The vigil of the First Sunday of Lent was the day chosen to celebrate the historic Mass.

The last Mass celebrated at St Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535.

After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin's Reformed Protestant Church.

All the cathedral's statues, paintings and stained-glass windows were destroyed and Catholic worship was banned.

Around 1,500 people attended the Mass, led by the episcopal vicar of Geneva Father Pascal Desthieux.

Among those present was a representative of the Protestant community, who faced the congregation and formally asked pardon for historic actions against Christian unity.

Desthieux said Geneva's Catholics were touched by the Protestant community's invitation to celebrate Mass at St Pierre Cathedral.

He also asked for forgiveness for "faults against unity": acts of mockery, caricature, or challenge to the Reformed community.

He underlined the desire to "enrich each other with our differences."

Couples from religiously mixed marriages "live ecumenism in the most intimate way," he said.

He urged everyone to "resist the forces of division in our lives between us and among us Christians."

Once a stained-glass window, it was replaced after the Reformation.

The Mass has been planned for two years but delayed because of COVID quarantine restrictions.

In a letter published on the vicariate's website in 2020, Desthieux described the cathedral as the "central and symbolic location of Geneva's Christian history."

It has its Catholic history and following the Reformation, it became a location "emblematic of the Calvinist reform," he said.

While acknowledging that the return of the Catholic Mass to the cathedral was a cause for rejoicing, Desthieux cautioned against "triumphalism," as well as any language suggesting that Catholics were looking to "take over" the building.

"With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva," he said, adding that the Mass was a "gesture of hospitality" within the city's Christian community.

Source

• CNA

The Holy See press office said on Feb. 15 that the pope had named Msgr. Joseph Marie Bonnemain as bishop of Chur in eastern Switzerland.

Bonnemain, a 72-year-old member of Opus Dei, previously served as judicial vicar and canon of the cathedral chapter of Chur diocese. He succeeds Bishop Vitus Huonder, who retired on May 20, 2019, at the age of 77.

Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel welcomed the appointment.

"After years of waiting for a new bishop for the diocese of Chur, the election of Joseph Maria Bonnemain is a great sign of peace and hope for the diocese of Chur and the entire Church in Switzerland," Gmür said.

"Bishop Joseph is a bridge-builder — a person of clarity and a conciliatory clergyman who knows how to integrate opinions."

CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner, reported that the diocese has seen fierce internal battles and the new bishop's priority will be to heal divisions in the diocese.

Pope Pius XII established the current rules for the selection of bishops in the diocese in the 1948 decree "Etsi salva." It gives the cathedral chapter the privilege of electing a bishop from among three priests proposed by the Holy See.

Local media reported last November that Chur's cathedral chapter had rejected all three candidates proposed by Pope Francis. At the top of the list was Bonnemain, reportedly rejected for being too old and for his "ideological evolution."

Bonnemain was the only candidate with a direct connection to the diocese, which dates back to 451. The diocese covers seven of the 26 cantons of Switzerland, including the canton of Zürich.

The bishop-elect was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1948, to a Swiss father and Catalan mother. He studied medicine in Zürich, graduating in 1975. After completing his philosophical and theological studies in Rome, he was ordained a priest of Opus Dei on Aug. 15, 1978.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Catholic Culture

Denis Theurillat, who was the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Basel cited "the increasing burdens of his office" as his reason for resigning five years before the customary retirement age for bishops.

"I realized [after having an accident last year] that the time had come to step down and think about a new chapter in my life," he said.

Pope Francis has accepted Theurillat's resignation.

Although his concerns about a possible schism were not mentioned, it is just months since Theurillat told the Swiss Catholic Church's website kath.ch that he would like to participate in a council on women priests.

His wish for such a council goes against Pope St John Paul IIs 1994 apostolic letter "Ordinatio sacerdotalis" in which he declared:

"... the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

His wish for the Church to discuss the matter of women priests is also out of sync with the current pope's views.

In 2016 Francis told journalists during an in-flight press conference: "the final word [about ordaining women] is clear, it was said by St. John Paul II and this remains."

However, in calling for the council on women priests, Theurillat's concern focused more on unity in the Church and a potential schism than on a view either way.

What he did say, was: "The facts are on the table, the time is ripe. All the bishops of the world should come together and decide: yes or no."

