News Briefs

Archbishop Gomez welcomes ‘Querida Amazonia’

February 12, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 12, 2020 / 10:15 am (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles commented Wednesday on Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation following the Amazon synod, emphasizing its reminder that that Church proclaims Christ.

“Today our Holy Father Pope Francis offers us a hopeful and challenging vision of the future of the Amazon region, one of the earth’s most sensitive and crucial ecosystems, and home to a rich diversity of cultures and peoples,” the president of the US bishops’ conference said Feb. 12.

“The Pope reminds us that the Church serves humanity by proclaiming Jesus Christ and his Gospel of love, and he calls for an evangelization that respects the identities and histories of the Amazonian peoples and that is open to the ‘novelty of the Spirit, who is always able to create something new with the inexhaustible riches of Jesus Christ.’”

Francis “also calls all of us in the Americas and throughout the West to examine our ‘style of life’ and to reflect on the consequences that our decisions have for the environment and for the poor,” Archbishop Gomez noted.

“Along with my brother bishops here in the United States, I am grateful for the Holy Father’s wisdom and guidance and we pledge our continued commitment to evangelizing and building a world that is more just and fraternal and that respects the integrity of God’s creation.”

Despite widespread speculation, the apostolic exhortation does not call for the priestly ordination of married men, but seeks to expand “horizons beyond conflicts.”

The document presents the pope’s “four great dreams” for the Pan-Amazonian region’s ecological preservation and “Amazonian holiness.”

The exhortation does not quote from recommendations made by bishops at the Vatican’s October meeting on the Amazon. Instead, Pope Francis “officially present[s]” the synod’s final document alongside his exhortation, asking “everyone to read it in full.”

Nearly half of Querida Amazonia is dedicated to outlining the Roman Pontiff’s “Ecclesial Dream” for the Amazon region, in which Pope Francis stresses the singular role of the priest, while affirming the laity’s ongoing contributions to evangelization.

“No Christian community is built up which does not grow from and hinge on the celebration of the most holy Eucharist … This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America, not only to promote prayer for priestly vocations, but also to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” Pope Francis wrote.

The exhortation warns against an outlook that restricts “our understanding of the Church to her functional structures.” It also rejects a narrow vision of “conceptions of power in the Church” that “clericalize women.”

[…]

Vatican officials: ‘Querida Amazonia’ is magisterium, Amazon synod’s final doc is not

February 12, 2020 CNA Daily News 2

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2020 / 07:56 am (CNA).- Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation on the Amazon is part of the Church’s ordinary magisterium — that is officially a kind of Church teaching — while the final document of the Vatican’s 2019 Amazon synod is not, Cardinal Michael Czerny, special secretary of the Amazon synod, said Feb. 12.

The distinction in the authoritative weight of the two documents was also emphasized Wednesday by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and by Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office.

“So we have two documents of two different kinds,” Czerny said in a presentation to journalists.

“The final document, consisting of proposals made and voted by the Synod Fathers, has the weight of a synodal final document,” he said, whereas the apostolic exhortation, “reflecting on the whole process and its final document, has the authority of ordinary magisterium of the Successor of Peter.”

Pope Francis released Feb. 12 the apostolic letter Querida Amazonia, which presents his response to the discussion of the Amazon synod, which took place in Rome over three weeks in October.

This synod ended with the presentation to Pope Francis of a final document, which was voted on by synod members setting out a series of recommendations based on the issues discussed during the preparation phase and synodal sessions.

The final document of the synod assembly is what Czerny and Baldisseri said does not have the weight of ordinary magisterium, noting the pope’s “presentation” of the document.

Pope Francis “encourages everyone to read the whole document” Czerny stated, but added that suggestions made in the synod’s final document remain in discussion only “as proposals made by the synod.” This means that Catholics are not required to believe, or even agree with, the proposals, or regard them as teachings of the pope.
 
In Querida Amazonia itself, Pope Francis offers his own reflections on the Amazon, saying he “will not go into all of the issues treated at length in the [synod’s] final document. Nor do I claim to replace that text or to duplicate it.”

The pope states that, at the same time, he “would like to officially present the Final Document, which sets forth the conclusions of the Synod…”

Francis added: “I have preferred not to cite the Final Document in this Exhortation, because I would encourage everyone to read it in full.”

The pope also asks that “pastors, consecrated men and women and lay faithful of the Amazon region strive to apply” the work of the synodal assembly.

