Vatican

Vatican City, Jul 3, 2018 / 04:51 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis has named three new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Chicago, appointing Fr. Ronald Hicks, Fr. Robert G. Casey and Fr. Mark Bartosic to the positions.

The July 3 announcement of the priests’ appointments coincided with the news that two of Chicago’s six current auxiliary bishops, George Rassas and Francis Kane, would be retiring. With Hicks, Casey and Bartosic, there will now be seven auxiliaries serving in the archdiocese.

Born in Chicago in 1967, Hicks has until now served as the archdiocese’s vicar general.

In 1985 he graduated from Quigley Seminary South, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in philosophy four years later from the University of Chicago. He also has a master of divinity degree and a doctor of ministry degree from the University of St. Mary of the the Lake in Mundelein.

Hicks was ordained a priest in 1994 for the Archdiocese of Chicago, after which he served in various pastoral roles throughout the diocese.

After a stint as dean of formation at St. Joseph College Seminary from 1999-2005, the bishop-elect received permission from his then-archbishop, the late Cardinal Francis George, to move to El Salvador, where he served a 5-year term as regional director of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos home for orphaned and abandoned children.

From 2010-2014 he served as dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary, while also helping with weekend Masses at St. Jerome Parish in Rogers Park. He was named vicar general for the archdiocese by the current archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich in 2015.

Casey, also a Chicago native, was born Sept. 23, 1967, and is currently serving as pastor of St. Bede the Venerable Church in Chicago.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English from Niles College of Loyola University Chicago in 1989, Casey went on to pursue a master of divinity, which he received from the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein in 1994.

The bishop-elect was ordained a priest in 1994, after which he served as associate pastor of St. Ita parish in Edgewater until his 1998 appointment by Cardinal George as the part-time, associate director of Casa Jesus. In 1999, he was named the organization’s full-time director.

After a 40-day pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain in 2003, Casey began serving as pastor of Our Lady of Tepeyac in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago. In 2008, he co-founded the Taller de José ministry, which is sponsored by the Congregation of St. Joseph and provides accompaniment to those in need.

Casey then served in a number of other pastoral roles before being named to the Placement Board of the archdiocese, a role in which he helps assign priests to parishes.

The only non-Chicago native of the new appointments, Bartosic was born in Neehah, Wis., in 1961, and is currently serving as pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Chicago and as director and chaplain of the Kolbe House, Cook County Jail.

Raised in Ashland, Ohio, Bartosic obtained a bachelor’s degree in theater from Ashland University in 1983, and went on to earn a both a master of divinity degree and a licentiate degree in sacred theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake.

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1994, and has served in several pastoral roles since, including his position as chaplain of the Kolbe House jail ministry.

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Geneva, Switzerland, Jul 3, 2018 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis characterized his June 21st day-trip to Geneva as an “ecumenical pilgrimage,” not a political trip, and for this reason he did not visit the UN and other international organiz… […]

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2018 / 11:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A young Nigerian woman who escaped from forced prostitution in Italy was honored by the U.S. State Department last week as a 2018 Trafficking in Persons Hero.

Blessing Okoedion “is an example that through perseverance and support, trafficking victims can overcome, thrive, and help others to do so as well,” said U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich in a June 30 statement.

“She is a survivor, an activist, an author, and a fierce protector of victims suffering under the evil of human trafficking. She has helped a multitude of women escape horror. Her advocacy on their behalf has quite literally saved lives.”

Every year, alongside the release of its report on global human trafficking, the U.S. State Department honors individuals who work to fight trafficking, though raising awareness, working with victims, or pushing for tougher laws against perpetrators.

Okoedion, originally from Nigeria, was one of 10 Trafficking in Persons Heroes honored this year. She was recognized at a June 28 ceremony with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and presidential advisor Ivanka Trump.

Shortly after graduating from college with a degree in computer science, Okoedion was contacted by a recruiter through her local church in Nigeria. She was offered a job in a tech store in Spain.

She accepted the offer, but when she arrived in Spain, she discovered it was a fraudulent promise by traffickers, who forced her into prostitution in Naples, Italy. She eventually escaped to a shelter run by Ursuline nuns, who cared for her and offered her help.

Today, Okoedion works to fight modern slavery. According to the U.S. State Department, “Okoedion plays an integral role in pushing Italian authorities to ensure that survivors, especially Nigerian women and girls, receive the services they deserve during their healing process and that law enforcement and service providers engage with survivors in an increasingly culturally informed, victim-centered manner.”

