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Tag: pope

  • Coronavirus: Panic as Pope appears in public ill, cancels planned retreat

    Coronavirus: Panic as Pope appears in public ill, cancels planned retreat

    There was panic at the Vatican City on Sunday after Pope Francis said he was cancelling a planned six-day spiritual retreat south of Rome after coming down with a “cold”.

    “Unfortunately, a cold forced me not to take part this year,” the 83-year-old pontiff said after coughing a couple of times during his weekly Sunday appearance from a Vatican window in front of supporters.

    The cancellation of the retreat, which was supposed to start Sunday, came as Italy battles Europe’s worst outbreak of the new coronavirus that has spread from China across much of the world.

    The number of cases in Italy surpassed 1,000 on Saturday.

    There have been 29 confirmed deaths and 105 people were receiving intensive care treatment in hospital — all of them in three adjacent northern regions near Milan.

    The Vatican quickly shot down speculation that the pope himself had come down with COVID-19.

    “There is no evidence to suggest a diagnosis of anything other than a slight ailment,” a Vatican spokesman told AFP Sunday.

    The pope himself looked relatively strong Sunday despite two coughing fits that forced him to briefly turn away from the crowd.

    Yet concerns about his health have been mounting for days.

    He first looked like he might have a cold on Wednesday and lightened his workload for the rest of the week.

    The Vatican said a “mild ailment” had forced him to spend Thursday around his Saint Martha’s guest house in the Vatican.

    But he still continued celebrating the morning mass and receiving visitors even as public events were cancelled and schools closed across swathes of Italy this week because of the coronavirus outbreak.

    He met with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church head Sviatoslav Shevchuk and was meant to join the entire Roman Curia — the Holy See’s administrative institutions — at the retreat on Sunday.

    He was also due to celebrate a daily mass in a chapel and listen to the teachings of a Jesuit preacher while seated alongside members of the Curia.

    The Argentine-born pontiff lost part of a lung as a young man and suffers from sciatica — a nerve condition that causes pain in his hip.

    Yet he rarely cancels appointments and enjoys mingling with supporters and the faithful.

  • Pope announces decision on married priests Feb. 12

    The Vatican on Friday said Pope Francis will on Feb. 12 release a document in response to a proposal to allow married men into the priesthood.

    The proposal is strictly limited to the Amazon region.

    It was made in October by a summit of bishops, known as a synod, in order to deal with a serious shortage of clergy in the sparsely-populated South American rainforest region.

    The idea outrages traditionalists, who fear it could open the way to the complete abolition of the celibacy rule for priests, which is not part of church dogma but has been in place since the Middle Ages.

    In a so-called Apostolic Exhortation, the pope is expected to take a decision on the issue.

    The Vatican said the document will be called Querida Amazonia, (Dear Amazon).

    Francis is also due to weigh on other issues discussed by the Amazon synod, including social justice and climate change, minority rights and the role of women in the church.

    A positive decision on married priests could exacerbate tensions between the pope and his conservative critics, who see his papacy as excessively liberal.

    A previous bone of contention was Francis’ decision to soften a ban on Holy Communion for remarried divorced people, taken in 2016 following a proposal from another bishops’ summit.

  • Pope to Pope: Don’t allow married men into priesthood

    Pope to Pope: Don’t allow married men into priesthood

    Former pope Benedict XVI has publicly urged his successor Pope Francis not to open the Catholic priesthood up to married men, in a plea that stunned Vatican experts.

    The ex-pontiff, who retired in 2013, issued the defence of clerical celibacy in a book written with arch-conservative Cardinal Robert Sarah, extracts of which were published exclusively by France’s Le Figaro.

    “I cannot keep silent!” Benedict wrote in the book, which follows an extraordinary meeting of bishops from the Amazonian at the Vatican last year that recommended the ordination of married men in certain circumstances.

    The pope emeritus, 92, and Sarah from Guinea weighed in on the controversial question of whether or not to allow “viri probati” — married “men of proven virtue” — to join the priesthood.

    Francis is currently considering allowing it in remote locations, such as the Amazon, where communities seldom have Mass due to a lack of priests, and is expected to publish his decision in the coming weeks.

