CNA Staff, Oct 26, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The Chinese government continued to enforce sweeping restrictions on religious freedom in the weeks prior to the renewal of a deal with the Vatican on October 22.
According to Bitter Winter, an Ita… […]
Vatican City, Oct 26, 2020 / 11:13 am (CNA).- Pope Francis’ Christmas liturgies at the Vatican will be offered without public participation this year, as countries continue to react to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a letter seen by CNA which was sent by the Secretariat of State to embassies accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis will celebrate the Vatican liturgies of the Christmas season “in a private form without the presence of members of the diplomatic Corps.”
The letter, which was sent by the section for general affairs Oct. 22, said the liturgies will be streamed online. Diplomats accredited to the Holy See usually attend papal liturgies as special guests.
Due to pandemic measures, including a two month nation-wide lockdown of Italy, Pope Francis also offered the 2020 Easter liturgies without the presence of the public.
Italy has seen a dramatic increase in positive coronavirus cases, as well as increased hospitalizations and deaths, in recent weeks, leading the government to issue new containment measures, including the full closure of gyms and theaters, and a 6pm closure for bars and restaurants except for takeout. Parties and receptions are also suspended. Since earlier this month, it has been mandated to wear face masks at all times in public, including outside.
During Advent and Easter, the pope’s schedule of public liturgies and Masses is usually particularly full, with thousands participating in Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica.
In past years the pope has offered a Dec. 12 Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a Dec. 8 ceremony and prayer at Rome’s Piazza di Spagna for feast of the Immaculate Conception.
According to the 2020 schedule of public papal events published on the Vatican website, instead of a Mass Dec. 8, the pope will lead the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square to mark the day.
During the Christmas season, the pope usually says Midnight Mass for the Nativity of the Lord in St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 24, and on Christmas Day he gives the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing from the central loggia of the basilica.
In past years he has also prayed First Vespers on Dec. 31 followed by a Mass on Jan. 1 for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, both in St. Peter’s Basilica.
These events are not listed on Pope Francis’ public schedule for 2020, except for the Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. The pope is still slated to give all of his typical Angelus addresses and to hold the Wednesday general audience every week, except that of Christmas.
The schedule of public events does not extend past December 2020, so it is unclear whether Pope Francis will publically celebrate any of the liturgies of January 2021, including Mass for Epiphany Jan. 6.
It is also unknown if Pope Francis will next year baptize the children of Vatican employees and say a private Mass for them and their families for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, per his tradition.
CNA Staff, Oct 26, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).-
A Jesuit priest arrested in India on charges of sedition will remain in jail for at least another two weeks, after the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences has called for his release, along with other international organizations.
Fr. Stan Swamy, S.J., was arrested Oct. 8 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s counter-terrorism task force. The 83-year-old priest is accused of being involved with a Maoist group, and inciting violence in the town of Bhima-Koregaon on January 1, 2018. One person was killed and others injured during mob violence that day.
Swamy denies all charges and says that he has never even been to Bhima-Koregaon. The priest is the co-founder of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee, an organization that assists those who are being held in prison but have not been yet been convicted of a crime, and are still undergoing a trial. It is estimated that 70% of India’s prison population is in this category.
On Oct. 26, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) issued a statement in support of Swany, and calling for his release.
“It is with great shock and agony the FABC heard of the arrest of the 84-year-old Father Swamy and his incarceration and we are surprised at the charges brought against him,” Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Burma, the president of the FABC, said in a statement on October 26.
“The arrest and cold-hearted incarceration of Father Swamy reminds us of the treatment meted out to Mahatma Gandhi when he stood up for the rights of the Indian people,” said Bo.
In a video posted to social media prior to his arrest, Swamy described being interrogated for 15 hours by the NIA. He said that because of his history of activism, the state “wanted to put me out of the way, and one easy way [to do that] was to implicate me in some serious cases.”
