Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican Secretariat of State established June 28 a Comittee of Presidency for the Pediatric Hospital “Bambino Gesù,” owned by the Holy See, thereby strengthening its control over the institution. The committee is composed of five members, including the president of the Board of Directors, and is entrusted with some of the Board of Administration’s tasks. Its members directly respond to the Secretary of State, who has the authority of changing or reshuffling members whenever he deems it opportune. The Bambino Gesù is known as the “Pope’s hospital,” and is among most important pediatric hospitals in the world. Founded in 1869 by the Duchess Arabella Salviati, the hospital was donated to Pius XI in 1924, with the aim of giving it a more stable future. While each subsequent Pope has supported the  Bambino Gesù, it has faced difficulties since World War II. The management of the Bambino Gesù had been composed of the Secretary of State, the Board of Directors, the President of the Board of Directors, and the Statutory Auditors Committee. The Holy See, represented by the Secretary of State, appoints the president, the members of the Board of Directors, as well as the three members of the Statutory Auditors Committee and establishes the duration of the term, which typically is three years. With the recent decision, the Secretariat of State established a new body on the side of the president of the Board of Directors, thus adding another ring in the chain commands and de facto limiting the president’s powers. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, communicated the decision to the president of Bambino Gesù, Giuseppe Profiti, in a letter dated June 28.   The letter was accompanied by a “rescriptu ex audientia,” i.e. a document drafted after a papal audience, which established the Committee of Presidency and provided a regulation of the new body of the Bambino Gesù. Beyond the president Profiti, the members of the Committee are: Msgr. Luigi Mistò, secretary of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See; Mariella Enoc; the banker Carlo Salvatori; and Duchess Maria Grazia Salviati, the descendant of the family who established Bambino Gesù and who is still a benefactor of the hospital. Each of these are already part of the Board of Directors, which is the general administrative body of the hospital, and whose decisions are submitted to the Secretariat of State. The regulation of the committee presents it as “a modality of organization through which the Board of Directors increases the effectiveness of its actions.” The committee will be in charge as long as the board of directors is, and every member of the Committee can be dismissed by the Secretary of State “in case of relevant and grave” matters. The committee can access all the Bambino Gesù's documents, can use all the structures of the hospital, and can also hire external consultants when needed. It meets monthly, and at least a week prior to any meeting of the Board of Directors, in order to “determine a close connection between the Committee and the Board.” The regulation also established that the committee helps the president in the choices about the attribution of competences and responsibilities to top managers of doctors, and also with regard to “extraordinary operations of relevant strategic operation which may have an impact on the value and/or on the patrimony of the Institution.” This way, the president of Bambino Gesù will not be able to back any financial operation without the “ok” of the committe of presidence. Despite some criticisms of the way he had managed the Pope’s hospital, Profiti was confirmed president of the Board of Directors Jan. 31. In March, the Vatican announced the hiring of the international firm Price Waterhouse for a due diligence check on Bambino Gesù: and it was after Price Waterhouse's audit that Cardinal Parolin decided to strengthen the state secretariat's control over the Bambino Gesù.   Read more

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The protection of minors from sexual abuse is a number one priority for Pope Francis, says the new secretary of a papal commission to protect minors, who believes that the global Church can play a... Read more

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 09:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced today that Msgr. Robert W. Oliver will leave his position as promoter of justice to take on a new role as the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Min... Read more

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 04:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A man paralyzed from the neck down made his way to Pope Francis' general audience, saying he took the massively risky move because he wanted to experience for himself the pontiff's uniqueness. Salvatore D'argento spoke with CNA Sept. 10 saying that he came to the audience because of “the personality of Pope Francis. He's not a common pope.” Confined to a bed from the age of 24 due to an accident while practicing judo, the now 42 year-old Italian was the first to be greeted by Pope Francis when he emerged from the Vatican gates to welcome pilgrims. Descending his popemobile in order to come down and bless the bedridden D'argento, Pope Francis approached him, patted him gently on the head and exchanged a few words with him before greeting his mother and giving his blessing. Able to move his lips but without sound, D'argento was interpreted by his mother, who said there "are no adequate words to describe" meeting Pope Francis. "He's a person that needs to be met. A unique person.” D'argento has been living at home in Chieti, Italy since 1995 and has only left his room twice since the accident due to the risks involved, the second being today to meet Pope Francis in his audience. His emergency doctor Achille Cavallo was also present with him in St. Peter’s Square, explaining to CNA that “I have known him since the accident. The importance of being here is for him to say.” The doctor explained that they got up at 3:30 in the morning and came by ambulance. “It's an enormous risk to bring him outside…(but) it's worth it,” the doctor said.  Achille said when D'argento first expressed his desire to meet the Pope, he did so “in a very informal way, with very little confidence to come” due to the difficulty involved in moving him. It was the Bishop of Lanciano, Emidio Cipollone, who paved the way, he noted, explaining that once they were given the green light D'argento had his choice of days to go and picked today because it was the only opportunity for many of the volunteers who also wanted to participate. Out of the 26 people accompanying D'argento at the audience, most were volunteers of the Brotherhood of Mercy from Chieti and Alanno, Italy. Along with his mother, there was also one psychologist, two doctors and a Capuchin priest. Before the accident, Achille said D'argento studied information technology. Although his life is now confined to a room, the doctor said D'argento is a programmer for Linux with “a great mind.” “He studies with the help of his mom,” he said. In order to allow him to read, she places a book on top of a flat pane of glass which is put over his face so that he can see the pages. Although he is immobile, his mother is “his hands, arms, legs,” Achille said. “Every two hours, he has to be turned. Otherwise he'll get bedsores.” “He moves his mind, we're his legs.”Alan Holdren contributed to this piece. Read more

