Bishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva succeeds Cardinal Mario Poli as archbishop of Buenos Aires. / YouTube/Diócesis Río Gallegos – Argentina
Vatican City, May 26, 2023 / 10:05 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of Cardinal … […]
Pope Francis at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 24, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, May 26, 2023 / 07:07 am (CNA).
Pope Francis canceled meetings on Friday morning due to a fever, a Vatican spokesman confirmed.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told CNA that “due to a feverish condition, Pope Francis did not receive [anyone] in audience this morning.”
As of Friday afternoon, the pope does not have any public appointments scheduled for May 27, according to the Vatican calendar. He is currently scheduled to say Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the solemnity of Pentecost on May 28, followed by the recitation of the Regina Caeli antiphon.
Pope Francis, 86, was hospitalized for four days at the end of March for a lung infection.
During his return flight from a three-day trip to Budapest, Hungary, a month later the pope said his “body responded well to the treatment. Thank God.”
This week Pope Francis had both public and closed-door meetings with Italian bishops for their 77th general assembly. He also led his weekly Wednesday morning audience with the public.
On Thursday, May 25, Francis met with a group of religious sisters, with bishops and lay delegates of the synodal journey in Italy, and with participants in a congress hosted by Scholas Occurentes.
Also on May 25, Pope Francis gave an exclusive interview in Spanish to Telemundo News.
Cardinal Mario Grech, who serves as secretary general of the global Synod on Synodality, speaks to EWTN Rome Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser for an exclusive interview that aired on EWTN on May 22, 2023. / EWTN Vatican
Rome Newsroom, May 25, 20… […]
A man places his hands on the glass urn holding the remains of St. Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, in 2016. St. Pio was found to be in a state of partial deterioration and partial preservation when his coffin was opened in 2008, but experts … […]
Pope Francis delivers his Regina Caeli address on May 21, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, May 25, 2023 / 08:07 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has emphasized the importance of the virtue of justice in a message for the upcoming World Day of Prayer … […]
Pope Francis at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 24, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, May 24, 2023 / 09:25 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has established that the auditor general of the Holy See will continue to carry out its tasks during a sede vacante.
A sede vacante is the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of his successor. According to Holy See law, during a sede vacante, “all heads of curial institutions and members cease from their office,” though secretaries “attend to the ordinary governance of curial institutions, taking care of ordinary business only.”
Francis ruled that the Office of the Auditor General, which does not have a secretary, may also continue its “ordinary administration” in the case of a vacant papal see.
The auditor general is responsible for auditing the financial statements of the Holy See and the Vatican City State.
It was also responsible for precipitating the investigation into the Secretariat of State’s controversial investment in a London building — a purchase now at the heart of a major Vatican finance trial.
The IOR, commonly called the Vatican bank, first agreed to give a loan to the Secretariat of State for the mortgage on the London property. But the IOR suddenly changed course and made a report to the auditor general, who investigated.
The pronouncement was part of a May 24 rescript on the tasks of the Office of the Auditor General signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state. The rescript was issued following an April 24 meeting between Parolin and Pope Francis.
The pope said in light of the provisions of the Church’s apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, “the ordinary administration, in case of a vacant Apostolic See, would not be interrupted and that the function of control would continue to be exercised by the Office of the Auditor General under the supervision of the Cardinal Camerlengo.”
The camerlengo is responsible for overseeing the preparations for a papal conclave and managing the administration of the Holy See during the sede vacante.
Pope Francis has also decided to change part of an article in the statutes of the Office of Auditor General.
According to the rescript, after analyzing suspicious activity reports, the auditor general will no longer present them to a special commission of the councilor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State, the secretary prelate of the Council for the Economy, and the secretary of the Secretariat for the Economy.
Instead, using the wording of Praedicate Evangelium in paragraph 2 of article 224, the auditor will present a report of the suspicious activity notifications to the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, and if he deems it necessary, to the cardinal coordinator of the Council for the Economy.
This change means the Secretariat of State does not receive a report from the auditor on the suspicious activity notifications the office has received.
Suspicious activity reports that have been substantiated should continue to be transmitted to the proper judicial authorities, the rescript added.
The pope’s rescript on the function of the Office of Auditor General comes as a former Holy See auditor and his deputy sue the Secretariat of State for wrongful dismissal.
Libero Milone and Ferruccio Panicco filed the multimillion-dollar lawsuit in November 2022; after several roadblocks, the case has had court dates this year.
