"Women cannot be called to this office" Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller stated during an interview with Swiss portal kath.ch on 7 June.

Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained that the exclusion of women from priestly ordination is rooted in the sacrament itself.

He emphasised the theological belief that, while all people are fundamentally equal in their relationship with God, only men can embody the role of Christ within the Church.

Just as "a man cannot become a mother and a woman cannot become a father", it is only men who are called to the priesthood Müller said

"The vocation comes from God. One would have to complain to God himself that he created human beings as man and woman."

He also referenced the symbolic nature of the Church which is traditionally viewed as female, with Mary, the Mother of God, serving as its archetype. Thus, Müller asserted "Only a man can represent Christ in relation to the Church".

The Church "must not change this"

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, echoed Müller's sentiments.

Speaking at ITI Catholic University in Austria on 1 June, Schönborn expressed his conviction that the Church "cannot and must not change this because it must keep the mystery of women present in an unadulterated way".

"We were all born of a woman. This will always be reflected in the mystery of the Church."

He stressed the importance of maintaining the Church's traditional teaching on this issue, as Pope John Paul II articulated in 1994.

In his apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul II declared that the Church has "no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women" and that this teaching must be "definitively held by all the Church's faithful".

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Catholic World Report

CathNews New Zealand

After what has been labelled as a significant address, discussion took place against the backdrop of the dicastery's annual plenary assembly.

The assembly focused on enhancing the liturgical formation for clergy and laity in line with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the Pope's recent reflections.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Council's foundational document on the liturgy, which set the stage for sweeping reforms intended to make the Church's rituals more accessible and meaningful to the faithful worldwide.

Pope Francis used this occasion to reiterate that genuine reform of the Church is impossible without a reinvigoration of its liturgical life.

"Without liturgical reform, there is no reform of the Church" declared the Pope. He outlined a vision of a Church that engages actively with its people's spiritual and pastoral needs, bridges divisions among Christians and proclaims the Gospel with renewed vigour.

During the address, Francis spoke passionately about the importance of priests' fidelity and their relationship with the Church.

Keen to animate the Church's mission in the modern world, Francis urged the Dicastery for Divine Worship to proceed in close cooperation with other Vatican bodies, such as the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

In affirming the centrality of the liturgy to the life of the Church and as a way of encountering Christ, he says the Dicastery's focus is to ensure the liturgical life of the Church is vibrant and a unifying force for Catholics around the globe.

Liturgy and church life a single coherent unity

"At its most profound level, Sacrosanctum Concilium articulates a renewed understanding of the Church, where the liturgy of the church and the life of the baptised form a single coherent unity.

"Sacrosanctum Concilium was the first Constitution issued by the Council, not only because of the decades-long research that preceded it and the liturgical reforms of Pope St Pius X and Pope Pius XII but, most importantly, according to Pope Benedict XVI, because the liturgical life of the Church is central to the very existence of the Church.

"2,147 bishops at the Council overwhelmingly approved Sacrosanctum Concilium" Dr Joe Grayland told CathNews recently.

Source

• CNA
• CathNews

Sixty years hence, we can reflect on the impact of this document on New Zealand's theological landscape and liturgical practices.

Sacrosanctum Concilium is the cornerstone of Vatican II because it addresses more than just ritual adjustments to the 1962 rites.

At its most profound level, it articulates a renewed understanding of the Church, where the liturgy of the church and the life of the baptised form a single coherent unity.

Sacrosanctum Concilium was the first Constitution issued by the Council, not only because of the decades-long research that preceded it and the liturgical reforms of Pope St Pius X and Pope Pius XII but, most importantly, according to Pope Benedict XVI, because the liturgical life of the Church is central to the very existence of the Church.

2,147 bishops at the Council overwhelmingly approved Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Only four voted against the Church's cornerstone document and the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was promulgated by Pope St Paul VI on December 4, 1963.

Historical Snapshot

The journey of implementation unfolded gradually in New Zealand.

The bishops, cognizant of the sweeping changes, decided not to alter liturgical practices until the publication of the first Instruction on February 5, 1964.

Throughout 1964, New Zealanders, were kept abreast of liturgical developments through publications like Tablet and Zealandia, while the bishops prepared to implement the Mass in English.

On May 16, 1964, the decree permitting the use of English and Maori (vernacular) in the Mass reached New Zealand, outlining its application in parish Masses, Religious community Masses, and special occasions such as requiem and nuptial Masses.

A circular letter from the New Zealand bishops, dated July 10, 1964, further authorised changes in the Mass and extended permission for English in sacraments and funeral rites.

The final form of the New Mass was introduced on the First Sunday of Advent, 1970.

Throughout the late 1960s, religious women had been very prominent in the liturgical changes.

At the same time, they were exploring their original charisms under the guidance of Perfectæ Caritatis, the Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life (28 October 1965).

In New Zealand's four dioceses, some diocesan priests gave practical leadership to the reforms, many of whom used French, German, and English sources.