    The pair asked the whole Church not to be “swayed” by “bad pleas, theatrics, diabolical lies, fashionable errors that want to devalue priestly celibacy”.

    “It is urgent, necessary, that everyone, bishops, priests and laity, let themselves be guided once more by faith as they look upon the Church and on priestly celibacy that protects her mystery,” they wrote.

    They warned of priests “confused by the incessant questioning of their consecrated celibacy”.

    “The conjugal state concerns man in his totality, and since the service of the Lord also requires the total gift of man, it does not seem possible to realise the two vocations simultaneously,” Benedict wrote.

    Sarah insisted that while celibacy can be “a trial” it is also “a liberation”.

    Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in almost 600 years, at first withdrew to a life of quiet contemplation in the Vatican, but has increasingly begun to speak out on key Catholic issues.

  • Pope apologizes for slapping woman on New Year’s Eve

    Pope apologizes for slapping woman on New Year’s Eve

    Pope Francis apologised Wednesday for his widely-viewed slap of a woman who had grabbed his hand as he greeted Catholic faithful on New Year’s Eve.

    The image of Francis slapping his way free from the clutches of the admirer was an instant hit on social media.

    A personal apology followed.

    “We lose patience many times,” Francis confessed.

    “It happens to me too. I apologise for the bad example given yesterday,” the head of the Catholic church said before celebrating Mass at the Vatican.

    Twitter enthusiasts commented with abandon on the pontiff’s prompt riposte to the woman.

    Francis had greeted children before the Nativity scene on Saint Peter’s square and was turning away when the woman who had crossed herself then cried out something, pulled on his hand and almost caused him to fall.

    The 83-year-old pope grimaced before managing to break free by slapping her hand twice.

    He continued his tour, walking with some difficulty while maintaining a slightly greater distance from visitors, and gradually relaxed again as he came into contact with other children.

    Twitter comments were mostly supportive of the pontiff’s instinctive reaction.

    “HE IS HUMAN.. Been (sic) a Pope doesn’t make you immune to Pain or avoid Reaction to pain,” one typical comment read.

    In his first Mass of the New Year, the pontiff later denounced “all violence against women” as “a profanation of God, born of a woman.”

    Francis also said women were “the source of life” but deplored that they were constantly “offended, beaten, abused and forced into prostitution” and forced to “supress the life they carry within” them.

    He emphasised that the “rebirth of humanity began with a woman,” and bemoaned that women’s bodies were “sacrificed on the profane altars of advertising, profit, pornography.”

     

     

     

    www.france24.com

  • Xmas: Pope calls for peace, urges world leaders to end conflicts in Africa, other troubled states

    Pope Francis urged the world to let the light of Christmas pierce the “darkness in human hearts” that leads to religious persecution, social injustice, armed conflicts and fear of migrants.

    In his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) Christmas Day message, the 83-year-old pope called for peace in the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Venezuela, Ukraine and several African countries caught up in conflicts.

    The common thread of his address to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square and millions watching or listening around the world was that change starts in the hearts of individuals.

    “There is darkness in human hearts, yet the light of Christ is greater still,” Francis said, as he marked the seventh Christmas of his pontificate.

    “There is darkness in personal, family and social relationships, but the light of Christ is greater. There is darkness in economic, geopolitical and ecological conflicts, yet greater still is the light of Christ,” he said.

    Francis singled out the persecution of Christians by militant groups in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, asking God to console those who suffer for their faith.

    On Dec. 1, at least 14 people were shot dead in an attack on a church in eastern Burkina Faso, where an Islamist insurgency has ignited ethnic and religious tensions.

    Francis, who has been scorned by populist politicians because of his defense of refugees and migrants, dedicated a section of his address to their plight.

    “It is injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries. It is injustice that forces them to endure unspeakable forms of abuse, enslavement of every kind and torture in inhumane detention camps,” Francis said.

    This month, Francis called for the closing of migrant detention camps in Libya.

    “It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference,” he said.

    Francis said that while there were many huge problems in the world, people did not have to look far to correct injustices. They could make a difference in their own communities as a start to healing all the “suffering members of our human family”.

    “May (God) soften our often stony and self-centered hearts, and make them channels of his love. May he bring his smile, through our poor faces, to all the children of the world: to those who are abandoned and those who suffer violence,” Francis said.

