Pope Francis delivers a message at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jan 17, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis amended the Vatican’s financial regulations on Tuesday, enshrining a spending limit into law that requires Vatican offices to get permission before making large purchases.

The pope published two apostolic letters — which the Holy Father issued motu proprio (“on his own impulse”) — on Jan. 16 that make changes to some of Francis’ former financial reform laws from June 2020, updating them to align with the 2021 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, the pope’s signature reform of the organization and structure of the Roman Curia.

The first motu proprio, titled “On the Limits and Modalities of Ordinary Administration,” requires Vatican offices to get approval from the Secretariat of the Economy for purchases over 2% of their total annual operating budget. The motu proprio adds that purchases under 150,000 euros do not require approval. 

The Secretariat for the Economy oversees the financial aspects of both the Roman Curia and the Vatican City State administration, including a review of financial reports. The secretariat was established by Pope Francis in 2014 as part of his financial reform of the Vatican.

The law grants the Secretariat for the Economy 30 days to notify the Vatican offices whether the request has been approved, adding that “the lack of response is equivalent to the granting of the request.”

The second motu proprio consists of more than 90 articles and includes Vatican regulations on procurements, or the process of acquiring and purchasing goods and services.

Pope Francis wrote in his introduction to the second motu proprio that he was updating regulations in light of “the experience gained in recent years” to allow for a “more effective application” of Vatican financial reforms with the goal of “continuing on the path undertaken to promote transparency, control, and competition in the procedures for the awarding of public contracts.”

The amended regulations include a provision that the sustainable use of internal funds, transparency in the procurement process, and equal treatment among bidders all take place “in accordance with the principles of the social doctrine of the Church, the canonical order of the Holy See and Vatican City State, and the encyclical letter Laudato Si',” codifying compliance with Pope Francis’ landmark environmental encyclical into the law.

Pope Francis signed the motu proprio on procurements on Nov. 27, 2023, in St. Peter’s Basilica and the letter on extraordinary spending more recently on Jan. 6 from the Vatican.

Pope Francis takes part in the Roman Curia’s Lenten retreat in Ariccia, Italy, on March 6-10, 2016. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jan 16, 2024 / 13:48 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and the Roman Curia will take their traditional Lenten retreats separately and not as an organized group for another year, the Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday morning. 

For the fifth consecutive year the joint retreat between the Holy Father and the Curia has been canceled. Curial officials will make their own retreat arrangements to commence the 40-day penitential season of Lent.

The tradition of a weeklong papal retreat dates back to the pontificate of Pius XI. It was first held in 1925 during the season of Advent. In 1964 Pope Paul VI changed the date of the retreat to the first week in Lent. 

In 2014 Pope Francis changed the location of the tradition from the Vatican to the town of Ariccia, which sits in the Alban Hills, 20 miles southwest of Rome.

This year’s retreat will start on the first Sunday of Lent, Feb. 18, following the recitation of the Angelus at noon. It will conclude the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 23. 

As in the past, the Holy Father’s regular activities are fully suspended during the retreat, including the Wednesday general audience, which would have been held on Feb. 21. 

In 2020 the Holy See Press Office announced that the pope had withdrawn from the retreat due to a lingering cold. In 2021 and 2022 the retreat for the pope and curial officials was held separately due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The retreat was also private in 2023.

This year’s private retreat comes after a year of tumultuous health issues for the pontiff.

In March 2023 the pope spent four days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after suffering from a respiratory infection. Several months later Francis underwent a three-hour abdominal surgery to correct an incisional hernia and spent nine days in postoperative recovery before being released on June 16. 

In November 2023, meanwhile, Francis suffered from what the Holy Father described as “very acute infectious bronchitis.” At the behest of his doctors, the pope canceled his highly anticipated December trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai due to that infection.

Pope Francis appearing on Che Tempo Che Fa on Jan. 14/ / NOVE

Rome Newsroom, Jan 15, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis appeared on Italy’s most popular prime-time talk show on Sunday night where the pontiff shared how he hopes that hell is “empty.”

Three million people in Italy tuned in to watch the nearly hourlong television interview with Pope Francis on Jan. 14 in which the pope responded to resistance to the recent Vatican declaration on same-sex blessings, previewed prospective papal trips to Polynesia and Argentina, and spoke of his fear of nuclear armageddon.

The 87-year-old pope began his appearance on the television show “Che Tempo Che Fa” by joking that he is “still alive” and has no plans to resign.

“For as long as I feel I still have the capacity to serve, I will go on. When I can no longer do it, it will be time to think about it,” Francis said.

Hell as ‘empty’?

When asked by the interviewer, Fabio Fazio, how he “imagines hell,” Pope Francis gave a short response.

“What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is,” Pope Francis said.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that Catholic teaching “affirms the existence of hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire.’ The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.”

The catechism also says: “In hope, the Church prays for ‘all men to be saved.’”

Theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar in his book “Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?” have put forward the possibility that one could “hope” that hell might be empty because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, making the distinction between universal salvation as a hope and universal salvation as a doctrine, which he rejects.

American Catholic evangelist Ralph Martin wrote in his 2012 book “Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization” that “what motivated the Apostles and the whole history of Christian missions was knowing from divine revelation that the human race is lost, eternally lost, without Christ, and even though it is possible for people to be saved under certain stringent conditions without explicit faith and baptism, ‘very often,’ this is not actually the case.”

Pope Francis has previously spoken about the existence of hell in public speeches during the past 10 years of his pontificate. In March 2014 he said in an address that members of the Mafia should change their lives “while there is still time, so that you do not end up in hell. That is what awaits you if you continue on this path.”

A long-awaited trip to Argentina?

In the interview, Pope Francis also confirmed that he plans to travel to Polynesia in August and that a potential trip to his native Argentina could take place later in 2024.

The pope, who served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires for 15 years, has not returned to Argentina since he became pope in 2013.

The new president of Argentina, Javier Milei, sent Pope Francis a formal invitation to visit his homeland earlier this month. 

Pope Francis said that he would like to go to Argentina “if it can be done” and also noted that it is “a difficult time for the country.”

“It worries me because people are suffering so much,” he said. 

What is Pope Francis afraid of?

Pope Francis spoke extensively in the interview about his desire for peace in the wars in Ukraine and in the Holy Land, telling the TV host that he speaks every day to the Catholic parish in Gaza on the telephone. 

When asked what scares him, Pope Francis replied that the “escalation of war scares me,” bringing up the specter of nuclear war. 

He said that with the potential for nuclear weapons to “destroy everything,” one wonders “how we will end up, like Noah’s ark?”

“That scares me — the capacity for self-destruction that humanity has today,” Francis said.

This was the second time Pope Francis has appeared on “Che Tempo Che Fa,” which often airs live interviews with politicians, celebrities, artists, and athletes. Recent guests on the program include former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2021 and Lady Gaga.

Pope Francis spoke with the TV program, which is recorded in Milan, northern Italy, remotely from the Vatican.

Why Pope Francis constantly asks for prayers

In the interview, Pope Francis was also asked why he ends every speech and public audience asking for people to pray for him.

