Pope Francis celebrated Mass on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, 2023, where he also blessed the pallia for new archbishops. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 12, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican on Saturday published the schedule for Pope Francis’ consistory to create new cardinals, stating that the liturgy will take place on Dec. 7 — not Dec. 8, as previously announced.

Francis said Oct. 6 he will add 21 members to the College of Cardinals — 20 of whom are eligible to be cardinal-electors. The future cardinals come from every continent.

According to the liturgical schedule released by the Vatican’s master of ceremonies Oct. 12, the ceremony to create the new cardinals will be held in the afternoon on Dec. 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The following day, on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, Francis and the entire College of Cardinals will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving together in the Vatican basilica.

While the pope typically goes to venerate a statue of the Virgin Mary close to the Spanish Steps early in the morning on the solemnity, this year he will visit the statue at 4 p.m. instead.

On Oct. 12, Pope Francis addressed the cardinals-designate in a short letter in which he called them each to be more of a “servant” than an “eminence.” He advised them to pray often, to love everyone, and to have mercy on the suffering.

The Vatican also published Saturday the dates of three other papal Masses to take place in St. Peter’s Basilica in November and early December.

On Nov. 17, the pope will preside at a Mass for the World Day of the Poor, and on Nov. 24, the solemnity of Christ the King, he will join a Mass also marking the World Day of Youth.

For the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12, Pope Francis will preside at a Mass in Spanish.

The Masses with Pope Francis are open to the public with the advance reservation of free tickets through the Prefecture of the Papal Household.

Pope Francis prays at the Mass in suffrage for the cardinals and bishops who have died in the past year, Nov. 2, 2022. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 12, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis expressed in a letter Saturday a desire that each of the 21 new cardinals to be added in December will be more of a “servant” than an “eminence.”

The pope’s brief letter, published Oct. 12, also welcomed the cardinals-designate to membership in the “Roman clergy,” which Francis called “an expression of the Church’s unity and of the bond that unites all the Churches with this Church of Rome.”

The pontiff announced after the Angelus Oct. 6 that he will add 21 men — 18 bishops and three priests — to the College of Cardinals in a consistory later this year.

The future cardinals come from countries on every continent and include archbishops from the countries of Iraq, Brazil, and Italy. They will be elevated to the College of Cardinals in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7.

The pope will also offer a Mass of thanksgiving with the cardinals on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Pope Francis in his letter encouraged the men to pray often, to love everyone, and to have mercy on the suffering.

“I thank you for your generosity and I assure you of my prayers that the title of ‘servant’ (deacon) will increasing eclipse that of ‘eminence,’” the pope told the future cardinals.

He also asked them to embody three attitudes the Argentinian poet Francisco Luis Bernárdez once used to describe St. John of the Cross: “eyes raised, hands joined, feet bare.”

“Eyes raised, because your service will require you to lengthen your gaze and broaden your heart, in order to see farther and to love more expansively and with greater fervor,” he said.

He quoted his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who said St. John of the Cross sat “at the school of his gaze,” which is “the pierced side of Christ.”

Another important attitude, Francis said, is hands joined in prayer for discernment, “because what the Church most needs — together with the preaching of the Gospel — is your prayer to be able to shepherd well the flock of Christ.”

He added that to have bare feet means to be close to the difficult realities faced by people around the world, including “the pain and suffering due to war, discrimination, persecution, hunger, and many forms of poverty.”

“These will demand from you great compassion and mercy,” the pope said.

One of the cardinals-designate, retired apostolic nuncio Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, is already over the age of 80 and no longer eligible to vote in a future conclave.

Cardinal-designate Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, will turn 80 on Aug. 22 next year. Radcliffe is one of two spiritual leaders for the Synod on Synodality taking place this month in Rome.

Among the 21 new cardinals, a total of nine are currently in Rome to participate in the second session of the synod Oct. 2–27.

The full list of new cardinals can be read here.

The General House of the Society of Jesus in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Madrid, Spain, Oct 11, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Father Johan Verschueren, the general counsellor and delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, expressed his support for the “LGBTQ Catholics” event held recently at the general house of the Society of Jesus in the Eternal City.

Within the context of the Synod on Synodality, the Jesuits hosted an event Oct. 8 in which a group of LGBTQ-identifying people (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, and queer) shared their testimonies and requested greater participation in the ecclesial community.

Verschueren expressed to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, his “moral support” for the event, although he said he did not attend it.

Referring to the members of this group, he said in a conversation with ACI Prensa that “their gender identity was not a moral choice” and claimed that “they were born that way.”

He also reiterated that “they are equally called and loved by Our Lord and Savior, and invited to follow him” and added that “it’s good to hear them give their witness.”

Panel titled ‘What Is the Experience of LGBTQ Catholics?’

The event, titled “What Is the Experience of LGBTQ Catholics?”, was organized by America Media and the pro-LGBT group Outreach, whose founder is Jesuit Father James Martin, who is participating in the Synod on Synodality by appointment of Pope Francis.

The event was opened by Father Antoine Kerhuel, secretary of the Society of Jesus, in the hall of the General Curia, located on the busy Borgo Santo Spirito street very close to the Vatican.

Moderated by Martin, the panel included other guests such as Christopher Vella from the LGBT Catholic organization Drachma in Malta. “Let us allow love to express itself,” Vella urged.

Also participating was Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean activist, abuse victim, and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, who condemned the support that some Church leaders “have given to controversial laws that stigmatize LGBTQ people, especially in places like Uganda.”

Janet Obeney-Williams, a lesbian who lives with another woman in London and was married to her in a civil ceremony, also spoke.

A retired doctor, Obeney-Williams recounted her “conversion” to Catholicism following the welcoming words of Pope Francis.

