Europe

Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2019 / 09:59 am (CNA).- Fasting from food or other things during Lent is a chance for Catholics to reorient their material attachments, Pope Francis said on Ash Wednesday, as he urged people to slow down and turn to Christ during the penitential season.

“Jesus on the wood of the cross burns with love, and calls us to a life that is passionate for him, which is not lost amid the ashes of the world; to a life that burns with charity and is not extinguished in mediocrity,” the pope said during Mass March 6.

“Is it difficult to live as he asks? Yes, it is difficult, but it leads us to our goal,” he continued. “Lent shows us this. It begins with the ashes, but eventually leads us to the fire of Easter night; to the discovery that, in the tomb, the body of Jesus does not turn to ashes, but rises gloriously.”

Quoting the day’s first reading from the prophet Joel – “Blow the trumpet … sanctify a fast” – Francis called the piercing blast of a trumpet “a loud sound that seeks to slow down our life.”

“It is a summons to stop, to focus on what is essential, to fast from the unnecessary things that distract us. It is a wake-up call for the soul.”

This wake-up call, he said, includes a message from the Lord: “Return to me.” “Return to me, says the Lord. To me. The Lord is the goal of our journey in this world. The direction must lead to him.”

He advised Catholics to fix their gaze upon the Crucified Christ, because “from the cross, Jesus teaches us the great courage involved in renunciation.”

“We will never move forward if we are heavily weighed down,” he continued. “The poverty of the wood, the silence of the Lord, his loving self-emptying show us the necessity of a simpler life, free from anxiety about things.”

To mark the start of the Lenten season, Pope Francis prayed the Stations of the Cross at St. Anselm Church in Rome before processing the short way to the Basilica of Santa Sabina for the celebration of Mass, benediction, and the imposition of ashes.

The traditional procession is composed of cardinals, bishops, priests, the Benedictine monks of St. Anselm, the Dominican friars of Santa Sabina, and lay people. As the Catholics make their way between the two churches, they sing the Litany of the Saints.

The practice of the pope beginning the Lenten season of prayer and penance in this manner was started by St. John XXIII when he established the Pontifical Liturgical Institute at St. Anselm’s in 1961.

In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the three areas the Lord invites Catholics to focus on during Lent – almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. “What are they for?” he asked. “Prayer reunites us to God; charity, to our neighbor; fasting, to ourselves.”

The season of Lent is an invitation to focus first on God, he continued, then on charity toward others, and “finally, Lent invites us to look inside our heart, with fasting, which frees us from attachment to things and from the worldliness that numbs the heart.”

Comparing the heart to a magnet, which always “needs to attach itself to something,” he said if it always “attaches” to things of the world, “sooner or later it becomes a slave to them.”

By comparison, if people turn their hearts to the things which abide, which do not pass away, that is where they will find true freedom, he said.

The ashes, he explained, are a sign of this detachment – “a sign that causes us to consider what occupies our mind.”

“The small mark of ash, which we will receive, is a subtle yet real reminder that of the many things occupying our thoughts, that we chase after and worry about every day, nothing will remain,” he stated.

“Earthly realities fade away like dust in the wind,” he said, reminding Catholics that no material possessions or wealth go with them past the grave.

“Lent is the time to free ourselves from the illusion of chasing after dust,” he urged. “Lent is for rediscovering that we are created for the inextinguishable flame, not for ashes that immediately disappear; for God, not for the world; for the eternity of heaven, not for earthly deceit; for the freedom of the children of God, not for slavery to things.”

“We should ask ourselves today: Where do I stand? Do I live for fire or for ash?”

[…]

Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2019 / 03:10 am (CNA).- As Christians prepare to engage in the fasting and abstinence of Lent, they can find guidance in the words of Pope St. Leo the Great’s sermons.

Stressing Lenten discipline as a way to struggle against our sins and against the devil’s temptations, the fifth century pope advised self-scrutiny, purification, forgiveness of enemies and almsgiving to the poor.

“Let us prepare our souls for fighting with temptations, and understand that the more zealous we are for our salvation, the more determined must be the assaults of our opponents,” he said in his Lenten sermons, elsewhere adding “there are no works of power, dearly-beloved, without the trials of temptations, there is no faith without proof, no contest without a foe, no victory without conflict.”

Pope Leo I was involved in the theological questions of the fifth century, most famously affirming Christ’s two nature, human and divine, for the Council of Chalcedon.

He also led a delegation which successfully negotiated with Attila the Hun to turn his invading forces away from Rome.