Francis’ use of the words “officially present,” prompted some to ask if the pope wishes to give added weight to the synod’s conclusions, even if he chose not to cite them directly in his own document.

Bruni emphasized that “the apostolic exhortation is magisterium, the final document is not.” He later added that “anything in the final document should be read in the lens of the apostolic exhortation,” including any “application.”

The option for the pope to adopt the final synodal document as his own, including it as official Church teaching, was part of changes the pontiff made to synod rules in 2018. Since that year, canon law has permitted the pope to give a specific and deliberate kind of approval to a final synodal document that would incorporate the text into the pope’s ordinary magisterium, or official teaching.

However, Baldisseri said that article 18 of Episcopalis Communio, which established that law, makes clear that the pope needs to give his approval “expressly.”

“The apostolic exhortation does not speak of approval of the final document. It does not speak [of it]. It speaks of presentation, but not of approval,” Baldisseri continued. “There is not a clear canonical word of approval, as in article 18 of Episcopalis Communio. It speaks of express approval, not indirect, imagined.”

The final document of the Amazon synod “has a certain moral authority, sure,” he added, “but not magisterial.” 

Synods of bishops convened by the pope serve a mainly consultative role, as indicated in the Code of Canon Law.

Their main purpose is to foster unity between the pope and the bishops around the world, and to offer their input as the pope considers questions pertaining to the Church’s activity in different parts of the world, on issues of faith and morals, and “in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline.”

“It is,” the Code says, “for the synod of bishops to discuss the questions for consideration and express its wishes but not to resolve them or issue decrees about them unless in certain cases the Roman Pontiff has endowed it with deliberative power, in which case he ratifies the decisions of the synod.”

Czerny said he thinks the best way to understand the synod’s debate of the possibility of the ordination of married priests in the Amazon region is to see it “as part of a process and as part of a journey.”

“That’s why it’s called a synod,” he noted, adding that “we are at a very important part in this synodal process and there are long roads ahead as well as long roads already traveled.”

“And so the questions you are returning to are questions ‘on the road,’ and the Holy Father has not resolved them in any way beyond what he has said in the exhortation,” the cardinal underlined.

“So if there are questions you feel are open, or that the Church feels are open, thanks to the exhortation they will continue to be discussed, debated, discerned, prayed over, and when mature, presented to the appropriate authority for decision,” he said.

“There are decisions that can be made in a diocese, in a [bishops’] conference, and there are decisions that are made here [in the Vatican].”

 

[…]

Querida Amazonia: What Pope Francis said, and didn’t, on priesthood and marriage

February 12, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Feb 12, 2020 / 04:15 am (CNA).- While Pope Francis was expected to focus in the apostolic exhortation published today on a proposal to ordain married priests in the Amazon region, the pope instead emphasized the importance of collaboration in apostolic ministry by Catholics in various states of life.

“Efforts need to be made to configure ministry in such a way that it is at the service of a more frequent celebration of the Eucharist, even in the remotest and most isolated communities,” Pope Francis wrote in Querida Amazonia, released publicly Feb. 12 and dated Feb. 2.

The pope said that “In the specific circumstances of the Amazon region, particularly in its forests and more remote places, a way must be found to ensure” priestly ministry.

The urgent need for priests “leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America, not only to promote prayer for priestly vocations, but also to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.

Even while emphasizing the importance of priestly ministry in the region, Pope Francis did not endorse a proposal from some bishops in the Amazon region to permit the ordination of married men to the priesthood.

Regarding that proposal, in a Feb. 12 editorial, the Vatican’s editorial director Andrea Tornielli wrote that “the Successor of Peter, after praying and reflecting, has decided to respond not by foreseeing changes or further possibilities of exceptions from those already provided for by current ecclesiastical discipline, but by asking that the essentials be the starting point,” for discussions regarding priestly ministry in the Amazon.

The pope’s own discussion of ministry in the Amazon appeared in his exhortation’s fourth chapter, “An Ecclesial Dream,” in which Pope Francis treated his desire for “Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features.”

The chapter discussed the need to proclaim the gospel in the region; various means of inculturation; the strength and gifts of women; and ecumenical and interreligious coexistence.

Treating the inculturation of forms of ministry, the pope said that it “should also be increasingly reflected in an incarnate form of ecclesial organization and ministry,” asking: “how can we not consider an inculturation of the ways we structure and carry out ecclesial ministries?”