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 04:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his general audience Pope Francis continued to reflect on the Church as mother, explaining that she teaches us by example how to go to the essential point of the Gospel, which is mercy. ... Read more

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2014 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The upcoming synod of bishops on the family will be set on a more informal tune, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, wrote in an article published in the Sept. 10 issue of L'Osservatore Romano. Cardinal Baldisseri explained how the coming synod may be considered different from its predecessors, as well as the ongoing process of reform of the synod, whose members were made public Sept. 9. The extraordinary synod of bishops on “the challenge of family in the context of the new evangelization” will be held Oct. 5-19, and is but the first of two paired synods. In 2015, an ordinary synod of bishops on the family will be held, and will carry to conclusion the process of discussion began with this year's extraordinary synod. An extraordinary synod is convoked by the Pope to discuss urgent matters, and so it does not undergo the procedure of selection of its members which characterizes the ordinary synod of bishops. Presidents of bishops's conferences, as well as the heads of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, are ‘de officio’ appointed as members of the synod, while there are also members directly chosen by Pope Francis. Despite it is a “smaller assembly,” 253 persons will take part to the extraordinary synod for the family. The list is composed of 114 presidents of bishops; conferences; 13 heads of Eastern Catholic Churches; 25 heads of dicasteries of the Roman Curia; nine members of the Ordinary Council of the Secretariat; the general secretary; the undersecretary; the religious elected by the Union for General Superiors; and 26 members appointed by the Pope. In addition to these, there are 8 fraternal delegates, 38 auditors – among them 13 married couples – and 16 periti, or experts. According to Cardinal Baldisseri, the synod of bishops is undergoing an update “within the framework of ecclesial renewal desired by Pope Francis.” This update is demonstrated by the synod’s preparatory process, he said, and will be further seen in the development of the synodal assembly. Cardinal Baldisseri's statement about the preparatory process implicitly refers to the questionnaire delivered by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops for the drafting of the synod's “instrumentum laboris,” or working document. The questionnaire was comprised of 38 questions, posed in an unusually straightforward manner, addressing issues very pragmatically, and this can be considered a reform of language. While there have long been questionnaires for the preparation of synods, they had in the past been delivered to the presidents of bishops' conferences, who would in turn deliver them to the bishops, and the questions would thus filter down to priests and then to their pastoral councils, catechists, and active laity.  The “chain” of transmission was not always completed, and there had always been a sort of central coordination in managing the answers from Rome. In this case, however, the questionnaire was also published online, and the General Secretariat of the synod encouraged everyone to send their responses directly to Rome. This new criteria of an open discussion will be now transferred to the debate within the synod. “Our criteria is first to depict the painting, and then to put the framework around it,” wrote Cardinal Baldisseri. The cardinal stressed that “a new modus operandi will be applied during the synodal debate,” in order to “make it develop in a more dynamic and participatory way, with interventions and testimonies.” This new modus operandi will set the synod in a more informal tone. Previously, the summary of the interventions, prepared by the bishops beforehand, had been delivered to journalists and were published in the Vatican web-site; same-day briefings in different languages were also provided. Now, the interventions will not being delivered in advance since there will not be a prepared document. The open discussion should be reported to journalist in briefings in several languages, but there will not be an official document. This year's synod of bishops will not even have a conclusive statement, since the post-synodal apostolic exhortation will be delivered only at the end of the 2015 ordinary synod of the bishops. In the meantime, Cardinal Baldisseri also opened up to the possibility of a structural reform of the synod of bishops and its functioning.   Read more