“Because I am a sinner and I need God’s help to remain faithful to the vocation he has given me,” the pope replied.

“As a bishop I have a very great responsibility to the Church. I recognize my weaknesses — that’s why I have to ask for prayers, for everyone to pray for me to remain faithful in the service of the Lord, that I do not end up in the attitude of a mediocre shepherd who does not take care of his flock,” he added.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin celebrates Mass for peace in Ukraine on Thursday in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, Nov. 17, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jan 13, 2024 / 10:15 am (CNA).

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, has commented on the divided reaction to the Fiducia Supplicans document amid a great backlash from episcopal conferences.

“This document has aroused very strong reactions; this means that a very delicate, very sensitive point has been touched; it will take further investigation,” Parolin said on Friday, Jan. 12, during a conference held at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. 

The cardinal went on to say that “if these ferments serve to walk according to the Gospel to give answers to today, these ferments are also welcome,” while reiterating that “the Church is open and attentive to the signs of the times but must be faithful to the Gospel.” 

When asked in a follow-up question by an Italian journalist if the document was a mistake, the Vatican’s top diplomat responded curtly: “I do not enter into these considerations; the reactions tell us that it has touched a very sensitive point."

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Dec. 18 document has made it permissible for priests to offer nonliturgical blessings for couples in “irregular” situations, including gay couples, noting “that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings, permitting a broadening and enrichment of the classical understanding of blessings.” 

“What has been said in this declaration regarding the blessings of same-sex couples is sufficient to guide the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers in this regard. Thus, beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in Fiducia Supplicans. 

However, following widespread backlash from episcopal conferences in Africa and Eastern Europe, and strong denouncements from some of the Church’s senior prelates, Fernández issued a five-page press release on Jan. 4 to provide clarification on the document, writing that its application will depend “on local contexts and the discernment of each diocesan bishop with his diocese.”

“In some places, no difficulties arise for their immediate application, while in others it will be necessary not to introduce them, while taking the time necessary for reading and interpretation,” Fernández continued in the letter. 

One of the strongest statements to date came from Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa and president of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). 

In his Jan. 11 letter, Ambongo stressed that the African bishops “have strongly reaffirmed their communion with Pope Francis” but noted that Fiducia Supplicans caused “a shockwave” and has “sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors, and has aroused strong reactions.”

In his address to the clergy of Rome on Jan. 13, the pope provided clarifying remarks on the document, stating that “the provision on the blessings of gay couples concerns people, not organizations. If the LGBT association comes, no, but always people. We bless people, not sin.”

The ordination of St. Hilary of Poitiers. / Credit: Richard de Montbaston et collaborateurs/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Jan 13, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

After a long journey to the Catholic faith, Hilary (born in 310) was baptized in 345 and elected bishop of Poitiers in 353. His first work, “Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew,” is the oldest surviving Latin commentary on that Gospel. Pope Pius IX formally recognized him as a doctor of the Church in 1851.

During a Wednesday audience in St. Peter’s Square in October 2007, Pope Benedict XVI said St. Hilary of Poitiers was someone who battled against the Arian heresy, which said that Jesus is not divine. Benedict said that Hilary of Poitiers’ teaching shows us that “the path to Christ is open to everyone ... although it always requires individual conversion.”

Hilary had many great qualities, among which the Holy Father noted were his “spirit of conciliation that seeks to understand those who have not already arrived and helps them, with great theological knowledge, to reach the full faith in the true divinity of Jesus Christ.”

Along with this, Hilary had another “great gift,” the Holy Father said: “to join strength in the faith and meekness in his relations with others.”

Hilary was exiled to Phrygia in Turkey in 356 by Arian bishops at the so-called “synod of false apostles” by order of the emperor Constantius, who had aligned himself with the decisions at the synod. Following the emperor’s death in 361, Hilary returned to Poitiers, where he remained until his own demise six years later.

In his most important work, “De Trinitate,” St. Hilary “describes his personal journey to a knowledge of God and is concerned to show how sacred Scripture clearly testifies to the divinity of the Son and his equality with the Father, not only in the New Testament but also in the Old, where the mystery of Christ is already apparent,” the pope said.

The bishop of Poitiers, Benedict said, “develops all his Trinitarian theology on the basis of the formula of baptism, which the Lord himself gives us, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Benedict explained how St. Hilary presents “precise rules” for a correct reading of the Gospel when he indicates how “some pages of Scripture speak of Jesus as God, others underline his humanity, others still ... his preexistence at the side of the Father ... his descent to death ... his resurrection.”

“Firm in his opposition to radical Arians, Hilary showed a more conciliatory spirit towards to those who were prepared to confess that the Son was like to the Father in essence, always seeking to lead them to a complete faith: ... not just likeness but equality ... in divinity.”

The beauty of Hilary’s words and of his consciousness of the seriousness and grace of his baptism lead him to pray:

“Grant, O Lord, that I may remain faithful to what I have professed in the symbol of my regeneration, when I was baptized in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. May I adore you, our Father, and together with you your Son; may I merit your Holy Spirit, which proceeds from you through your only Son … Amen” (De Trinitate, 12,57). 

This article was previously published Oct. 10, 2007, and has been updated.

St. Arcadius. / Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 12, 2024 / 09:45 am (CNA).

On Jan. 12, the Church honors the feast days for several martyrs and groups of martyrs at a time in which Christians still face persecution and the threat of martyrdom at the hands of authoritarian governments and other hostile actors in many parts of the world.

“Invent what torments you please,“ St. Arcadius of Mauretania told a pagan judge who threatened him with torture if he would not offer a sacrifice to one of the false Roman gods in 302 A.D., according to Catholic.net.

“Nothing shall make me betray my God,” Arcadius said. “The fear of death will never make me fail in my duty.“

The judge ordered the torture and execution of Arcadius, which was carried out by chopping off his limbs. The martyr is one of many Christians who was put to death during the Roman persecution of Christians in the early fourth century.

“Learn from my torments,“ Arcadius is said to have told onlookers as he was dying. “Your gods are nothing. The only true God is the one for whom I am suffering and about to die. To die for him is to live.“

Jan. 12 also marks the feast days for three different groups of martyrs, spanning three different continents: the Martyrs of Ephesus in A.D. 762, in present-day Turkey; the Martyrs of Iona in A.D. 806, in present-day Scotland; and the Martyrs of Africa, whose specific date and location is unknown.

The Ephesus martyrs numbered between 40 and 50 monks who were persecuted under a fellow Christian, Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. They were killed for opposing the ruler’s adherence to and enforcement of the heresy of iconoclasm, which opposed the veneration of icons and manifested in the destruction of holy images throughout the East.

The Iona martyrs were more than 60 monks who were killed when Danish pirates raided the island, burned down the monastery, and slaughtered the occupants. This was one of many Viking raids on the British Isles by Norse pagans. 

Most of the details of the African martyrdom honored on Jan. 12 have been lost to history, but the feast honors about 50 soldiers who were killed for their faith.