He was named a Doctor of the Church in the eighteenth century. His writings and sermons proved enduring and influential. While some of his comments are specific to his time, as a whole he offers special advice for Lent.

True peace and true freedom come only “when the flesh is ruled by the judgment of the mind, and the mind is directed by the will of God,” he said in his sermons.

For St. Leo the Great, the Christians’ enemies are often our vices, disordered desires and sins.

“We cannot otherwise prevail against our adversaries, unless we prevail against our own selves,” he counseled. The contrary desires of flesh and spirit must be disciplined, and the mind will lose to the body if bodily desires become too strong.

When the mind is subject to God and delights in heavenly gifts, when it has “trampled underfoot the allurements of earthly pleasure” and has not allowed sin to reign, Leo says, “reason will maintain a well-ordered supremacy, and its strongholds no strategy of spiritual wickedness will cast down.”

“Christian people, whatever the amount of their abstinence, should rather desire to satisfy themselves with the Word of God than with bodily food,” said Leo the Great.

He counseled self-scrutiny to root out discord and wrong desires and to be attentive to God’s commandments. Citing St. Paul, he said Lenten fasting is a time to cleanse ourselves “from every defilement of flesh and spirit.”

“Now let godly minds boldly accustom themselves to forgive faults, to pass over insults, and to forget wrongs,” he said in one sermon.

“Let all discords and enmities be laid aside, and let no one think to have a share in the Paschal feast that has neglected to restore brotherly peace,” he said in another.

Care for the poor and others in need should be an even greater priority.

“Let us not pass over the groans of the poor with deaf ear, but with prompt kindness bestow our mercy on the needy, that we may deserve to find mercy in the judgment,” said the saint, later adding “let each bestow on the weak and destitute those dainties which he denies himself.”

“Let our humaneness be felt by the sick in their illnesses, by the weakly in their infirmities, by the exiles in their hardships, by the orphans in their destitution, and by solitary widows in their sadness: in the helping of whom there is no one that cannot carry out some amount of benevolence,” he continued.

Warning against the dangers of spiritual pride and hypocrisy, he also gave advice on how to follow Lenten disciplines.

“The self-restraint of the religious should not be gloomy, but sincere; no murmurs of complaint should be heard from those who are never without the consolation of holy joys,” he said, adding “no one is so holy that he ought not to be holier, nor so devout that he might not be devouter.”

At times, the foes of Christians are not simply the flesh, but even the demonic, he said. The approach of Easter makes the devil grow “furious” and “consumed with the strongest jealousy and now tortured with the greatest vexation.”

It is a time when “the Christian army has to combat him, and any that have grown lukewarm and slothful, or that are absorbed in worldly cares, must now be furnished with spiritual armor and their ardor kindled for the fray by the heavenly trumpet.”

The approaching baptism of new Christians at Easter, and the growing penitence of lapsed Christians, is also a target of the devil’s anger.

“For he sees whole tribes of the human race brought in afresh to the adoption of God’s sons and the offspring of the New Birth multiplied through the virgin fertility of the Church,” St. Leo the Great said. “He sees himself robbed of all his tyrannical power, and driven from the hearts of those he once possessed, while from either sex, thousands of the old, the young, the middle-aged are snatched away from him, and no one is debarred by sin either of his own or original.”

The devil sees, too, those who have lapsed, “deceived by his treacherous snares,” now becoming “washed in the tears of penitence” and seeking mercy and reconciliation in the Church.

Leo the Great also promoted fasting as a way to prepare to conquer earthly foes.

When the Hebrews and Israelites were oppressed by the Philistines “for their scandalous sins,” they restored their mental and physical powers by commanding a fast in order to be able to overcome their enemies.

“For they understood that they had deserved that hard and wretched subjection for their neglect of God’s commands, and evil ways, and that it was in vain for them to strive with arms unless they had first withstood their sin,” he said.

Abstinence from food and drink was “the discipline of strict correction,” he said. In order to defeat their foes, they “first conquered the allurements of the palate in themselves.”

Similarly, those of us who face opposition and conflict “may be cured by a little carefulness, if only we will use the same means.”

Though all seasons of the year are full of God’s blessings, St. Leo the Great said, Lent is a time when “all men’s minds should be moved with greater zeal to spiritual progress.” Lenten discipline “should heal us and restore the purity of our minds, during which the faults of other times might be redeemed by pious acts and removed by chaste fasting.”

[…]

Rome, Italy, Mar 5, 2019 / 10:12 am (CNA).- Embassies to the Holy See are teaming up with religious sisters to address the problem of modern slavery, which affects an estimated 40 million people around the world today.