Most of these priests were associated with the St Paul's group at the National Seminary, Holy Cross during the 1950s which had been foundered by Basil Meeking, later Bishop of Christchurch, one of New Zealand's greatest advocates for the new Order of Mass (Novus Ordo).

In Christchurch, Bishop Brian Ashby displayed a nuanced approach to reform and emphasised practical ecumenism.

He established two commissions for Liturgy and Music with Fr Basil Meeking, playing a central role.

Indeed, Meeking was sometimes too Avant guarde in his approach.

There is much anecdotal evidence of his parish church resounding to the sounds of modern music long before this practice became popular.

And much to the horror and bewilderment of the majority of parishioners there was also the sight of liturgical dance.

In Auckland, Auxiliary Bishop, Reginald Delargey, emerged as the one who seamlessly embraced the reforms of Vatican II.

Delargey's enthusiasm came from his involvement with the Catholic Action or Cardijn movement.

Lay Catholic involvement was strong during this period of reform, especially from those involved in Catholic Action and the Young Christian Worker Movements.

Delargy's emphasis on the lay apostolate in theology and liturgy set him apart from Archbishop Listen (Auckland), Cardinal McKeefry and Bishop Sneddon (Wellington), and Bishop Kavanagh (Dunedin).

The Clergy and Laity

Both clergy and laity faced challenges transitioning from a rigid ritual practice of worship to one where the liturgy itself was seen as the principal way the Church does its pastoral work.

In short, the advent of Pastoral Liturgy.

Priests, accustomed to meticulous liturgical manuals, grappled with adaptability and laity, used to non-participatory forms of worship now had to adapt to praying the Mass and the sacramental rites with the priest.

Celebrating the Mass to the people (missa cum populo) for the priests meant facing the congregation and for the congregants, it meant seeing the priest presiding.

Consequently, altars had to be repositioned and lecterns introduced because previously the priest had read the epistle and Gospel at the altar.

Using our vernacular languages (English and Maori) was not new, but it was different, and new texts for shared proclamation had to be written and learned.

Although the "Dialogue Mass" with bi-lingual missals in Latin and English had been introduced in 1939, and Maori congregations had participated in the Roman Canon's prayers for the dead, these changes to language, posture and inclusion were significant.

As an example, our language changed from "going to hear mass" on Sundays to "celebrating the liturgy", or "celebrating the Eucharist" on Sundays.

"Liturgy", became a new word that, also, unfortunately, covered a multitude of mistakes as well.

Contemporary Context

Since the Council the voices for the reinstatement of the 1962 Roman Missal and the rites before 1962 became more strident, creating the so-called "liturgical wars", which as Pope Francis wrote in Traditiones Custodes, has led to a division in the church through their rejection of the Second Vatican Council as the Church's highest teaching authority.

Given this division, Pope Francis, guided by the bishops of the Church, abrogated the pre-Vatican rites and reserved permission to use them to the Holy See.

He did this to preserve the unity of the Church, through the use of the liturgical rites promulgated by Saints Paul IV and John Paul II.

Pope Francis has also offered Bishops' Conferences the opportunity to adapt liturgical rites further to local culture, language, and use.

This allows for the revision of many prayers in the current 2010 translation, excluding the Eucharistic Prayer.

The biggest danger to the New Zealand Church at present is the loss of 60 years of work towards a Church that is pastorally focused through liturgical prayer and responsive to the Signs of the Times.

Without this, the "self-revealing God" of the Scriptures and Tradition is replaced with devotionalism.

Many parish communities are endangered by laity and clergy who disenfranchise local communities through clerical structures and mentalities that belong more to the past than they do to the present.

Marking 60 years of Sacrosanctum Concilium is an opportunity to consider what the New Zealand Church has been through, tell the story, and ask those joining the Church to respond to this history in positive and life-giving ways.

• Dr Joe Grayland is a Liturgical Theologian and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Tübingen (Germany). He has been a priest of the Diocese of Palmerston North for nearly thirty years. His latest book is: Catholics. Prayer, Belief and Diversity in a Secular Context (Te Hepara Pai, 2021).

Spanning multiple decades and contentious geopolitical eras, Kissinger's interactions with the Vatican reveal a tapestry of discussions and alliances.

In a notable instance in 1975, Kissinger was involved in a four-way conversation with Pope Paul VI, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli and US President Gerald Ford.

Kissinger, then the US Secretary of State, held a pivotal presence as the group discussed multifaceted issues ranging from the Middle East conflicts to European politics.

Records from the conversation shed light on Kissinger's rapport with the Vatican.

Paul VI referred to him as an "old friend," hinting at previous encounters that rose above mere diplomatic formalities.

Counsellor to popes

While Kissinger is best known for having the ear of presidents, he was also often a counsellor to popes.

His first meeting with Pope John Paul II came during a private audience in 1979. However, the meeting didn't occur under the most favourable of circumstances. Kissinger opined the choice of a Polish pope was a provocation to Moscow and might not be "good for humanity".

Despite initial reservations about Pope John Paul II's election, Kissinger's relationship with the pontiff blossomed. It led to frequent interactions over a quarter-century.