Although these martyrdoms occurred more than 1,000 years ago, many Christians around the world still face the threat of martyrdom in 2024. 

According to a report from the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, more than 50% of the world’s population lives in a country in which state or nonstate actors persecute people for their religious beliefs.

In recent years, Nigeria has been one of the most dangerous spots for Christians. Just last month, Islamic terrorists launched an attack on Christian villages that left nearly 200 Nigerian Christians dead. During a 15-month period throughout 2021 and the first three months of 2022, more than 5,000 Christians were killed in attacks. 

A separate report from the watchdog group Open Doors found that the persecution of Christians is at its highest point in decades. Some of the worst government offenders are North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan. Christian persecution is also on the rise in other countries, such as India, where anti-conversion laws are leading to Christians being arrested, and Nicaragua, where the socialist regime is arresting members of the clergy who oppose the government and shutting down Catholic schools and media outlets.

In the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that in many countries, Christians are still persecuted for their religion. 

“The age of martyrs is not yet over; even today we can say, in truth, that the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries,” the pontiff said. “The Church has many men and women who are maligned through calumny, who are persecuted, who are killed in hatred of Jesus, in hatred of the faith.”

Bernini's baldacchino at the papal Mass on Jan. 1, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jan 11, 2024 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican announced on Thursday that the soaring baldacchino over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini 400 years ago will undergo a major restoration.

The ambitious restoration and conservation project, expected to be completed just before the start of the Catholic Church’s jubilee year in December, will require scaffolding to be set up around the canopy of the basilica’s main altar for nearly a year.

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, has assured that papal liturgies will still be able to take place in the basilica amid the restoration work.

The 700,000 euro (about $768,000) restoration is being funded by the Knights of Columbus and will be carried out by the Vatican Museums’ expert art restorers.

Patrick Kelly, the head of the Knights of Columbus, was present in Rome for a press conference on Jan. 11 to announce the restoration in the basilica, calling the project “one of the greatest restorations” of the many that the Knights have funded at the Vatican in the past 40 years.

“It’s Bernini’s baldacchino … It’s a singular masterpiece of sacred art — one which is instantly recognizable and impressive,” Kelly said.

“But, if that weren’t enough, this project also fits very well with our mission and with our history of service to the Church, and especially, the successors of St. Peter.”

Pope Urban VIII commissioned Bernini in 1624 to design and build the enormous canopy over the Papal Altar of the Confession, located directly over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle. 

With its twisted bronze columns, the baldacchino stretches 92 feet high. Intricately decorated with gilded Baroque angels, cherubs, bees, and laurel branches, the canopy took Bernini nine years to create with considerable help from his architectural rival, Francesco Borromini. 

The pope directed Bernini to dismantle and melt down bronze beams from Rome’s ancient Pantheon to help create the massive baldacchino, which in total weighs nearly 70 tons. The canopy was finally revealed to the public in 1633.

After visiting St. Peter’s Basilica in 1873, novelist Henry James described his encounter with the baldacchino: “You have only to stroll and stroll and gaze and gaze; to watch the glorious altar-canopy lift its bronze architecture, its colossal embroidered contortions, like a temple within a temple, and feel yourself, at the bottom of the abysmal shaft of the dome dwindle to a crawling dot.”

At the Vatican press conference, Pietro Zander, the head of the artistic and archeological patrimony of the basilica, explained that a preliminary investigation found that the baldacchino had a “degraded state of conservation” and that its entire surface is covered “with a dark coating,” which requires significant cleaning.

“The deterioration issues … are in part to the many visitors and pilgrims who flock to St. Peter's Basilica every day, changing its microclimate by their presence,” Zander said.

“The basilica welcomes up to 50,000 people every day,” he said. “Considerable microclimatic variations during the day and strong changes in temperature and humidity between day and night interact with the canopy, causing alterations and corrosion of the metal; oxidation of the iron supports and reinforcements; and expansion of the wooden parts with consequent lifting and detachment of layers on its surface.”

Zander indicated that further study of the “microclimate of the basilica” will also help to form a conservation plan for all of the artistic works in the basilica.

The restoration work will begin on Feb. 12, one day after Pope Francis is scheduled to preside over the canonization of Argentina’s first saint in a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Alberto Capitanucci, who leads the technical team of “Fabric of St. Peter,” the office responsible for the conservation and maintenance of St. Peter’s Basilica, expects that it will take about four weeks to put up the scaffolding, which will enable a team of 10-12 experts to work each day on the restoration of the baldacchino.

The restoration in the basilica is one of many construction and restoration projects taking place across the city of Rome to prepare for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri has said that the Eternal City will become “an open-air construction site” in 2024 with 1,400 building projects planned in the city ahead of the jubilee, according to Italy’s Rai News.

Construction is already underway to create a new pedestrian-only wide walkway from Castel Sant’Angelo to the road leading to St. Peter’s Square, the via della Conciliazione, with a tunnel for cars underneath, a project expected to cost about $77 million.

The jubilee year will officially begin with the pope opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in December 2024.

Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. / Credit: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 9, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Vatican City has new tenants: seven nuns from Argentina who, at the request of Pope Francis, will live in Mater Ecclesiae (“Mother of the Church”), the monastery where Pope Benedict XVI resided for almost a decade following his resignation from the papacy.

The group consists of six Benedictine nuns and their abbess who were previously living out their religious vocation at St. Scholastica Abbey in the town of Victoria, located in Buenos Aires province in the Diocese of San Isidro, Argentina.

The nuns landed in Rome on the morning of Jan. 3 and were received by Cardinal Fernando Vérguez Alzaga, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, responsible for everything concerning the monastery.

Before heading to their new home, the Benedictine nuns visited the replica of the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens to pray and sing before the image of the Virgin.

On Jan. 6, the nuns attended the Mass for the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica. At the end of the liturgy, Pope Francis greeted them: “Welcome with all my heart. You are going to bring spirituality, thank you very much,” the Holy Father said to the nuns.

The purpose of Mater Ecclesiae

As reported by the Holy See, Pope Francis in a letter dated Oct. 1, 2023, ordered that the place “return to its original purpose,” which is for “contemplative orders to support the Holy Father in his daily concern for the entire Church, through the ministry of prayer, adoration, praise, and reparation, thus being a prayerful presence in silence and solitude.”

The Argentine Benedictine nuns “generously accepted the invitation.”

The place that was the last residence of Benedict XVI, located among the hills of these gardens, was erected as a women’s monastery of contemplative life with the title of Mater Ecclesiae by St. John Paul II in 1994.

Between 1994 and 2012, four communities — the Poor Clares, the Discalced Carmelites, the Benedictines, and the Visitation nuns — in turn lived there.

In 2013, after Benedict XVI’s historic resignation from the papacy, the monastery became his residence, where he remained until his death on Dec. 31, 2022, in the company of Archbishop Georg Gänswein and four consecrated women.

St. Scholastica Abbey in Victoria

The St. Scholastica Abbey in Victoria was founded in 1941. Almost three years earlier, the construction of their church had begun on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, on Dec. 8, 1938, at the urging of the prior of the St. Benedict Abbey in Buenos Aires, Father Andrés Azcárate.