Several prelates and cardinals also took part, including the Jesuit bishop of Hong Kong and delegate to the synod, Cardinal Stephen Chow, who led an opening prayer for the event, which read in part:

“O Holy Spirit, send us your guiding light of truth, so that our ignorance and prejudices can melt away through this synodal encounter, and a new morn marked by mutual respect and empathic understanding can take shape in our Church for our LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers, as well as for ourselves and our Church as a whole,” the cardinal prayed.

Joanita Warry Ssenfuka, a lesbian Catholic from Uganda who heads the organization Freedom and Roam Uganda, said that Jesus’ message “was one of love” and urged Church leaders “to see LGBT Catholics as human beings and not as the sum of their sins.”

Ahead of the synod, both Martin and Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, spiritual assistant at the synod and cardinal-designate, published personal reflections on pastoral approaches for Catholics who experience same-sex attraction. 

Over the years, critics have accused Martin of rejecting Catholic teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts, but he has insisted that he does not reject Church teaching.

The Church’s consistent teaching on homosexuality is outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Nos. 2357 and 2358, which state that while people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed “with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.”

Who is Father Johan Verschueren, SJ?

Verschueren studied botany at the Catholic University of Louvain and later philosophy in Paris. He taught for two years at the Centre for Research and Promotion of the Peasantry in Peru.

He also studied theology at the Catholic University of Louvain from 1991 to 1995 and was superior of the Jesuits in the European Region of the Netherlands.

Since February 2020, he has been general counsellor and delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome.

Verschueren was also the superior of Father Marko Rupnik, a well-known Jesuit accused of committing sexual abuse and whose case is being investigated by the Vatican.

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

Young people lead a procession in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican for an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and Synod on Synodality participants, including non-Catholic delegates, prayed together Friday evening at the site of the first Christian martyrdoms in Rome.

The ecumenical prayer vigil Oct. 11 was held in Roman Protomartyrs Square inside Vatican City. The square is believed to be at the site where St. Peter and other first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed under the order of Emperor Nero. A plaque in the pavement marks the spot where St. Peter was crucified.

Members of the Synod on Synodality gather in Protomartyers Square at the Vatican for an ecumenical prayer service on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

During the 45-minute ecumenical service, which included sung chants, prayers, and litanies, attendees held candles with drip protectors imprinted with an image of the 15th-century painting “Mater Ecclesiae” (“Mother of the Church”). 

Music at the prayer vigil was led by a small choir accompanied by several instruments, including a guitar, flute, and clarinet. The hymns came from the ecumenical Taizé Community and included “Laudate Omnes Gentes” and “Bless the Lord, My Soul.”

Participants hold candles as they pray during an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024, in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis led those present in praying the Our Father at the conclusion of the service. He did not give a meditation on Christian unity as originally planned, but the prepared text was afterward published on the Vatican website.

In the reflection, the pope quoted John 17:22, which says: “The glory that you have given me I have given them.”

Pope Francis listens during an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024, in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

“These words from Jesus’ prayer before his passion can be applied above all to the martyrs, who received glory for the witness they bore to Christ,” he wrote.

“In this place, we remember the first martyrs of the Church of Rome. This basilica was built on the site where their blood was shed; the Church was built upon their blood. May these martyrs strengthen our certainty that, in drawing closer to Christ, we draw closer to one another, sustained by the prayers of all the saints of our churches, now perfectly one by their sharing in the paschal mystery,” he prayed.

Young people lead a procession ahead of Pope Francis in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican for an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Francis also said Christian unity and synodality are connected: “In both processes, it is not so much a matter of creating something as it is of welcoming and making fruitful the gift we have already received.”

“And what does the gift of unity look like?” he said. “The synod experience is helping us to discover some aspects of this gift.”

Pope Francis listens to an Orthodox church leader during an ecumenical prayer service in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican on Oct. 11, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Calling division among Christians a “scandal,” Pope Francis added that the synod is an opportunity “to overcome the walls that still exist between us.”

“Let us focus,” he continued, “on the common ground of our shared baptism, which prompts us to become missionary disciples of Christ, with a common mission. The world needs our common witness; the world needs us to be faithful to our common mission.”

Pope Francis and Synod on Synodality participants, including non-Catholic delegates, pray together Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

There are 16 fraternal delegates, representatives of non-Catholic Christian faiths, participating in the synod meeting this month — four more than in 2023.

The 2024 additions are representatives of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all of Africa, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Mennonite Conference.

An Orthodox church leader offers prayers during an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024, in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Other fraternal delegates include Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, the Eastern Orthodox co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church; and Anglican Bishop Martin Warner of Chichester, co-chair of the English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee.

Fraternal delegates participate but do not vote in the synodal assembly.

Bishops and cardinals concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis to open the second assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 2, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Synod on Synodality events open to the public gave a glimpse Wednesday evening into the private debates happening among delegates and theological experts on the issues of a bishop’s authority and his relationship to the laity in light of synodality.

At the Oct. 9 forum on “The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church,” hosted in a conference hall near the Vatican, four theologians and a canon lawyer gave presentations on finding and following the correct interpretation of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on episcopal authority, with frequent citations of the council’s dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium.

Speakers claimed an important part of synodality is implementing the proper understanding of a bishop’s authority in his diocese, which demands cooperation with laypeople.

Italian canonist Father Matteo Visioli pointed out that “What power of governance can be entrusted to laymen and women?” is one of the questions being asked by the synod that, he said, still needs further theological exploration.

“The problem is, which offices require the sacred orders and which don’t?” he asked in response to a question about changes Pope Francis has made to permit laypeople to hold positions formerly reserved to priests or bishops.