Kissinger's interactions with subsequent popes, including Benedict XVI, further underlined the depth of his engagement with the Vatican.

The German pontiff and the German-born Henry Kissinger had a very strong relationship. Such was their understanding that Benedict reportedly asked Kissinger to serve on an unofficial council of foreign policy advisors. The Vatican subsequently denied the rumour.

Kissinger AI warning

"The German philosopher Emmanuel Kant wrote an essay in the eighteenth century in which he said someday there will be universal peace. The only issue is whether it will come about by human insight or by catastrophes of such a magnitude that we have no choice" Kissinger told a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in 2007.

"He was right then, and he is right today, although some of us may add that it may take some divine guidance and not just insight to solve the problem" Henry Kissinger said.

Until his passing, Kissinger stayed abreast of global developments. His insights remained sought after, delving into contemporary topics like the advent of Artificial Intelligence. He cautioned against its potential for catastrophic peril, emphasising the grave dangers it could pose.

Sources

Crux Now

CathNews New Zealand

The singer, whose remains have just been returned to her family after she was found dead in London aged 56, caused a storm when she ripped up the image of the pontiff during a live performance on ‘Saturday Night Live.'

But contrary to widespread reports, she only did it to protest the Catholic church's cover-up of sexual abuse; the singer meant the controversial moment to target all abusers.

She said about the incident in a passage from her 2021 memoir ‘Rememberings' that has resurfaced since her death: "My intention had always been to destroy my mother's photo of the pope.

"It represented lies and liars and abuse. The type of people who kept these things were devils like my mother."

Read More

The Vatican announced on July 5 that the 86-year-old pope has formed a commission of experts whose task is to identify the Christian martyrs of the last twenty-five years. He intends to create a new martyrology of those more recently killed for the faith in preparation for the Church's upcoming Jubilee in 2025.

"The research will concern not only the Catholic Church, but will extend to all Christian denominations," the pope states in his letter constituting the "Commission of New Martyrs-Witness of the Faith."

Read More

The accusations on Polish TV channel TVN24 have sparked a national debate.

Some defend the late pontiff's legacy, while others demand justice for the victims and accountability for those who may have covered up the abuse.

The period scrutinised in the documentary is the 1960s and 1970s before Karol Wojtyla was elected pope in 1978.

John Paul II is viewed as a national hero in Poland because of his opposition to communism and strong influence on Polish politics and culture.

However, the scandal is being used by some to score political points.

Some in Poland have said that the allegations should lead to a reassessment of John Paul II's legacy.

Members of the opposition alliance, The Left, is calling for John Paul II to be 'cancelled,' removing his name from public spaces, including schools and kindergartens named after him.

However, Poland's conservative political alliance, the United Right, has seized the opportunity to divert attention from its problems.

The Law and Justice party (PiS), the largest party in the alliance, is under pressure due to rising prices and several corruption scandals.

The government's response was swift and strongly worded: Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the accusations "an attempt to trigger a culture war in Poland."

Culture Minister Piotr Glinski went so far as to say that "an attack on the pope is an attack on Poland".

The current archbishop of Krakow, Marek Jedraszewski, sang a similar tune, speaking of a "second assassination attempt on John Paul II" - a reference to a gunman who seriously injured John Paul II in the Vatican in May 1981.

"Wojtyla was a child of his era"

Yet the dispute about the accusations against John Paul II transcends the usual left-right political divide.

An icon of Poland's liberal opposition, Adam Michnik, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, has called on people not to reduce the pope to the clerical sex abuse scandal.

"Wojtyla was a child of his era. What is a matter of course for us today was not a matter of course 40 years ago," said Michnik.

Pope Francis has called for understanding.

"You have to put things in the context of the era. [...] At that time everything was covered up. […] It was only when the Boston scandal broke that the church began to look at the problem," said the pope in a recent interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion.

The Polish Bishops' Conference responded to the documentary by stating that further archival research was necessary to evaluate Karol Wojtyla's decisions and actions.

Furthermore, they announced the formation of an independent team to investigate cases of sexual abuse by clerics in all dioceses and religious orders in Poland.

Sources

Deutsche Welle (DW)

The Irish Times

CathNews New Zealand

The report aired on TVN24, a major news channel in Poland, and has sparked controversy among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

A former priest named Marek Dziewiecki provided testimony for the report, claiming that he informed Archbishop Wojtyla about sexual abuse within the Church in the 1970s.

Dziewiecki claims that he was told to keep quiet about the issue and that nothing was done to address it.

The report cites other sources claiming that Archbishop Wojtyla was aware of the problem but chose not to act.

In the March 6 story, TVN24 named three priests whom the future pope had moved among parishes or sent to a cloister during the 1970s, including one sent to Austria, after they were accused of abusing minors.

TVN24 said its investigation found that two of the priests, Eugeniusz Surgent and Jozef Loranc, eventually served short prison terms for the abuse.

Allegations of sexual abuse have plagued the Catholic Church for decades, and the issue has been particularly contentious in Poland in recent years.