The nuns who were to move to Argentina received their formation at St. Mary’s Abbey in São Paulo, Brazil. In September 1941, “four Brazilians who had taken their solemn vows, six Argentines with temporary vows, and one other sister” left for Argentina, forming the founding community, as detailed on its website.

In 1946, the monastery was raised to the status of an abbey with Mother Plácida de Oliveira being named the first abbess. She died in 1948 and was succeeded by Mother Mectildis Cecilia Santangelo. In 1977, Mother María Leticia Riquelme was appointed abbess, with special permission as she was not yet 35 years old, and she launched three other foundations in Argentina.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis greets Archbishop Charles Scicluna. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 8, 2024 / 12:13 pm (CNA).

A Vatican official has said that he thinks the Catholic Church’s priestly celibacy requirement in the Latin rite should be revised.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who serves as the archbishop of Malta and is an assistant secretary at the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview published Jan. 7 that the Church should “think seriously about” changing the Western discipline.

“If it were up to me, I would revise the requirement that priests have to be celibate,” he said, according to a captioned Maltese-language video interview by the Times of Malta.

“This is probably the first time I’m saying it publicly and it will sound heretical to some people,” he added.

The 64-year-old archbishop said that the Church should learn from the Eastern Churches, which allow married men the option to get ordained to the priesthood.

“Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married? And we did lose good priests just because they chose marriage,” he said.

Scicluna, who has personally handled multiple investigations into clerical sex abuse on behalf of the Vatican’s doctrine office, made the comments when asked about Catholic priests in Malta who have secret relationships and have fathered illegitimate children.

“This is a global reality; it doesn’t just happen in Malta. We know there are priests around the world who also have children and I think there are ones in Malta who may have too,” Scicluna said.

“A man may mature, engage in relationships, love a woman. As it stands, he must choose between her and priesthood, and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships,” he said.

Scicluna, who was a delegate at the Synod on Synodality assembly last fall, added that he has previously spoken openly in Rome about his views on priestly celibacy.

Priestly celibacy discussed at Synod on Synodality

The requirement of priestly celibacy was openly discussed at the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazon region, but in the end, Pope Francis chose not to mention celibacy in his postsynodal apostolic exhortation.

The topic came up again during the 2023 Synod on Synodality assembly at the Vatican in October. The assembly’s synthesis report has asked whether it is necessary to maintain the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church and called for the question to be taken up again in the next assembly in October 2024, noting that “different assessments were expressed” on the topic during the first synod assembly.

Pope Francis on priestly celibacy

In an interview for a book published in October, Pope Francis pushed back against the idea that changes to Church practice such as introducing female deacons or optional priestly celibacy would help boost vocations.

Asked about women’s ordination bringing “more people closer to the Church” and optional priestly celibacy helping with priest shortages, Pope Francis said he does not share these views.

“Lutherans ordain women, but still few people go to church,” Pope Francis said. “Their priests can marry, but despite that, they can’t grow the number of ministers. The problem is cultural. We should not be naive and think that programmatic changes will bring us the solution.”

“Mere ecclesiastical reforms do not serve to solve underlying issues. Rather, paradigmatic changes are what is needed,” he added, pointing to his 2019 letter to German Catholics for further considerations on the issue.

null / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jan 8, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

A 1998 book by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández featuring provocative, sexually-charged themes has resurfaced, likely adding further scrutiny to the already embattled prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine office.

Titled “Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality,” the 26-year-old work includes graphic descriptions of human sexual relations and discussion of what the Argentinian theologian describes as “mystical orgasm.”

The nearly 100-page-long book also depicts in detail an imaginary erotic encounter with Jesus Christ on the shores of Galilee, which Fernández said was based on a spiritual experience disclosed to him by a 16-year-old girl.

The book, originally published in Mexico, was brought to renewed attention on Jan. 8 by Caminante Wanderer, a traditionalist Catholic blog based in Argentina, which described “Mystical Passion” as “imprudent” and “an occasion of sin” for potential readers.

Similarly, the Italian traditionalist website Messa in Latino said the book was “truly scandalous and apparently blasphemous.”

Fernández did not respond to a request for comment by EWTN News before publication.

This is not the first time that a book with a sexual focus previously published by the Argentinian theologian has caused controversy.

When Fernández was appointed to head the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith in July 2023, his 1995 book “Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing” resurfaced and was the subject of significant criticism.

The book was criticized for its erotic themes and depictions, and many suggested the work was inappropriate for a celibate priest.

For his part, Fernández said he had no regrets about writing “Heal Me With Your Mouth,” which he described as “a pastor’s catechesis for teens,” “not a theology book.”

Similar to “Heal Me With Your Mouth,” “Mystical Passion” does not appear on the official list of Fernández’s publications circulated by the Vatican when he was announced as the new DDF head.

Much of “Mystical Passion” focuses on the Church’s tradition of divine love, with a particular focus on how divine ecstasy can be experienced not only spiritually but also bodily. Fernández cites heavily from saints and mystics such as Augustine, John of the Cross, Teresa of Ávila, and Blessed Angela of Foligno.

“The testimonies of the mystics show us that the relationship with God can also beneficially affect the erotic level of man, up to his sexuality,” Fernández writes.

The relationship between human sexual relations and intimacy with God has long been explored in the Catholic Church, including in works such as St. John Paul II’s theology of the body catechesis.

However, Fernández’s work stands apart for its graphic descriptions and its focus on sexual pleasure as not merely allegorical for divine union but constitutive of it, particularly in the works’ later chapters.

Fernández’s description of “an experience of love, a passionate encounter with Jesus, that a sixteen-year-old-teenager [girl] told me about,” comes in the book’s sixth chapter, “My Beautiful, Come.”

The passage speaks of encountering Christ at the Sea of Galilee as he bathes and lies in the sand, and includes a lengthy description of kissing and caressing his body from head to toe.

Throughout the passage, the Blessed Mother is depicted as standing by and approvingly allowing the encounter to take place.

The book’s final section focuses on the human orgasm and its connection to divine intimacy, often utilizing graphic, provocative descriptions.

For instance, in a chapter titled “Male and Female Orgasm,” Fernández provides an extensive, detailed description of sexual intercourse, offering his assessment of differences in male and female preferences and experiences of orgasm.

However, Fernández goes on to conclude that “in the mystical experience God touches the most intimate center of love and pleasure, a center where it does not matter much whether we are male or female.”

In the chapter “The Road to Orgasm,” Fernandez seems to suggest that the saints experienced sexual pleasure in their mystical unions with God.

“Some saints began to have inebriating experiences of God shortly after their conversion, or at the same conversion; others, like Saint Teresa of Ávila, achieved these experiences after many years of spiritual dryness. Saint Therese of Lisieux, although she felt tenderly loved by God, never had very ‘sensual’ experiences of his love, and it seems that she only achieved an overflowing and passionate joy at the moment of her death, when her face was transfigured and she said her last words: ‘I love you, oh my God, I love you!’”

