Fr. Weinandy: “The USCCB strongly encouraged me to resign.” 

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Sep 18, 2024 / 08:54 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday said the Catholic Church is “more alive” outside of Europe as he reflected back on his recent apostolic journey to Southeast Asia.

“A first reflection that comes spontaneously after this trip is that in thinking about the Church we are still too Eurocentric, or, as they say, ‘Western,’” the pope said in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 18.

“But in reality, the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe … and may I say much more alive in these countries,” he added.

In his first general audience since returning from the longest international trip of his pontificate, the pope expressed gratitude to God for his experiences in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore Sept. 2–13.

“I thank the Lord who allowed me to do as an elderly pope what I would have liked to do as a young Jesuit,” Francis said.

The pope, who turns 88 in December, expressed his enthusiasm for the “missionary, outgoing Church” he encountered on his visit to the four island nations in Asia and Oceania.

In Indonesia, where only 3% of the Muslim-majority country’s population is Catholic, Pope Francis said that he encountered “a lively, dynamic Church, capable of living and transmitting the Gospel.”

The pope recalled his visit to the grounds of the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, where he signed a joint declaration with Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar condemning religious-based violence and promoting religious harmony. 

“There, I saw that fraternity is the future, it is the answer to anti-civilization, to the diabolical plots of hatred, war, and also sectarianism,” he said.

Pope Francis commented that the missionaries and catechists were the “protagonists” of his visit to Papua New Guinea, where the pope was welcomed by the beating drums of some of the country’s Indigenous tribes who have accepted the Catholic faith.

“I rejoiced to be able to stay a while with the missionaries and catechists of today; and I was moved to listen to the young people’s songs and music: In them, I saw a new future, without tribal violence, without dependency, without economic or ideological colonialism; a future of fraternity and care for the wondrous natural environment,” Francis said.

The pope added that he has “a beautiful memory” from traveling to the remote coastal town of Vanimo, a jungle outpost where he said Argentine missionaries “go into the jungle in search of the most hidden tribes.”

Pope Francis said that he experienced the “air of springtime” in East Timor, a small Catholic country that gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002.

He praised the Catholic country for its many large families and many religious vocations.

“I will never forget the smiles of the children,” he said. “In East Timor, I saw the youthfulness of the Church: families, children, young people, many seminarians and aspirants to consecrated life.”

Frequently throughout his trip, Pope Francis commended the high birth rates found not only in East Timor but also in Indonesia, saying that such high fertility rates should be an example for other countries around the world. 

On his return flight to Rome, the pope praised East Timor’s “culture of life,” adding that wealthier countries, including Singapore, could learn from the small country that “children are the future.”

Looking back on his final stop in Singapore, the pope remarked that the modern city-state was very different from other countries he visited during his apostolic journey.

“Even in wealthy Singapore there are the ‘little ones,’ who follow the Gospel and become salt and light, witnesses to a hope greater than what economic gains can guarantee,” he added.

Pope Francis reflected on his journey to the four tropical islands on a cloudy fall morning in Rome. The pope was quite animated as he spoke about his travels, frequently making extra comments off the cuff to the crowd. 

He underlined to the crowd that an “apostolic journey” is much different than tourism because “it is a journey to bring the Word of God, to make the Lord known, and also to know the soul of the people.”

At the end of the audience, the pope offered a prayer for the victims of the recent severe flooding in Europe and encouraged the local Catholic communities who are working to provide relief to the flooding caused by Storm Boris.

“In these days, heavy torrential rains have hit Central and Eastern Europe causing victims, missing persons, and extensive damage in Austria, Romania, Czech Republic, and Poland, who have to cope with tragic inconveniences caused by the floods. I assure everyone of my closeness, praying for those who have lost their lives and their families,” he said.

Pope Francis commented that there were many newly married couples who came to the general audience to receive his blessing for their marriages, with the Holy Father giving a shoutout to two Vatican employees who will be married in Vatican City this weekend.