The country has a deeply religious population, and the Catholic Church has long significantly influenced Polish society.

However, in recent years, scandals involving priests and allegations of abuse have rocked the Church's reputation and led to calls for reform.

Full investigation called for

The TVN24 report is likely to add fuel to the fire, with many people calling for a full investigation into the allegations.

The report comes at a time when the Catholic Church is already facing intense scrutiny over handling sexual abuse cases in Poland and worldwide.

The Polish-born pope is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Catholic Church in the 20th century.

He served as Pope from 1978 until he died in 2005 and, for the Catholic Church, was quickly canonised a saint.

The canonisation took place in 2014.

However, the allegations made in the TVN24 report raise serious questions about the legacy of Pope John Paul II and his handling of the sexual abuse issue.

10/03/23 Updated with two unattributed paragraphs removed.

Sources

SCNOW

National Catholic Register

And, of the three most recent popes, Pell said he was closest to Benedict.

His remarks came during "The Church Up Close" a webinar hosted by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

In quick thumbnails of the three popes, Pell described St John Paul as "one of the greatest popes in history, of course".

He praised Benedict's "prodigious intellect".

Francis, he said, has the "great gift of empathy and sympathy" which includes Francis's welcoming approach to divorced and remarried couples and LGBTQ Catholics and his prioritisation of fighting climate change.

However, when asked why some conservative Catholics are hostile to Francis, Pell said he believes some "wonder just what is being taught" at the moment.

He did not elaborate on specific issues.

"Pope Francis has a great gift, like Jesus did, of reaching out to those on the peripheries and sinners and that can and has confused people.

Pell worked closely with Francis for five years, and when many called for Pell's sacking after initially first being convicted of sexual abuse, Francis showed him respect, the prudence of judgment and mercy.

Asked if he was "still a climate change denier," Pell said he's "never denied climate change".

He says he's a "very strong" believer in it but is ambivalent about what can be done by humans to prevent it.

After listing several historical examples he said he is "well aware" the Rhine River dried up twice in the Middle Ages and that it was warmer at the time of Christ than today.

"What I am against, is inflated ideas that we can do very much at all to mitigate, to change these immense natural patterns.

"No computer program forecasting the future of climate change has been accurate."

In his opinion, there is a "vast distance between the evidence and the policy recommendations."

"Pagan people like something to be frightened of," he added.

Pell also reflected on his imprisonment for sexual abuse before being cleared in 2020 by Australia's high court and offered journalists some literary advice.

For a better understanding of the church, he suggests the journalists read Ross Douthat, George Weigel, and Rod Dreher's book, 'The Benedict Option'.

"The Benedict Option is not my option," Pell said.

"I'm not sympathetic to just a small, little elite church."

"I would like to keep as many of the semi-religious slobs like myself in the stream."

"The Church Up Close webinar series is targeted to journalists around the world to help them better understand the dynamics of the Vatican.

Pell was archbishop of Melbourne, Australia, from 1996 to 2001 and then led the Sydney Archdiocese from 2001 until Francis invited him to oversee the Vatican's financial reforms in 2014.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican News

"I come from the land of William Tell and we weren't brought up to be subservient," he said.

"Why should we always crawl? Standing tall suits a theologian too."

Küng paid dearly for that independence, being stripped of his right to teach Catholic theology by St. John Paul II and repeatedly frustrated in his efforts to reform the tradition-bound Vatican.

But Küng's theology books became bestsellers, his articles were printed around the world and his causes — such as abolishing priestly celibacy, challenging papal infallibility and championing interreligious dialogue — became markers for a more open and questioning Catholicism.

"Küng remained one of the spokesmen of an informal global liberal Catholicism that never found its organizational form," said Bernhard Lang, a German theologian who studied under Küng at Tübingen University.

"The rebellious Swiss was jokingly called ‘Martin Luther Küng' by his followers, but he didn't see himself as a Martin Luther." He never wanted to found a new church, just reform the Catholic one he belonged to, Lang noted in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

"Hans Küng loved the church. He even loved the pope," Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel, head of the Swiss bishops' conference, said on learning the theologian had died in his home in Tübingen in southwestern Germany.

"He wanted a renewed church that deals with people's lives as they are and the world as it is."

Bishop Georg Bätzing, head of the bishops' conference in neighbouring Germany, hailed his "concern to make the gospel message understandable and give it a place in believers' lives."

It's often forgotten that Küng, who was born in Sursee in Lucerne canton in 1928, was a loyal priest in good standing, educated in Catholic universities in Rome and Paris and incardinated, or registered as a priest, in his home diocese of Basel. He also wore suits, drove sports cars and skied until late in his long life.

He was self-assured to the point of arrogance, unafraid to criticize popes and question church teachings. After the Vatican barred him from teaching Catholic theology in 1979, he continued as a professor of ecumenical theology at Tübingen, whose theology department has a deep tradition that included Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. In 1995 Küng launched the Global Ethic Foundation to find common ethical ground among the world's faiths.

