The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow. / Kirasinkir via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rome Newsroom, Feb 25, 2022 / 04:00 am (CNA).
The Catholic bishops’ conference of Russia has called on political leaders to end the conflict with Ukraine.
In a Feb. 24 message, the Catholic bishops of five dioceses in Russia warned leaders “that they will have to give a strict account of the military actions they have taken.”
“For the course of centuries to come depends largely on their present decisions,” the bishops said, referencing Lumen gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.
“We call upon all the politicians on whom this decision depends to do decisively everything to end this conflict,” they added.
The Catholic bishops of Russia published the message after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 24.
Fighting took place at an airfield outside of Russia’s capital city, Kyiv, on the night of Feb. 24 and the morning of Feb. 25. The city was also hit by blasts that caused damage to an apartment block.
Ukrainian forces are responding to attacks on several fronts after Russian troops crossed into the country from the east, north, and south.
In their message to Catholic clergy and laity in Russia, the bishops wrote: “We, like all of you, are deeply shocked that, despite great efforts at reconciliation, the political conflict between Russia and Ukraine has turned into an armed confrontation.”
“This confrontation brings death and destruction and threatens the security of the entire world,” they said, noting that the peoples of Ukraine and Russia were united not only by a shared history, “but also by the enormous suffering that has fallen on us in the past because of the madness of war.”
“Our peoples deserve peace,” the bishops said, “not just the absence of war, but the kind of peace that consists in a firm determination to respect other people, other peoples, and their dignity.”
According to 2017 figures, there are fewer than 800,000 Catholics in Russia, comprising roughly 0.5% of the 144 million population, which is predominantly Russian Orthodox.
The country has had a Catholic bishops’ conference since 1999. Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, leader of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow, is the conference chairman.
The bishops asked Russian Catholics to devote themselves to intensified prayers and fasting for the preservation of human lives, especially on March 2, Ash Wednesday, in response to Pope Francis’ appeal to Catholics worldwide.
They also asked priests to offer Masses for the intention of peace and justice.
“God is a God of peace and not of war, the Father of all and not only of some, and He wants us to be brothers and not enemies,” the bishops said, quoting Pope Francis.
“And we also appeal to all people, especially fellow Christians, to confront lies and hatred, and to be a source of reconciliation, not the multiplication of hatred and violence,” they concluded.
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Sister Cyril Mooney, an Irish sister who changed education for impoverished children throughout India has died at age 86. / Photo credit: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Denver, Colo., Jun 28, 2023 / 11:55 am (CNA).
An Iri… […]
Pope Francis meets with the Order of Malta’s Fra’ Marco Luzzago on June 25, 2021. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Mar 7, 2022 / 09:35 am (CNA).
The Order of Malta’s future is in Pope Francis’ hands. After a meeting with senior members on Feb. 26, the pope will take time to ponder the proposals for renewal and eventually decide on a path of reform.
Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, the papal delegate to the organization, reported on the meeting in a letter to confreres of the order.
Tomasi stressed that “we explained to the Holy Father that the reform under study keeps and better frames the order as a lay religious order and at the same time consents to the continuation of its charitable, diplomatic and humanitarian action for ‘our lords the sick’ and at the service of the Church.”
The Italian cardinal added that the pope had “decided to keep listening to us, and granted us another hearing. After the meetings, the pope will rule about the projects presented to him.”
Also present at the papal meeting were Fra’ Marco Luzzago, Lieutenant of the Grand Master, members of Tomasi’s working group for the reform, and a delegation representing the order’s members.
In a Feb. 27 press release, the 1,000-year-old institution stressed that “the focus of the meeting was the Order of Malta’s reform.”
It said that “in a letter sent to the Order of Malta’s leaders worldwide, Marwan Sehnaoui, chairman of the steering committee for the constitutional reform process, expressed his gratitude to ‘His Holiness for having dedicated two hours of his valuable time to the Order of Malta.’”
Sehnaoui said: “The Holy Father began and ended the audience by stating that he had taken himself the final decision-making of the critical issues regarding the order’s constitutional reform.”
