Stockholm, Sweden, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious liberty advocates applauded a European court’s ruling in favor of asylum for an individual fleeing life-threatening anti-conversion laws in Iran, on the grounds that his securi... Read more
Erbil, Iraq, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending his first full day in Erbil, Iraq, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a special message to men studying in Iraq’s only remaining seminary for diocesan priests. “You, you will be... Read more
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2016 / 06:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will journey this summer to Armenia, and will visit Georgia and Azerbaijan later in the year, the Vatican announced Saturday. The visit to Armenia will take place June 24-26, following the invitation of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, the nation's civil authorities, and the Catholic Church, according to the April 9 statement from the Holy See press office. Francis himself had expressed his wish to go to the Caucasus nation in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In 2014, he said: “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.” Armenia is the site of the 1915 Armenian genocide the Ottoman Empire which targeted Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christian minorities. Some 1.5 million Christians, most of them Armenians, were killed, and millions more were displaced during the genocide. Speaking during a Sept. 7 Mass, the Pope called it “one of many great persecutions.” Francis will be the second pontiff to visit Armenia, after St. John Paul II's 2001 visit to the nation. From Sept. 20 – Oct. 2, the Pope will visit the Caucasus nations of Georgia and Azerbaijan, having accepted “the invitations from His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia, and the civil and religious authorities of Georgia and Azerbaijan,” the Vatican statement said. Georgia and Azerbaijan had previously been visited by St. John Paul II in 1999 and 2002, respectively. Read more
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2016 / 06:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis will journey this summer to Armenia, and will visit Georgia and Azerbaijan later in the year, the Vatican announced Saturday. The visit to Armenia will take place June 24-26, following the invitation of Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, the nation's civil authorities, and the Catholic Church, according to the April 9 statement from the Holy See press office. Francis himself had expressed his wish to go to the Caucasus nation in his Nov. 30 press conference in the flight from Central Africa. In 2014, he said: “I promised the three (Armenian) Patriarchs that I would go: the promise has been made. I don’t know if it will be possible, but I did promise.” Armenia is the site of the 1915 Armenian genocide the Ottoman Empire which targeted Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christian minorities. Some 1.5 million Christians, most of them Armenians, were killed, and millions more were displaced during the genocide. Speaking during a Sept. 7 Mass, the Pope called it “one of many great persecutions.” Francis will be the second pontiff to visit Armenia, after St. John Paul II's 2001 visit to the nation. From Sept. 20 – Oct. 2, the Pope will visit the Caucasus nations of Georgia and Azerbaijan, having accepted “the invitations from His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia, and the civil and religious authorities of Georgia and Azerbaijan,” the Vatican statement said. Georgia and Azerbaijan had previously been visited by St. John Paul II in 1999 and 2002, respectively. Read more
Washington D.C., Apr 9, 2016 / 06:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Reflecting on Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on love in the family, two professors at the John Paul II Institute have emphasized the close ties between integration and conversion, as well as the importance of the Church's established teaching.Amoris laetitia, released April 8, is the conclusion of a two-year synod process discussing both the beauty and challenges of family life today. “Among the many pastoral challenges facing the family, one issue in particular provoked intense debate and discussion during the 2014 and 2015 synods. Could there be a change in the Church's discipline to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist, at least in some cases?” explained Father Antonio López and Dr. Nicholas Healy. Fr. López is dean at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and Healy is an associate professor of philosophy and culture. “Following the lead of the synod, Pope Francis chose not to answer this question directly,” they reflected, adding that he encouraged instead a "responsible personal and pastoral discernment," accompanying people in their particular circumstances. They noted the Pope's belief that "The key to pastoral care ... is the 'logic of integration' and discernment." “Pope Francis's concern to avoid 'overly rigid classifications' as well as the simple application of [a] 'general norm or rule' to complex personal situations is a helpful reminder that pastors need to be patient and merciful in dealing with the sensitive situations of marriage and family life,” Fr. López and Healy reflected. They added that “At the same, the question of whether or not someone is married is not a matter of 'rigid classification,' or the unmerciful application of a 'general norm' without regard for particular circumstances. If someone is in fact married, then the path of integration must acknowledge the reality of this marriage as an integral part of the mystery of God's plan for their life.” “For every Christian, the path of integration is also a path of conversion. Amoris laetitia invites us to reflect on the meaning of 'integration' not in the sociological sense, but as a theological 'incorporation' in the body of Christ, 'who gave himself up for our sake and who continues to dwell in our midst' (59).” Fr. López said that two of the most beautiful things in Amoris laetitia are "the emphasis on the centrality of Christ, and how the Christian gospel makes married love truer and more human. We need to look more at these two elements. The