In addition to configuring ministry for more frequent celebrations of the Eucharist, he said there “is also a need for ministers who can understand Amazonian sensibilities and cultures from within.”

Priestly formation, he said, “develops distinctive traits in different parts of the world,” and he noted that “what is most specific to a priest” is his configuration to Christ the priest through Holy Orders.

He noted that “power” is not the defining character of priesthood, and referred to St. John Paul II’s statement in Mulieris Dignitatem that the priesthood is “totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members.”

The priest’s great potency, he said, is to say Mass. He identified Mass and Confession as the sacraments that “lie at the heart of the priest’s exclusive identity.” He noted that “It is also proper to the priest to administer the Anointing of the Sick.”

Laity “can proclaim God’s word, teach, organize communities, celebrate certain sacraments, seek different ways to express popular devotion and develop the multitude of gifts that the Spirit pours out in their midst,” the pope said, while adding that “they need the celebration of the Eucharist because it ‘makes the Church’.”

Because the Christian community grows from the Mass, “every effort should be made to ensure that the Amazonian peoples do not lack this food of new life and the sacrament of forgiveness,” Francis said.

In addition to asking that bishops generously encourage missionaries to the Amazon, he said that the “structure and content” of priestly formation should “be thoroughly revised, so that priests can acquire the attitudes and abilities demanded by dialogue with Amazonian cultures.”

“This formation must be preeminently pastoral and favour the development of priestly mercy,” he added, noting that the lack of seminaries for indigenous people was mentioned at the synod.

The Mass, Pope Francis said, “signifies and realizes the Church’s unity,” which “welcomes the abundant variety of gifts and charisms that the Spirit pours out.”

The Mass thus “requires the development of that rich variety.”

To that end, “Priests are necessary, but this does not mean that permanent deacons (of whom there should be many more in the Amazon region), religious women and lay persons cannot regularly assume important responsibilities for the growth of communities.”

“Consequently, it is not simply a question of facilitating a greater presence of ordained ministers who can celebrate the Eucharist. That would be a very narrow aim, were we not also to strive to awaken new life in communities. We need to promote an encounter with God’s word and growth in holiness through various kinds of lay service.”

An inculturated Church in the Amazon “requires the stable presence of mature and lay leaders endowed with authority and familiar with the languages, cultures, spiritual experience and communal way of life in the different places, but also open to the multiplicity of gifts that the Holy Spirit bestows on every one,” he said.

“This requires the Church to be open to the Spirit’s boldness, to trust in, and concretely to permit, the growth of a specific ecclesial culture that is distinctively lay. The challenges in the Amazon region demand of the Church a special effort to be present at every level, and this can only be possible through the vigorous, broad and active involvement of the laity.”

The pope also highlighted consecrated life and base communities, which is a term used to describe small Christian communities in the Amazon region.

He encouraged “the growth of the collaborative efforts being made through the Pan Amazonian Ecclesial Network and other associations” to implement the proposal made at the Fifth Episcopal Conference of Latin America at Aparecida in 2007 to “establish a collaborative ministry among the local churches of the various South American countries in the Amazon basin, with differentiated priorities”.

The Pan Amazonian Ecclesial Network, or REPAM, lists among its works “protection for the 137 ‘contactless tribes’ of the Amazon and affirmation of their right to live undisturbed.”

Francis also said that “ the Amazonian region sees a great deal of internal mobility” and migration, and thus “thought should be given to itinerant missionary teams and ‘support provided for the presence and mobility of consecrated men and women closest to those who are most impoverished and excluded’.”

 

[…]

Seminarian’s killing a ‘defining moment’ for Christians in Nigeria

February 11, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Kaduna, Nigeria, Feb 11, 2020 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- At the funeral Mass for Michael Nnadi, the 18-year-old seminarian abducted and killed by gunmen last month, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto said he hoped the death would be a turning point for persecuted Christians in Nigeria.

“This is a solemn moment for the body of Christ,” Kukah said in his Feb. 11 homily at Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, where Nnadi had studied. The text of the homily was obtained through Aid to the Church in Need United States.

“This is for us the moment of decision. This is the moment that separates darkness from light, good from evil. Our nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids. Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud and Pharisaism have caught up with us. Nigeria is on the crossroads and its future hangs precariously in a balance. This is a wakeup call for us,” he said.