“Pope Francis listened carefully to the presentations and interventions of both sides. After exchanging views, the Holy Father said there is no urgency in making a final decision. His Holiness also said that he wishes to gather and review more information and that he would probably convene another audience.”
These statements require a close reading. First, by explaining that the order’s diplomatic and humanitarian work will not be affected by the reform, Tomasi implicitly addressed a criticism raised after the circulation of a draft reform text, which described the Order of Malta as “subject to the Holy See.” This triggered concern that the new statutes would dilute the order’s sovereignty.
Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi. Martin Micallef/Maltese Association Order of Malta via Flickr.
Although it possesses no real territory, the order has the hallmarks of sovereignty, such as its own official currency, postage stamps, and vehicle registration plates. It has diplomatic relations with more than 100 states and permanent observer status at the United Nations. It also oversees a flourishing humanitarian network that is currently delivering aid to refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Speaking with the National Catholic Register on Jan, 23, Tomasi stressed that in a subsequent draft, the order was no longer described as subject to the Holy See.
“We didn’t keep that expression,” he said, “and it’s not going to be in the text of the constitution that we’re going to circulate.”
He continued: “In a letter to the order, I said that, when we would be finished with the work under the constitution, government, and working group of the special delegate, we would send the text to the ‘fras’ — the religious — to the presidents of the associations, to the sovereign council and the members of the government so that we have everybody’s input and objections — if there were aspects of the constitution or the text that weren’t acceptable or considered objectionable.”
The most important reform is, in the end, that of fras, who are known as first-class knights. Only first-class knights who descend from a family of four quarters of nobility are eligible to be elected as the Grand Master, the order’s religious superior and sovereign. This provision means that fewer than 40 people in the order are able to be considered for the role.
Pope Francis took over the reform process after a fierce debate within the order.
The working group entrusted to draft the new statutes was composed of the canon law expert Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Msgr. Brian Ferme, secretary of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, Maurizio Tagliaferri, Federico Marti, and Gualtiero Ventura.
Albrecht von Boeselager. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
The group was later enlarged with the addition of a few senior members of the order, including the Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager. But Boeselager announced in January that he was stepping down from the expanded group. Sehnaoui, president of the order’s Lebanese association, was appointed to take Boeselager’s place, assisted by Péter Szabadhegÿ.
Tomasi refused to recognize the Sehnaoui appointment, and so he could not attend the two-day meeting to discuss the draft text.
It is particularly significant, then, that Sehnaoui was included in the group that met with the pope on Feb. 26. Sehnaoui’s presence might be considered a gesture of detente.
Tomasi sent a letter to the knights after a private meeting with the pope on Jan 29, after the two-day reform meeting, held on Jan. 25-26.
The cardinal said that “the pope has decided that he wants to meet the mixed working group with some members representing the professed, the government of the order, the procurators of the priories and the presidents of the associations, to present to him concrete reform projects.”
So, Tomasi wrote, “the Holy Father, therefore, decided to suspend all other activities until this meeting is taking place, following which he will make a final decision.”
“Therefore, the meeting of the mixed working group of Feb. 22-23 is suspended, and the meetings of the steering committee chaired by President Marwan Sehnaoui are also suspended.”
The Magistral Villa of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in Rome. Lalupa via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Tomasi stressed that “any other activity before the meeting with the pope will be considered an act of disobedience to the Holy Father.”
It was a notably harsh statement which indicated that the pope would be taking responsibility for the process.
Knights who took part in the papal meeting told CNA that “they had a positive feeling” and that the pope “listened carefully to their issues.”
Members of the order must now wait to see what the pope decides. It will eventually become clear whether he has chosen to treat the order principally as a religious order or will also consider the vast humanitarian network overseen by this sovereign entity with no territory.
Palermo, Italy, Mar 22, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Hollywood precedent notwithstanding, an Italian bishop has announced that known members of the mafia cannot be godparents for the Catholic sacraments of baptism or confirmation.
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