The question should not be decided by Pope Francis alone, "otherwise we will experience a schism," he said.

The interview was published as Theurillat celebrated his 70th birthday.

The Swiss bishops' conference says it is surprised to hear of Theurillat's resignation.

During his 20 years of service, Theurillat showed himself to be a "man of dialogue," the Conference reported.

His ministry included traveling to World Youth Day four times with a Swiss youth delegation. He also organised an encounter between 20,000 young people and John Paul II during the Polish pope's visit to Switzerland in 2004.

Source

• CNA
• Image:Nau

Gmür says the Church's history shows that over time there have been different election procedures for bishops.

"It was only with the publication of the ecclesiastical code of law (CIC) in 1917 that the right to elect bishops was expressly granted to the Pope."

It is simply not true that while the 1917 Code tried to create the impression that the papal right of appointment was ancient and other models were based purely on an act of grace by the pope.

"So the development is only a hundred years old," Gmür writes in an article for Forum.

Since the earliest days of the Church, the broadest possible participation of lay people and other Church bodies were considered necessary in episcopal appointments.

"He who is to preside over all must be elected by all," writes Gmür, quoting fifth-century pope Leo the Great.

Gmür went through an uncommon election process to become Bishop of Basel.

Appointed bishop on the basis of a vote of the cathedral chapter that was subsequently confirmed by the Pope, a privilege that dates back to the Vienna Concordat of 1448, a similar procedure also applies in the St Gallen diocese.

However, Gmür wants a new process that goes past the models used in these dioceses.

He says that while these processes are wider than a papal appointment, the processes also suffer from shortcomings including a veto on priests not incardinated into those dioceses and the informal understanding - not institutionalised - that the cathedral chapters will take into account the perspectives of diocesan priests and laity in their voting.

"Mechanisms need to be found, according to the respective cultural sensitivities, to ensure that the whole diocesan people of God is adequately represented" in the appointment of its shepherds, Gmür underlined.

The Swiss bishop also warned of other possible pitfalls.

Gmür is of the view the procedure for selecting candidates and electing the bishop must not "under any circumstances" be organised as a democratic election campaign.

It must be designed as "a process of spiritual discernment leading to a decision that is as unanimous as possible" he insists.

"Here the Church can learn from those religious orders which have been practising this for a long time."

"Models for the election of bishops, supported locally by the faithful and at the same time supported by the universal Church, should not be the exception, but the rule." he reiterated.

Sources

• Novena News
• Forum

The mass will be celebrated at Saint-Pierre de Genève Cathedral on 29 February.

The last Mass celebrated at the cathedral took place in 1535. After the Reformation, it was taken over by John Calvin's Reformed Protestant Church.

The cathedral's statues and paintings were destroyed and Catholic worship was banned.

The Catholic episcopal vicar for Geneva, Fr. Pascal Desthieux, says the cathedral is the "central and symbolic location of Geneva's Christian history".

Following the reformation, the cathedral became a location "emblematic of the Calvinist reform," he said.

John Calvin, who founded Calvinism, lived in Geneva.

The city was a destination for French Protestant refugees, who were fleeing persecution in France.

The cathedral became Calvin's home church and his chair is displayed next to the pulpit.

While acknowledging that the return of Catholic Mass to the cathedral is a cause for rejoicing, Desthieux - who will celebrate the mass - warned against any "triumphalism," as well as any language suggesting the Catholics are looking to "take over" the building.

"With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva," he said.

He underlined that making the cathedral available for the Mass is a "gesture of hospitality" within the Christian community of the city.

"Our Protestant brothers will welcome us, and we will let ourselves be welcomed," he said.

The date and timing of the Mass was chosen to coincide with the beginning of Lent.

It will be celebrated at 6:30 p.m., making it the vigil Mass of the first Sunday of Lent.

"We have chosen to have this historic Mass at the beginning of Lent, to include a penitential process where we ask forgiveness for our sins against unity," he said.

All other Saturday vigil Masses in Geneva will be cancelled on 29 February to encourage all Geneva's Catholics to attend the Mass at the cathedral.

Various media reports have suggested Protestant attendees at the Mass will be invited to receive Communion, though this is prohibited by canon law.

Others have contradicted the possibility.