Swamy said he was “raided twice” by authorities who “put before me certain extracts, supposedly taken from my computer, extracts which showed Maoists were communicating with each other, and in some extracts even my name was mentioned,” he said. Swamy said that authorities were unable to tell him who sent the emails, who received the emails, on which date the emails were sent, and if there was any sort of signature on the emails.
“So I just denied and disowned every single extract that was put before me, except one,” which he said was a message from him and the co-founder of the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee to other human rights organizations in India. That letter explained the purpose of their organization and requested that other groups join them in their efforts.
“What is happening to me is not something unique happening to me alone,” he said. “It is part of a broader process that is taking place all over the country.”
Swany said it is common knowledge that figures from all walks of life–from lawyers to student leaders–are jailed for expressing dissent or questioning “the ruling powers of India.” The priest said he was “ready to pay the price, whatever be it.”
Following his arrest on Oct. 8, Swany was flown from his home in the city of Ranchi, located in the eastern state of Jharkhand, to Mumbai, for additional questioning. In the video posted prior to his arrest, Swany said that he was apprehensive about going to Mumbai as he is elderly and infirm, and did not want to be exposed to the coronavirus. Swany has Parkinson’s Disease and is hard of hearing.
Swany has been jailed in Mumbai ever since, and was denied bail on October 23. He has since reportedly been transferred to a prison hospital.
Both religious and secular organizations have called for Swany’s release from jail.
Jesuit provincials and leaders from across the world have issued statements requesting that the Indian government release Swany.
“We ask that the United States strongly condemn the incarceration of Fr Stan Swamy, ask the Indian Government to ensure his immediate release, and ask it to refrain from arbitrary arrests of innocent citizens,” said Fr. Timothy P. Kesicki, S.J. in an October 20 letter addressed to Sec. of State Mike Pompeo on behalf of Jesuits from the United States.
Throughout India, thousands have gathered to peacefully protest for Swany’s release. Vatican News reported that on October 16, over 1,000 people, including priests, nuns, an archbishop, and an auxiliary bishop, formed a 3.2 mile human chain in Ranchi as a protest.
On October 20, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a statement to the Indian government condemning the “vaguely defined laws” that are “increasingly being used to stifle” those who speak up against injustices.
The press release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner mentioned Swany by name.
“I urge the Government to ensure that no one else is detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly – and to do its utmost, in law and policy, to protect India’s robust civil society,” said Bachelet.
Rome Newsroom, Oct 26, 2020 / 08:00 am (CNA).- The Vatican has told the German Bishops’ Conference that a forthcoming meeting in Rome to discuss Germans’ concerns about the new instruction on parishes will not include laymen representing Ge… […]
Vatican City, Oct 26, 2020 / 04:22 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Saturday that the times we live in are the “times of Mary.”
The pope made the remark at an Oct. 24 event marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Theol… […]
Denver Newsroom, Oct 25, 2020 / 04:04 pm (CNA).- The upcoming beatification of American priest Father Michael McGivney is a time for celebration and reflection for southern Illinois’ Father McGivney Catholic High School, named for the founder of the Knights of Columbus who lived a life of service before dying in a pandemic.
“After the first couple of years teaching about (McGivney), I realized just how much this school is set up in a way that sees him as a model for what we do,” Craig Brummer, faith formation director at the high school, told CNA Oct. 23.
“His care, particularly for widows and orphans, has been a constant reminder that the most vulnerable always need our help,” Brummer added. “His example helps me remember what I am called to do, and his intercession continues to help this school work towards its vocation of helping shape committed followers of Jesus Christ.”
McGivney will be beatified October 31 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut.
Pope Francis approved McGivney’s first miracle in May. The miracle involved an unborn child in the United States who was healed of a life-threatening condition in utero in 2015 after his family prayed for McGivney’s intercession.
Following his beatification, McGivney’s cause will require one more authenticated miracle before he can be considered for canonization.