The canonist noted that while Pope Francis has drawn practical lines in the sand in some instances, including in the newest constitution governing the Roman Curia, Praedicate Evangelium, “if he entered into the theoretical line, he would have gotten stuck.”

In his remarks, Italian theologian Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin and bishop of Susa, cited paragraphs 38-39 of the 2024 Instrumentum Laboris, which says that a bishop’s powers and ministry do “not imply his separation from the portion of the people of God entrusted to him” and “is not the justification for an episcopal ministry that is ‘monarchical …’”

In light of what is written in the Instrumentum Laboris, Repole, who will be made a cardinal in December, said there are different ways to interpret Lumen Gentium’s teaching that bishops have the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders.

He argued that a “synodal” interpretation of the bishop’s ministry — one in which he serves in full cooperation with priests and laypeople — could “dissolve” some of the isolation and stress faced by bishops around the world and prevent a “monarchical”-style rule.

A prominent theologian from Argentina, Father Carlos María Galli, argued in his lecture that the bishop is the servant of the Lord, not a “lord” of the Church, and said a “novelty” of Vatican II was viewing the people of God as equal in dignity to the Church’s hierarchy.

The second chapter of Lumen Gentium, on the people of God, was a “big revolution” in Church ecclesiology, he said. “These theological foundations should move us to a change of mentality, of mindset.”

In his contribution, Father Gilles Routhier, a French Canadian and theological consultant to the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, described the bishop’s relationship to the laity using imagery from the Mass.

Just as the celebration of the Mass includes the organic participation of all the parts (priest and laity), so, too, the bishop should view his communion and cooperation in running a diocese, he said.

Routhier also criticized the Church’s use of the prepositions “of,” “for,” or “at” to describe a bishop instead of the words “in” and “within.” As written in Lumen Gentium, the priest and bishops, he said, are part of and within the same assembly of the people of God.

“We can’t speak of the autonomy of the pastor from the rest of the assembly,” the theologian and Vatican II expert claimed.

Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, ODN, addressed bishops directly in her contribution to the forum, exhorting them to be servant leaders and to combat abuse.

During a question-and-answer session, Cistercian abbot general Father Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori responded to the religious sister’s speech, saying that if he were a bishop it would have left him feeling “depressed.” Lepori stressed that bishops cannot be “supermen” and added that lay Catholics should help their bishops help others.

The theological conference, held at the Pontifical Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” and moderated by U.K.-based theologian Anna Rowlands, was well attended by cardinals, bishops, and priests, with a small number of laypeople also present. Most of the attendees appeared to be Synod on Synodality participants.

While not synod delegates, Routhier, Galli, and Repole are three of the seven members of a study group formed to provide a deeper theological perspective on “the synodal missionary face of the local Church.”

Sister Franco was the only presenter who is also a synod delegate; Galli is one of the synod’s theological “experts”; and Visioli, a canonist, is a member of the study group on “the synodal method.”

At the evening’s other event, a forum hosted by the Jesuit Curia on “The People of God as Subject of Mission,” theological experts shared insights on Church governance and synodality.

Thomas Söding, vice president of the lay organization promoting the German Synodal Way, argued that bishops shouldn’t control or dictate discipleship but should encourage diverse expressions of faith. Australian theologian Father Ormond Rush warned against reducing synodal reform to majority-rule voting or mere consultation, stressing the need to balance the Church’s divine and human aspects.

Italian canonist Donata Horak criticized the Roman Catholic Church’s current structure as “monarchical” and out of step with democratic sensibilities. She suggested that the Latin Church adopt deliberative synods, as seen in Eastern Catholic churches, although she did not note that these do not allow lay voting.

During questions and answers following the panelists’ presentation, an attendee raised concerns that the people of God image can be overtly sociological, while a teacher from Germany suggested that the reason the faith is struggling in her home country isn’t because of a lack of participatory structures but because Church leaders are ashamed of being Catholic.

Bishop Lúcio Muandula of Xai Xai, Mozambique, also gave a presentation at the conference, which was moderated by the Austria-based theologian Klara Csiszar. 

On Oct. 16 there will be an additional two forums, running simultaneously, on the topics “The Mutual Relationship Local Church-Universal Church” and “The Exercise of the Primacy and the Synod of Bishops.”

Jonathan Liedl contributed to this report.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

Pope Francis met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Friday morning, assuring the political leader of his and the universal Church’s continuous prayers for the people of Ukraine.

The pope gifted Zelenskyy a bronze relief of a small bird beside a flower with the engraved message “La Pace E’ Un Fiore Fragile” (“Peace is a fragile flower”), as well as a copy of his “Message for Peace.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Zelenskyy also received two books from the Holy Father including the 2020 “Statio Orbis“ and “Persecuted for the Truth: Ukrainian Greek Catholics Behind the Iron Curtain.“ 

In turn, Zelenskyy gifted the Holy Father an oil painting depicting the scene of a massacre that took place in the Ukrainian city of Bucha from the perspective of a young girl named Marichka. More than 630 civilians were killed in the Russian attack.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presents Pope Francis with a painting during their meeting on Oct. 11, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

The Oct. 11 meeting is the fourth meeting the Ukrainian president has had with the Holy Father since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. The last meeting between the two leaders took place in June when Zelenskyy was in Italy for the G7 Summit.

Since February 2022, Pope Francis has regularly used his general audiences and Angelus addresses to express his concern for the victims of the ongoing conflict in the region, calling for an end to the violence, access to humanitarian aid, and the release of prisoners.

The Ukrainian leader also met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations, to discuss the “state of the war,” humanitarian issues, and pathways that could lead to “just and stable peace” in Ukraine.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin during a meeting at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Last month, Parolin met with Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova via a Sept. 16 video conference to discuss the need to safeguard international human rights conventions, with the prelate thanking her for her role in securing the release of two Redemptorist priests. 

