Vatican City, Mar 11, 2016 / 03:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending a week outside Rome reflecting on key questions in the Gospel during their annual Lenten retreat, Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia returned to the Vatican Friday. According to Italian paper Il Caffe, the Pope boarded a bus with 20 seats and darkened windows around 10:40a.m. March 11 for his return trip from Ariccia to the Vatican. Once he greeted the faithful gathered to bid him farewell, Francis was escorted to the bus by the Vatican Gendarmerie – the Vatican’s police force. His bus was followed back by four others carrying the members of the Roman Curia who also participated in the Lenten retreat. The Pope and the Curia spent the March 6-10 retreat reflecting on the theme: “Le nude domande del vangelo” – “The raw questions of the Gospel.” Led by Fr. Ermes Ronchi of the Servants of Mary, the reflections centered on 10 key questions from the Gospel, such as: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mark 4:40) and “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (John 8:10). The five-day spiritual exercises are taking place at the Casa Divin Maestro retreat center in Ariccia, a city located some 16 miles outside of Rome.   This marks the third consecutive year that Pope Francis has chosen to have the Curia’s Lenten spiritual exercises in a location outside of Rome. He initially made the decision in order to foster the spiritual aspect of the retreat and to avoid the temptation to continue working. The Roman Curia's practice of spiritual exercises is modeled on St. Ignatius of Loyola's spiritual exercises. Pius XI was a great admirer of the founder of the Society of Jesus, proclaiming him patron of spiritual exercises in 1922. In 1929 the same Pope issued the encyclical Mens Nostra on the promotion of the spiritual exercises, in which he also made public the decision to hold annual spiritual exercises in the Vatican. Since then the spiritual exercises have become a fixed annual meeting for the Roman Curia. Originally preached during the first week of Advent, the exercises were moved to the Lenten season by Bl. Paul VI in 1964, and have taken place the penitential season leading to Easter ever since. Read more

Vatican City, Mar 11, 2016 / 03:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Ash Wednesday Pope Francis commissioned more than 1,000 priests who were sent out around the world as ambassadors of mercy. But for many the question still remains: what are they actually doing? For Fr. Roger Landry, a Missionary of Mercy hailing from the diocese of Fall River, Mass., their role involves two primary aspects: preaching about mercy, and making it concrete through the Sacrament of Confession. “The two things Pope Francis has asked us to do during this year are to preach about mercy, much like St. Paul said to all Catholics in the world on Ash Wednesday, (and) to continue Christ's mission of reconciling the entire world to God the Father in him,” he said in an interview with CNA. He said this mission is essential to both the priesthood in general, as well as Pope Francis' vision for the Jubilee of Mercy. Pope Francis has called the Missionaries of Mercy to be “signs of this mercy of the Lord,” he said – and the first aspect of this call “is to make ourselves very available in bringing about that reconciliation of God through the sacred ministry of Confession.” “The second main thrust of this year is for the Missionaries of Mercy to preach about mercy” much like Christ did in his parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son. Fr. Landry, who also works for the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New York, was one of the 700 some missionaries who made it to their official commissioning by Pope Francis in Rome Feb. 10, on Ash Wednesday. More than 1,000 priests have been selected as missionaries from every continent to be Pope Francis' special ambassadors of mercy throughout world. In addition to the emphasis on their role as preachers and confessors, the Missionaries of Mercy have also been given two special faculties that are usually unavailable to the average priest. First, they will not be limited in geographic location in terms of hearing confessions. Usually a priest has to ask permission from the local bishop before hearing confessions in a diocese other than their own, however for the Missionaries of Mercy that is not the case. Also, a second aspect of the Missionaries' mission is that they are able to absolve sins in cases otherwise reserved to the Holy See. Though there are several such sins, the Holy See has clarified that the faculties of the Missionaries of Mercy are limited to just four. Namely, they are: Profaning the Eucharistic species by taking them away or keeping them for a sacrilegious purpose; the use of physical force against the Roman Pontiff; the absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment (“thou shalt not commit adultery”) and a direct violation against the sacramental