The cardinal also seems to address sexual relations between people of the same sex.

After writing that an experience of divine love will not necessarily “mean, for example, that a homosexual will necessarily stop being homosexual,” Fernández notes “that God’s grace can coexist with weaknesses and even with sins, when there is a very strong conditioning. In those cases, the person can do things that are objectively sinful, without being guilty, and without losing the grace of God or the experience of his love.”

After reflecting on how persons can reach “a kind of fulfilling orgasm in our relationship with God,” the cardinal writes in the chapter “God in the couple’s orgasm” that God can be present “when two human beings love each other and reach orgasm; and that orgasm, experienced in the presence of God, can also be a sublime act of worship of God.”

While Fernández speaks of “couples” in his description of sexual relations, he rarely explicitly mentions valid marriages, which the Church teaches is the only context in which sexual relations are licit.

In another passage, the now-DDF head condemns masturbation as selfish but describes authentic sexual relations as only vaguely “open to others,” with no mention of openness to generating new life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that sexual relations in marriage “remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life” and describes both the unitive and procreative significance as “both inherent to the marriage act.”

In one particularly graphic passage, Fernández cites the 15th-century Muslim theologian Al Sounouti, who offered praise to God for making men’s reproductive organs “as hard and straight as spears” so that they can “wage war” on the corresponding body parts of women.

Discussion of Fernández’s 1998 book comes at a time when the Argentinian prelate’s leadership of the DDF has come under significant scrutiny following the Dec. 18 publication of guidance on the possibility of blessing same-sex couples. The Vatican document, Fiducia Supplicans, has widely been criticized for ambiguity and for failing to engage in wider consultation with the world’s bishops before publication.

On Jan. 4, Fernández issued an unprecedented 2,000-word press release clarification of Fiducia Supplicans. The clarification came after worldwide pushback, with entire episcopal conferences in Africa and Eastern Europe and individual bishops in Latin America, Europe, and the United States stating that they would not allow the described blessings in their jurisdictions.

A longtime theological adviser to Pope Francis, Fernández was made a cardinal by the pope on Sept. 30, 2023, shortly after he began his duties at the DDF. In his letter announcing the appointment, Pope Francis wrote that he expected Fernández to promote “theological knowledge” rather than focus on disciplining “doctrinal errors.”

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. / Credit; Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 7, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis baptized babies in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday and encouraged parents not to worry if their children cry or fuss during Mass.

On the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 7, the pope baptized 16 babies and presided over Mass beneath Michelangelo’s frescoes.

In a brief off-the-cuff homily, the pope said that baptism is “the most beautiful gift” that parents can give to their children.

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“We are here to baptize, to give the gift of faith to our babies. And they are the protagonists in this ceremony — they can speak, they can walk, they can shout … because this is their celebration. They will receive the most beautiful gift, the gift of faith, the gift of the Lord,” Pope Francis said.

“They are the protagonists because they will also give us today the testimony of how to receive faith: with innocence, with openness of heart,” he added.

Following the homily, the Sistine Chapel choir sang the Litany of the Saints in preparation for the baptisms.

Pope Francis used a golden shell-shaped cup to pour baptismal water over the head of each baby beneath the 48-foot high fresco of Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment.”

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The pope told parents to let their babies cry during the Mass, joking that once one baby cries then “the concert will begin.”

Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, served as the main celebrant of the Mass with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, concelebrating.

Krajewski also helped to clothe each child in a white garment after their baptism to symbolize that the child has “put on Christ” and risen with the Lord.

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord commemorates Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes baptism as the “basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit ... and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.”

St. John Paul II began the papal tradition of baptizing children in the Sistine Chapel on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Jan. 11, 1981.

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The ceremony initially took place in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace but was moved to the Sistine Chapel in 1983.

The event was reserved at first for babies of Swiss Guards but later expanded to include the children of Vatican employees.

To qualify, children have to be under one year of age and their parents must be married in the Church. Each child is accompanied in the Sistine Chapel by his or her parents, siblings, godfather, and godmother.

The family groups attend a rehearsal before the ceremony. During the event, the Vatican provides baby-changing tables in a nearby room in the Apostolic Palace.

In his homily on Jan. 7, 2024, for the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis encouraged parents not to worry if their children cry or fuss during Mass. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis reminded the godparents present of their responsibility to help the newly baptized babies to grow in faith.

“I ask you to accompany them as they grow because this is a great way to help so that faith grows in them,” he said. “Thank you so much for your witness, for bringing them here to receive the faith.”

Pope Francis baptizes babies in the Sistine Chapel on Jan. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis encouraged the parents to have their children celebrate the date of their baptism each year like a birthday.

“Let them know the date of the baptism. It is the date of birth. The date of birth is like a birthday. At baptism, I became a Christian. Teach this to children to celebrate it every year,” he said.

Pope Francis meets with a delegation from the Society of Catholic Publicists of Germany on the 75th anniversary of its foundation Jan. 4, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 5, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis said people working in Catholic media must not refrain from being involved in the evangelizing mission of the Church and that, therefore, “they cannot remain ‘neutral’ with respect to the message they convey.”

The pontiff made his remarks at a Jan. 4 audience with a delegation from the Society of Catholic Publicists of Germany on the 75th anniversary of its foundation.

According to Vatican News, the Holy Father also explained that “interreligious dialogue, ecumenism, and the defense of peace, freedom, and human dignity” should be the goals of communication professionals, especially if they are Catholic.

“How many conflicts today, instead of being extinguished by dialogue, are fueled by fake news or inflammatory statements in the media! That’s why it’s all the more important that you, strong in your Christian roots and in living the faith daily, ‘demilitarized’ in your heart by the Gospel, support the disarmament of language,” the pope said in his discourse, which he gave in writing to the delegation.

To achieve this “demilitarization” of language, he shared four guidelines that Catholics in the media can put into practice: “Foster a tone of peace and understanding, build bridges, be available to listen, and engage in respectful communication toward others and their reasons.”

He also noted that Catholic journalists have a fundamental role to play in situations involving tension and disputes by “providing correct information” to resolve misunderstandings and contributing to the construction of peace in society, “helping mutual understanding and not setting people in opposition to each other.”

Pope Francis was also emphatic in asking Catholic journalists not to be turned in on themselves but to go out and “bring the Christian message to all areas of life” using the enormous resources, platforms, and communication tools available to the modern world. 

“A Church concerned above all with itself becomes ill with self-referentiality,” he warned.

In that regard, the pontiff pointed to the weakest in society as the center of attention of communication professionals. In these peripheries, Pope Francis commented, is found “the God of love, waiting for the good news of our charity.” The Holy Father pointed out the need for journalists “who highlight the stories and faces of those to whom few or no one pays attention.”

Catholics in the media should “always think of the faces of the people, especially the poor and the simple, and start from them, their reality, their dramas, and their hopes, even if doing so means going against the current” and sparing no effort, he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu. / Credit: Claude Truong Ngoc, CC BY SA 40 via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Jan 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

After being convicted on several counts of embezzlement of Vatican funds, Cardinal Angelo Becciu gave a New Year’s Eve homily recommending the congregation draw up “a balance sheet” of one’s personal life before God, according to an Italian media outlet.