“Religious women are impor… […]

Paris, France, Mar 4, 2019 / 01:19 pm (CNA).- France’s European affairs minister encouraged the Holy See last week to aid in an investigation of the apostolic nuncio to France, who has been accused of sexual assault in Paris.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 74, is accused of having inappriately touched a young male staffer of Paris City Hall during a Jan. 17 reception for the New Year address of Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. He is being investigated by Parisian authorities.

Nathalie Loiseau, France’s Minister of European Affiars, told French television channel CNews March 1 that “this inquiry needs to be allowed to reach its conclusion, what matters is that the truth be known.”

“At this point, [Archbishop Ventura] benefits from diplomatic immunity, but the Holy See is clearly aware of the serious accusations that have been brought against the apostolic nuncio and I don’t doubt for a second that the Holy See will do the right thing … I’m waiting for the Holy See to take its responsibilities in hand.”

The deputy in the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs added that “if the facts are proven, they are very serious because when you are a religious leader you are supposed to have a moral authority, so I would say that’s an aggravating circumstance.”

Diplomatic immunity, which allows diplomats in a country to do their work without fear of interference from the host country’s laws or lawsuits from the host country, is based in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

The need for the practice has been highlighted by various accusations of spying or other wrongdoing between two countries with strained relationships. But the standard diplomatic protections can be removed by the diplomat’s home country, in special circumstances and at the country’s discretion.

In recent years, the Holy See’s practice has generally been to recall diplomats accused of civil crimes in their host countries. They are then tried by the civil court in the Vatican and by a canonical court, and they may later be stripped of diplomatic immunity so they can also be prosecuted by the host country.

For example, allegations of sexual misconduct arose against the apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic in 2013. The nuncio, Archbishop Józef Wesołowski, resigned later that year.

Wesołowski was found guilty of sexual abuse by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in June 2014, and was subjected to dismissal from the clerical state. Vatican City then decided also to hold a criminal trial for the former diplomat on charges of pedophilic acts and possession of child pornography. Wesołowski died in August 2015 while awaiting his criminal trial.

In August 2014, then-Holy See press officer Fr. Federico Lombari said that Wesołowski may “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him” in the Dominican Republic, and that he no longer had diplomatic immunity as he had been removed from his post as nuncio.

Lombardi added that the Vatican had “from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesołowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See,” particularly in recalling the former nuncio to Rome for canonical trial.

Similarly, in April 2018 Vatican police arrested former diplomat Fr. Carlo Alberto Capella, who was being investigation for the violation of laws concerning the possession of child pornography and its distribution or sale.

Capella was recalled from the US Nunciature in September 2017 after the Vatican was informed by the US State Department that there was a “possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by a member of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps.

The US State Department requested that the Vatican lift Capella’s diplomatic immunity, which requeste was declined. However, information regarding the findings of the US State Department was passed along to the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice.

Ventura has served as nuncio to France since 2009.

He was also accused last month of sexual misconduct against an adult male in Canada in 2008.

Christian Vachon, who was 32 at the time of alleged incident, says Ventura touched his buttocks at least twice during a banquet held at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, near Quebec.

Ventura was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Brescia in 1969. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1978 and was stationed in Brazil, Bolivia, and the UK. From 1984 to 1995 he was appointed to serve at the Secretariat of State in the Section for Relations with States.

After his episcopal consecration in 1995, Ventura served as nuncio to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chile, and Canada, before his transfer to France.

[…]

Rome, Italy, Feb 23, 2019 / 06:42 am (CNA).- Pennsylvania State Rep. Mark Rozzi spoke during a rally held by victim advocacy groups in Rome’s city center Saturday, saying he and others want “zero-tolerance” for abusers and Catholic bi… […]

London, England, Feb 21, 2019 / 11:00 am (CNA).- A British pro-life charity has been awarded thousands of pounds in a court case after a local government council made libellous statements about the group last year.

Lambeth Council in south Lon… […]

Utrecht, Netherlands, Feb 20, 2019 / 06:54 pm (CNA).- St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Utrecht is expected to be closed and sold due to an ongoing decrease in attendance, as the aging building has become more expensive to maintain.

The cathedral will likely be sold to the Museum Catharijne Convent, a former convent that was turned into a religious art gallery. A hearing for the sale was held Feb. 18.

An online petition has been opened by a group of parishioners who believe there is still a possibility for Catholic growth in the city. The petition has received 1,655 signatures.

“Closing the cathedral and thus removing the visibility of Catholicism in the inner city will prevent growth of the community in the future,” the petition reads.