The priest founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882, with an eye towards providing spiritual aid to Catholic men and financial help to the widows and orphans of its members. Today it is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization, with close to two million members worldwide.
Father McGivney Catholic High School opened in fall 2012 with just 19 students, after seven years of preparations. It is located in Glen Carbon, Illinois, a town of some 12,000 people about 15 miles northeast of St. Louis.
For the high school’s president, Fr. Jeffrey Goeckner, V.F., the success of the school is itself a miracle.
“To date, Father McGivney Catholic High School has successfully educated and faithfully formed over 400 students while promoting ‘A Culture of Life’. Truly a miracle,” Goeckner said in a statement.
Brummer said the beatification is “uniquely special for us,” as the high school is the only U.S. Catholic high school to have McGivney as a namesake.
McGivney, who was born in Waterbury, Conn. in 1852, played a critical role in the growth of the Catholic Church in the United States in the latter part of the 19th century. After his ordination in Baltimore in 1877, he served a largely Irish-American and immigrant community in New Haven.
He was serving as a parish priest during the pandemic of 1889-1890 when he became seriously ill with pneumonia. McGivney died on Aug. 14, 1890, at the age of 38. His contemporaries remembered him for his charity towards the poor, his sympathy to those suffering afflictions, his approachability, his cheerfulness and his integrity.
Brummer said McGivney’s own life offers lessons for students.
“When we offer the life of Fr. McGivney as an example of Christian discipleship, they can see that the life that he lived, as a Catholic, a child of immigrants, a priest, and a son of a deceased father, had plenty of points of connection,” he told CNA. “One year, I presented a lesson that asked students to choose someone in their life who reminded them of Fr. McGivney. Of course, the people themselves were a wide variety, but even the reasons why they reminded them of McGivney were just as varied.”
The school closes each day with a final prayer for McGivney’s canonization, Brummer said. This daily prayer calls him “an apostle of Christian family life” and invokes his work caring for “the needy and the outcast.”
“If the people who pray the prayer listen to the words, it would be hard to not be edified by the life of the man for whose intercession we are praying.”
Elizabeth Moody, the high school’s development and marketing director, said the school will celebrate McGivney’s beatification during “an intimate, socially distanced event,” live streamed to the internet.
“Father McGivney spent his entire priesthood in parish ministry and died of pneumonia on August 14, after falling ill amid a pandemic,” Moody said. “Our students can relate to Fr. McGivney on so many levels: he was young, he was rooted in service, he lived during a pandemic, and he followed the path the Lord set for him. What a wonderful reminder to our students that they too should work towards becoming saints.”
The high school will host a virtual beatification celebration Oct. 31 via Facebook Live at 7 p.m. Central Time. A video presentation will begin the event, following exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and evening prayer. Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill. will deliver a homily, and the event will close with benediction at 8 p.m.
The high school in a statement said its founders chose McGivney as a namesake because they “wanted to honor a person who was committed to the same values they hoped to instill in its future graduates.”
“Fr. McGivney was an idealist whose youthful vision and commitment to families led to the creation of his legacy – the Knights of Columbus,” said the school.
The high school works closely with the Knights of Columbus.
“[The Knights’] pillars of Unity, Charity, Fraternity, and Patriotism are the foundation of Father McGivney Catholic High School’s mission,” said the high school’s principal Joe Lombardi. “We are very proud of what our school has accomplished and we know that Fr. McGivney’s intercession helped get us here.”
Brummer, the faith formation director, joined the Knights of Columbus not long after his 18th birthday. After he became a high school theology teacher he took part in its second- and third-degree ceremonies, a membership initiation now merged into a single public ceremony for new members.
“At the time, I didn’t know much of Fr. McGivney other than his general biography,” said Brummer. “In the past few years, now working at a school named after him, I have felt an obligation to teach about him more so our school community understands his patronage better.”
CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- The president of Poland’s bishops’ conference has urged critics of a landmark abortion ruling to express their opposition “in a socially acceptable way” after protesters disrupted Sunda… […]
CNA Staff, Oct 25, 2020 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- Benedict XVI has distanced himself from a Catholic community with which he had maintained close ties for decades.
The German magazine “Herder Korrespondenz” reported Oct. 25 that the Pope Em… […]
Vatican City, Oct 25, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appealed for an end to violence in Nigeria after reciting the Angelus Sunday.
Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square Oct. 25, the pope said he prayed that peace would be restored “through the promotion of justice and the common good.”
He said: “I follow with particular concern the news coming from Nigeria about the recent violent clashes between law enforcement agencies and some young protesters.”
“We pray to the Lord that all forms of violence will always be avoided, in the constant search for social harmony through the promotion of justice and the common good.”
Protests against police brutality erupted in Africa’s most populous country Oct. 7. Demonstrators called for the abolition of a police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The Nigerian Police Force said Oct. 11 that it would disband SARS, but demonstrations continued. Armed men opened fire on protesters Oct. 20 in the capital, Lagos, killing at least 12 people, according to Amnesty International. Nigeria’s army denied responsibility for the deaths.
Nigerian police said Saturday that they would “use all legitimate means to halt a further slide into lawlessness,” amid looting and further street violence.
Around 20 million of Nigeria’s 206 million population are Catholics.
In his reflection before the Angelus, the pope meditated on the day’s Gospel reading (Matthew 22:34-40), in which a scholar of the law challenges Jesus to name the greatest commandment.
He noted that Jesus replied by saying “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The pope suggested that the questioner wanted to draw Jesus into a dispute about the hierarchy of laws.
“But Jesus establishes two essential principles for believers of all times. The first is that moral and religious life cannot be reduced to an anxious and forced obedience,” he explained.
He continued: “The second cornerstone is that love must tend together and inseparably toward God and toward neighbor. This is one of Jesus’ primary innovations and it helps us understand that what is not expressed in love of neighbor is not true love of God; and, likewise, what is not drawn from one’s relationship with God is not true love of neighbor.”
Pope Francis noted that Jesus ended his reply by saying: “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
“This means that all the precepts the Lord has given to his people must be related to love of God and neighbor,” he said.
“In fact, all the commandments serve to implement and express that twofold indivisible love.”
The pope said that love for God is expressed above all in prayer, especially adoration.
“We neglect the adoration of God so much,” he lamented. “We make the prayer of thanksgiving, the supplication to ask for something… but we neglect adoration. Worshiping God is the very core of prayer.”
The pope added that we also forget to act charitably towards others. We fail to listen to others because we find them boring or because they use up our time. “But we always find time to chat,” he observed.
The pope said that in Sunday’s Gospel Jesus directs his followers to the source of love.
“This wellspring is God himself, to be loved completely in a communion that nothing and no one can break. A communion that is a gift to be invoked each day, but also a personal commitment not to let our lives become enslaved by the idols of the world,” he said.
“And the proof of our journey of conversion and holiness always consists in love of neighbor … The proof that I love God is that I love my neighbor. As long as there is a brother or sister to whom we close our hearts, we will still be far from being disciples as Jesus asks us. But his divine mercy does not allow us to be discouraged, but rather calls us to begin anew each day to live the Gospel consistently.”
After the Angelus, the pope greeted the residents of Rome and pilgrims from around the world who had gathered in the square below, spaced out to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He singled out a group called “Cell of Evangelization,” attached to the Rome Church of St. Michael the Archangel.
The pope concluded his Angelus reflection by saying: “May the intercession of Most Holy Mary open our hearts in order to welcome the ‘great commandment,’ the twofold commandment of love, which encapsulates all of God’s Law and on which our salvation depends.”
Vatican City, Oct 25, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Sunday that he will create 13 new cardinals, including Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, at a consistory on Nov. 28, the eve of the First Sunday of Advent.
The pope announced his inte… […]
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