Küng crossed swords early on with the Vatican, which began investigating him in 1957 after he published a book questioning whether Catholics and Protestants were really so divided over issues that led to the Reformation.

He played an active role at the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, whereas a theological adviser he argued for liberalizing reforms and dashed off speeches in Latin — the official council language — for bishops from several countries to read to the plenary.

In subsequent years, he repeatedly challenged church teaching with bestsellers such as "Infallible?" (1970), "On Being a Christian" (1974) and "Does God Exist?" (1978). After he wrote a stinging criticism of St. John Paul II's first year in office, the Vatican withdrew his permission to teach Catholic theology.

That didn't stop him. Among other of his over 70 books were "Can the Catholic Church Be Saved?" (2011). In "Die Happy?" (2014), he said he might opt for assisted suicide — which the church opposes — "if I show any signs of dementia."

His growing interest in other religions prompted Küng, who spoke six languages fluently, to also write books about Judaism, Islam and Asian faiths. His works have been translated into about 30 different languages.

Küng had a famously complicated relationship with Pope Benedict XVI, whom he brought to Tübingen to teach in the 1960s when the then-Father Ratzinger was a liberal theologian. He later turned more conservative and headed the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog agency, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, before becoming pope in 2005.

Shortly after that, the two former colleagues held a private meeting to discuss world ethical questions. Benedict did not lift Küng's teaching ban and the theologian soon went back to blasting the conservative pope.

Küng's work on global ethics brought him into contact with political and social leaders around the world. Before the United Nations General Assembly in 2001, he repeated the motto: "No peace among nations without peace among religions. No peace among religions without dialogue between the religions. No dialogue between the religions without investigation of the foundation of the religions."

He was enthusiastic at the election of Pope Francis in 2013, seeing in him a possible successor to the reforming Pope John XXIII, but gradually grew disillusioned with him too.

The Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano carried an interview on Wednesday with Cardinal Walter Kasper, former head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, who was Küng's assistant in Tübingen as a graduate student in the early 1960s.

"He was a combative man, he loved a dialogue painted in strong colours," the German cardinal recalled. "We had our differences, but that never caused any enmity. … In the depth of his heart, he was Catholic.

He never thought of leaving the church." Küng had given the church "reform ideas that have become current issues in Germany," Kasper said, including ideas such as women's ordination or optional celibacy with which Kasper did not agree.

But younger church leaders have drifted in Küng's direction. Gmür and Bätzing, for example, support blessing same-sex couples, as does Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.

"Küng spearheaded two major developments in Catholic theology after Vatican II," Massimo Faggioli, professor of historical theology at Villanova University, told Religion News Service.

"His books took theology out of the shadow of church control and he looked at religions with a global perspective. His work on global ethics made him unique in appeal and influence."

Margot Kässmann, a prominent German Lutheran theologian, recalled Küng's example for others.

"As a student, I learned from him how to stand tall," she said. "You have to stand up for your convictions, even if they are not always a majority in your church."

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also a Protestant, praised Küng as an exemplary public intellectual in a condolence message to his sister.

"With his Swiss incorruptibility, he never evaded the necessary dispute about the right path to peace and understanding," he wrote.

The London Catholic weekly The Tablet, a regular outlet for Küng's articles, called the late theologian "one of the most influential and prophetic voices of 20th century Christianity."

It quoted the Rev Yves Congar, a French theologian also active at the Second Vatican Council, as saying of his Swiss colleague: "Küng goes straight ahead like an arrow. He is a demanding, revolutionary type, rather impatient … We need such people."

• Tom Heneghan is an author at Religion News Service. Republished with permission.

The report documented the rise of disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was laicized by Pope Francis in 2019 after he was credibly accused of abusing minors, after rumors had for decades swirled around both the United States and the Vatican about his sexual misconduct with seminarians.

John Paul played a significant role in McCarrick's rise, appointing him Bishop of Metuchen, Archbishop of Newark, and Archbishop of Washington before creating him a cardinal in 2001.

Read More

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan said most bishops worldwide also ignored the proposal.

He said: "The title of Doctor of the Church is reserved for saints who performed a special service, especially in the development of theology.

"The idea of patrons for all Europe is quite a new one, dating from the twentieth century when the founders of Europe's contemporary order looked for ways of integrating our continent's nations and states. Although the first stage of our initiative has been completed, and the appropriate seeds sown in the ground, it seems we'll now need a lot of patience."

Read More

He was 95.

Known for his trademark black beret and loose white peasant shirts, the author of works such as "Epigrams" and "Zero Hour" was one of the most important and honoured poets in Nicaraguan history.

Cardenal penned verse that went around the globe and lived until his last days with a lucidity that inspired amazement and admiration in the literary world.

"Our beloved poet has begun the process of integrating with the universe, with the greatest intimacy with God," his personal assistant, Luz Marina Acosta, said Sunday.

Bosco Centeno, a close friend of Cardenal, told The Associated Press the poet was hospitalized in Nicaragua's capital of Managua a couple of days ago with a heart problem.

