Dominican leader: St. Dominic can teach Catholics how to overcome divisions 800 years after death

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CNA Newsroom, Feb 17, 2023 / 16:15 pm (CNA).
After its passage in the Senate, Spain’s lower house passed the Law for the Real and Effective Equality of Trans Persons and for the Guarantee of LGTBI Rights, which will… […]

Left to right: Bishop Virgílio Antunes, Portuguese Episcopal Conference vice president; Bishop José Ornelas, conference president; and Father Manuel Barbosa, conference spokesman, during a press conference on March 3, 2023, which was held to discuss steps being taken to halt sexual abuse within the country’s Catholic Church. / Courtesy of 7 Margens

Fatima, Portugal, Mar 3, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

The bishops of Portugal on Friday began taking concrete steps to respond to a damning investigative report last month that estimated well over 4,000 children have been victims of sexual abuse within the country’s Catholic Church since the 1950s.

Meeting in a plenary assembly in Fátima, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference announced the creation of all-lay diocesan commissions and a memorial to victims that will be unveiled during World Youth Day, taking place in Lisbon Aug. 1–6, among other measures.

“We reiterate our deep gratitude to all the victims who have given their testimony over the last year. Without you, it would not have been possible to reach today. Thank you,” said Father Manuel Barbosa, a spokesman for the bishops’ conference.

“We also want to leave a word of courage to all the victims who still harbor the pain in the depths of their hearts,” he added, announcing that a “specific group” will be created, which will follow the model of the independent commission. In addition, the diocesan commissions that had already been created will now be “made up only of competent laypeople in the most diverse areas of activity, with the possibility of having an ecclesiastical assistant,” the bishops decided.

Another initiative announced was the creation of a memorial for victims of abuse. After World Youth Day, the memorial will be moved to a location outside the conference’s headquarters.

Barbosa also reiterated the request for forgiveness directed at “all victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Portugal,” adding that “this request will be made public in April,” in Fátima, during the bishops’ next assembly.

The bishops pledged to provide “spiritual, psychological, and psychiatric monitoring” to all victims and that it will have “zero tolerance towards all abusers and towards those who, in some way, concealed the abuses practiced within the Catholic Church.”

More investigation needed

Many of the priests and other alleged perpetrators of abuse identified in the independent commission’s final report, issued Feb. 13, have long since died.

But on Friday, the commission, which was authorized by the bishops’ conference, provided the bishops with the names of still-active priests who have been accused. Those allegations still must be investigated, the bishops stressed.

“I cannot remove someone from the ministry just because someone accused him,” explained Bishop José Ornelas, president of the conference.

“We only have names, it is very difficult. To move forward, it is clear that we need to have data, and this list that we receive only has names,” he said, adding that “if there are other documents that reach us to, first, identify who the possible abuser is and what he did wrong, we will take appropriate action.”

The bishop of Leiria-Fátima also emphasized that the Portuguese Church is not “at the end of a process” but rather “moving from the page of the report to concrete action.”

On Thursday, the Portuguese Church signed a protocol with the Portuguese Association for Victim Support outlining steps to ensure “zero tolerance” for abuse during World Youth Day.

The protocol aims to provide employees and volunteers of the event with special training in the prevention of victim support so that they can act in the face of possible occurrences during the event in Lisbon and the dioceses hosting participants.

This type of partnership, unprecedented in the history of World Youth Day, implements “the best possible practices” to prevent abuse and violence and ensure that “victims are never forgotten,” said Bishop Américo Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon and president of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation.

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CNA Staff, Jan 13, 2021 / 08:35 am (CNA).- The Catholic archbishop of Glasgow, Scotland, died suddenly on Wednesday two days after his 70th birthday.  

The Archdiocese of Glasgow announced that Archbishop Philip Tartaglia died at his home on Jan. 13, the feast of St. Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow.

Tartaglia, who had led the archdiocese since 2012, tested positive for COVID-19 after Christmas and was self-isolating. 

The archdiocese said that the cause of his death was currently unclear.

“Please pray for the repose of the soul of Archbishop Philip, for his family and friends and people of the archdiocese,” it said.

The archdiocese will be run by an administrator until Pope Francis chooses a new archbishop of Glasgow.

Tartaglia was born to a family of Italian heritage in Glasgow on Jan. 11, 1951.

It is with the greatest sorrow that we announce the death of our Archbishop Philip. He died suddenly at his home in Glasgow, this morning, the feast of St Mungo. He was 70 years old. Requiescat in pace
Full statement https://t.co/RWSke3m31c pic.twitter.com/puDC1YScpM

— Archdiocese of Glasgow (@ArchdiocGlasgow) January 13, 2021

He studied at the national junior seminary at St. Vincent’s College, Langbank, and later at St. Mary’s College, Blairs, Aberdeen. 

He completed his ecclesiastical studies at the Pontifical Scots College and Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He was ordained to the priesthood on June 30, 1975, by the then Archbishop Thomas Winning, archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 to 2001.

After his ordination, Tartaglia returned to Rome to work on a doctorate in Sacred Theology.

After completing his doctorate, he served in parishes and as a lecturer. From 1987 to 1993, he was rector of Chesters College, Bearsden.

In 2004, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical Scots College. A year later, Pope Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Paisley. He was ordained bishop on Nov. 20, 2005, by Archbishop Mario Conti.

He took the motto “Da robur, fer auxilium” (“Thine aid supply, thy strength bestow”), from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Eucharistic hymn “O Salutaris Hostia.”

Benedict XVI named Tartaglia archbishop of Glasgow on July 24, 2012. He succeeded Conti, who led the archdiocese from 2002 to 2012.

Tartaglia was installed at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow, on Sept. 8, 2012, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

He spoke out last year about forced evictions of refugees and asylum seekers in Glasgow, describing them as  “regrettable and harsh.”

“I appeal to you not to make refugees and asylum seekers homeless, but to provide for them decent accommodation in accordance with their human dignity and human rights,” he wrote to the U.K.’s Home Secretary.

We are saddened to hear of the death of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia who was a huge supporter of the club and regularly attended matches at Celtic Park.

Everyone at Celtic offers their sincere condolences to Philip’s family and Scotland’s Catholic community at this sad time. pic.twitter.com/R9Hu9DJaoq

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 13, 2021

Celtic F.C., a soccer team founded in Glasgow in 1887, paid tribute to the archbishop on its official Twitter account.

“We are saddened to hear of the death of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia who was a huge supporter of the club and regularly attended matches at Celtic Park,” the club said.

“Everyone at Celtic offers their sincere condolences to Philip’s family and Scotland’s Catholic community at this sad time.”

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