During his special June 29 Angelus address for the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis expressed gratitude for the release of the two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests: “I give thanks to God for the freeing of the two Greek Catholic priests. May all the prisoners of this war soon return home.”

Pope meets with head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church  

On Thursday, the Holy Father also met with the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who is participating in this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality as a representative of Eastern-rite Churches.  

Shevchuk has asked all people to support the suffering people of Ukraine with their solidarity, prayers, and humanitarian aid.

“Nearly 6 million Ukrainians will face a food crisis this winter. We need to feed the hungry,” he said in a Vatican News report.

Delegates at the 2024 Synod on Synodality participate in roundtable meetings on Oct. 10, 2024, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

There has been one noteworthy development so far in the Synod on Synodality’s second week — and it’s not the resurfacing of “women’s ordination” and other hot-button issues that were presumably not on the agenda for this month’s assembly.

Instead, it was an intervention on Oct. 7 by a bishop from the People’s Republic of China: Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of the Diocese of Hangzhou. This is significant because it marks the first time a Chinese bishop has taken the floor to speak to his fellow synod delegates.

Yang, who participated in last year’s assembly as well but departed before the session’s conclusion, is one of two mainland China bishop delegates appointed to the synod by Pope Francis, having been the protagonist, last June, of the first “transfer” of dioceses under the Sino-Vatican agreement.

Yang read a short speech in Chinese with a simultaneous translation. Synod sources told EWTN News that his remarks, which were not broadcast, focused on three main points: the history of Chinese Catholicism, China’s agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, and cultural exchange.

According to a source from the Vatican Secretariat of State, a Vatican delegation was in Beijing in the last week of September for talks on renewing the controversial agreement, possibly for three or four years this time.

Yang, who is expected to remain for the full assembly this year, spoke positively about the provisional agreement, saying it will deepen relations between the Holy See and his country. He also extended an invitation to synod participants to visit China, and he stressed the importance of “Sinicization,” the terms used to refer to efforts to ensure the Church in China has a distinctively Chinese character aligned with the goals of China’s communist government.

Meanwhile, Bishop Norbert Pu of Chiayi, Taiwan, told EWTN News that he is in dialogue with the Chinese bishops at the synod.

All this underscores how the Synod on Synodality can be a place to build bridges across different places and cultures. Yet that dimension of the synod may be overshadowed by attempts to reignite attention on hot-button issues that were thought to have been set aside for the various study groups to address.

The fact that these issues are returning in various forms testifies to the pressure both sides are bringing to bear to change or affirm the Church’s traditional doctrine.

The issue of the ministerial ordination of women surfaced in one of the interventions this week, according to synod sources, as well as during a press briefing on Oct. 8 where Sister Mary Theresa Barron of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles said that “some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate.”

At the same briefing, Cardinal-elect Jaime Spengler, archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, broached the topic of dispensing with the discipline of priestly celibacy in regions where there is a shortage of priests.

Meanwhile, the need for greater pastoral care for LGBTQ+ persons was the focus of a side event the same day sponsored by the Outreach association of Father James Martin, SJ, and the Jesuit-run America Media. Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong was among those in attendance.

Finally, the role of bishops in a synodal Church was a featured subject in an open theological forum held on Oct. 9. Participants included Cardinal-elect Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin, Italy; Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, ODN; Professor Carlos Maria Galli; Professor Gilles Routhier; and Professor Matteo Visioli.

It was a diverse panel. Galli, who teaches at the Catholic University of Argentina, immediately distinguished himself as one of the most profound interpreters of Pope Francis’ thought. He emphasized the figure of the bishops in terms of “brothers and friends.” Sister Franco Echeverri urged the bishops to “not waste time on bureaucratic issues” and not to “cover up or bury anything” in the event of abuse. Routhier stated that the bishop is “a brother among brothers,” while Visioli spoke of the concept of “power,” divided into the dimensions of “order” and “jurisdiction.” The first refers to sacramental acts and the second to government functions.

Will any of these issues find their way into the synod’s final document? That remains to be seen. But it’s clear the debate rages on.

Procession at the Sanctuary of Torreciudad in Spain. / Credit: Torreciudad Sanctuary

Madrid, Spain, Oct 10, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed the dean of the Roman Rota Tribunal, Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo, as pontifical commissioner to address the conflict between Opus Dei and the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón over the “Torreciudad complex” in Spain.

The Holy See Press Office announced the appointment on Oct. 9, after the bishop of Barbastro-Monzón, Ángel Pérez Pueyo, indicated last month that he had requested the Vatican’s intervention.

Upon learning the news, Opus Dei issued a brief statement in which it said that “the authorities of the prelature will be at the complete disposal of Archbishop Arellano, collaborating in whatever is necessary, with filial adherence to the Holy Father.”

The Holy See announced the appointment to both the prelature and the diocese, which also shared the news on its website. The Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón added that it “has full confidence in achieving with this intervention the resolution of this matter, which constitutes an opportunity to regularize the status of Torreciudad and erect it, canonically, as a shrine.”

In addition, in another statement, the diocese in Huesca province added that it “appreciates the prompt response to its request, reiterates its absolute confidence in the resolutions of the Holy See, and places itself at the disposal of the pontifical commissioner, with whom it will collaborate in everything that is necessary.”

Who is Archbishop Alejandro Arellano?Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo will serve as pontifical commissioner to address the conflict between Opus Dei and the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón. Credit: Diocese of Toledo/Livestream screenshot

Alejandro Arellano Cedillo is originally from the town of Olías del Rey in the Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain. Born in 1962, he studied at the San Ildefonso Theological Institute in Toledo and was ordained a priest in 1987.

