether he expected Francis to accept his resignation.

Source

• Religion News Service
• Fox5
• www.fox11.com
• Image:

Francis says an 11-page document of claims released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò "speaks for itself".

Asked about the letter from in a press conference aboard the Aug. 26 flight back to Rome after his visit to Ireland, Francis advised journalists to "read the statement attentively and make your own judgment."

"I will not say a single word on this," the pope said of the letter.

"I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions."

"When some time passes and you have your conclusions, maybe I will speak," said Francis. "But I would like that your professional maturity carries out this task."

Three Popes knew about McCarrick

In the letter Viganò released to the National Catholic Register and LifeSiteNews, he claimed that since 2000, three popes, as well as former and current senior Church officials have been covering-up allegations about former cardinal Theodore McCarrick sexually abusing seminarians.

On Sunday Viganò told The Washington Post he wouldn't comment further, beyond confirming that he was the letter's author.

The accusations in the letter are unsubstantiated, but a number of people are named who are said to have known about the situation.

This is not the first time Viganò has been the immersed in controversy.

Implicated in Vatileaks

Before becoming Ambassador to the United States Viganò, was the Secretary-General of the Vatican City Governatorate.

In 2010 he was implicated in the so-called Vatileaks scandal.

Some of Viganò's letters were leaked. In them, he warned of corruption, abuse of power, a lack of transparency in awarding contracts and opposition to financial reforms.

He was subsequently removed from office and appointed to Washington in 2011.

In February 2012 the current and immediate past presidents of the Governorate of Vatican City State released a statement about the leaked letters.

They said the letters contained assertions based on "erroneous evaluations" or "fears unsupported by proof".

Arranged a controversial meeting in the USA

When the Pope was visiting the United States Viganò arranged a meeting between the pope and a Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis.

She had gained notoriety by turning away gay couples seeking marriage.

Davis' attorney said that she received a phone call from Viganò insisting on a meeting with the pope.

"We were led to believe that the invitation did come directly from Pope Francis," the attorney said at the time.

The Vatican later accused Viganò of keeping the pope in the dark about the surprise encounter.

Cover-ups

According to Crux Now, Viganò was accused of his own mishandling of sex abuse allegations; encouraging Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche to destroy documents relating to the investigation of Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Source

• Crux Now
• National Catholic Register
• Get Religion
• Reuters
• salon.com
• The Washington Post
• National Catholic Reporter
• ncronline.org
• ncronline.org
• Image: LifeSite News

And the panel would be comprised of, wait for it…bishops.

"Would we have some sort of a panel, a board, of bishops … where we would take it upon ourselves, or a number of bishops would be deputed, to ask about those rumors?" he suggested.

"It seems to me that's one possibility, that there would be some way for the bishops, and that would mean working through our conference … to be able to address the question of sustained rumors," said the Washington cardinal.

To that I would respond, "Well, your Eminence, yes and no."

Yes, there should be a panel- there should be panels in every diocese and every deanery, ready to look into serious allegations made against any representative of the Church.

But with all due respect, sir, no, there ought not be a bishop residing on a single one of them.

There is an old Roman saying, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guard the guards?)

In a sense that needs to be asked, now.

The suggestion that the laity and the priests who trusted the bishops to do the right thing before — and have been amply burned for it — should just trust the bishops to do the right thing again would be farcical if it were not so insulting.

Wuerl's remarks suggest that he really has no idea how catastrophic the revelations about Theodore McCarrick's long-standing abuses (about which too many Cardinals and Bishops profess themselves "Shocked, shocked" as they slouch toward Eternity via Casablanca) have been to the trust of the laity.

Let me spell it out: That trust has been shattered. It no longer exists.

The McCarrick story, joined to other tales now emerging about mistreatment of seminarians and lay folk, have effectively worn us out.

We look at stories coming out of the United States, out of Chile, Honduras, and Australia, and we are finally — as perhaps never before — understanding the worldwide nature of the corruption that has taken hold within the depths of the Church, and we're saying no more.

Your Eminence, Esteemed Bishops, please listen: Don't give us another paper; don't give us another bloodless statement about policies and procedures that somehow manages never to admit to failing, never offers a mea culpa, never uses the words "sin" or "Gospel" or brings forth the name of Christ Jesus.

Forgive me, but it feels very much like our bishops and "princes" have lost the plot. Continue reading

• Elizabeth Scalia (pictured) is a Benedictine Oblate who blogs at The Anchoress and is the award-winning author of Strange Gods, Unmasking the Idols in Everyday Life and Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick You.
• Image: Word on Fire

Until his resignation, McCarrick was one of the US church's most senior prelates.

Pope Francis has accepted his resignation.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, announced that "at the direction of our Holy Father, Pope Francis ... McCarrick [has been instructed] ...to refrain from any public ministry or activity until a definite decision is made."

According to the Holy See Press Office, Francis has directed McCarrick to observe "a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial."

He also imposed on McCarrick "the obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him."

A Catholic University canon law expert, Kurt Martens, noted that this is the first time an order of penance and prayer had been issued before a church trial has taken place.

Francis has recently announced his resolve to rid the "culture of cover-up" of similar abuse in the Church's hierarchy.

Although the scandal surrounding McCarrick became headline news in June after an allegation he abused a teenager 47 years ago in the Archdiocese of New York was found credible, McCarrick says he is innocent.

Since then, at least one other person has come forward claiming McCarrick sexually abused him as a child. In addition, several former seminarians say McCarrick would invite groups of them to a beach house and insist individual members of the group share a bed with him.