Saying everyone is welcome at the mass and quoting Redemptionis Sacramentum, Desthieux explained that Protestants who attend Mass are not generally permitted to receive Communion.

"However, in such special circumstances, we practice what we call eucharistic hospitality by welcoming all people who come forward to receive the Body of Christ," he said.

He did not explain what "eucharistic hospitality" means or if and on what basis Communion would be knowingly distributed to Protestants.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image:Admin Ch
  

The streets are empty except for a dozen women and their pimps - women from some of the world's poorest regions including Moldova, Romania, West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Some are still in their teens.

Not far away are numerous massage parlors and saunas offering women and girls for sale.

There is a ‘drive-through' brothel and, in 2016, a local businessman applied to the city authorities for a license to open a "fellatio cafe".

The cafe has yet to open, but the application stated that for 50 Swiss francs (£40), customers would be able to choose a woman from photographs on an iPad menu, before ordering sex with their cappuccino.

This is not Amsterdam or a seedy quarter of one Asia's megacities.

It is Geneva, Switzerland, home to the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and countless other UN bodies and NGOs dedicated to humanitarian causes.

Human trafficking and modern slavery are supposed to be what they are fighting against.

Yet here it is happening at scale right under their noses.

Switzerland is a primary (as opposed to a transit) destination for women being trafficked into the sex trade.

Victims originate mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, but also from Thailand, Nigeria, China, Brazil, Cameroon, the Dominican Republic and Morocco.

Although trafficking is illegal, the fuel for it - prostitution - is not. Until 2013, it was perfectly legal here to pay for sex with 16-year-old girls. Now it's 18 and the trade is booming.

According to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), an international NGO, around 14,000 women are currently selling sex in Switzerland, with approximately 70 per cent coming outside the famously conservative nation.

Prosecutions are rare but two years ago a woman was convicted of trafficking 80 Thai women into Switzerland who were sent to brothels in Bern, Solothurn, Lucerne, Basel, St. Gallen and Zurich.

Like hundreds, perhaps thousands of others, they were kept under lock and key and forced to service local men to pay off their "travel debt".

One who, aged 20, was taken from her home in Romania into a brothel in Basel and who now volunteers for an NGO in Zurich said she had been regularly beaten.

"The men in Switzerland are much richer and more educated than our men, but [they] are the same with us. They abuse us and think they can because they pay."

The country's willingness to see women trafficked and sold on its streets in broad daylight flies in the face of its reputation as a place of sanctuary.

A retired British police officer who until recently worked as a consultant for an anti-trafficking organisation, knows Geneva well and has led a number of operations to disrupt international trafficking in Europe. Continue reading

• Image: Truckers against trafficking

It can be heard at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.

Bankers sprinkle it into the presentations; politicians use it leave an impression on discussion panels.

The buzzword is "inclusion" and it refers to a trait that Western industrialized nations seem to be on the verge of losing: the ability to allow as many layers of society as possible to benefit from economic advancement and participate in political life.

The term is now even being used at meetings of a more exclusive character, as was the case in London in May.

Some 250 wealthy and extremely wealthy individuals, from Google Chairman Eric Schmidt to Unilever CEO Paul Polman, gathered in a venerable castle on the Thames River to lament the fact that in today's capitalism, there is too little left over for the lower income classes.

Former US President Bill Clinton found fault with the "uneven distribution of opportunity," while IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was critical of the numerous financial scandals.

The hostess of the meeting, investor and bank heir Lynn Forester de Rothschild, said she was concerned about social cohesion, noting that citizens had "lost confidence in their governments."

It isn't necessary, of course, to attend the London conference on "inclusive capitalism" to realize that industrialized countries have a problem.

When the Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago, the West's liberal economic and social order seemed on the verge of an unstoppable march of triumph.

Communism had failed, politicians worldwide were singing the praises of deregulated markets and US political scientist Francis Fukuyama was invoking the "end of history." Continue reading

Source and Image:

• Spiegel Online

Dr Peter Saunders, now chief executive officer of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the number of euthanasia cases increased from 24 to 1133 in the 10 years to 2011.

He said Belgium has eclipsed the Netherlands, the American state of Oregon and Switzerland "in the race to become the ‘world leader'".

Continue reading