Nnadi was taken by gunmen from Good Shepherd Seminary around 10:30 pm on Jan. 8, along with fellow seminarians Pius Kanwai, 19; Peter Umenukor, 23; and Stephen Amos, 23. The four seminarians were at the beginning of their philosophy studies.

The gunmen, disguised in military camouflage, broke through the fence surrounding the seminarians’ living quarters and began shooting sporadically. They stole laptops and phones before kidnapping the four young men. All but Nnadi were released by the end of January.

The exact details of Nnadi’s death are unknown, the bishop said, other than he was killed alongside a woman named Mrs. Araga. Kukah noted that for days after Nnadi’s capture, he and Nnadi’s family held out hope that he was still alive. On Feb. 1, Kukah announced that Nnadi had been found dead.

Kukah said he was inspired by Nnadi’s mother’s reaction to the terrible news.

“She looked up at me and said tearfully, ‘My Lord, you said Michael was still alive. Is he really dead?’” he recalled. “Before I could say anything, she provided a moving answer: ‘My Lord, but Michael entered Seminary with all his heart and body, all’, she said with finality.”

Kukah said he was also moved and honored by the reaction to Nnadi’s death, both nationally and internationally.

“(The Aid to the Church in Need) sent me a message to say that when they asked people around the world to light a candle for Michael on the date of his burial, 2,436 persons from Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States of America, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Madagascar, South Africa, Congo, Mali, France, Spain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia responded,” he said.

“In the light of this, I wondered, who are we to mourn? Who are we to refuse this crown of honour and glory? We ceased to mourn for Michael thereon,” he said, adding that he decided to see the martyrdom as an act of honor and victory for Christians.

Good Shepherd Seminary, home to nearly 270 seminarians, is located just off the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria Express Way. According to AFP, the area is “notorious for criminal gangs kidnapping travelers for ransom.”

Schoolgirls and staff from a boarding school located near the same highway were kidnapped in October, and were later released.

In the last year, several priests and seminarians, along with pastors from other Christian denominations, have been kidnapped in Nigeria, some for ranson, and some by Islamist militant and terrorist groups. Kidnappings of Christians have multiplied in recent months, prompting Nigerian Church leaders to express serious concern about the security of their members and to call on the government to prioritize the security of its citizens.

Nnadi’s death should be a decisive moment for all Nigerian Christians, who have suffered severe persecution and instability under the rule of President General Muhammadu Buhari, whose promises for peace and security in the nation have fallen woefully short, Kukah said in his homily.

“No one could have imagined that in winning the Presidency, General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary Security Agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink,” Kukah said.

“This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity. He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian,” he added.

“His north has become one large graveyard, a valley of dry bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part of our dear country.”

Kukah noted that this abuse of power has been condemned by many Muslim leaders and intellectuals, though not to much effect.

“We are being told that this situation has nothing to do with religion,” Kukah said. “Really? It is what happens when politicians use religion to extend the frontiers of their ambition and power. Are we to believe that simply because Boko Haram kills Muslims too, they wear no religious garb? Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die? If your son steals from me, do you solve the problem by saying he also steals from you?”

Kukah then echoed the call of Sa’adu Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, a spiritual leader to Muslims in Nigeria who has spoken out against the persecutions, for the northern political elite to reclaim their land.

The persecution of Christians and other minority groups in Nigeria is not new, Kukah added, and has been ongoing since the founding of modern-day Nigeria. But it cannot be ignored by Christians any longer, he added.

“We Christians must be honest enough to accept that we have taken so much for granted and made so much sacrifice in the name of nation-building,” he said, noting how Christians have supported various state leaders, mistakenly believing they would bring peace and stability to Nigeria.

“For how long shall we continue on this road with different ambitions? Christians must rise up and defend their faith with all the moral weapons they have,” he said. “We must become more robust in presenting the values of Christianity especially our message of love and non-violence to a violent society. Among the wolves of the world, we must become more politically alert, wise as the serpent and humble as the dove.”

However, this does not mean resorting to vengeance and violence, which are “the ways of the flesh,” he said.

Instead, Christians must “put back your sword. Turn the other cheek. Pray for your enemy. Give the thief your cloak,” he said.

“None of these makes sense to the human mind without faith. This is why Jesus said the only solution is for us to be born again. The challenge before us is to behold the face of Jesus and ask the question: Are we born against hatred, anger, violence and vengeance?”