St. Catherine’s was initially built as part of a Carmelite friary, between the 15th and 16th centuries. When the Archdiocese of Utrecht was suppressed in 1580 amid the Dutch Revolt and the Protestant Reformation, the church was given over to Calvinists.

It was returned to the Catholic Church in the 19th century, and it became the cathedral when the Utrecht archdiocese was re-established in 1853.

Church historian Peter Nessen told NOS, a Dutch public broadcaster, that “the criticism comes not only from the parishioners and the pastor, but also from social media, which is why it is so amazing that Archbishop Eijk has not resisted so far, which will not increase his moderate popularity.”

Nessen added that should St. Catherine’s be sold, the bishop’s cathedra could be moved to St. Augustine parish in Utrecht, or to a church in Apeldoorn, more than 40 miles east of Utrecht.

The historian added that it would be the first time a Dutch cathedra has had to be relocated because of insufficient funds and a low number of parishioners.

From a high of 942,000 Catholics in 1980, the Utrecht archdiocese fell to 750,000 Catholics in 2014. By 2017, the number of Catholics in the archdiocese had risen moderately, to nearly 754,000.

[…]

Cologne, Germany, Feb 19, 2019 / 04:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Noting the challenges facing the Church in Germany, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne told EWTN last week that amid dispute over the Church’s “direction”, the bishops are called to preserve the faith.

“The current situation in Germany is indeed difficult. And there does seem to be a dispute about the overall direction [of the Church], which was certainly also triggered by the abuse scandal. There are now those voices who argue it is time to cast aside everything we have hitherto held onto. To abandon old times. I think that is a very dangerous concept,” Woelki told EWTN.TV’s program director, Martin Rothweiler, Feb. 13.

“We are part of a great Tradition. The Church also stands for truths that transcend time. And it is not our task to now go and invent a new Church by ourselves. The Church is not just leverage that we have been handed to exercise [as we see fit]. Rather, it is our task as bishops to preserve the faith of the Church, as it has come down to us from the apostles, and to say and proclaim it afresh in our times, and also to preserve it for generations to come, and to express it for them in such a way that they too can encounter Christ as their salvation.”

Woelki commented that “one of the fundamental challenges” facing the Church in Germany “is to keep alive the question of God in our society as a whole. More and more people are convinced that they can live their lives rather well without God. Right there is where the Church has a very important task to play in making clear that God does exist, and that God is in fact the very origin of everything. The question of God to me therefore is one of the fundamental challenges we need to tackle.”

Woelki, 62, has been Archbishop of Cologne since 2014. He was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 1984, and became its auxiliary bishop in 2003. He was Archbishop of Berlin from 2011 until his return to Cologne, during which time he was made a cardinal.

He was among the seven German bishops who wrote last year to the Vatican asking for clarification on the question of Protestant spouses of Catholics receiving Holy Communion, which possibility had been  promoted by the German bishops’ conference.

Woelki told EWTN.TV that Catholics in Germany are deeply concerned by the abuse crisis: “There has been a massive loss of trust both within and outside of the Church. The challenge now is how this trust can be restored.”

Regarding Church reform, Woelki noted that “it must simply be said that the Church has never been renewed by being less, but by being more” than the culture around her. “We must once again realize that as Christians, we must foster something of an alternative culture, which has to align itself solely with the standards of the Gospel and the will of Jesus Christ. And that is not less, but always more.”

This Christian culture, he said, “is not achieved by abolishing celibacy. It is not achieved by now demanding that women be admitted to the ministries. And it is also not achieved by saying that we must have a new sexual morality. No, the Gospel is and continues to be the touchstone. It is the faith of the Church that continues to be the touchstone, just as it was presented to us by John Paul II in his Catechism.”

“The challenge is precisely to witness and proclaim this timeless faith now in such a way that it becomes understandable and comprehensible to the people of today. This is a challenge that we must face up to, rather than retreating from.”

The ground for hope for the Church in Germany “is that Christ exists and remains and continues to be the Lord of the Church and that His Holy Spirit is promised and granted to us,” Woelki reflected.

“I am convinced that He will also lead us through these times. Of course, we must open ourselves to Him so that God’s Spirit can also work within us and guide us. And we mustn’t start playing Holy Spirit ourselves now.”

He said that “as bishops, we are subject to the Word of God and, like all the people and bishops before us, we must give witness to and proclaim this Word of God. In other words, Christ exists, Christ remains, and He is present. He is Lord of the Church. Just as He has led His Church through difficult times in the past, so He will lead us through these present times.”