Cardenal received numerous awards during his lifetime including the Reina Sofia poetry prize in 2012, and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1980.

Argentine poet Jorge Boccanera once said of Cardenal's writing that he "loses his life and at the same time discovers it in a profound delivery; in consecrating and offering himself in that dialogue of soul and blood."

Cardenal was also an essayist and sculptor, and the herons he fashioned from stone and metal are highly prized in Central American cultural circles.

Born Jan. 20, 1925, to a wealthy family in the colonial city of Granada southeast of the Nicaraguan capital, Cardenal became a priest in Colombia and later became enamoured of the leftist Liberation Theology movement that swept through Latin America during the 1960s, centred on ministering to the poor and liberating the oppressed.

On the Solentiname Islands in Lake Nicaragua, he founded a community of peasants, poets and painters in 1966 that came to symbolize artistic opposition to the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, who was overthrown in 1979 by Sandinista rebels.

Cardenal actively supported the revolution and served as culture minister during the first government of former Sandinista guerrilla Daniel Ortega — causing him to run afoul of then-Pope John Paul II, who firmly held that clerics should not hold political office.

The pontiff was also staunchly anti-communist and opposed some parts of Liberation Theology.

In 1983, John Paul publicly upbraided Cardenal at Managua's international airport at the beginning of a tense visit.

When Cardenal knelt in front of the pope and moved to kiss his hand, the pontiff withdrew it and pointed his finger at him in a moment caught in a widely circulated photograph.

"You should regularize your situation," the pope scolded. Later that year he suspended Cardenal from the priesthood along with his brother Fernando, who was then serving as minister of education.

Only late in life was Cardenal's suspension lifted by Pope Francis: In February 2019, as Cardenal was in the hospital, the Vatican noted that he had accepted the punishment, refrained from pastoral activity and long ago abandoned the political arena.

The Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua visited him at the hospital and joined him in celebrating Mass, a moment that Cardenal's personal assistant described as "very moving" and said made him "very happy."

While Cardenal never held political office again, that didn't mean he shied away from speaking his mind, and the erstwhile supporter of Ortega distanced himself from his former Sandinista sympathizers over his disagreement with the ex-guerrilla's partisan leadership. Continue reading

"It was destiny. And it was destiny he survived. I am very glad he didn't die.

"The Pope became like a brother to me. When he died [in 2005] I felt like my brother or my best friend had died."

After 29 years in jail he has renounced his violent past and neighbours know him better as the kind man who daily feeds stray cats and dogs.

He said: "I think of how I shot the Pope on most days... not every day now but most days.

"I'm a good man now. I try to live my life properly. When I shot him I was 23. I was young and I was ignorant." Read more

She told the prelates, including the Papal Nuncio, that her critics had taken out of context her recent comment that the Catholic Church was deliberately making women powerless and that it was using a logic comparable in certain respects to that of a rapist. Continue reading

Catholic teaching on ecology prior to Pope Francis

In 1971 the document Justice in the World, issued by the Synod of Bishops, represented a major step in the development of Catholic teaching on the environment; Barbara Ward-Jackson was a consultant before and during the synod and undoubtedly had a considerable influence on its outcome.

This document emphasised the close link between ecology and justice; one could say that it linked an ‘option for the poor' with an ‘option for the earth' - though it did not use these terms.

It insisted that it is not possible for all parts of the world to have the kind of ‘development' which characterised the wealthy countries.

It therefore called on those who are rich ‘to accept a less material way of life, with less waste, in order to avoid the destruction of the heritage which they are obliged by absolute justice to share with all other members of the human race.'

Pope John Paul II

In his first encyclical, Redemptor hominis (1979), Pope John Paul II warned about ‘the threat of pollution of the natural environment'.

In his 1987 encyclical, Solicitudo rei socialis, he referred to ‘the limits of available resources' and used the term ‘the integrity and cycles of nature'.

In describing the relationship between humans and the rest of nature, John Paul sometimes used language which we would now avoid - writing of ‘the exploitation of the earth' in a favourable sense and of the human person as ‘master' of the earth.

However, on the many occasions when he met indigenous peoples in various parts of the world, he invariably stressed the vital relationship that exists between indigenous peoples and their land.

John Paul's 1990 ‘Message for the World Day of Peace' provided a quite comprehensive teaching on ecology and went a long way towards enabling the Catholic Church to catch up with the approach which had been developed in the World Council of Churches. It pointed out that:

The gradual depletion of the ozone layer and the related ‘greenhouse effect' has now reached crisis proportions as a consequence of industrial growth, massive urban concentrations and vastly increased energy needs. Industrial waste, the burning of fossil fuels, unrestricted deforestation, the use of certain types of herbicides, coolants and propellants: all of these are known to harm the atmosphere and environment.

When it went on to consider how ecological problems can be overcome, this message insisted on the need for ‘a more internationally coordinated approach to the management of the earth's goods'; and it pointed out that the ecological problem cannot be solved unless modern society ‘takes a serious look at its life style.'