Becciu, who was sentenced to five and a half years in prison by the Vatican’s criminal court on Dec. 16, celebrated Christmas in his hometown on the Italian island of Sardinia and presided over a Mass in the Cathedral of the Blessed Immaculate Virgin of Ozieri on Dec. 31.

“Recalling the past means drawing up a balance sheet of our personal lives before God, without closing our eyes to the issues that grip the society in which we live both locally and universally,” Becciu said in his homily, according to the Italian Catholic blog Korazym.org.

“It also means having a calm and practical look at that reality, that mystery, which we hold most dear: the Church of God,” he said.

The cardinal was also welcomed as a “guest of honor” at a celebratory dinner with the poor after the Mass by Bishop Corrado Melis of Ozieri, who vehemently defended Becciu in a letter to his diocese after he was found guilty by a Vatican tribunal.

In addition to finding Becciu guilty of embezzlement of funds from the Vatican property deal in London, judges in the Vatican trial also convicted the cardinal for using Vatican money to pay Cecilia Marogna, a Sardinian woman who was employed by Becciu as a security consultant, and of embezzlement for sending 125,000 euros of Vatican money to a charity run by his brother in Sardinia.

Becciu has denied all wrongdoing and his lawyers have announced that the cardinal will appeal the ruling in the Vatican’s yearslong finance trial. 

Due to the appeal, the cardinal remains free as he awaits the appeal process for his case per Italian incarceration procedures for convicted criminals who have not committed violent crimes or are a flight risk. 

None of the other five people who received jail sentences at the end of the Vatican’s finance trial are currently behind bars, and it is expected that the appeals process could take at least a year for a new trial to conclude.

Becciu told the Sardinian television station TGR Sardinia after presiding over Christmas Mass at the parish church of Santa Sabina in his hometown of Pattada, Sardinia, that he felt “an affectionate welcome” on the island after his conviction.

Sardinian Bishop Melis published an emotional letter on the website of the Diocese of Ozieri immediately following the Vatican ruling saying that the sentence imposed on Becciu — whom he refers to endearingly in Italian as “Don Angelino” — caused him “immense suffering, … bitterness, and disorientation.”

“To dear Don Angelino I remember a phrase dear to Charles de Foucauld: ‘The cross is the daily bread of faithful souls,’” the bishop said.

St. Peter's Dome. / Credit: dade72 via Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jan 4, 2024 / 10:10 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s doctrine office issued a response on Thursday to “clarify the reception of Fiducia Supplicans” amid widespread international backlash to the Vatican’s recent declaration on same-sex blessings.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), published a five-page press release on Jan. 4 that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”

Fernández said that the responses he has received from bishops’ conferences around the world to the declaration highlight “the need for a more extended period of pastoral reflection” and that what is expressed in these bishops’ statements “cannot be interpreted as doctrinal opposition because the document is clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality.”

“There is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church, or blasphemous,” the cardinal said, pointing to a few paragraphs in the text of the original declaration that affirms the Church’s doctrine on marriage. You can read the full text of the press release at the bottom of this story.

The clarification was published two and a half weeks after the Dec. 18 publication of Fiducia Supplicans, which prompted strong backlash from bishops in several African and Eastern European countries as well as confusion and division from other parts of the world.

Some bishops have welcomed the declaration, some are approaching it with caution, and others are refusing to implement it.

In the press release, published in six languages, Fernández provides one “concrete example” of what the spontaneous “pastoral blessings” might look like in practice, explaining that they should only last “about 10 or 15 seconds.”

“Since some have raised the question of what these blessings might look like, let us look at a concrete example: Let us imagine that among a large number making a pilgrimage a couple of divorced people, now in a new union, say to the priest: ‘Please give us a blessing, we cannot find work, he is very ill, we do not have a home and life is becoming very difficult: May God help us!” he said.

“In this case, the priest can recite a simple prayer like this: ‘Lord, look at these children of yours, grant them health, work, peace, and mutual help. Free them from everything that contradicts your Gospel and allow them to live according to your will. Amen.’ Then it concludes with the sign of the cross on each of the two persons.”

Fernández said that priests giving these types of blessings should “not impose conditions” or “enquire about the intimate lives of these people.”

He added that “this non-ritualized form of blessing, with the simplicity and brevity of its form, does not intend to justify anything that is not morally acceptable.”

“It remains clear, therefore, that the blessing must not take place in a prominent place within a sacred building, or in front of an altar, as this also would create confusion,” Fernández added in the clarification.

The press release did not mention anything about cases in which priests have already violated the terms stipulated in the Fiducia Supplicans declaration, which requires that blessings be spontaneous and cannot be a “blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion.”

The cardinal emphasized that the “real novelty of this declaration” is “the invitation to distinguish between two different forms of blessings: ‘liturgical or ritualized’ and ‘spontaneous or pastoral.’”

“The central theme … is to have a broader understanding of blessings and of the proposal that these pastoral blessings, which do not require the same conditions as blessings in a liturgical or ritual context, flourish. Consequently, leaving polemics aside, the text requires an effort to reflect serenely, with the heart of shepherds, free from all ideology,” he said.

The DDF’s press release says that the same-sex blessing declaration may require more time for its application “depending on local contexts and the discernment of each diocesan bishop with his diocese.”

“In some places, no difficulties arise for their immediate application, while in others it will be necessary not to introduce them, while taking the time necessary for reading and interpretation,” Fernández said.

The cardinal added that it is fine that some bishops have, for example, established that priests perform these blessings only in private, so long as this is “expressed with due respect for a text signed and approved by the Supreme Pontiff himself, while attempting in some way to accommodate the reflection contained in it.”

The clarification also notes that in countries where there are “laws that condemn the mere act of declaring oneself as a homosexual with prison and in some cases with torture and even death, it goes without saying that a blessing would be imprudent.”

The press release was signed by Fernández and Monsignor Armando Matteo, the secretary for the doctrinal section of the dicastery.

“We will all have to become accustomed to accepting the fact that, if a priest gives this type of simple blessings, he is not a heretic, he is not ratifying anything nor is he denying Catholic doctrine,” it said.

“We can help God’s people to discover that these kinds of blessings are just simple pastoral channels that help people give expression to their faith, even if they are great sinners. For this reason, in giving a blessing to two people who come together to ask for it spontaneously, we are not consecrating them nor are we congratulating them nor indeed are we approving that type of union.”

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI Prensa

Rome Newsroom, Jan 3, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

Amid significant confusion about the Vatican’s recent guidance on same-sex blessings, the document’s architect has lashed out at those advancing the most liberal interpretation: Catholic leadership in Germany. 

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and longtime theological adviser to Pope Francis, described Fiducia Supplicans as a “clear answer” to German plans to formalize liturgical blessings for same-sex couples, a move that is explicitly forbidden by the Dec. 18 guidance.

“It is not the answer that people in two or three countries would like to have,” Fernández said of Fiducia Supplicans in a Jan. 3 interview with the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost. “Rather, it is a pastoral response that everyone could accept, albeit with difficulty.” 