The two are seeking compensation for loss of earnings, damage to their reputations, and emotional suffering, which they claim they bore after being forced from their jobs in 2017.
Milone said soon after stepping down in the middle of his five-year mandate that he was “threatened” into resignation by an “old guard” opposed to his work.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then second-in-command at the Secretariat of State, has been said to be responsible for the firing of Milone.
Becciu told Reuters in 2017 that Milone “went against all the rules and was spying on the private lives of his superiors and staff, including me.”
The cardinal has pointed to Pope Francis, claiming the pope told him he no longer had trust in Milone and wanted Becciu to tell the auditor he should resign.
Pope Francis spoke about apostolic zeal and the example of Korean martyr St. Andrew Kim Taegon at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 24, 2023. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, May 24, 2023 / 05:26 am (CNA).
St. Andrew Kim Taegon and the other Korean martyrs teach us to have courage when sharing the Gospel, even in the face of difficult situations, Pope Francis said on Wednesday.
At his weekly public audience May 24, the pope spoke about the first Korean-born Catholic priest, who was tortured and beheaded near Seoul, South Korea in 1846 at the age of 25.
St. Andrew Kim Taegon was canonized in 1984 with 102 other Korean martyrs.
Pope Francis pointed out that around 200 years ago in Korea, Christianity was severely persecuted.
“At that time, believing in Jesus Christ in Korea meant being ready to bear witness even unto death,” he said.
“No matter how difficult the situation may be — and indeed, at times it may seem to leave no room for the Gospel message — we must not give up and we must not forsake pursuing what is essential in our Christian life, namely evangelization,” the pope said.
He recalled an event from St. Andrew Kim’s life that illustrates the quality of never giving up.
When the Korean Catholic was a seminarian, he needed to find a way to secretly welcome foreign missionary priests to Korea, since foreigners were forbidden from entering the country.
“One time,” Francis said, the saint “walked as the snow was falling, without eating, for so long that he fell to the ground exhausted, risking unconsciousness and freezing.”
“At that point, he suddenly heard a voice, ‘Get up, walk!’ Hearing that voice, Andrew came to his senses, catching a glimpse of something like a shadow of someone guiding him.”
Pope Francis said “this experience of the great Korean witness makes us understand a very important aspect of apostolic zeal; namely, the courage to get back up when one falls.”
The pope shared another example of St. Andrew’s courage in evangelization.
Given the situation at the time, to confirm the Christian identity of others, they would agree ahead of time upon a sign of recognition.
“Then the saint would surreptitiously ask the question, but all quietly: ‘Are you a disciple of Jesus?’” Francis explained. “Since other people were watching the conversation, the saint had to speak in a low voice, saying only a few words, the most essential ones. So, for Andrew Kim, the expression that summed up the whole identity of the Christian was ‘disciple of Christ.’”
As the example of St. Andrew Kim Taegon shows, the pope said, being a disciple of the Lord “means to follow him, to follow his way, and this involves giving one’s life for the Gospel.”
“The Christian is by nature a missionary and a witness, just as Jesus was a missionary and witness to the Father. Every Christian community receives this identity from the Holy Spirit, and so does the whole Church, since the day of Pentecost,” he said.
Pope Francis said seeing the example of these great saints, we might wonder to ourselves how we can evangelize in our own lives.
We can do this in our own, small way, he said, “evangelizing family, evangelizing friends, talking about Jesus, but talking about Jesus and evangelizing with a heart full of joy, full of strength.”
“Let us prepare ourselves,” he added, “to receive the Holy Spirit in the coming Pentecost and ask him for that grace, the grace of apostolic courage, the grace to evangelize, to always carry on the message of Jesus.”
The pope’s catechesis on St. Andrew Kim Taegon was part of a series on apostolic zeal.
The week prior, he highlighted the example of the Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier.
Pilgrims wave a Chinese flag at the general audience with Pope Francis, Oct. 12, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, May 24, 2023 / 03:12 am (CNA).
Pope Francis asked Catholics Wednesday to pray that the Gospel can be fully and freely shared i… […]
St. Peter’s Square was illuminated by candlelight the night of Saturday, May 20, 2023, as pilgrims prayed the rosary in a procession in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, May 22, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
… […]
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtue of Brazil’s “Surfer Angel” Guido Schäffer in a decree issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 20, 2023. / Credit: Photo courtesty of guidoschaffer.com.br
Vatican City, May 22, 2023 / … […]
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