    To underscore his message, the two cardinals Francis chose to join him on the basilica’s central balcony were Renato Martino, president emeritus of the Vatican’s immigration office, and Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner who distributes aid to Rome’s poor and homeless.

    “Through our frail hands, may he clothe those who have nothing to wear, give bread to the hungry and heal the sick,” he said, adding that through friendship, everyone could be close to the elderly, the lonely, migrants and marginalised people.

    “On this joyful Christmas Day, may he bring his tenderness to all and brighten the darkness of this world,” he said.

  • Pope abolishes ‘pontifical secrecy’ for sex abuse investigations

    Pope Francis on Tuesday announced sweeping changes to the way the Roman Catholic Church deals with cases of sexual abuse of minors, abolishing the rule of “pontifical secrecy” that previously covered them.

    Two documents issued by the pope back practices that have been in place in some countries, particularly the U.S., such as reporting suspicion of sex abuse to civil authorities where required by law.

    The documents, which put the practices into universal Church law, also forbid imposing an obligation of silence on those who report sex abuse or allege they have been a victim.

    “This is an epochal decision,” Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and the Vatican’s most experienced sex abuse investigator, told Vatican Radio.

    The lifting of “pontifical secrecy” in sex abuse investigations was a key demand by Church leaders, including Scicluna and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, at a summit on sexual abuse held at the Vatican in February.

    They argued that secrecy in cases of sexual abuse of minors was outdated and some Church officials were hiding behind it instead of cooperating with authorities.

    Scicluna said the new provisions open up ways to communicate with victims and cooperate with the state.

    “Certain jurisdictions would have easily quoted the pontifical secret to say that they could not, and that they were not, authorised to share information with either state authorities or the victims.

    “Now that impediment, we might call it that way, has been lifted, and the pontifical secret is no more an excuse,” Scicluna said.

    One of the documents also raises to 18 or under from 14 or under the age that pictures of individuals can be considered child pornography “for purposes of sexual gratification, by whatever means or using whatever technology”.

    In 2018, a Vatican court sentenced a Catholic priest to five years in jail for possessing child pornography while he was based in the U.S. as a diplomat.

    On Tuesday, the pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Holy See’s ambassador to France, who has been accused of sexual molestation.

    The Catholic Church has been hit by scandal involving the sexual abuse of children by priests around the world in the past 20 years.

    Francis has vowed zero tolerance for offenders but victims of abuse want him to do more and make bishops who allegedly covered up the abuse accountable.

    Both documents issued on Tuesday are known as rescriptums, where the pope uses his authority to rewrite specific articles of canon law or parts of previous papal documents.

  • Pope commends Morocco for accepting migrants

    Pope commends Morocco for accepting migrants

    Pope Francis has commended the people and government of Morocco for accepting and being hospitable to migrants.

    The Pope who was on a two day visit to Morocco gave the commendation at a grand reception organised for him at Esplanade Mausoleum in Rabat.

    The Pope assured migrants that the church was aware and shared in their sufferings.

    He urged governments to take concrete action to address the challenges that forced many people to flee their countries leaving their families behind.

    According to him, the issue of migration cannot be resolved by building high walls or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families.

    “This is because we know that true peace comes through the pursuit of social justice which indispensable for correcting the economic imbalances and political unrest that is causing conflicts and threatening the whole of humanity. ”

    Pope Francis also stressed the need for leaders to adopt dialogue in resolving religious conflicts and other crises in their countries.

    He said his visit was to further advance the need for inter-religious dialogue and mutual understanding.

    “If we wish to build a society that is open, fraternal and respectful of differences, it is vital to foster the culture of dialogue and adhere to it unfailingly.

    “We need to adopt mutual cooperation as our code of conduct and reciprocal understanding as our way of life.

    “We are called to pursue this path tirelessly in our effort to help each other overcome tensions and misunderstandings, cliches and stereotypes that penetrate fear and opposition,” the Pope said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Pope Francis was born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Dec. 17, 1936 in Buenos Aires.

    He chose Francis as his Papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi.

    The Pope was ordained priest in 1969, and became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998.

    He was also the first Jesuit Pope and the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, the first visit and hold Papal Mass in the Arabian Peninsula and the first Pope form outside Europe.