A member of the Confraternity of Workers of the Kingdom of Christ, Arellano holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a degree in ecclesiastical studies from the Burgos School of Theology, and is an auditor of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

On March 30, 2021, Arellano was appointed dean of the apostolic tribunal of the Roman Rota, where he had served as a consultant since 2007. He is the first Spaniard to be given this responsibility in one of the main judicial bodies of the Holy See, established in the 14th century and whose functions are defined in the Code of Canon Law (Canons 1443 and 1444).

The pontifical commissioner for resolving the conflict over Torreciudad has served as auditor of the rota of the apostolic nunciature in Spain, professor at the San Pablo CEU University and the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University, both in Madrid, as well as at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In addition, he teaches jurisprudence at the Rota’s school of the apostolic tribunal of the Roman Rota.

Last March, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, presided over the celebration of the episcopal consecration of Arellano in the primate cathedral of Toledo, after Pope Francis named him titular bishop of Bisuldino, granting him the personal title of archbishop.

What is the dispute over Torreciudad all about?

The so-called Torreciudad Shrine was erected in 1975 in accordance with the canonical legislation of its time as a “semi-public oratory” and with the impetus of the Prelature of Opus Dei, whose founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, was closely connected to the Marian devotion at the place.

In terms of the law, the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón agreed in 1962 to an emphyteutic lease (in perpetuity) on the original chapel and annexes, as well as on the image of Our Lady of the Angels, venerated since the 11th century. The agreement was signed with a business in the name of a full member of Opus Dei.

In December 2018, the canonical foundation Our Lady of the Angels of Torreciudad was established, and two years later, the Opus Dei prelature proposed to Pérez to put in the place of the original contract by mutual agreement a new one to achieve, among other things, the canonical constitution of the place as a diocesan shrine.

Four years later, after numerous conversations between the parties, the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón informed the prelature that it had terminated the original contract as it was completely null and void, “as well as, subsidiarily, for noncompliance with the conditions stipulated in the aforementioned contract,” giving six months for the image of the Virgin to be returned to the original chapel and the transfer of “the chapel, guest house, and annexes” to be reversed, i.e. returned to the diocese. 

Tensions between the two institutions have been growing since then. An example of this was the appointment for the first time in July 2023 of a new rector of Torreciudad who was not a member of Opus Dei. In addition, the diocese threatened to take the matter to civil courts.

In September 2023, the bishop of Barbastro-Monzón announced his willingness to elevate the controversy to higher authorities: “We are open to the competent ecclesiastical authority settling the situation if they are really not satisfied with the arguments presented,” he said in a letter.

Pérez followed up on his intention declared a year ago and now the Holy See has responded with the appointment of Arellano.

In 2025, the Torreciudad complex will celebrate 50 years since its inauguration. In that time, it has become an important center of Marian devotion and pilgrimage, especially for families.

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

Cardinal Kurt Koch speaks to journalists at the Synod on Synodality press briefing held at the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Three fraternal delegates — non-Catholic representatives of Christian churches participating in this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality — took center stage at Thursday’s Synod on Synodality press briefing held at the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office.

According to Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the imperative for all Christian churches to journey, pray, and cooperate is Jesus’ own priestly prayer recorded in Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel: “So that they may all be one.” 

“Jesus doesn’t command unity but he prays for it,” Koch told journalists on Thursday. “So if Jesus has prayed for unity, what can we do? We must do what Jesus did.”

In June, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity released “The Bishop of Rome,” a book that examines the fruits of various ecumenical dialogues between the Catholic Church and other churches regarding the “Petrine ministry” — the role and ministry of the pope — over the last 30 years.

During the press conference, Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, the Eastern Orthodox co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, highlighted the significance of the “convergence” found in the Roman Catholic Church’s various bilateral dialogues with the Orthodox and other Christian churches surveyed in “The Bishop of Rome.”

“What strikes me in this book — and I advise you to read it — is to see the convergence among all these bilateral dialogues,” he shared with journalists. “This means that we are not just looking for an agreement or just some compromise with another church.”

Fraternal delegates — non-Catholic representatives of Christian churches participating in this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality — take questions from the media at the Synod on Synodality press briefing held at the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office on Oct. 10, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

The metropolitan also stated that ecumenical dialogue is not solely aimed at reconciliation and fraternity among churches but has the potential to “also bear fruit in the internal [and] domestic life of every church.”

Speaking about “the great importance of relationality” among Christian churches, Anglican Bishop Martin Warner of Chichester, co-chair of the English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee, spoke about the “sense of family” that has developed between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, particularly during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“She, I think, lived throughout the duration of five popes,” he said. “These [meetings] create a sense of a family which has a history and a past.”

Warner also commented that both Anglicans and Catholics view authority as a “gift.” He said the primacy of love and service — underscored in Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Ut Unum Sint — are the “solid foundations” on which both churches are built upon. 

Anne-Cathy Graber, secretary for ecumenical relations of the Mennonite World Conference, told journalists that the Synod on Synodality has given the ecumenical movement a new “dynamism” but that more “visible signs” of Christian unity are needed.

“It’s true that sometimes there are no symbolic signs that the world can understand. What we are lacking is symbolic gestures of reconciliation,” she said.

Synod on Synodality delegates and participants will attend an ecumenical prayer service at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11.

Matthew Lee, Taiwan's ambassador to the Holy See, speaks at a celebration of Taiwan’s 113th National Day at a reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See in Vatican City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. / Credit: Fabio Gonnella/EWTN

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).

Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See, Matthew Lee, emphasized the importance of the Vatican-Taiwan partnership, particularly in promoting peace and religious freedom, in a recent interview with CNA.

