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Cupich named to organizing group of Vatican’s February meeting on abuse crisis

November 23, 2018 CNA Daily News 5

Vatican City, Nov 23, 2018 / 05:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Friday Pope Francis’ selection for the organizing committee of the Vatican’s February meeting of bishops on abuse prevention. Among the group named is Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago.

 

The gathering, which will take place Feb. 21-24, 2019, is focused on the protection of minors from sexual abuse within the Church. The pope has asked the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, and the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches, to attend.

 

In addition to Cupich, Francis also placed on the organizing committee Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay and Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who was recently made adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.

 

Fr. Hans Zollner, president of the Center for the Protection of Minors at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), was also named a member and made the contact person for the committee.

 

Earlier this month, the Vatican asked the United States bishops to postpone their consideration of a new code of conduct for bishops and the creation of a lay-led body to investigate bishops accused of misconduct, until after the conclusion of the February meeting on abuse.

 

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, made the announcement Nov. 12, during the bishops’ fall general assembly in Baltimore. The instruction to halt the vote was given by the Congregation for Bishops.

 

At DiNardo’s announcement, Cupich intervened from the floor, expressing his support for the pope. He also proposed an alternate plan on how to handle misconduct complaints against bishops, different from the draft measures previously presented by conference leadership.

 

In a statement Nov. 23, Papal spokesman Greg Burke called the February meeting “unprecedented,” and said that it “shows Pope Francis has made the protection of minors a fundamental priority for the Church.”

 

The gathering is about “keeping children safe from harm worldwide,” he said, adding that the pope wants the Church’s leaders to “to have a full understanding of the devastating impact that clerical sexual abuse has on victims.”

 

Burke said that the meeting is for bishops, who, he said, have the most responsibility for the “grave problem” of abuse; but lay men and women who are experts in the area of abuse will also be providing input and will be able to help address what should be done “to ensure transparency and accountability.”

 

Among those who will be helping with preparations for the February meeting are members of the PCPM and the lay undersecretaries of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life: Dr. Gabriella Gambino and Dr. Linda Ghisoni.

 

Some number of victims of abuse by clergy will also be helping with preparations.

 

In addition to Pope Francis, other Vatican representation at the meeting will be the superiors of the Secretariat of State, and the prefects of seven congregations, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation of Bishops, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

 

Representatives of men’s and women’s religious orders will also be present.

 

 

 

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Pope Francis: Include the Holy Spirit in art, theology

November 17, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Nov 17, 2018 / 05:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the face of the difficulties of the modern-age, artists and theologians need the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – the source of joy and hope, Pope Francis said Saturday, during the awarding of the 2018 Ratzinger Prize.

“Against the backdrop and in the context of the great problems of our time, theology and art must therefore continue to be animated and elevated by the power of the Spirit, which is the source of strength, joy and hope,” he said Nov. 17.

“I thank the theologians and the architects who help us to lift our heads and turn our thoughts to God,” he added. “Let [their work] always be addressed to this end.”

Pope Francis spoke with members of the Joseph-Ratzinger-Benedict XVI foundation, which is headed by Fr. Federico Lombardi. During the audience in the Clementine hall, the pope bestowed the 8th annual Ratzinger Prize on Swiss architect Mario Botta and Bavarian theologian Marianne Schlosser.

The Ratzinger Prize was started in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Pope Benedict XVI.

It is not the first time a woman has been awarded the prize, he noted, but stressed the importance of greater recognition of the contribution of women to the sciences, to theological research and to the teaching of theology, which were “for so long considered almost exclusive territories of the clergy.”

This contribution should be encouraged, and “find a wider space, in keeping with the growing presence of women in the various fields of responsibility for the life of the Church,” he said, pointing to the example set by St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Lisiuex and St. Hildegard of Bingen, who are all considered Doctors of the Church.

Francis also praised the contribution of the other prize winner, architect Mario Botta. He noted the importance of sacred buildings throughout the history of the Church, as places which show “a concrete call to God” and express “the faith of the believing community.”

“The commitment of the architect, creator of sacred space in the city of men, is therefore of highest value, and must be recognized and encouraged by the Church, especially when we risk the oblivion of the spiritual dimension and the dehumanization of urban spaces,” he stated.

Pope Francis also encouraged members of the foundation to continue to study the writings of Benedict XVI, both those from his time as pope and before, “but also to face the new themes on which faith is called to dialogue,” like care of creation and defense of human dignity.

For admirers of Benedict’s spiritual legacy, there is a “mission to cultivate it and to continue to make it bear fruit,” he said. “His is a spirit that views the problems of our time with awareness and courage, and knows how to draw, from attention to Scripture in the living tradition of the Church, the wisdom necessary for a constructive dialogue with today’s culture.”

Schlosser, 59, has been a professor of the theology of spirituality at the University of Vienna since 2004. Pope Francis appointed her a member of the International Theological Commission in 2014.

She has translated a large part of the body of work of St. Bonaventure into German and was the researcher for the second volume of the total works of Joseph Ratzinger, which was on “the Idea of Revelation and the Theology of the History of Bonaventure.” Her expertise is in Patristics and the theology and spirituality of the late Middle Ages.

Botta, 75, is an internationally-acclaimed architect, who has designed many different buildings, including homes, schools, libraries, museums, and banks. He has also designed several significant religious buildings, among them the Church of St. John the Baptist in Mogno, the Cathedral of Evry near Paris, and the Co-cathedral of Santo Volto in Turin.

He is also the designer of one of the chapels on display in the Holy See’s pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.

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