seal by a confessor. Bishops will be able to contact Missionaries of Mercy nearby and invite them to come to their dioceses. Fr. Landry said that when the missionaries are invited by a bishop to come to a diocese, the concrete things they'll actually do depends on what that particular bishop wants. “Every pastor, every bishop that writes a Missionary of Mercy in will have a general idea of how best to put him to work,” he said, explaining that in most places they will likely be invited to preach and hear confessions in forums such as congresses, youth conventions, events for families and pilgrimages. Pope Francis is clearly trying to send a message, that don't let any sin keep you away, no matter what you've done. Fr. Landry stressed the importance of taking advantage of the Sacrament of Confession, especially during the Jubilee of Mercy. He noted how Pope Francis has often said that his own life changed Sept. 21, 1953, when he was just 16 after spontaneously asked Fr. Carols Ibarra Duarte to hear his confession in the basilica of San Jose of Flores in Buenos Aires. What the future priest and Pope encountered was “God there waiting for him,” Fr. Landry said, adding that this is what Francis now wants for everyone: “an encounter with God and his mercy.” This is especially obvious from the fact that the Pope is allowing the Missionaries of Mercy to absolve certain reserved sins, he said. “Pope Francis is clearly trying to send a message, that don't let any sin keep you away, no matter what you've done…even if your sins bleed scarlet don't be afraid, just come.” The act of allowing an average priest to remove the censures in place due to certain grave sins is an way of reaching out to people carrying “extraordinarily heavy interior baggage,” and telling them that the Church “is waiting for them with a welcoming mat, saying 'come,'” the priest said. Fr. John Paul Zeller, a Friar with the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word and a Missionary of Mercy from Birmingham, Ala., told CNA that when it comes to absolving the reserved sins, there is a special formula that confessors use which lifts the censure incurred when the sin was committed. He said that even though the nature of the reserved sins is serious, the sacramental seal of the confessional still applies. “It has to be understood that this is under the seal of confession, and it’s done under what we call the internal forum, and nothing can be revealed that was confessed,” he said, adding that the penance and process of reconciliation for each penitent who confesses one of the reserved sins will be different. “Every one of us, sinners that we are, when we go into the confessional are unique. None of us are all the same, cookie cutters. It’s not like we’ve got a boxed answer,” Fr. John Paul said, noting that some cases might be dealt with quickly, while others could take longer depending on the person. No matter what the case is, he stressed that as Missionaries of Mercy “we need to trust that the Lord will give us the grace and the proper words to say, the proper disposition, to hear and to welcome a repentant sinner back.” However, he explained that the process of reconciliation involves more than just absolving the person, lifting the censure in place and then sending them on their way. It also involves the question of “what’s going to happen now?” Fr. John Paul said, and compared the process to that of a person who's ill and needs healing from a doctor. “We’re all sick on a spiritual level, we need God’s grace and healing, especially someone who’s in mortal sin,” he said, but noted that in dealing with doctors, some patients need more time and attention. “So I think in some of these particular instances there’s going to be perhaps a more penitential path suggested in the confessional.” For his part, Fr. Landry voiced his hope that his colleagues at the Holy See’s mission to the United Nations delegates from other nations would be able to find “a little spark of the mercy of the Lord” in him and in his role as a Missionary of Mercy during the jubilee. This spark “is what everybody should be able to see in every priest who works, no matter what type of pastoral work they’re doing,” he said, adding that everything the Church does in one way or another is all about mercy. “At the United Nations, the Holy See’s mission tries to share with the nations of the world the two thousand years’ worth of wisdom of the Church and her teaching on social issues,” he said, and expressed his hope that this mission would benefit from emphasis placed on mercy during the jubilee. Read more

