Reports: Cdl Müller out at the CDF [UPDATED]

Vatican City, May 10, 2018 / 10:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan, arrived in Rome earlier this week ahead of meetings with the pope and other Vatican officials – the first such visit in 10 years, and their first meeting with Francis since his election.

The delegation of seven bishops will meet with the pope next week for an ad limina visit – a customary meeting for diocesan bishops to give an update on the state of their dioceses – which typically takes place every five years.

The bishops of Taiwan last made an ad limina visit in December 2008 with Benedict XVI.

The bishops have brought two gifts for the pope: a painting by Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian missionary to China who served as a painter in the court of three emperors in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and a painting titled “Merciful Sun Shines on Taiwan,” by Tawanese artist Chia Shen-chen.

Before leaving for Rome, the bishops met with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, and with Vice President Chen Chien-jen – a devout Catholic who visited the Vatican for the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta in 2016 – who held a farewell dinner to express the government’s respect for the Church and the importance of Vatican-Taiwan relations.

The ad limina visit comes during a time of increased pressure from mainland China on Taiwan.

The Holy See has recognized the Republic of China since 1942, and does not have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, which consolidated control of the mainland at the conclusion of a civil war in 1949.

The People’s Republic insists that Taiwan is a rebel province, and place heavy pressure on countries not to recognize the island as a sovereign state. The Holy See is among the most prominent sovereign entities to do so.

Vatican journalist Francis Rocca reports in the Wall Street Journal that recent negotiations between the Holy See and mainland China may have stalled as the government has cracked down more severely on religious institutions, starting with the implementation of new regulations in February.

The Holy See has been in negotiations with the communist Chinese government in recent months that could eventually lead to Vatican recognition of seven illicitly ordained bishops aligned with Beijing, but which could end up sidelining the Church in Taiwan if an agreement leads to diplomatic ties being formed between the Holy See and Beijing.

Archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan of Taipei, speaking to Reuters in March, said the Church in Taiwan did not anticipate that the Holy See and mainland China would establish diplomatic relations, because to do so requires sharing “common values with each other.”

“The values the Vatican holds are different from those of the Chinese Communist Party. Building ties with the Vatican requires values including freedom and democracy,” Archbishop Hung said.

Taiwan has fewer than 300,000 Catholics – two percent of the population – and seven dioceses. There are seven active bishops, and six who are retired.

Bishop Bosco Lin Chi-nan of Tainan and Archbishop Hung are both close to turning 75, when they will be required to submit their retirement, potentially opening up two sees to new bishop appointments if Pope Francis accepts their resignations.

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Vatican City, Mar 8, 2019 / 10:25 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Friday that global development goals need to be supported by ethical objectives stemming from personal conversion and recognition of one’s failures.

“The economic and political objectives must be supported by ethical objectives, which presuppose a change of attitude, the Bible would say a change of heart,” the pope said March 8 at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.

“Already St. John Paul II spoke about the need to ‘encourage and sustain an ecological conversion,’” he said, referencing a 2001 catechesis of one of his predecessors. “Religions have a key role to play here.”

Francis emphasized that “for a correct transition to a sustainable future, it is necessary to recognize ‘one’s own mistakes, sins, vices or negligence,’ ‘to repent of heart, to change from within,’ to be reconciled with others, with creation and with the Creator,” as he wrote in his 2015 encyclical on the environment, Laudato si’.

“Indeed, we should all commit ourselves to promoting and implementing the development goals that are supported by our deepest religious and ethical values,” he urged. “Human development is not only an economic question or concerns only experts, but is above all a vocation, a call that requires a free and responsible response.”

The pope addressed Vatican officials, religious representatives, and members of international organizations participating in a March 7-9 conference on “Religions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Listening to the cry of the earth and the poor.”

The conference was hosted by the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

The SDGs are 17 global goals covering social and economic development issues, including poverty, hunger, education, energy, and the environment. The goals were set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 as a part of what is called the “2030 Agenda” resolution.

In his speech to conference participants Friday, Pope Francis praised the SDGs and 2030 Agenda as “a great step forward for global dialogue, in the sign of a necessary ‘new universal solidarity.’”

“As my predecessor St. Paul VI highlighted, talking about human development means referring to all people – not just a few – and to the whole human person – not just to the material dimension,” he said.

Urging people to look for concrete answers and commitments, he noted he was pleased conference participants were seeking the input of religious persons in the discussion of the implementation of sustainable development objectives.

“In the case of religious people, we need to open the treasures of our best traditions with regard to a true and respectful dialogue on how to build the future of our planet,” he said.

The pope also underlined the importance of including in the discussion the voices of indigenous people, who he said, though a very small percentage of the world’s overall population, “take care of almost 22 percent of the earth’s surface” and “protect about 80 percent of the planet’s biodiversity.”

“Their voice and their concerns should be at the center of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and at the center of the search for new roads for a sustainable future,” he stated, adding that he and other bishops will be discussing the topic at the Synod of Bishops on the pan-amazon region, being held in October.

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Vatican City, Nov 4, 2018 / 05:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis expressed sorrow for the victims of an attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt in his Angelus address Sunday.

Islamic militants ambushed a bus carrying Coptic Christian pilgrims to a desert monastery south of Cairo on Friday, killing seven and leaving 19 injured.

“I pray for the victims, pilgrims killed just because they are Christians, and I ask Holy Mary to console their families and the whole community,” Pope Francis said Nov. 4.

The Coptic Orthodox Church held funerals on Saturday for six of the victims, who were killed while on pilgrimage to Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery in Egypt’s Minya province. The Islamic State claims to be behind Friday’s attack.

“Love for God and love for neighbor are inseparable,” Pope Francis said Sunday. “It would be an illusion to claim to love our neighbor without loving God; and it would be just as illusory to claim to love God without loving our neighbor.”

“My neighbor is the person I meet along my journey,” the pope said. I cannot “pre-select” my neighbor, he stressed, “This is not Christian.”

“Today’s Gospel invites all of us to be attentive not only towards the urgencies of the poorest brothers, but above all to be attentive to their need for fraternal closeness, for the meaning of life and tenderness,” Francis told the 20,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“We can say that the hungry not only needs a plate of soup, but also a smile, to be heard, and even a prayer, maybe done together,” the pope continued.

Pope Francis expressed gratitude for the beatification of Blessed Mother Clelia Merloni on Saturday.

Mother Merloni was a 20th century Italian religious sister whose life was marked by both suffering and evangelical initiative.

As foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Merloni was “a woman fully abandoned to God’s will, zealous in charity, patient in adversity and heroic in forgiveness,” Pope Francis said.

“Let us give thanks to God for the luminous Gospel witness of this new Blessed and let us follow her example of goodness and mercy.”

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