Pope is aware that the main challenges the Church is facing is that young people no longer see why they should get married, what the nature of Christian marriage is, and what is the social significance of the family." They also mentioned the Pope's lengthy discussion of “mitigating factors” that might reduce one's culpability for a grave sin. “Does this imply that on a case by case basis some civilly remarried Catholics may be admitted to the Eucharist? Although there are some expressions in the text that are not entirely clear, the answer seems to be 'no.'” They explained that the reason that the divorced-and-remarried cannot be admitted to Communion, “which Familiaris Consortio 84 and Sacramentum Caritatis 29 affirm as based on Christ's teaching” is “precisely not” a judgement about the person's culpability: “Instead, it is the objective situation of living more coniugale [in a conjugal way] with a person who is not in fact one's husband or wife.” "Mitigating factors do not change this objective situation,” they explained. “To change a discipline of the Church rooted in doctrine and affirmed by the constant Magisterium of the Church, an explicit declaration would be necessary. This cannot be found in the apostolic exhortation. Wherever a reader may have doubts as of how to interpret a certain passage, a sound guiding principle of interpretation is to read those passages in light of the clearly affirmed doctrine of the Church. To seek 'doctrinal novelty,' as some claim to have found in the text, where it is not stated, is to do violence to the text." Healy acknowledged, at the same time, that “there is going to be a debate of interpreting just what this means.” “One point that would be helpful for Catholic readers is to know that the reason why the Church has this discipline of not allowing civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacrament is not on the basis of a determination that they're in mortal sin: it's not the subjective culpability, or even their responsibility in the failure of the marriage.” Healy said that “once you see that, then what are presented in the document as mitigating circumstances … aren't mitigating circumstances that open the path to receiving Communion: they're mitigating circumstances that would allow for a more human and more charitable form of accompaniment and mercy.” Instead of judging “a person's subjective state, you realize the human complexity of the situation. But that's of a different order than principles that would allow an exception to the prohibition against receiving the sacrament, because the reason for that prohibition is objective: it's the state or condition of life.” He also reflected on the importance of understanding “where there is a discussion in this exhortation of the need for recognizing that there are [universal, general] norms, but there can be exceptions to the norm, what norms are being talked about here? Are they norms of divine right? Absolute moral norms that regard those acts that are intrinsically evil? Or are they disciplinary norms?” "We are not dealing with absolute moral norms that refer to intrinsically evil acts and are valid in every situation. The existence of such norms is the main point of the doctrinal encyclical Veritatis splendor. The Pope said that he does not want to make doctrinal changes. We are not dealing with whether, for example, there can be an acceptable exception to adultery, or torture, or acts of pedophilia, which are wrong always, everywhere, and without exception. The Church does not have the authority to change norms of divine right, like the one regarding the admission to Communion of those living in irregular situations." Fr. López suggested that "the norms referred to in the text are not absolute moral norms or norms that regard the divine right, but are rather disciplinary, such as the admission to certain public offices of people in irregular situations (see no. 299). There is also reference (fn. 336) to the sacramental discipline that regards who is a fitting person to be the godfather or godmother at a baptism." "It would be be erroneous to reduce the affirmation that 'divorced and civilly remarried couples cannot receive communion' to a disciplinary norm whose application can be suspended if certain circumstances suggest that the norm is not pertinent to a specific couple. In this case, a subjectivistic understanding of conscience will have more weight than what God has revealed about the nature of love and what human experience knows to be the case. One's own conscience will be the ultimate tribunal to discriminate what one can do; but it is a tribunal where God is not allowed to speak, and whatever he says is taken to coerce human freedom. But to expel God from one's conscience is to hand oneself over to the one who is more powerful than oneself, or who speaks with greater clarity. It is to accept slavery in the guise of self-determination." “To see their impossibility of receiving the Eucharist as a hard way of applying a norm, I think is a confusion of what is going on; they can't receive communion because their state objectively contradicts the nature of the sacraments of marriage and the Eucharist … That's why you can't see this case as a possible exception to a sacramental or moral norm.” The risk in the discussion of norms, Fr. López said, is that “what people will run away with once the dust settles is … an idea of Christianity that says, 'Alright, so let's try to be good. If we can, great. If not, don't worry, we'll be understanding and merciful'.” Healy stressed that there is also a danger in "reducing marraige to a mere ideal, which the spouses need to pursue." “That's not really adequate to the truth of marriage: if you understand it simply as an ideal, that misses what's most fundamental about the sacramental economy … marriage isn't just an ideal, but a sacrament, a vocation that comprehends you, and that makes possible a life together beyond the shortcomings of your will.” Marriage is “not something that you have put into existence,” Fr. López stated. “It's a gift given by God and accepted in freedom; it is a vocation that one joyfully and courageously receives and embraces for all of life.” “If you talk about marriage simply as an ideal,” he said, "detached from the concrete lives of the spouses, you moralize marriage. You put