Vatican City, Mar 10, 2016 / 03:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has issued new guidelines for ensuring financial transparency in advancing causes of beatification and canonization, requiring both an administrator to oversee the process and annual budget checks. The new norms place a strong emphasis on regular budgeting and accounting to ensure transparency, as well as to see to it that donations from the faithful supporting causes are used as intended. They were approved by the Pope March 4 in a papal rescript for an “ad experimentum,” or provisional, period of three years. Published March 10, they repeal the norms which had been put into place by St. John Paul II Aug. 20, 1983. The new norms are the fruit of a commission established in March 2015 by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, a source who works closely with the congregation told CNA. The new rules govern the way funds for causes of canonization or beatification are both established and managed, particularly for what is called the “Roman phase” of cause. The Roman phase follows the initial collection of evidence of the person’s life and sanctity at the diocesan level, as well as the preparation of a “position” paper, which is frequently thousands of pages long and includes the details of the proposed saint’s earthly life. The report is then presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which takes over for the “Roman phase” of the process. The rules call for an administrator to be named by the “actor” of the cause, meaning the entity who initially asked the Church to open it. The person nominated can also be the postulator of the cause, and must be approved by the local bishop. One of the primary tasks of the administrator is manage the funds allocated for the cause, and to make sure the use of the money “scrupulously respects” the intention of the donors. They will be required to keep updated accounts of the funds, and will also prepare an annual budget, financial statements, and a final balance sheet to be sent to the actor of the cause for approval. Once the actor approves it, they must also send a copy to the competent authorities overseeing the process, which can include diocesan bishops or religious superiors. If the actor wishes to use a certain amount of the funds for something other than the cause itself, they must first obtain permission from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. As for the authorities supervising the process, the new rules allow for them to monitor both incoming and outgoing funds at all times. However, as the highest supervising authority, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints may ask the administrator for financial information and the relevant documentation on a cause at any time. In the case of defaults or financial abuses, the new norms allow for the congregation to intervene with disciplinary procedures. The rules also lay out the way in which each cause will pay the congregation for its services in finalizing causes for beatification or canonization. Once the process is finished and a saint canonized, it is up to the congregation to decide how to use the remaining funds. On that point, the norms have also set up a special “solidarity fund” which is supported by donations from other causes. The fund can be used to support causes with fewer donors, or which might be stalled due to a lack of resources. Any appeals to use the Solidarity Fund must be made by the actor of a saint’s cause through the local bishop. The congregation will then evaluate request on a case by case basis. Expenses are involved in the process of canonization because of the work involved in investigating the candidate's life and writings, gathering and evaluating testimonies, the involvement of medical experts in verifying miraculous healings, as well as the cost of celebrations of beatification or canonization.  Andrea Gagliarducci contributed to this report. Read more

Vatican City, Mar 10, 2016 / 01:27 pm (CNA).- Since Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States, celebrated his 75th birthday Jan. 16, it is expected that his replacement will soon be named by the Holy See. Amid this expectation, Vaticanista Sandro Magister wrote March 10 on his blog Settimo Cielo that 70-year-old Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to Mexico, will “imminently” be promoted as nuncio to the United States. Archbishop Pierre, a Frenchman, was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Rennes in 1970. In 1995 he was consecrated a bishop and appointed apostolic nuncio to Haiti. He served there until 1999, when he was transferred to Uganda. And he has been apostolic nuncio to Mexico since 2007. A source close to the Mexican bishops' conference told CNA that Archbishop Pierre “is known for suggesting solid, reliable candidates to the episcopate.” Magister, meanwhile, charged that Pope Francis “has in mind” a change in the character of the episcopate in the United States, citing his 2014 appointment of Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago. Archbishop Cupich replaced Cardinal Francis George, who retired at the age of 77. Magister characterized Archbishop Pierre as a “Bergoglian,” and someone in whom Francis confides. “With the Bergoglian Pierre as the new nuncio, and thus with a key role in the appointment of bishops, the reshaping of the American episcopate will have a notable acceleration,” Magister wrote.   Read more