He acknowledged the anger and sadness and betrayal felt by all Christians in Nigeria, but again encouraged them to pursue non-violent solutions.

“The only way He has pointed out to us is the non-violent way. It is the road less traveled, but it is the only way,” Kukah said.

He encouraged all Christians in Nigeria to look to Nnadi and to other young Christians killed in recent months as examples of courage, hope, and faith.

“For us Christians, it would seem safe to say that we are all marked men and women today. Yet, we must be ready to be washed in the blood of the lamb,” he said.

“We feel as if our son has been chosen to represent us in the national team of martyrs. Without fear, we will complete the journey he started because his memory will give us strength,” he said.

“We know that Michael’s strength will inspire an army of young people to follow in his steps. We will march on with the cross of Christ entrusted to us, not in agony or pain, because our salvation lies in your cross. We have no vengeance or bitterness in our hearts. We have no drop of sorrow inside us. We are honored that our son has been summoned to receive the crown of martyrdom at the infancy of his journey to the priesthood,” he added.

“May the Lord place him beside His bosom and may he intercede for us. If his blood can bring healing to our nation, then his murderers will never have the final say. May God give him eternal peace.”

[…]

Church in Venezuela hit hard by ongoing economic, political crisis

February 11, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Caracas, Venezuela, Feb 11, 2020 / 03:48 pm (CNA).- As the people of Venezuela continue to suffer severe food and medication shortages due to hyperinflation, the Church is also affected, said Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino last week.

“We’re suffering the same hardships, the same shortages the Venezuelan people are suffering,” Urosa, who is the Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, Venezuela, said in a Feb. 6 interview with the Spanish edition of the Italian publication Bussola Quotidiana.

Under the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages of food and medicine, high unemployment, power outages, and hyperinflation. Some 4.5 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2015.

Urosa explained that the gasoline shortage has made it difficult for priests and bishops – especially those from the interior of the country – to travel and do their pastoral work.

In addition, evening meetings and liturgical events are not currently possible, due to the lack of electricity, transportation, and security, he said. This has hampered the life of the Church, which previously saw a great deal of activity and events in the evenings.

“Parishes are getting by, thanks to the good will of some of the faithful,” Urosa said. “The pastors are accompanying their people, although currently the Church is suffering from the emigration of a lot of priests for health reasons or problems with coping, because they’re upset by this situation of constant political turmoil.”

Although the number of catechists and pastoral workers who have been forced to flee the country is “a real tragedy,” Urosa said, “the Church hasn’t come to a stop” and continues to serve and accompany Venezuelans as much as possible.

The cardinal asked Catholics around the world to pray for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing tensions in Venezuela. He also called on foreign governments to support Maduro’s opponents.

Urosa faulted Italy for supporting Maduro’s government, “which has brought Venezuela to ruin, has a large number of political prisoners and has violated human rights.” He said he finds it hard to believe “that a democratic government like Italy’s isn’t supporting the democratic opposition headed by interim president of the republic, Juan Guaidó.”

Last January, Juan Guaidó, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself interim president of the country, after president Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term, having won a contested election in which opposition candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Guaidó and the Venezuelan bishops held Maduro’s second term to be invalid, and the presidency vacant.

More than 50 countries, including the United States, have recognized Guaidó as interim president. The United States and the European Union have adopted economic and diplomatic sanctions against Maduro and his government.

In the interview, Urosa warned that conditions in Venezuela are growing worse: “18 months ago, one U.S. dollar was worth 60 Venezuelan bolivars. Today, one dollar is worth more than 75,000 bolivars. There’s horrific inflation and it’s the government’s fault, because the government runs the national economy.”

“It’s shameful that there’s a gasoline shortage in an oil producing country,” he said. “The government ought to resign just for that, for having ruined our oil industry, they should go and we Venezuelans should insist there be a change in government.”

With hyperinflation, a severely damaged economy, and the imprisonment of those who oppose the government, he said, “we’re in a situation that’s getting worse and worse. So we have to work very hard to democratically achieve a change in government.”
 

 

[…]

Seton Hall poll says toss Astros’ title

February 11, 2020 CNA Daily News 6

Newark, N.J., Feb 11, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A majority of Americans want Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros to be stripped of their 2017 World Series title, according to a new poll by a Catholic university. 

The survey, conducted by S… […]