“Taiwan has enjoyed diplomatic relations with the Holy See for 82 years. That’s very important because it means the Holy See recognizes Taiwan as a country that values religious freedom and its communion with the universal Church,” Lee told CNA at a reception ahead of Taiwan’s National Day, which is celebrated each year on Oct. 10.

The Oct. 2 event held near St. Peter’s Basilica drew cardinals, bishops, and diplomats accredited to the Holy See, underscoring the democratic island’s ties with the Vatican, one of only 12 remaining nations in the world that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

“In Taiwan, the Catholic people [number] about 3%, but it’s very powerful,” the ambassador said. Taiwan’s National Eucharistic Congress on Oct. 5 drew more than 10,000 people, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was the fifth Eucharistic congress held in Taiwan since 2011.

In his remarks at the event, Lee highlighted how Taiwan and the Vatican have worked “hand in hand” to provide humanitarian aid and contribute to the international community.

“In the future, Taiwan will continue to cooperate with the Holy See and like-minded democracies to jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, protect religious freedom, and create a society of greater justice and peace for humanity,” Lee said.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, and other Vatican officials attended the celebration. Re offered a blessing for the food at the event held on the feast of the Guardian Angels, praying that angels may always protect Taiwan so that it may “always live in peace.”

Cardinals and others enjoy a celebration of Taiwan’s 113th National Day at a reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See in Vatican City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Credit: Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See

Amid Taiwan’s National Day celebrations, the Chinese military put pressure on the democratic island by sending 15 planes across the median line of the Taiwan Strait, according to the Associated Press.

The ambassador emphasized Taiwan’s commitment to Pope Francis’ call to promote peace in the world, especially in the Taiwan Strait. 

After taking office on May 20, Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, echoed that call for peace, urging China to “stop intimidating Taiwan politically and militarily,” Lee said.

“President Lai also constantly called for dialogue over confrontation, exchange over containment, and peaceful engagement with the legal government chosen by Taiwanese people,” he added.

Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, has maintained formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See since 1942. The Vatican does not have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. 

The ambassador noted that the embassy organized a “novena for peace” in response to Pope Francis’ call for peace.

Bishop Norbert Pu of Taiwan spoke to CNA at the event about the significance of the Vatican’s recognition for Taiwanese Catholics. 

“We hope we can always maintain this formal and good relationship with the Vatican. Because for Taiwan, this is very important. We hope that the world will see this because Taiwan is a democratic and free country, respected by other nations,” Pu said.

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the archbishop of Bangui in the Central African Republic, also spoke at the event, giving thanks for Taiwan’s donation of a computer classroom at the Major Seminary of St. Mark.

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the archbishop of Bangui in the Central African Republic, speaks at a celebration of Taiwan’s 113th National Day at a reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See in Vatican City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Credit: Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See

Lee highlighted how Taiwan has “provided humanitarian assistance and carried out concrete projects to help many countries.”

“The Taiwan Embassy has joined forces with several religious congregations this year to deliver humanitarian assistance to those in need,” he said.

Brazilian Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM, speaks at a Synod on Synodality briefing on Oct. 8, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2024 / 12:20 pm (CNA).

Brazilian Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM, one of the 21 men chosen by Pope Francis to become a cardinal in the next consistory on Dec. 8, confirmed plans for a trial run of an Amazonian rite of the Mass and urged “openness” to the idea of married priests to serve certain communities facing a shortage of priests.

The 64-year-old is a prominent figure in the Church in his home country and throughout South America, heading both the Catholic bishops’ conference of Brazil and the Latin American bishops’ conference (CELAM).

A descendant of German immigrants, Spengler has been a member of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor for more than 40 years and a priest for almost 34 years. 

After serving as auxiliary bishop of Porto Alegre for two and a half years, Pope Francis tapped him in 2013 to lead the archdiocese, making him the youngest archbishop in Brazil at the time, having just turned 53.

The Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, which covers the capital city of the southernmost state of Brazil, serves over 2 million Catholics spread across more than 13,000 square kilometers (more than 5,000 square miles), according to 2021 Vatican statistics.

With just 300-some priests, the archdiocese has had to explore ways of overcoming the challenges posed by a priest shortage — a problem faced by much of the Catholic Church in Latin America.

Spengler once again indicated he is open to ordaining married men, so-called “viri probati,” to serve as priests — a subject much debated during the Vatican’s Amazon synod in 2019.

The archbishop and future cardinal said at a briefing for the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican Oct. 8 that his archdiocese is “investing in permanent deacons: Maybe in the future these married men could also be ordained as priests for a specific community.”

The issue of the priestly ordination of married men — currently not allowed by Church discipline in the Latin rite — is “delicate,” Spengler noted. “I don’t know if it could be the best solution to the shortage of priests, but we need frankness and openness to deal with it. It’s a journey.”

“I don’t have prepackaged answers,” he continued. “We can and must face the issue with courage, keeping in mind theology but also grasping the signs of the times.”

Spengler, who has a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome, was born in Gaspar in the state of Santa Caterina, just north of where he now lives in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Santa Caterina is the source of a lot of Brazil’s priestly vocations and also the birthplace of two of the most influential figures in liberation theology: the late archbishop of São Paulo, Paulo Evaristo Arns, OFM, and theologian Leonardo Boff, a former Catholic priest and one of the founders of the movement, which gained popularity in the 1970s and emphasized freedom from poverty and oppression as the key to salvation.

Spengler has also supported an Amazonian rite of the Mass, something that has been under study since the 2019 Amazon Synod. A three-year experimental phase of an Amazonian rite will begin before the end of this year, according to Father Agenor Brighenti, a priest leading the Amazonian bishops’ (CEAMA) study of an Amazonian rite. 

Brighenti, one of the Synod on Synodality’s theology experts, is also the new head of the theological-pastoral team of CELAM.