marriage in the hands of the spouses' intentions, their good wills, and their capacity to sacrifice. But if this is the case -- is it really the only thing the Church has to say about married love, is this moral effort to pursue a very high ideal? Is the Christian Gospel really necessary to come up with this not particularly deep morality? How can there be joy in marriage if it does not participate in Christ's love for the Church? Why would one endure the sacrifices that married life brings with itself? If marriage is just dependent upon the will, intentions, and feelings of the spouses, is there an adequate reason that can adequately justify why marriage is indissoluble?" Real pastoral accompaniment, Healy concluded, isn't saying, “we acknowledge the ideal, but we recognize that not everyone lives up to it.” “Real pastoral accompaniment does not simply propose an ideal: it is grounded in the mystery of God's grace, which is communicated in the sacraments. A sure signpost along the path of accompaniment and integration is the sacramental gift of an indissoluble bond of marriage -- a sign that God has irrevocably shared his own life and love, and that his faithfulness endures.” Read more
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2016 / 05:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In Saturday's address for the monthly Jubilee of Mercy general audience, Pope Francis said almsgiving is not just about the money; it is about being attentive to the actual needs of the person asking for help. “Almsgiving is a gesture of love which directs us toward those we meet,” the Pope said in his catechesis. “It is a gesture of sincere attention to those who come to us and ask our help.” “We should not identify almsgiving simply with a (hastily given) monetary offering” he said, “without looking at the person, and without stopping to talk, to understand what they really need.” In off-the-cuff remarks, the Pope challenged the faithful as to whether they are able to “stop and look in the face, look in the eyes, of the person who is asking for my help.” The April 9 gathering in St. Peter's Square was the latest in a monthly series of special audiences for the Holy Year of Mercy, which are held in addition to the weekly general audiences. The Jubilee of Mercy is an Extraordinary Holy Year that officially commenced December 8 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica. It will close Nov. 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Christ the King. Almsgiving “must carry with it all the richness of mercy,” the Pope said in his catechesis, observing that the Italian word for alms – “elemosina” – is derived from the Greek and references “mercy.” “Just as mercy has a million paths, a million processes, so too almsgiving is expressed in many ways to alleviate the disadvantages of all those in need.” Francis cited examples from Scripture of the importance of giving alms. “God demands particular attention (be given) to the poor,” he said: the “destitute, foreigners, orphans, and widows.” Citing a passage from Deuteronomy on giving alms – “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging” - he explained how giving to those in need requires “an attitude of interior joy.” Almsgiving should not be seen as a “weight or annoyance from which we free ourselves hastily,” he said. Speaking off-script, the Pope spoke on the hesitancy to give money to the poor on the argument that they will just use it “to buy wine get drunk.” “But if he is drunk, it is because he does not have another path!” he said. “And you, what do you do in hiding, that no one sees? And you judge that poor man who asks for a coin (to buy) a glass of wine?” Francis turned his catechesis to the Gospel, citing Jesus admonishing us not to give to the poor in order to receive “praise and admiration.” Speaking once again off-the-cuff, the Pope observed that almsgiving should be a sacrifice. He recalled an anecdote of a woman who taught her three young children to always give alms to those who asked. A poor man once approached the children while they were eating, and begged for food. The mother told the children to give half of their meal to the man. This is an example of being “involved with the poor,” he said. “I am depriving myself of something of mine to give to you. “And I say to parents: educate your children so give alms, to be generous with what they have.” Read more
Washington D.C., Apr 8, 2016 / 05:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The United States bishops are welcoming Pope Francis’s new apostolic exhortation, Amoris laetitia, praising the Pope’s call for careful encouragement and support of married life and ... Read more
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2016 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis' new document on love in the family is welcome particularly for its steadfast adherence to Church teaching on homosexual acts and relationships, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said. “There’s another point in which (Pope Francis) is very firm: speaking about gay couples or homosexual couples, he insists very clearly that only the union between a man and woman, open to new life, by principle, can be called a marriage,” the cardinal told CNA April 8 during an interview shortly after leading the press conference presenting Amoris Laetitia at the Vatican. “And I'm very happy that he did clarify this, because the other situations can be partnerships, relationships, but it’s certainly not a marriage.” The apostolic exhortation is the conclusion of a two-year synod process discussing both the beauty and challenges of family life today. Hosted at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015, these synods gathered hundreds of bishops from around the world. It makes a brief but clear reference to homosexuality, saying that “the Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception … We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while 'every sign of unjust discrimination' is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.” Pope Francis wrote that families which include gay persons “should be given respectful pastoral guidance, so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God's will in their lives.” He then quoted the Synod Fathers, who had written that “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family” and that it is unacceptable that “international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish 'marriage' between persons of the same sex.” Cardinal Schönborn called the document “a great catechesis.” “You can take chapter by chapter, passage by passage, and work through it in the parish, in the communities. It’s a great, great catechesis on marital and familial love. And I think that’s a source we can use for our pastoral work.” Cardinal Schönborn noted that “it's fascinating to see how much (Pope Francis) relies on the work of the bishops in the synods” in his document, and that he “quoted a great number of texts from both synods.” Much of the media discussion of the synods has focused on pastoral care of the divorced-and-remarried. Pope Francis' discussion of accompaniment for the divorced-and-remarried focused on a discernment made in conjunction with one's pastor, and Cardinal Schönborn affirmed that “there is a danger, of course,” of couples not being led properly in such discernment. “But, this danger exists always, since the beginning of the Church, because shepherds can lead or mislead,” he reflected. “They can be too harsh, or too compromising. But this is the art he is speaking about: the art of accompanying people. That’s the proper capacity for a Good Shepherd.” During the press conference, Cardinal Schönborn had been joined by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and by the Mianos, a married couple from Italy. Cardinal Schönborn began the event by saying there has been “too much concentration” on the questions regarding the pastoral care of the divorced-and-remarried. “It’s a trap to focus everything on this point because you forget the sum total of the situation.” “A key to reading Amoris laetitia is the experience of the poor,” he said. “In the families of the poor, little steps on the path of virtue are experienced that can be much greater than those who live in 'comfortable success'.” He added that even after the release of this apostolic exhortation, “there are many questions to continue to discuss, and one of the points is a renovation of sacramental praxis. Fifty years after Vatican II it is good to think about what a sacramental life means, and not only in a particular case.” Several questions focused on the relationship between Amoris laetitia and Familiaris consortio, St. John Paul II's own apostolic exhortation following a Synod on the Family, which was published in 1981. “I don't see that there is a change,” Cardinal Schönborn said, “but certainly there is a development, just as Pope John Paul developed doctrine … John Henry Newman explained to us how the organic development of doctrine works. Pope Francis is developing things in this way.” Cardinal Baldisseri responded to a question regarding “ongoing debate” about pastoral care, saying that “the Church is on the road, so it’s the synod question which is important. It’s not that it’s ever closed. We’re moving forward, walking together with certainties: revelation and everything that is the tradition of the Church. The discourse continues.” “But, we’re sure of what we have. In this sense, it’s not closed. It’s open, and for the theologians, it's their task and responsibility to deepen doctrine; so that’s why this continues. It’s a dynamic form. The Pope also speaks of steps: this is a step. We need to take little steps at all levels, whether in the family or relationships with people, and also in the field of theological research and deepening.”Ann Schneible contributed to this report. Read more
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2016 / 12:25 pm (CNA).- Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has announced that he will attend a Vatican conference on social justice and the economy just before the New York primary election on April 19. “I was very moved by the invitation from the Vatican which was just made public today,” Sanders said April 8 during an interview on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” The invitation was extended on behalf of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The academy is hosting an academic discussion April 15 to 16 to mark the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Centesimus annus which was written for the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum novarum. Participants will reflect on world changes over the last 25 years and how Catholic social teaching can best serve these new challenges. Sanders called himself a “big, big fan” of Pope Francis for his work at “injecting moral consequence into the economy.” “He’s trying to inject a sense of morality into how we do economics,” Sanders said, “and we need that absolutely, desperately.” Sanders has been an outspoken advocate for the poor and unemployed, supporting issues such as a national $15 per hour minimum wage and free tuition at public colleges and universities as well as expansion of social security benefits for the elderly. However, Sanders noted of the Holy Father, “Obviously there are areas where we disagree on women’s rights (and) on gay rights.” Sanders has described himself as “very strongly pro-choice” and has made the repeal of the Hyde Amendment – a law that bars taxpayer funds from being used for abortions – a part of his presidential campaign. He has a strong record of voting against pro-life proposals in the Senate, including most recently, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act which would prevent abortion after 20 weeks gestation, when an unborn child is capable of feeling pain. A longtime supporter of gay rights, Sanders has vowed to “(v)eto any legislation that purports to ‘protect’ religious liberty at the expense of other’s rights” if he’s elected president. Sanders said that he will speak at the upcoming conference on April 15, though it has not been confirmed if he will actually meet Pope Francis.Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com. Read more
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2016 / 11:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While some passages in Pope Francis’ new document may be unclear and open to multiple interpretations, the correct view is that which aligns with the tradition and teaching of the Church, sai... Read more
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