Woelki’s faith is also “bouyed”, he said, “when I encounter young people who have let themselves be ignited by the faith of the Church. And it is the young people who seek precisely this ‘more’ of the Christian faith, who have a home in the Church, who have a home in the Eucharist, who live though he Eucharist and through adoration, and who live in the knowledge that their lives are touched by Christ.”

“That is something that encourages me, because these young people – as I experience them – live authentically and with conviction. And they simply give me hope in their witness.”

[…]

Cologne, Germany, Feb 19, 2019 / 04:38 pm ().- Noting the challenges facing the Church in Germany, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne told EWTN last week that amid dispute over the Church’s “direction”, the bishops are called to preserve the faith.

“The current situation in Germany is indeed difficult. And there does seem to be a dispute about the overall direction [of the Church], which was certainly also triggered by the abuse scandal. There are now those voices who argue it is time to cast aside everything we have hitherto held onto. To abandon old times. I think that is a very dangerous concept,” Woelki told EWTN.TV’s program director, Martin Rothweiler, Feb. 13.

“We are part of a great Tradition. The Church also stands for truths that transcend time. And it is not our task to now go and invent a new Church by ourselves. The Church is not just leverage that we have been handed to exercise [as we see fit]. Rather, it is our task as bishops to preserve the faith of the Church, as it has come down to us from the apostles, and to say and proclaim it afresh in our times, and also to preserve it for generations to come, and to express it for them in such a way that they too can encounter Christ as their salvation.”

Woelki commented that “one of the fundamental challenges” facing the Church in Germany “is to keep alive the question of God in our society as a whole. More and more people are convinced that they can live their lives rather well without God. Right there is where the Church has a very important task to play in making clear that God does exist, and that God is in fact the very origin of everything. The question of God to me therefore is one of the fundamental challenges we need to tackle.”

Woelki, 62, has been Archbishop of Cologne since 2014. He was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 1984, and became its auxiliary bishop in 2003. He was Archbishop of Berlin from 2011 until his return to Cologne, during which time he was made a cardinal.

He was among the seven German bishops who wrote last year to the Vatican asking for clarification on the question of Protestant spouses of Catholics receiving Holy Communion, which possibility had been  promoted by the German bishops’ conference.

Woelki told EWTN.TV that Catholics in Germany are deeply concerned by the abuse crisis: “There has been a massive loss of trust both within and outside of the Church. The challenge now is how this trust can be restored.”

Regarding Church reform, Woelki noted that “it must simply be said that the Church has never been renewed by being less, but by being more” than the culture around her. “We must once again realize that as Christians, we must foster something of an alternative culture, which has to align itself solely with the standards of the Gospel and the will of Jesus Christ. And that is not less, but always more.”

This Christian culture, he said, “is not achieved by abolishing celibacy. It is not achieved by now demanding that women be admitted to the ministries. And it is also not achieved by saying that we must have a new sexual morality. No, the Gospel is and continues to be the touchstone. It is the faith of the Church that continues to be the touchstone, just as it was presented to us by John Paul II in his Catechism.”

“The challenge is precisely to witness and proclaim this timeless faith now in such a way that it becomes understandable and comprehensible to the people of today. This is a challenge that we must face up to, rather than retreating from.”

The ground for hope for the Church in Germany “is that Christ exists and remains and continues to be the Lord of the Church and that His Holy Spirit is promised and granted to us,” Woelki reflected.

“I am convinced that He will also lead us through these times. Of course, we must open ourselves to Him so that God’s Spirit can also work within us and guide us. And we mustn’t start playing Holy Spirit ourselves now.”

He said that “as bishops, we are subject to the Word of God and, like all the people and bishops before us, we must give witness to and proclaim this Word of God. In other words, Christ exists, Christ remains, and He is present. He is Lord of the Church. Just as He has led His Church through difficult times in the past, so He will lead us through these present times.”

Woelki’s faith is also “bouyed”, he said, “when I encounter young people who have let themselves be ignited by the faith of the Church. And it is the young people who seek precisely this ‘more’ of the Christian faith, who have a home in the Church, who have a home in the Eucharist, who live though he Eucharist and through adoration, and who live in the knowledge that their lives are touched by Christ.”

“That is something that encourages me, because these young people – as I experience them – live authentically and with conviction. And they simply give me hope in their witness.”

[…]

Rome, Italy, Feb 19, 2019 / 11:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Superiors general of men’s and women’s religious communities expressed sorrow Tuesday for sexual abuse committed within religious congregations and orders ahead of a Vatican meeting on … […]