Responding to a question, Spengler confirmed at the Oct. 8 Vatican briefing that there is a group in the Amazon bishops’ conference working on creating an Amazonian rite of the Mass but added that he thinks it could also be easier to explore ways of inculturating the Latin rite of the Mass instead.

The Brazilian cardinal-designate tied the need to have a Mass that reflects Amazonian culture in some way to a lack of access to the Eucharist in some remote areas of the Amazon. 

“Today in the Latin Church we have the Roman rite, and the Roman rite must be inculturated in the different realities,” he said. “Personally I think we can explore this possibility in a more in-depth manner ... Of course, this requires a special sensitivity and attention on the part of the involved parties, and also a readiness to find a way, a journey.”

The future cardinal also said a challenge for the Church in traditionally Christian countries such as Brazil is how to present the faith to the next generation.

The remarks echoed comments Spengler made during a different synod, the 2018 synod on young people, faith, and vocational discernment. As a delegate to the youth synod, Spengler told journalists he thought the question of transmitting religious values to young people was at the foundation of all the bishops’ debates.

In the context of the current synod, Spengler is among those who see deep connections between the Second Vatican Council and the push for a more synodal Church. 

The Synod of Synodality is “an opportunity to rescue the main lines of the Second Vatican Council,” the archbishop said in a letter to the Brazilian bishops’ conference this week.

“In truth, it is about developing the intuitions of the council fathers and finding viable ways to implement them,” he wrote to the bishops, noting that they should not fear controversies, which are only “part of the process.”

German film score composer and record producer Hans Zimmer performs during the “Hans Zimmer Live North American Tour 2024” at Scotiabank Arena on Sept. 19, 2024, in Toronto. / Credit: Mathew Tsang/Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

The Vatican announced Thursday that Oscar-winning film composer Hans Zimmer will conduct a special concert for the poor and homeless at a Vatican City venue.

Zimmer, known for his scores of films like “Gladiator,” “The Lion King,” “Interstellar,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” will conduct some of his most memorable movie melodies at the event.

The legendary composer will take center stage at the Vatican’s “Concert with the Poor” on Dec. 7 in the Paul VI Hall.

Three thousand people in need, cared for by volunteer organizations around Rome, will be invited to enjoy the live performance. At the end of the concert, they will receive a takeaway dinner and other necessities.

The Vatican event seeks to elevate those often left on the margins of society, offering them not just a world-class performance but an experience that acknowledges their dignity and worth.

Zimmer has won Academy Awards for composing original scores for “Dune” and “The Lion King” as well as 22 Grammy nominations for films including “Inception,” “The Prince of Egypt,” and “The Dark Knight.”

Joining him will be Grammy-nominated cellist Tina Guo and Italian priest and composer Monsignor Marco Frisina, who has composed both sacred music and scores for numerous religious films in Italy.

The Nova Opera Orchestra, featuring 70 musicians from across Europe, and the 250-member Choir of the Diocese of Rome will also participate, marking the choir’s 40th anniversary.

Pope Francis will meet privately with Zimmer and the other artists ahead of the concert. 

First held in 2015, the “Concert with the Poor” has become a Vatican tradition. Past editions of the event have featured luminaries such as the late composer Ennio Morricone, a legend in Italian cinema history, and Nicola Piovani, who won the Academy Award for best original score for Roberto Benigni’s film “Life Is Beautiful.”

The concert is under the patronage of the Vatican Dicastery for the Service of Charity, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. 

The concert capacity is 8,000 attendees, including 3,000 special guests from Rome’s poorest communities. These guests are invited through various charitable organizations such as Caritas, the Order of Malta, and the Community of Sant’Egidio.

Tickets for the general public will be available starting Nov. 18 through the event’s official website.

The Vatican has announced that the completed restorations on the soaring baldacchino over the central altar of St. Peter’s Basilica designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini will be unveiled on Oct. 27, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has announced that the completed restorations on the soaring baldacchino over the central altar of St. Peter’s Basilica designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini will be unveiled on Oct. 27.

Journalists donned hard hats on Tuesday to get a sneak peek of the nearly finished restorations, climbing the scaffolding all the way to the top of the 94-foot-tall canopy.

Journalists tour the newly restored baldacchino at St. Peter's Basilica, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

The lofty vantage point revealed how the baldacchino’s intricately decorated Baroque angels, cherubs, bees, and golden laurel branches — formerly darkened by centuries of dust and grime — have now been restored to their bright gilded glory.

While the cherubs holding the St. Peter’s keys and the papal tiara at the top of the structure may appear as small details from the ground 94 feet below, up close the chubby cherubs are actually colossal in size, standing nearly as tall as a full-grown adult.

A cherubic figure adorns the baldacchino at St. Peter's Basilica, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

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. The  construction took Bernini nine years with considerable help from his architectural rival, Francesco Borromini.

The public will be able to see the 400-year-old twisting bronze columns of the large canopy for the first time since the restoration when Pope Francis presides over the closing Mass for the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 27.

At that time, the scaffolding that has surrounded the central altar for the past eight months will finally be removed.

Scaffolding surrounds the baldacchino at St. Peter's Basilica, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, said the restorations manifest “the beauty and glory that the Church should reflect.” He added that revealing the restorations at the Mass is an opportunity to “announce hope as we walk toward a Jubilee of hope.”

An art restorer’s perspective

Giorgio Capriotti is one of the Vatican Museums’ art restorers who meticulously worked on these details on the massive canopy.

Capriotti said that despite more than a century since the last restoration, the restorers found that the baldacchino is in overall good shape. He explained that his task was largely removing the materials, like oil, waxes, and resins, that art restorers had used that unintentionally altered the hue of the historic gold leaf on the baldacchino.