The Vatican’s guidance proposes the possibility of “spontaneous blessings” for same-sex couples and those in “irregular relations” but “without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.” To avoid confusion, Fiducia Supplicans prohibits the promotion of formalized blessings and the use of any clothing or symbols that could give the impression of a marital blessing. 

Members of the controversial German Synodal Way, a collaboration between the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and a powerful lay lobby (ZdK), overwhelmingly approved developing formalized ritual texts for same-sex blessings at a March 2023 assembly in Frankfurt.

Since then, several German bishops have greenlighted public blessings of same-sex couples in their dioceses. And following the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, ZdK vice president Birgit Mock said the Church in Germany would not scrap its plans to develop a formal text of same-sex blessings, despite the guidance’s prohibitions.

Fernández suggested that some German Catholics may fail to appreciate the perspectives of Catholics in other parts of the world on questions related to sexuality.

“Listening to some reflections made in the context of the German Synodal Path, it sometimes seems that a part of the world feels particularly ‘enlightened’ to understand what the other poor wretches are unable to grasp because they are closed or medieval, and then this ‘enlightened’ part naively believes that thanks to it, the whole universal Church is reformed and freed from the old schemes,” Fernández told Die Tagespost.

Similarly, the DDF head suggested that some German Catholic leaders don’t appreciate Pope Francis’ effort to maintain Church unity.

“Some German bishops do not seem to understand that a liberal or enlightened pope could not guarantee this communion among Germans, Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, Russians, and so on,” Fernández said. “A ‘pastoral’ pope, on the other hand, is able to do this,” because he preserves Church teaching while allowing it “to enter into dialogue with the concrete, often so wounded lives of the faithful.”

Fernández also directly challenged the Synodal Way’s basis for trying to radically change Church teaching and practice related to sexuality and governance, namely, the need to address the systemic causes of the sexual abuse crisis. 

“To believe that in one part of the world the crisis caused by sexual abuse can be solved by decisions that are contrary to the teaching of the universal Church is, in my opinion, not even reasonably justified,” Fernández said, noting that “some non-Catholic Christian communities” with differing understandings of sexuality and authority are also plagued by problems related to sex abuse. 

The publication of Fiducia Supplicans has been marked by widespread confusion and conflicting interpretations, with bishops in countries throughout Africa and Eastern Europe banning the proposed blessings in their jurisdictions, while prelates in countries like Germany have characterized the document as an affirmation of their push for change. 

Wednesday’s interview was not the first time Fernández has addressed the impact of Fiducia Supplicans, including its significance for the Catholic Church in Germany. 

In a Dec. 23 interview, he told The Pillar that some episcopates’ advancement of ritualized blessings of irregular couples is “inadmissible” and that “they should reformulate their proposal in that regard.” 

The Argentinian also said that he is “planning a trip to Germany to have some conversations that I believe are important.”

In the Die Tagespost interview, the cardinal also discussed the Vatican’s ongoing dialogues with DBK representatives. Two have occurred already, with the next set to take place in Rome this month. 

Fernández reaffirmed that discussion of changes to Church teaching on sexuality and male-only holy orders will not be on the table in further meetings, something already expressed to the DBK in an October letter from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. However, the DDF head suggested that “the door remains open” to discuss how reformable aspects of the issues involved “can be deepened” and possibly lead to “a pastoral development” similar to Fiducia Supplicans. 

The cardinal also addressed the German Church leadership’s ongoing preparations to establish a governing “synodal council” of bishops and laity — which was forbidden by senior Vatican leadership in a January 2023 letter explicitly approved by Pope Francis. 

The synodal committee laying the groundwork for the synodal council held its first meeting Nov. 10–11, though it was boycotted by four German ordinaries, while an additional four were not able to attend, citing scheduling conflicts. The DBK is set to vote on adopting the committee’s statutes at its February plenary session in Augsburg. Fernández emphasized patience in his Die Tagespost interview. 

The condition of continuing dialogue between the Vatican and the DBK, he said, is that “we do not continue to make decisions that will only be discussed at further meetings.” 

“We must remember that ‘time is worth more than space,’” he said, citing Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation that Fernández is believed to have ghostwritten. “So let’s stay calm and think about the bigger picture.” 

Father Ramon Guidetti has been excommunicated by his local bishop for saying in a homily that Pope Francis “is not the pope” and calling him “a usurper.” / Credit: Screenshot from Radio Domina NostraYouTube channel, Jan. 3, 2024

Rome Newsroom, Jan 3, 2024 / 11:08 am (CNA).

An Italian priest has been excommunicated by his local bishop for saying in a homily that Pope Francis “is not the pope” and calling him “a usurper.”

The Diocese of Livorno in Tuscany issued a decree on Jan. 1 notifying Catholics that Father Ramon Guidetti “publicly committed a schismatic act” during Mass and has ipso facto incurred “latae sententiae excommunication,” or an automatic excommunication.

Bishop Simone Giusti informed his diocese that Catholics are not to attend any Masses offered by the excommunicated priest or they would also “incur the very serious penalty of excommunication.”

The bishop cited Canon 751, which defines schism as “the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

A video uploaded to YouTube shows Guidetti calling Pope Francis a “usurper” and a “freemason” in his homily given on Dec. 31, 2023, to mark the one-year anniversary of Benedict XVI’s death.

In the homily, the priest further denied that Pope Francis has been the pope for the last decade.

Guidetti, 48, had served since 2017 as a parish priest of the Church of San Ranieri, located outside of the coastal city of Livorno about 150 miles north of Rome.

According to a local paper in Livorno, the bishop met with Guidetti before Christmas to discuss his dissent and proceeded with the official excommunication decree after the priest’s public act of schism on Dec. 31.

Nahida Anton and her daughter Samar Anton were killed as they were walked to the Missionaries of Charity convent in the compound of Holy Family Parish in Gaza on Dec. 16, 2023. / Credit: Father Gabriel Romanelli/Facebook

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 18:36 pm (CNA).

Twenty Catholic missionaries were murdered in 2023, according to a new Dec. 30 report issued by the Vatican’s Fides News Agency.

Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, arrived at that number by calculating “all baptized engaged in the life of the Church who died in a violent way, not only ‘in hatred of the faith.’”

The agency said that most of the missionaries shared the traits of living a “normal life” and did “not carry out any sensational actions or out-of-the ordinary deeds that could have attracted attention and put them in someone’s crosshairs.”

“They found themselves, through no fault of their own, victims of kidnappings, acts of terrorism, involved in shootings or violence of various kinds,” the report said. 

Among those who were killed were two U.S. clergymen: Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell and Nebraska parish priest Father Stephen Gutgsell.

The news agency reported that one bishop, eight priests, two non-religious men, one seminarian, one novice, and seven laypersons made up the missionaries murdered in the last year.

The number of murders represents an increase over 2022, when 18 missionaries were killed. 

Africa

Nine missionaries were killed in Africa, the continent that saw the most such murders in 2023. Of the nine, five were priests, two were religious men, one was a seminarian, one was a novice. 