She also works with a local shelter run by Ursuline sisters, where she acts as cultural mediator for trafficking victims, and travels throughout Nigeria to educate women and girls about how to detect trafficking schemes.

In a book published last year – entitled Il Coraggio della Libertà or The Courage of Freedom – she tells her story and calls for greater awareness surrounding the modern plague of trafficking.

In her statement, Ambassador Gingrich stressed that “human trafficking is a global crisis,” with more than 25 million victims worldwide, “often lured with false promises by people they trust…and forced into prostitution, domestic servitude, or other forms of modern slavery.”

“The path to ending human trafficking demands action, but also cooperation. No single government or individual can do it alone,” she said. “Governments, faith-based organizations, civil society, and survivors must work together.”

Gingrich said the fight against modern-day slavery is a “top priority” for the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.

“We have a great ally in Pope Francis who has called for a victim-centered approach to human trafficking,” she said, also noting that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to use the “full force and weight” of government to fight trafficking.

In March, Okoedion spoke to Pope Francis at the start of the pre-synod youth meeting in Rome. Okoedion was one of five young people who presented questions to the pope.

She told the pope that while she was being trafficked, many of the men soliciting prostitutes were Catholic and asked about how to raise awareness of the problem and fight the “sick” mentality that exploits women.

In his response, the pope called human trafficking “a sickness of mentality, it’s a sickness of social action, it’s a crime against humanity.”

He asked forgiveness “for all the Catholics who commit this criminal act” and asked young people in particular to take a stand against it, saying, “This is one of the battles that I ask you young people to do, for the dignity of women.”

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Vatican City, Jul 1, 2018 / 05:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics have no reason to fear death, because Christ the Lord has power over death; instead, they should fear sin, which hardens and kills the soul, Pope Francis said Sunday.

“Jesus is the… […]

Vatican City, Jun 29, 2018 / 05:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The ability to know and have a relationship with the living Christ is both a mystery and a grace, something which Christians understand interiorly, not through mathematical proofs, Pope Francis sa… […]

Vatican City, Jun 29, 2018 / 03:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Jesus, suffering and glory go hand in hand, Pope Francis said Friday, urging Christians not to fall into the temptation of running from the cross, but to imitate Christ in bending down to embrace the weak and vulnerable.

In his homily for the June 29 Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the official patrons of Rome, the pope said that in Jesus, “glory and the cross go together; they are inseparable.”

“Once we turn our back on the cross, even though we may attain the heights of glory, we will be fooling ourselves, since it will not be God’s glory, but the snare of the enemy.”

He pointed to the day’s Gospel reading from Matthew, in which Peter declares that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Though Jesus applauds Peter for this recognition, telling him he is the rock on which he will build the Church, a few lines later Jesus chastises Peter for swearing that he will not allow the crucifixion to happen.

By doing this, Peter “immediately becomes a stumbling stone in the Messiah’s path,” Francis said, because while he believes that he is defending Jesus, “Peter, without realizing it, becomes the Lord’s enemy; Jesus calls him ‘Satan.’”

In contemplating Peter’s life and his confession of faith in the day’s Gospel, Catholics are also invited to reflect on the daily temptations that every disciple faces, the pope said.

“Like Peter, we as a Church will always be tempted to hear those ‘whisperings’ of the evil One, which will become a stumbling stone for the mission,” he said, explaining that he used the word “whisper” because “the devil seduces from hiding, lest his intentions be recognized.”

“He behaves like a hypocrite, wishing to stay hidden and not be discovered.”

Christians, he said, can often be tempted to keep a “prudent distance” from the wounds of Christ, whereas Jesus himself bends down to touch humanity’s brokenness and asks Christians to join him in touching “the suffering flesh” of others.

“To proclaim our faith with our lips and our heart demands that we – like Peter – learn to recognize the ‘whisperings’ of the evil one,” he said. “It demands learning to discern and recognize those personal and communitarian pretexts that keep us far from real human dramas, that preserve us from contact with other people’s concrete existence and, in the end, from knowing the revolutionary power of God’s tender love.”

By choosing not to separate his glory from his death on the cross, Jesus frees both his disciples and the Church from “empty forms of triumphalism” which are void of love, service, compassion, and, ultimately, people, he said.

Jesus, Francis said, wants to free the Church from “grand illusions that fail to sink their roots in the life of God’s faithful people or, still worse, believe that service to the Lord means turning aside from the dusty roads of history.”