It insisted that: ‘simplicity, moderation and discipline, as well as a spirit of sacrifice, must become a part of everyday life'.

It also insisted on the integrity of creation.

Nevertheless, in this document and later ones, John Paul had an anthropocentric conception of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature - seeing the value of the rest of the natural world almost exclusively in terms of its value for humans.

In his 1991 social encyclical, Centesimus annus, John Paul said:

The earth ... is God's first gift ... But the earth does not yield its fruits without a particular human response to God's gift, that is to say, without work. It is through work that man ... succeeds in dominating the earth.

I have put the word ‘gift' in italics because it prefigures the strong emphasis by Pope Benedict XVI seventeen years later on the idea of the earth as a gift.

I have also put the word ‘dominating' in italics because it suggests that John Paul held on to the older understanding of God's command in the book of Genesis as a justification for dominating the rest of the natural world.

In Centesimus annus, John Paul made a contrast between natural ecology and what he called ‘human ecology', with the suggestion that the latter is more important.

I shall return to this issue in the second part of this article.

Nevertheless, John Paul made a very valuable contribution to Catholic Social Teaching by putting a strong emphasis on ecological issues.

One of the most significant aspects of his teaching came when, in a General Audience in 2001, he spoke of the need for humans to have an ‘ecological conversion.'

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI was deeply committed to raising awareness about the urgency of finding solutions to ecological problems and to promoting an ecologically respectful lifestyle.

But, perhaps even more strongly than John Paul II, he contrasted ‘the human environment' with the natural environment.

He insisted that there is an inseparable link between the two but held that the former is ‘more serious' and should be given priority.

In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate (2009), Pope Benedict maintained that the environment is ‘God's gift to everyone' and that we must respect the ‘inbuilt order' or ‘grammar' which God has given to nature, rather than treating it as raw material which we can use in any way we wish.

But he warned of the danger of seeing nature as more important than humans and seemed to be unduly concerned about the dangers of ‘neo-paganism or a new pantheism'.

He gave a quite detailed account of the various ecological issues we face and called for ‘a responsible stewardship over nature, in order to protect it, to enjoy its fruits and to cultivate it in new ways.'

He went on to point out the need for ‘an effective shift in mentality which can lead to the adoption of new life-styles'.

Benedict made an important contribution to Catholic Social Teaching by insisting on ‘inter-generational justice', ‘intergenerational solidarity,' and ‘a solidarity which embraces time and space'.

On the issue of the use of biotechnology for genetic modification (GM) the Vatican has given mixed messages, sometimes warning of its dangers and sometimes seeming to be quite in favour.

During the years when Cardinal Marino was head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, that Council seemed strongly in favour of GM.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church which it issued in 2004 gives a quite favourable account of biotechnology, though it does, of course, say that it should be used responsibly.

More recently, the attitude of the Pontifical Council seems rather more cautious and ambivalent.

I would suggest that neither Pope John Paul II nor Pope Benedict XVI sufficiently locate theeconomic issues we face in the context of ecology.

Furthermore, both popes could be said to have an anthropocentric approach to ecological issues.

So there is a need for a theologicalconversion alongside the ‘ecological conversion' which they have rightly called for.

The ‘theological conversion' which is needed is a paradigm shift which involves situating us humans, with all our achievements, our problems and our responsibilities, within the wider context of nature. Continue to read Pope Francis on ecology

As part of that chatter, anyone with even a remote connection to the Vatican was asked over and over again, "Will the pope resign?" Everyone had their own answer, but I was fairly confident John Paul would never go that route, and when pressed as to why, I would tell people I could explain it in one word.

That word was, "Fatima."

St. John Paul II, let us remember, once dreamt of being a Discalced Carmelite priest; the story goes that the only reason he didn't was because the Carmelite seminary in Czerna, Poland, at the time wasn't accepting new novices due to the war.

The young Karol Wojtyla was enchanted by the works of St. John of the Cross, and would later write his doctoral thesis on the great Carmelite saint.

The fascination was part of a strong mystical streak in the Polish pontiff, which also showed up in his deep conviction it was no accident that Sister Faustina Kowalska and her message of divine mercy came along in Poland between the two world wars, arguably the least merciful chapter of that country's long and painful history.

John Paul always saw the world, including the vicissitudes of his own life, as part of a vast cosmic drama, a struggle between good and evil, and was convinced that terrestrial explanations of the ups and downs he encountered never exhausted the possibilities.

All of which brings us to May 13, 1981, the date of the assassination attempt against John Paul II in St. Peter's Square, which was also the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. Continue reading

Sources

• John L. Allen Jr., writing in Crux
• Image: Wikipedia

But those aren't the only differences between Pope John Paul II's historic 1979 visit and Pope Francis' virgin trip to the US this week.

Pope Francis will find a church that is markedly different in a number of significant ways; so different, in fact, that it calls into question whether we can still refer to the Catholic Church in the US.

When JPII made his first visit US, he found a church that was in transition but largely intact.

