The 2024 Synod of the Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq. / Credit: Chaldean Patriarchate
Baghdad, Iraq, Jul 25, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
The bishops of the Chaldean Synod on July 16 issued a statement declaring their position on the blessing of same-sex unions as well as the necessity of protecting children from sexual abuse.
The synod emphasized “the necessity of protecting children from sexual harassment and raising awareness among priests about its dangers,” stressing the importance of priests participating in child protection programs and obtaining certification from the local ecclesiastical authority.
The statement also clarified the position of the Chaldean Church — both in Iraq and worldwide — “regarding the union of two people of the same sex.” The synod asserted that the Chaldean Church does not recognize same-sex unions as marriage, as the legitimate and correct form of marriage for them is one that unites one man and one woman to form a family.
The 2024 Synod of the Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq, July 16, 2024. Credit: Chaldean Patriarchate
The statement concluded by firmly rejecting the blessing of same-sex unions in order “to preserve the sanctity of marriage” as one of the seven sacraments of the Church.
The Vatican previously issued directives allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. These directives were framed as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning sexual relations between people of the same sex.
These directives sparked controversy, prompting the Vatican to issue a subsequent clarification, especially after the misunderstanding led the Coptic Church to suspend dialogue with the Latin Church.
The 2024 Synod of the Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq. July 16, 2024. Credit: Chaldean Patriarchate
The clarification stated that the nonliturgical form of the blessing is not a marriage, nor is it an endorsement or approval of same-sex relationships, but “merely a response from the pastor to two people seeking God’s help.”
This article was first published by ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller (center) and Father Joseph Hamilton (at left), personal secretary to the late Cardinal George Pell, were among the priests celebrating the Jan. 10, 2024, Mass held on the first anniversary of the cardinal’s death. / Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Rome Newsroom, Jan 10, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
A requiem Mass was held in Rome on Tuesday evening to mark the first anniversary of the death of Cardinal George Pell and to celebrate the cardinal’s illustrious ecclesiastical career.
The chapel of the Domus Australia was filled to capacity for the Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Gerhard Müller. In attendance were numerous cardinals and bishops, an array of priests from Rome, ambassadors to the Holy See, and faithful from Rome and abroad who came to pray for the beloved cardinal.
The chapel of the Domus Australia was filled to capacity for the Jan. 10, 2024, Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Gerhard Müller. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Father Joseph Hamilton, rector of the Domus Australia and Pell’s former secretary, noted in an exclusive interview with EWTN: “I think His Eminence was very loved here in the city of Rome. His witness was very much appreciated and his loss was very unexpected.”
“I think that a beautiful Mass to commemorate his life, to pray for the repose of his soul, and to ask for his intercession here in the chapel, which he renovated and which he loved, I’m hoping will bring consolation and some degree of closure for those who have been grieving for the cardinal over the last year,” Hamilton added in his interview.
Pell died at the age of 81 on Jan. 10, 2023, after suffering a cardiac arrest following a scheduled hip replacement days prior at Rome’s Salvator Mundi hospital. He previously served as archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne before Pope Francis appointed him to head the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the most senior Australian prelate.
Cardinal Raymond Burke was among those at the Mass on the first anniversary of Cardinal George Pell’s death Jan. 10, 2024. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
During his homily, Müller reflected on the long illustrious life of the departed cardinal, noting that Pell and Pope Benedict — who passed away less than two weeks before the cardinal — were “role models of the true faith.”
Müller reflected on his early life, noting that the cardinal showed great “athletic abilities” and “high intellectual talent,” which would have brought him “a brilliant career in the world.” But, Müller continued, Pell eschewed worldly goals and opted to “follow Christ’s call to the priestly service.”
Cardinal Gerhard Müller at the requiem Mass on Jan. 10, 2024, marking the first anniversary of Cardinal George Pell’s death. Credit: Elizabeth Alva
Pell was renowned for his quick wit and towering stature. Müller, reflecting on his personal relationship with the late cardinal, highlighted Pell’s commitment to “marriage and family in the spirit of Christ, teachings against relativization by secularist-minded participants in the Synod of this topic.”
Müller also touched upon the darkest chapter of Pell’s life, which stands as “a great testimony of Christian patience.”
Cardinal George Pell gives an interview to EWTN News in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 9, 2020. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Pell was convicted on Dec. 11, 2018, on five charges of sexual abuse while he served as archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s. After serving 404 days in solitary confinement, Australia’s high court unanimously overturned the convictions, based on reasonable doubt of the appellate proceedings, in April 2020.
“He was relentlessly pursued by a bloodthirsty mob and made himself a victim of justice by anti-Catholic agitators in the media and the police apparatus,” Müller remarked regarding the vilification of the late cardinal in mainstream media.
Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers of the Archdiocese of Sydney spoke with EWTN after the Mass, noting that the evening was an opportunity to mark “the anniversary of a man who was a lion in the Church. I think it’s giving due recognition to someone who’s been very important in the life of Australia, if not in fact the whole world.”
While recognizing that Pell was a “lightning rod for the Church,” Umbers explained that he was a man “of great strength and tremendous courage.”
Pell’s legacy is not just limited to his theological acumen or reforms of the Vatican’s handling of financial affairs, but it is most tangibly seen in the revitalization of the Church in Sydney.
“I think the impact of Cardinal Pell is very visible in Sydney,” Umbers said. “He was a big man with great vision, and the last 20 years in the Archdiocese of Sydney have seen real growth and leadership amongst a number of young Catholics.”
“You find an environment there which is quite extraordinary. A lot of life, especially in the area of university chaplaincy. He [Pell] invested heavily in that area and took great interest in the next generation of leaders,” Umbers added.
According to Father Hamilton, one of the hallmarks of Pell’s legacy will be his example of strength and unity for the Church as it is going through a period marked by division and is mired in crises.
“We are one Catholic Church, we have one faith, we have one pope, we’re one people. If we stand together, we’re strong. If we’re divided, we’re weak, and I think that his [Pell’s] witness to us and his legacy to the Church is that it is one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church that he was proud to serve and that he was proud, in a very humble way, to be a confessor of. I think that that leaves us an astonishing and shining example,” he said.
The loss of St. Bernard’s Church in Grouard, Alberta, Canada, on May 22, 2023, makes a sad moment for those with memories of the church, said Grouard-McLennan Archbishop Gerard Pettipas. Two men have been arrested in connection with the fire. / … […]
Rome Newsroom, Aug 20, 2020 / 10:45 am (CNA).- The Vatican’s representative in Zimbabwe met with a senior government official Wednesday amid tensions following a pastoral letter issued by the country’s bishops.
Why might the inventive blessing of same-sex couples–as “couples”–remind us of the Crowdstrike “blue-screen” computer security meltdown?
Millions of computers were paralyzed by a system upgrade and a glitch that went sideways. As with COVID or the China virus, it’s almost as if a computer “virus” species-jumped from the backroom labs of the computer world! And, coincidentally, just as in June (gay pride month!) when personal computers were infected with an intrusive rainbow screenshot from puppet-master Microsoft boasting of its gay agenda dating back to 1989.
Do we see a pattern here?
The language of anti-binary unilateralism cross-dresses itself and spreads into many idioms. Something like the 1980s when AIDS jumped from the male homosexual population and penetrated the general population, surely through bisexuals. And then, the 1990s when anti-binary and broadened alphabetical tribalism began crowding out complementary human sexuality and the natural family (as Pope Paul VI also warned of contraceptive culture). And, now, infecting the ubiquitous internet world—with unilateral, amorphous and very front-to-back software homogeneity from the personal desktop to the near-infinite cloud. Just a penetrating click away—self-cancelling computer security plus equally ubiquitous and subliminal rainbow-flag propaganda!
In all domains, flat-universe entropy obsolescing “viva la difference”?
In yet another system upgrade and glitch—in the verbiage of Fiducia Supplicans (“couples”)—to what degree do we have a “blue-screen” gradualist obsolescence of moral theology and Humanae Vitae?
Clarity from the Chaldean Church. Where can I sign up?
Why might the inventive blessing of same-sex couples–as “couples”–remind us of the Crowdstrike “blue-screen” computer security meltdown?
Millions of computers were paralyzed by a system upgrade and a glitch that went sideways. As with COVID or the China virus, it’s almost as if a computer “virus” species-jumped from the backroom labs of the computer world! And, coincidentally, just as in June (gay pride month!) when personal computers were infected with an intrusive rainbow screenshot from puppet-master Microsoft boasting of its gay agenda dating back to 1989.
Do we see a pattern here?
The language of anti-binary unilateralism cross-dresses itself and spreads into many idioms. Something like the 1980s when AIDS jumped from the male homosexual population and penetrated the general population, surely through bisexuals. And then, the 1990s when anti-binary and broadened alphabetical tribalism began crowding out complementary human sexuality and the natural family (as Pope Paul VI also warned of contraceptive culture). And, now, infecting the ubiquitous internet world—with unilateral, amorphous and very front-to-back software homogeneity from the personal desktop to the near-infinite cloud. Just a penetrating click away—self-cancelling computer security plus equally ubiquitous and subliminal rainbow-flag propaganda!
In all domains, flat-universe entropy obsolescing “viva la difference”?
In yet another system upgrade and glitch—in the verbiage of Fiducia Supplicans (“couples”)—to what degree do we have a “blue-screen” gradualist obsolescence of moral theology and Humanae Vitae?