To contemplate and follow Christ, then, means opening one’s heart to God the Father and to all those he chose to identify with, “in the sure knowledge that he will never abandon his people.”

Pope Francis closed his homily urging attendees to imitate Peter in confessing that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

This is the daily chorus that every disciple ought to profess, he said, saying it should be done “with the simplicity, the certainty and the joy of knowing that the Church shines not with her own light, but with the light of Christ.”

“Her light is drawn from the Sun of Justice, so that she can exclaim: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.’”
 
Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, during which he gave new metropolitan archbishops appointed throughout the past year a white wool vestment called the “pallium.” Though there were 30 who will receive the pallium, only 26 made it to the Mass in Rome.

Adorned with six black silk crosses, the pallium dates back to at least the fifth century. The wearing of the pallium by metropolitan archbishops is a symbol of authority and of unity with the Holy See, and it serves as a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese as well as the other particular dioceses within his ecclesiastical province.

The title of “metropolitan bishop” refers to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis, namely, the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or regional capital.

The “pallium Mass” also fell the day after Pope Francis created 14 new cardinals in a June 28 consistory, 11 of whom are of voting age.

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Vatican City, Jun 28, 2018 / 12:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Among the Church’s newest cardinals is Antonio Augusto dos Santos Marto, who oversees the diocese of Leiria-Fatima. He says his elevation to the rank of cardinal is not only a sign of Francis’ affinity for popular devotion, but shows the relevance of the message Mary gave to the Church when she appeared in the small town over 100 years ago.

When Pope Francis visited Fatima in May 2017 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of one of the most famous Marian apparitions in the history of the Church, “he understood and intuited” not only what was happening in the Church and in global society 100 years ago, but also what is happening today, Santos said.

Speaking to journalists hours before the June 28 consistory in which he was elevated to the rank of cardinal, Santos said that “Pope Francis intuits a lot in a short amount of time…he deeply understands the value of what the Church is living.”

“In my view, he intuited and understood the universal projection of the Fatima message,” both for the Church and for humanity, he said, and pointed to modern crises which parallel the global challenges present in 1917, such as persecution of the Church and what Pope Francis has called the “third world war in pieces.”

Not only will the presence of a cardinal give more weight to the Marian apparitions, but it can also be read as a sign of Francis’ love for expressions of popular piety and devotion, Santos said.

Pope Francis “has a great love for popular religiosity, which is an expression of the inculturation of the faith in the simple people, and in Fatima this is seen, it is lived and it is visible.”

“Perhaps the pope was impressed by this living, by this strength of evangelizing through popular religiosity,” he said, citing the pope’s background in Latin American culture, which places a strong emphasis on popular devotion.

Santos, 71, has overseen the diocese of Leiria-Fatima since 2006. He oversaw the visit of Benedict XVI in 2010, and was tasked with preparing for the centenary anniversary of the 1917 apparitions, which took place in May 2017, and was marked by a papal visit from Pope Francis.

In his view, Santos said, the centenary celebrations are a key reason why he became a recipient of the red biretta in Thursday’s consistory.

Not only is the appointment as cardinal a personal “act of trust” on the part of the pope, but it is also a sign of the universality of the Catholic Church, which is clearly seen in Fatima, visited annually by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world who go to the shrine to pray and honor the Virgin Mary, he said.

These two things, universality and personal trust, “go together,” Santos said, and cited the letter given to the new cardinals after receiving news of their appointments.

In the letter, Francis had told the appointees that “the nomination as cardinal represents the universality of the Church and also a closer bond with the See of Peter, the pope, and the local Church,” Santos said. He called his own nomination “a gift from the pope to Fatima.”

Practically, Santos said not much will change in terms of his duties, since he is still bishop of a diocese, and he will work alongside the rest of the bishops’ conference in a “collegial atmosphere.”

Santos said he found out about his nomination before celebrating Mass on the Feast of Pentecost, when he got a call from the local nuncio informing him of the news.

The cardinal said he was surprised and excited to hear about his nomination. The appointment as cardinal is “a service, it’s another mission,” he said, adding that he is “happy, peaceful, and trusting in God’s grace to carry out this mission.”

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Vatican City, Jun 28, 2018 / 11:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Cardinal Becciu, 70, was elevated to the cardinalate June 28, and will resign his role at the Secretariat of State June 29. His appointment at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will take effect Aug. 31.