Of these, four were killed in Nigeria. In recent months, a monk, Brother Godwin Eze, was kidnapped and brutally murdered at the Benedictine monastery in Eruku, Nigeria. 

In Burkina Faso, two men, a priest and religious brother, were killed. In the western African country of Tanzania, one priest, Father Pamphili Nada, died after his parish was attacked. 

In Cameroon, Brother Cyprian Ngeh was stabbed to death, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a priest, Father Léopold Feyen, was also stabbed to death. 

Mexico and U.S.

Six missionaries were killed in the Americas in 2023, with all of the murders occurring in either Mexico or the United States. The deaths included one bishop, three priests, and two laywomen. Two catechists were killed on their way to a Eucharistic procession in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

In the United States, Bishop O’Connell was killed in his home. Charges were filed against his housekeeper’s husband. Father Gutgsell was stabbed in his Church rectory; an arrest has been made and charges filed in that case as well. 

Asia

Four laypeople were killed in Asia in the past year. 

Two of those murders happened in the Philippines. Two Catholic college students, Junrey Barbante and Janine Arenas, were killed when a bomb went off during a Eucharistic celebration at the State University of Mindanao. 

The other two murders occurred in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Two women, Samar Kamal Anton, along with her mother, Nahida Khalil Anton, were killed by sniper fire while on their way to the convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa.

Europe

One missionary was killed in Europe, a Spanish layperson. 

Diego Valencia was the sacristan of Nuestra Senora de La Palma Parish in Algeciras when he was killed by a Moroccan man wielding a machete.

Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience on Nov. 15, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

Each month Pope Francis shares a prayer intention as part of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The monthly prayer intentions express the Holy Father’s concerns for humanity and the mission of the Catholic Church. Here are this year’s monthly prayer intentions:

January: For the gift of diversity in the Church 

During the month of January, Pope Francis has asked the faithful to pray for the gift of diversity in the Church. He emphasized recognizing “the gift of different charisms within the Christian community.”

February: For the terminally ill 

February’s prayer intention is that the sick, “who are in the final stages of life, and their families receive the necessary medical and human care and accompaniment.”

March: For new martyrs

Pope Francis urges the faithful to pray during March for “those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world.”

April: For the dignity of women

During April, Catholics are asked to pray that “the dignity and worth of women be recognized in every culture.” The prayer intention includes praying for an end to the discrimination many women face in different parts of the world.

May: For the formation of men and women religious and seminarians

May’s prayer intention is for the formation of men and women religious and seminarians, that they may “grow in their vocational journeys through human, pastoral, spiritual, and community formation.”

June: For those fleeing their own countries

Pope Francis asks the faithful to pray in June for “migrants fleeing from war or hunger” and that they “may find welcome and new living opportunities in their host countries.”

July: For the pastoral care of the sick 

July’s prayer intention asks that the sacrament of the anointing of the sick bestows “the Lord’s strength to those who receive it and to their loved ones.”

August: For political leaders

During the month of August, Catholics are asked to pray that political leaders “be at the service of their own people” and also that they work for the common good, integral human development, and take care of those who have lost their jobs.

September: For the cry of the earth

“That each of us listens with our hearts to the cry of the earth” is the prayer intention for the month of September. Catholics are also asked to pray this month for victims of environmental disasters and the climate crisis.

October: For a shared mission

When bishops and laypeople meet for the second part of the Synod on Synodality during October, the faithful are asked to pray that “the Church continues to sustain a synodal lifestyle in every way.”

November: For those who have lost a child

The prayer intention for the month of November is for “all parents who mourn the loss of a son or daughter.” 

December: For pilgrims of hope 

In anticipation of the Church’s next jubilee, the faithful are asked to pray during the month of December that “the coming Church Jubilee Year 2025 strengthens us in our faith, helping us to recognize the risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope.”

Pope Francis prays during his general audience address in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican on Dec. 27, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of January is for the gift of diversity in the Church.

“There is no need to fear the diversity of charisms in the Church. Rather, living this diversity should make us rejoice,” Pope Francis said in a video released Jan. 2. 

Let us #PrayTogether that the Spirit may help us recognize the gift of the different charisms within the Christian communities, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions within the Catholic Church. #PrayerIntention #ClickToPray pic.twitter.com/KPbdAbwZiz

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 2, 2024

The Holy Father pointed out that “diversity and unity were already very much present in the first Christian communities.”

“But there’s more,” he added. “To move forward on the journey of faith, we also need ecumenical dialogue with our brothers and sisters of other confessions and Christian communities.”

“This is not something confusing or disturbing but is a gift God gives to the Christian community so it might grow as one body, the body of Christ.”

Pope Francis used the Eastern Churches as an example: “They have their own traditions, their own characteristic liturgical rites … yet they maintain the unity of the faith. They strengthen it, not divide it.”

“If we are guided by the Holy Spirit, abundance, variety, diversity, never cause conflict,” he said.

“The Holy Spirit reminds us first and foremost that we are children loved by God — everyone equal in God’s love, and everyone different,” the pope added.

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that the Spirit helps us recognize the gift of different charisms within the Christian communities and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions within the Catholic Church.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

Firefighters inspect collapsed wooden houses in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 2, 2024, a day after a major 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto region in Ishikawa Prefecture. / Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jan 2, 2024 / 12:56 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” to learn of a devastating earthquake that struck western Japan on New Year’s Day, the Vatican said on Tuesday, with the pontiff extending his prayers and condolences to the country after dozens of deaths were reported.

The reported 7.6-magnitude quake struck Ishikawa Prefecture in the western part of the country. More than 50 people were reported dead as of Tuesday morning, with reports of tens of thousands of homes having been destroyed in the tremor.

In a telegram sent on behalf of  Pope Francis, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of the Vatican, said the Holy Father “was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and damage caused by the earthquake.”

The pope “assures everyone affected by this disaster of his heartfelt solidarity and spiritual closeness, and prays especially for the dead, those who mourn their loss, and for the rescue of any persons still missing,” the telegram said.

“The Holy Father offers encouragement to the civil authorities and emergency personnel as they assist the victims of this tragedy and willingly invokes upon all the divine blessings of consolation and strength,” the message concluded.

Vatican News reported on Tuesday that “a team from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan is assessing the damage before the Church decides its response,” according to a statement from Tokyo Archbishop Tarcisio Kikuchi.

The deadly quake brought outpourings of support from leaders around the world. On Monday, President Joe Biden said in a statement that he and First Lady Jill Biden were “praying for the people of Japan who have been impacted by the terrible earthquake.” 

“My administration is in touch with Japanese officials, and the United States stands ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Japanese people,” Biden said. 

“As close allies, the United States and Japan share a deep bond of friendship that unites our people. Our thoughts are with the Japanese people during this difficult time.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, said in a statement that his “thoughts are with all those affected by the earthquakes in Japan, which have caused such terrible damage.”

“Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a great friend of the U.K., and we stand ready to support Japan and are monitoring developments closely,” Sunak said.