Milan, Italy, Jan 15, 2016 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The penitential path for three convicted murderers in Italy includes a unique role at Mass: they make the Eucharistic hosts to be consecrated by prison chaplains, a cardinal, and perhaps one day the Pope. Cristiano Vallanzano, Giuseppe Ferlitto and Ciro D'Amora are among 1,300 inmates at the Opera maximum security prison in Milan, They are taking part in the “Meaning of Bread” program, which aims to create a process of reconciliation for the prisoners, the Italian television station TG2000 reports. Vallanzano, the youngest of the three, is serving a 23-year sentence. “Above everything else, I hope to be forgiven by God for what I’ve done,” he said. He recounted the process of making the hosts: “In the morning, we say a short prayer, a Hail Mary, an Our Father, we make the dough, have some coffee, smoke a cigarette and begin.” Vallanzano hopes to leave prison while he is still young, saying, “When I get out of prison I hope to get married, have children, a family.” D’Amora said it was “very touching” to start their work with a prayer. “We think about the people who are suffering, those we’ve made suffer and we pray.” With this work, he said, “we’re sending a message to young people not to do what we ourselves have done.” Ferlitto said it is “a really beautiful thing” to make with his own hands the hosts that he and others receive in Holy Communion. “When I’m working on making the hosts I always ask Jesus, God, for forgiveness for what I’ve done,” he said. He hopes that this work “will give me the possibility to one day personally ask forgiveness of the relatives of the victims.” Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori, the project’s creator, said the program shows “that the need to be saved by the love of Christ is for everyone.” It is “not just for those who are serving a sentence in prison, who are often conscious of the mistakes they made.” Mondadori is co-founder of the Milan-based Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti, a social, spiritual and cultural center. The three prisoners want to present the hosts they have made to Pope Francis in person. In a letter to the Pope, the three said they hope that “we ourselves, with our hands once stained with blood, can place in his blessed hands the hosts we’ve made, on the occasion of the Jubilee (Year of Mercy).” “With the hope that our dream can be realized, we greet you with great affection and devotion,” the letter concludes. The prisoners signed the letter with their first names: Cristiano, Giuseppe and Ciro. Some of the hosts that these three prisoners make will be consecrated Jan. 17 by Cardinal Antonio Veglio, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Travelers, as part of the Year of Mercy. The date marks the 102nd World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Pope Francis has chosen as its theme “Migrants and refugees challenge us: the response of the Gospel of Mercy.” Read more

London, England, Jan 14, 2016 / 05:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A meeting of national leaders of the Anglican Communion on Thursday issued a statement reprimanding the Episcopal Church, its American branch, for having allowed its clergy to perform same-sex marriages. “Recent developments in The Episcopal Church with respect to a change in their Canon on marriage represent a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our Provinces on the doctrine of marriage,” a Jan. 14 statement from the meeting reads. As a result the Anglican Communion is “requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.” The Jan. 11-16 meeting in Canterbury, known as Primates 2016, gathers the heads of 37 national Anglican churches from around the world “to reflect and pray together concerning the future of the Anglican Communion.” The Anglican Communion has been in tension in recent years over the issues of same-sex marriage. Since 2003, the Episcopal Church has made moves to be more tolerant of or even welcoming to homosexual acts and relationships. These moves have drawn sharp criticism from Anglican communities elsewhere, particularly in Africa. In July 2015 the Episcopal Church's general convention voted to accept gay marriage, and approved liturgies for their celebration. The Primates 2016 statement notes that “We gathered as Anglican Primates to pray and consider how we may preserve our unity in Christ given the ongoing deep differences that exist among us concerning our understanding of marriage.” “The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union. The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching.” The statement called the Episcopal Church's decision “unilateral” and lacking “Catholic unity,” and added that it “is considered by many of us as a departure from the mutual accountability and interdependence implied through being in relationship with each other in the Anglican Communion.” It went on to say that such actions “further impair our communion and create a deeper mistrust between us. This results in significant distance between us.” The decision to suspend the Episcopal Church from decision making within the wider Anglican community was a formal acknowledgement of the distance between the United States branch and the rest of the Anglican Communion. The three-year suspension will be revisited in 2018, when the Episcopal Church's next general convention is scheduled. The primates' statement added that they had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to appoint a task group to help restore trust and to explore the differences between the Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican Communion. When he announced Primates 2016 last September, Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, had acknowledged the challenges facing the Anglican Communion over the issue of same-sex marriage. “The way in which proclamation happens and the pressures on us vary greatly between Provinces,” he stated. “We each live in a different context. “The difference between our societies and cultures, as well as the speed of cultural change in much of the global north, tempts us to divide as Christians: when the command of scripture, the prayer of Jesus, the tradition of the church and our theological understanding urges unity. A 21st-century Anglican family must have space for deep disagreement, and even mutual criticism, so long as we are faithful to the revelation of Jesus Christ, together.” The Episcopal Church's changing perspective on homosexuality had already heightened tensions within the Anglican Communion. In 2009, former members of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, disaffected by those communities' liberalization on homosexuality, formed the Anglican Church in North America. The ACNA is not part of the Anglican Communion, yet it is in communion with three African provinces of the Anglican Communion. And even though the ACNA is not part of the Anglican Communion, Welby invited its head, Foley Beach, to be present at Primates 2016. The primates' statement was to have been released Jan. 15, but their decision had been leaked earlier on Thursday. As a result they decided to release their agreed-upon document in full, “in order to avoid speculation.” Read more