    NAN reports that the UN said some 7,500 undocumented migrant children are enrolled in Morocco’s schooling system, according to a new report released by UNESCO.

    The Global Education Monitoring report for 2019, entitled: “Migration, displacement and education: Building Bridges, Not Walls”, found that a change in the law to accommodate immigrant children by lowering the standards of documentation required had resulted in thousands receiving access to education.

    According to UNESCO, Morocco’s 2011 constitution altered the Law No. 4, which had limited access to education to only Moroccan children, by stipulating that all minors in the country had a right to receive schooling.

    The study hailed the efforts of the Ministry of Education to open access to education for children from sub-Saharan African countries in 2013, but added that some document requirements are still somewhat “difficult to meet”.

  • Sex abuse: Pope defrocks 88-year old Cardinal McCarrick

    In a first for the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal over accusations American Theodore McCarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday.

    McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse.

    He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with “no further recourse”, according to the statement.

    It said McCarrick was guilty of “sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power”.

    The announcement marks a spectacular fall from grace for the once influential cardinal and comes ahead of a Vatican conference from February 21-24 bringing together bishops from around the world to discuss protecting children within the Church.

    Sex abuse scandals around the globe, and most recently in the United States and Chile, have shaken the church, with Pope Francis promising a policy of “zero tolerance” even for high-ranking church members.

    McCarrick, former archbishop emeritus of Washington, was barred from practising as a priest in July last year, after which he resigned his honorary title of cardinal. He currently lives in Kansas.

    The US Conference of Catholic Bishops reacted swiftly, saying the decision “is a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated”.

    “No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops conference, said in a statement which also called for all victims of abuse to contact the police.

    SNAP, a group representing survivors of abuse by priests, suggested Saturday that the McCarrick decision had been “‘fast-tracked’ by the hierarchy” in the days before the Vatican abuse conference “because it’s so damning”.

    The group called on Catholic officials to practise the transparency they have promised, and said in a statement that criminal charges should be filed not just against McCarrick but “against Church officials who hid his wrongdoing for decades”.

  • Pope talks tough, says ‘better to be an atheist than a hypocritical Christian’

    Pope Francis has criticised hypocrites in the Catholic Church during his general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday.

    “How often do we see the scandals of these people who go to church and are there every day, and then they lead a life in which they hate others or talk badly about other people.

    “Better not go to church: Live like an atheist,’’ Francis said.

    During the audience, the Argentinian leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics demonstrated his ability to connect with ordinary people.

    He, however, received members of the Cuban National Circus, while he laughed with the dancing artists and balanced a football on his fingertip.

  • Pope finally auctions Lamborghini gift, donates £715,000 proceeds to charities

    A Lamborghini Huracán gifted to Pope Francis was sold for €715,000 (N308m) at the Sotheby auction held on Saturday, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, and the proceeds will be donated to four charities, reveals Lamborghini.

    The proceeds from the sale according to the Lamborghini website will be directly handed over to the head of the catholic church, who has decided to set it aside for four charity entities: the Pontifical Foundation “Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre” (Aid to the Church in Need) to rebuild the Nineveh Plain in Iraq in order to guarantee the Christians’ return thanks to the rebuilding of housing, public structures and places of worship; the Pope John XXIII Community, which devotes itself to women victims of trade and prostitution on the tenth anniversary of the death of Don Oreste Benzi and on the 50th anniversary of the Community’s foundation, “Progetto Casa Papa Francesco” (Pope Francis House Project); two Italian associations that carry out activities above all in Africa, GICAM headed by Dr. Marco Lanzetta (hand surgeon) and “Amici per il Centrafrica” (Friends of Central Africa), which has been working with projects primarily dedicated to women and children for years.

    The Huracán RWD was personally autographed by Pope Francis during the presentation ceremony at the Vatican City on November 27, 2017 in the presence of Stefano Domenicali, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Automobili Lamborghini, a delegation of the company’s Management Board and two workers who contributed to the car’s construction.

    Built by the Lamborghini “Ad Personam” customization department, this unique and special model is painted Bianco Monocerus (white) with Giallo Tiberino (yellow) stripes running along the body in homage to the colors of the Vatican City flag.