Referring to his new post while speaking to the press June 27, Cardinal Becciu said the Church does not exist “to create a system of power to dominate,” but its primary goal is to help humanity to “experience God’s existence.”

The experience with God, he said, is “an experience which transforms, which day by day you make a good journey, and at the end you become a saint.”

The Church’s mission, then, is to remind the world of “the vocation for all men to become saints.”

Because of this, Becciu said, the importance of his new office is to “discover those people who lived the Gospel in such a courageous way, and to propose them to humanity as true models of holiness. It’s a very interesting challenge.”

Becciu was born in 1948 in Pattada, on the island of Sardinia, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ozieri in 1972, at the age of 24.

In 2001 he was consecrated a bishop, and appointed apostolic nuncio to Angola as well as Sao Tome and Principe. He served there until 2009, when he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Cuba.

Since 2011, he has been substitute at the Secretarat of State.

Cardinal Becciu has served as an important aide to Pope Francis, and while meeting with reporters he discussed the pope’s ongoing reform of the Roman Curia.

“It’s still too early to judge the reform,” he said: “The work hasn’t been finished” and it is still “a bit rugged”.

“We’re working toward an apostolic constitution that will bring everything together, giving a unified structure to the whole reform. So far we’ve had elements, but not a unified idea.”

Cardinal Becciu’s role at the Secretariat of State “all at the service of the Holy Father. It meant heping to spread his voice and helping him to carry out his mission throughout the world.”

The cardinal has also served as Pope Francis’ personal delegate to the Knights of Malta, tasked with overseeing a “spiritual and moral” reform of the order.

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Vatican City, Jun 28, 2018 / 09:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At a ceremony for the creation of 14 cardinals Thursday, Pope Francis said the best promotion a person can receive is to serve the person of Christ as seen in the least of his people.

“This… […]

Vatican City, Jun 28, 2018 / 05:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his latest move on the Chilean clerical abuse crisis, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca of Talca, and Bishop Alejandro Goić Karmelić of Rancagua, both of whom have come under fire for their reaction to abuse allegations.

Valenzuela, 64, is one of four bishops formed by notorious Chilean abuser Fr. Fernando Karadima, and has long been accused by victims of covering up his mentor’s crimes.

Goić, 78, is over the typical age of retirement for Catholic prelates, which is 75, however, in May he admitted to dropping the ball on abuse allegations brought to him last year. He apologized for having not looked into the charges, and suspended several priests who were accused by Chilean media of inappropriate sexual conduct with minors.

Pope Francis’ decision to accept their resignations was announced June 28, and comes nearly six weeks after every active Chilean bishop offered a written resignation to the pope following a three-day meeting with him at the Vatican in May to discuss the nation’s abuse crisis.

Stepping in as apostolic administrator of Talca, where Valenzuela has served since 1996, is Galo Fernández Villaseca, auxiliary bishop of Santiago.

The apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Rancagua, which Goić has led since 2004, will be Luis Fernando Ramos Pérez, also an auxiliary bishop of Santiago.

With Valenzuela and Goić included, there are now five Chilean bishops who have officially stepped down since presenting their resignations to the pope during their meeting in May, including Bishop Juan Barros, who had been at the center of the nation’s abuse scandal.

Earlier this year Francis summoned Chilean bishops to Rome following an in-depth investigation and report into the Chilean clerical abuse crisis carried out by Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in February, resulting in a 2,300 page report on the scandal.

The crisis flared up with Pope Francis’ appointment of Barros to the Diocese of Osorno in 2015, which was met with a wave of objections and calls for his resignation. Dozens of protesters, including non-Catholics, attempted to disrupt his March 21, 2015 installation Mass at the Osorno cathedral.

Opponents, including many of Karadima’s victims, were vocal, accusing Barros, Valenzuela, and two other Chilean bishops who had been close to Karadima – Andrés Arteaga and Tomislav Koljatic – of cover-up.

In 2011 Karadima was found guilty by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of sexually abusing several minors during the 1980s and 1990s, and sentenced to a life of prayer and solitude.

Though Pope Francis had initially backed Barros, after Scicluna and Bertomeu’s investigation he issued a major “mea culpa” for having made “serious mistakes” in judging the case due to “a lack of truthful and balanced information.”

Since then, he has met with two rounds of abuse survivors in addition to his meeting with Chilean bishops, and has sent Scicluna and Bertomeu back to Osorno to offer support and to educate in “best practices” for the handling of abuse accusations.

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