Some 40 percent of Catholics went to mass in any given week and there were nearly 60,000 Catholic priests and 135,000 nuns, with the nation's 18,800 parishes boasting an average of two priests each.

The sacraments were still a major part of most Catholics' lives: there were nearly 1 million baptisms and 350,000 Catholic marriages.

The controversy over Humanae Vitae ten years earlier had largely subsided; most Catholics used birth control and most priests ignored the issue.

The Catholic Church had tried valiantly over the previous decade to make abortion a major political issue for Catholics as it pressed the issue of a constitutional ban, but with little success.

Even the head of the church's own National Committee for a Human Life Amendment admitted that the "overwhelming majority" of Catholics were apathetic about the issue.

Orthodox Catholics fretted about the rise of "cafeteria" Catholics who picked and chose from doctrine, particularly around issues related to sex, but most continued to identify as Catholics, raise their children as Catholics and take part in the life of the church.

Some formed reform groups like Call to Action and the Women's Ordination Conference to agitate for a more democratic church and clerical roles for women.

A very different Church

Pope Francis will find a very different church.

According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate

• Only one-quarter of Catholics attend mass every week (CARA has some of the best, most rigorous tracking of mass attendance; other surveys find higher percentages using more generous methodologies);
• the number of priests and nuns has declined precipitously; from 58,000 to 38,000 for priests and from 125,000 to 50,000 for nuns;
• despite a significantly larger population, there are 1,300 fewer parishes, with an average of just one priest per parish;
• some 3,500 parishes have no resident priest;
• the sacraments are no longer as central to the lives of Catholics;
• the number of baptisms has declined from nearly 1 million to just over 700,000, and the number of marriages within the church has declined by nearly half;
• only the number of Catholic funerals has held steady.

And while the number of Catholics overall has remained level, that's largely due to Hispanic migration to the US; some 40 percent of those born Catholic have left the church.

But numbers don't tell the whole story. The church Francis will encounter is fundamentally different in character from the church of John Paul in two important ways. Continue reading

Sources

• Religion Dispatches
• Image: Daily News

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson said this during testimony to the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Monday.

Bishop Robinson worked with other bishops on an Australia-wide clergy response to abuse, Towards Healing, from 1994.

But when this was close to being announced at the end of 1996, Cardinal Pell dropped a "bombshell".

Cardinal Pell, then the Archbishop of Melbourne, announced the archdiocese would release its own protocol, known as the Melbourne Response.

"He destroyed our unity," Bishop Robinson said.

The commission heard then-Archbishop Pell was compelled to come up with a response after then-Victorian premier Jeff Kennett forced the issue.

"[Cardinal Pell] said to me Jeff Kennett had said to him, 'You fix it or I'll fix it for you'," Bishop Robinson recalled in evidence.

Bishop Robinson, who is terminally ill, also said then-Archbishop Pell also acted this way because he wanted to be seen as a leader on abuse.

"What he came up with has a lot to recommend it, but I had very big problems with it too," Bishop Robinson, 78, said.

"The major one was that the very first point of contact for a victim was a QC in a city office . . . ."

The former auxiliary bishop of Sydney also said Pope John Paul II handled the abuse crisis poorly.

Bishop Robinson told the commission to imagine how different things would have been if John Paul II had said outright in 1997 he had received reports of widespread sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious which had shocked him to the core.

He said that would have sent out a message to the whole Church, but instead there was "silence" from the Pope.

"A real leadership like that from the Pope would have been marvellous, and from subsequent popes, now we still don't have that kind of leadership, not even from Francis," he said.

Bishop Robinson also said he did not believe celibacy had anything to do with child abuse among clergy.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Sydney Morning Herald
• SBS
• ABC
• Image: ABC

Instead, they accused her of being a bigot and a homophobe, called her intolerant, and changed the topic to something less intellectually taxing.

My friend's experience is practically a cliché. Americans who offer traditional viewpoints on moral issues in the public square have become accustomed to calumny. They know that reasoned arguments will rarely receive reasoned refutation.

In California, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has become the victim of a well-funded smear campaign because he expects that Catholic teachers shouldn't publicly undermine Catholic beliefs.

Last month, a philosophy professor was suspended from a Catholic university for criticizing heterodox instruction. Even non-believers suffer this fate. Fashion house Dolce and Gabbana is being boycotted because its owners believe that children deserve mothers and fathers.

In the cultural conversation about moral issues, reasoned arguments seem increasingly drowned out by personal attacks. And twenty years ago today, Pope St. John Paul II predicted this would happen.

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of John Paul's Evangelium Vitae, his encyclical on the mission of the Gospel of Life. Evangelium Vitae is probably the most comprehensive and compelling encyclical on moral issues I have ever read.

It addresses the evils of abortion, contraception, and euthanasia. But the encyclical is fundamentally concerned with the relationships between love, truth, freedom, and justice. Twenty years after its promulgation, we must return to Evangelium Vitae. Its message becomes more relevant each year. Continue reading

• Bishop James Conley in Public Discourse

James Conley is the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska.