CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The Vatican Secretary of State was admitted to a Roman hospital Tuesday for a scheduled surgery to treat prostate enlargement.
“It is expected that in a few days he will be able to leave the hospital and gradually resume his work,” the Holy See Press Office said Dec. 8.
Pietro Cardinal Parolin is being treated at Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic.
The cardinal, who is 65, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Vicenza in 1980.
He was consecrated a bishop in 2009, when he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Venezeula.
Cardinal Parolin has served as Vatican Secretary of State since 2013, and he has been on the Council of Cardinals since 2014.
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Rome Newsroom, Jan 6, 2025 / 06:08 am Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego, to lead the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the Vatican announced Monday. The 70-year-old cardinal, who holds doctorates […]
Vatican City, Mar 20, 2018 / 07:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Pope Francis offered his condolences for the death of Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, the disgraced former archbishop of Edinburgh, who died Monday at the age of 80 in a hospital in northern England.
The Pope’s March 20 message was addressed to Archbishop Leo Cushley, who was appointed to head the archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 after O’Brien stepped down following his acknowledgment that he participated in inappropriate sexual conduct during his ministry.
In the brief message, Francis said he was saddened to hear of O’Brien’s death and offered his heartfelt condolences to his family and those who mourn him.
“Commending his soul to the merciful love of God our Father, and with the assurance of my prayers for the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and consolation in our Lord Jesus Christ,” he wrote.
The funeral and burial arrangements for the cardinal are still being determined. Scottish newspaper The Herald reported March 20 that the Holy See will be a participant in the decision, as well as Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who the Pope appointed to manage the O’Brien scandal in 2013.
According to The Herald, an archdiocesan spokesperson said O’Brien’s funeral arrangements “will be decided in the days to come.”
“There will be consultation between the Holy See – the Holy Father will have an input – and Keith O’Brien’s family as to where his requiem Mass takes place and when and where he is buried.”
Born in Ballycastle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland in 1938, O’Brien was named archbishop of St. Andrews & Edinburgh by St. John Paul II in 1985.
From 2002-2012, O’Brien served as President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. He was made a cardinal by John Paul II in 2003 and participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI.
He stepped down as Archbishop of St. Andrews & Edinburgh in 2013 at the age of 74 after allegations went public that he had participated in inappropriate sexual behavior with other men in the 1980s.
After the claims surfaced that February, the cardinal’s request for retirement – originally submitted to Benedict XVI in November 2012 for reasons due to age and health – was accepted immediately by Benedict, going into effect Feb. 25, 2013.
O’Brien did not participate in the March 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, and in May 2013, after speaking with the newly-elected Pope, he left Scotland for a time of prayer, penance and reflection.
Two years later, Francis accepted his resignation of the rights and privileges of cardinal – a rare circumstance which can only be approved by the pope.
Pope Francis waves to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his Angelus address n Sunday, June 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 9, 2024 / 09:05 am (CNA).
Pope Francis urged people to reflect on Sunday on whether they are sacrificing their serenity and freedom to be enslaved by money, power, and pleasure.
Speaking in his Angelus address on June 9, the pope asked people to contemplate the temptations that can imprison us and the freedom found in Christ
“If we let ourselves be conditioned by the quest for pleasure, power, money, or consensus, we become slaves to these things,” he said.
“If instead we allow God’s freely-given love to fill us and expand our heart, and if we let it overflow spontaneously by giving it back to others with our whole selves without fear, calculation, or conditioning, then we grow in freedom and spread its good fragrance around us in our homes, in our families, and in our communities.”
In his speech from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pope highlighted the many ways in which “Jesus was a free man.”
Jesus was not enslaved by wealth, but embraced “a poor life full of uncertainties, freely taking care of the sick and whoever came to ask him for help, without ever asking for anything in return.”
“He was free with regard to power,” Francis added. “Indeed, despite calling many to follow him, He never obliged anyone to do so, nor did he ever seek out the support of the powerful, but always took the side of the least, teaching his disciples to do likewise.”
The Lord was also free from the need “for fame and approval, and for this reason, he never gave up speaking the truth,” he said.
Pope Francis underlined that Jesus never gave up speaking the truth “even at the cost of not being understood or becoming unpopular — even to the point of dying on the cross.” The pope added that Jesus did not allow himself “to be intimidated, bought, or corrupted by anything or anyone.”
Pope Francis asked people to spend some time reflecting on “this freedom of Jesus,” and then to examine their consciences as to whether there are any areas in life where they are “imprisoned by the myths of money, power, and success.”
After leading the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square in the Angelus prayer in Latin, the pope made a passionate appeal for peace in the Holy Land, asking people to pray for the ceasefire negotiations and urging the international community to ensure that humanitarian aid arrives for those who are most in need.
At his Angelus address June 9, Pope Francis asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and in Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis also asked people to pray for the people who are suffering in Myanmar and Ukraine, giving a special shoutout to some Ukrainians who were in the crowd waving flags.
“May the Virgin Mary help us live and love like Jesus taught us, in the freedom of the children of God,” Pope Francis said.
Wishing Pietro Cardinal Parolin good health. God bless.