McCarrick's protestations of innocence contradict apparently confidential settlements made in 2005 and 2007 for two men who claim they were sexually assaulted by him while they were seminarians and young priests.

According to a letter sent last week to priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl was unaware of the settlements.

"Neither the Archdiocese of Washington nor Cardinal Wuerl knew about these confidential settlements until this most recent credible and substantiated allegation against Cardinal McCarrick was made public," the letter from archdiocesan vicar general Monsignor Charles Antonicelli says.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Vatican News
• Religion News Service
• Catholic News Agency
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LA Times

This text makes an important step towards moving the church beyond the controversies generated by the document, controversies largely confined to the pages of the Catholic press, and focuses on what Amoris Laetitia is really about, revitalizing the church's ministry to families, married couples, those preparing for marriage, and those whose marital situation has led them to feel like they no longer belong within the fold.

Recently, there has been a great deal of debate about whether or not Amoris Laetitia constitutes a paradigm shift, and whether such a shift is even possible for a church that believes its doctrines are revealed by God.

I wrote about that controversy here, and my colleague at The Tablet, editor Brendan Walsh, addressed the issue in this interview with Cardinal Blase Cupich, which includes a video of the cardinal's lecture at the Von Hügel Institute on this subject.

I would submit that Cardinal Wuerl's pastoral plan essentially puts that debate to rest: On virtually every page of the plan, we see that the shift is not in what the church teaches about marriage and family life.

The shift is in how the church ministers to the people of God.

The word that dominates this pastoral plan is accompaniment. In different sections, we read:

In Amoris Laetitia, the Holy Father gives priority to the practice of pastoral accompaniment, which in its most fundamental aspect involves leading others closer to God.

We begin each encounter mindful of everyone's innate human dignity.

Pope Francis writes: "The Church will have to initiate everyone — priests, religious and laity — into this 'art of accompaniment' which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Exodus 3:5)."

And:

Early in his pontificate, Pope Francis shared a helpful image of a pastor who accompanies. To a group of priests gathered in Assisi, Pope Francis asked, "What could be more beautiful for us than walking with our people?… sometimes in front, sometimes behind and sometimes in the middle." He further explains, "in front in order to guide the community, in the middle in order to encourage and support; and at the back in order to keep it united and so that no one lags too, too far behind, to keep them united" (Address, October 4, 2013).

And:

If there is a breakdown that leads to separation or even divorce, that loving accompaniment by the Church needs to continue, said the Holy Father. "It is important that the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church," he added, and pastoral care to their children needs to be "the primary concern" (AL, 243-45).

And:

The ministry of accompaniment is a collaborative effort of priests and laity who understand themselves to be missionary disciples, who experience the love of the Lord in their encounter with him and who seek to share it with others.

The cardinal has sections on "accompanying the hurting," "accompanying the anonymous" and an especially interesting section on "accompanying the distracted."

All three, but especially this last, reveal a frank but not fretful assessment of the challenges modern families face, a sense of realism about what is possible, especially at first, but also a great confidence in the fact that God's grace is already active in the lives of people and, to repeat a theme of Amoris Laetitia, that God's revelation continues especially in family life.

It is, as it is in the Scriptures, a privileged place for God's self-revelation.

This is the paradigm shift.

It is not enough for a minister of the Gospel to repeat what the Church teaches and hope that is enough to make marriages more solid, still less bring comfort to the divorced and remarried. Continue reading

• Michael Sean Winters is a Visiting Fellow at Catholic University's Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies.
• Image: Real Clear Religion

Wuerl's comments were made at the beginning of the 'Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel' in Florida on 2 July. About 3,500 Catholic leaders including 150 bishops from around the United States were at the convocation.

"Now we are at a point where this Holy Father is saying all that energy, let's do something with it, and people are responding and saying: I do feel my call," Wuerl says.

"I think one of the really significant elements of this [convocation] is the vast majority of participants will be laywomen and laymen, and that speaks to what is happening in our Church. It's the Second Vatican Council making its way … slowly but surely…but doesn't the Church work that way?

"Think of it, when you look out into that array of people, you are going to see the face of the world, because that's who we are in the United States: Every ethnic tradition, how many languages, how many backgrounds, how much heritage? And all there under the banner of ‘We believe in Jesus Christ'."

Wuerl says we need to thank God for the gift of the Spirit.

"When we look ... at that crowd, whether it's when we are having the talks, at the Mass, when we are having the presentations, and you realise what holds all of us together is our faith, because people have different appreciations of everything else going on ...

"In our country - economically, politically, culturally socially - it's so diverse, but the one thing that brings us together…is the Holy Spirit.

"It's like that Pentecost experience, ...[and we need]... to hold that together," Wuerl says.

Source

• Crux
• Cardinal Sean's blog
• Image: The Compass

Wuerl is the Cardinal of the Washington archdiocese.

Although many churches are offering their buildings as sanctuaries to immigrants hoping to avoid deportation, Wuerl says he doesn't think the churches can actually provide that security.

"When we use the word sanctuary, we have to be very careful that we're not holding out false hope. We wouldn't want to say, ‘Stay here, we'll protect you," he said.

In his view, the separation of the responsibilities of church and state make sanctuary in the traditional sense unlikely.

"With separation of church and state, the church really does not have the right to say, ‘You come in this building and the law doesn't apply to you.' But we do want to say we'll be a voice for you," he said.

Wuerl said providing food and legal representation for immigrants was among the Washington Archdiocese's top priorities.

Source

• Washington Post
• Catholic Register
• Image: ChurchMilitant