The pope asked the Virgin Mary’s intercession for the newlyweds to have the grace “to accept work and daily crosses as opportunities for growth and purification of your love.”

Francis also prayed for the sick, elderly, and disabled present at the general audience.

“May Our Lady of Sorrows, whom we recalled a few days ago in the liturgy, help you, dear sick and elderly people, to grasp in suffering and difficulties the call to make of your existence a mission for the salvation of your brothers and sisters,” he said.

[…]

Grounds for hope are not found in institutional reform, psychological analysis, or new programs and protocols, but rather in a return to Jesus Christ. […]

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2021 / 02:00 am (CNA).- Mario Draghi, an economist and retired banker, was sworn in as prime minister of Italy on Saturday, after the previous government coalition collapsed when a party pulled its support for then prime minister Giuseppe Conte.

As President Sergio Mattarella’s pick to form a new government, Draghi was an unexpected choice. But he was able to win enough support to form a new coalition, appointing a mix of technocrats and politicians to his cabinet. 

Many in Italy hope that the 73-year-old Draghi, president of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019, can save the country’s faltering economy. He is credited with saving the failing euro during the eurozone crisis, earning him the nickname “Super Mario.”

Pope Francis signaled his approval for the economist in July 2020, when he named him as one of 26 ordinary academicians of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which promotes the study of economic and political sciences to aid the development of the Church’s social doctrine.

But Draghi, who has had private audiences and phone calls with Pope Francis, has been seen with favor from inside the Vatican for much longer.

The former banker, who described himself in 2015 as a “liberal socialist,” was featured in a November 2019 article in the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica, which is approved by the Secretariat of State and the Holy See before publication.

The article had high praise for Draghi, saying that he “emerges as a policymaker of the highest stature: to gratitude is added the hope that his way of proceeding without rhetoric, with in-depth analysis and vision, will be adopted in broader areas of both European and Italian politics.”

Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., La Civiltà Cattolica’s editor-in-chief, told the Italian news agency AdnKronos in early February, before Draghi was confirmed as prime minister, that “the figure of Draghi was the protagonist of one of the most complex phases in the recent history of Europe.”

Spadaro, seen to be close to Pope Francis, said that while a technocratic government was not ideal for Italy, it “could be a parenthesis intended as a moment of reflection” for the country before it returns to a political government. 

Draghi’s connections to the Jesuits begin from childhood. He attended a Jesuit-run school in Rome, the Massimiliano Massimo Institute, from fourth grade through the third year of high school, an experience for which he has expressed “profound gratitude.” 

In a 2010 interview with Vatican Radio, he recalled “the dedication of the Jesuit fathers” and the moral standards that the school imparted.

“A message that expressed that things had to be done to the best of one’s ability, that honesty was important, but above all that we were all special in some way. Not so much because we went to Massimo but because [we were] special as human persons,” he said.

While serving as president of the Bank of Italy in 2009, Draghi wrote an op-ed for the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, in which he commented on Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.”

The economic crisis “confirms the need for a relationship between ethics and economics,” Draghi noted in the more than 1,000-word article. “Every economic decision has moral consequences. This is even more true in the era of globalization…” 

“According to the Church’s social doctrine, if the autonomy of economic discipline implies indifference to ethics, man is pushed to abuse the economic instrument,” he said. “If it is no longer a means for achieving the ultimate goal — the common good — profit risks generating poverty.”

The economist was also a featured speaker at the August 2020 Rimini Meeting, an annual gathering in Italy organized by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation.

In 2019, he was given an honorary degree from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

At the awarding ceremony, university rector Franco Anelli called Draghi “the protagonist of an economy ‘in action,’ not just ‘in the books.’”

And in his own speech, Draghi told students of the university that he hoped they would “put their skills to public service.”

“There will be mistakes and retreats because the world is complex,” he said. “However, I hope that you will be comforted by the fact that in history, decisions based on knowledge, courage, and humility have always shown their quality.”

[…]