In some places the baldacchino’s gold leaf became “dark and then almost black” because of oxidation due to the humidity, pollution, and dust in the air.

“So we had to remove these substances using solvents … area by area,” Capriotti said.

“Now we will see it as it was when it was built between 1624 and 1635,” he added.

Giorgio Capriotti is one of the Vatican Museums’ art restorers who meticulously worked on these details on the massive canopy. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

While working atop the canopy, Capriotti and the other restorationists found objects left by the artists and workers who preceded them from past centuries, including old coins, small drawings, and even a 17th-century shopping list, a collection of items he described as almost “a small museum of cultural anthropology.”

“Everything will be archived and studied and set aside as a testimony of the life, the real life of generations of restorers who have followed one another,” Capriotti said.

Restorers also found places where previous workers had signed their names, including signatures from 1685 and 1725.

A signature of a 19th-century worker is seen on the baldacchino at St. Peter's Basilica, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

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.”

The Knights of Columbus funded the baldacchino restoration, which was originally estimated to cost 700,000 euro (about $768,000).

“It’s Bernini’s baldacchino … It’s a singular masterpiece of sacred art — one which is instantly recognizable and impressive,” Patrick Kelly, the head of the Knights of Columbus, said at a press conference when the restoration was first announced.

“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.”

Restoration of the ‘Cathedra of St. Peter’

Restoration work is also being carried out on Bernini’s massive bronze monument at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica, called the “Cathedra of St. Peter.”

The massive sculpture depicts four doctors of the Church holding up the throne of St. Peter with gilded angels high above the petrine throne surrounding the oval stained-glass window of the “Dove of the Holy Spirit.”

Art restorers have also been cleaning the massive statues of St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, and St. John Chrysostom, which are currently covered by scaffolding. 

A statue of St. Ambrose sits under restoration at St. Peter's Basilica, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Bernini built the monument over the course of 10 years in the mid-17th century to protect a historic relic — a wooden throne symbolizing Petrine primacy with ivory plaques dating back to the Carolingian age in the ninth century. 

The restorations are also providing the chance for the public to see the historic relic of St. Peter’s chair up close. The relic will be on display for visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica from Oct. 27 to Dec. 8.

A historic relic of St. Peter’s chair will be on display for visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica from Oct. 27 to Dec. 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis during the weekly general audience at St. Peter's Square on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

In the first general audience since the opening of the second session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims that Catholics should be aware of the “prohibitions of the Holy Spirit” to ensure the unity and universality of the Church is not compromised.

Continuing his catechesis on the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church, the pope emphasized that unity cannot be “achieved on the drawing board” but only through the will and action of the Holy Spirit.

“The unity of Pentecost, according to the Spirit, is achieved when one makes the effort to put God, not oneself, as the center,” the pope said at the end of his address. “Christian unity is also built in this way.”

Addressing hundreds of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father encouraged his listeners to become “instruments of unity and peace” moved by the Holy Spirit instead of being driven by “one’s own point of view.”

“We all want unity. We all desire it from the depths of our heart and yet it is so difficult to attain that,” he said. “Unity and concord are among one of the most difficult things to achieve, and even harder to maintain. The reason is that, yes, everyone wants unity but based on one’s own point of view.”

In order to achieve unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said it is necessary to also consider the “surprising prohibitions of the Spirit.”

Holy Father cites experience of St. Paul

Referring to the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Father spoke about how even St. Paul and his disciples had to listen to the “prohibitions” of the Holy Spirit about where to preach the Gospel.

“Paul, we read again in Acts, wanted to proclaim the Gospel in a new region of Asia Minor, but it is written that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit,” the pope said. “The following night, the apostle received in a dream the order to pass into Macedonia. Thus the Gospel left its native Asia and entered into Europe.”

Pope Francis also spoke about the synodal “movement of the Holy Spirit” at the Council of Jerusalem, which discussed whether pagan converts to Christianity needed to adopt customs of the Mosaic Law such as circumcision.

“The Holy Spirit does not always create unity suddenly, with miraculous and decisive actions, as at Pentecost. He also does so — and in the majority of cases — with discrete work, respecting human time and differences, passing through people and institutions, prayer and confrontation. In, we would say today, a synodal manner,” the Holy Father said.

Following the catechesis, the Holy Father greeted the crowds of international pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square and encouraged them to continue to pray for peace and unity in the world.

Before concluding the audience with the prayer of the Our Father in Latin, Pope Francis asked his listeners to also turn to Our Lady and pray the rosary during the month of October.

Cardinal John Henry Newman. / Credit: John Everett Millais, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Newsroom, Oct 9, 2024 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Differing from the traditional practice, the feast day of Cardinal John Henry Newman is not celebrated on the day of his death. Instead, in his memory the Church celebrates his feast on the day he converted to Catholicism.

Newman died in 1890 and was canonized a saint on Oct. 13, 2019.

During the Eucharist celebration at Birmingham’s Cofton Park when he was beatified on Sept. 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed that Newman’s feast is to be celebrated on Oct. 9.

In general the feast days of blesseds and saints are marked on their “dies natalis” — the day they died. In his case, despite the fact that he died on Aug. 11, 1890, the Church decided to select the day he converted to Catholicism, Oct. 9, 1845, as the day to celebrate his feast.

At the time of the announcement, the Vatican spokesman at the time, Father Federico Lombardi, joked that the Church already celebrates too many great saints in August so placing the date in October seemed like a good idea to him.

The Church also celebrates Sts. Denis and John Leonardi on Oct. 9, while Aug. 11 is the feast of St. Clare of Assisi.

This article was originally published on Sept. 10, 2010, and has been updated.

Rome Bishop Baldassare Reina presides at the closing of the diocesan phase of the investigation into the life and virtues of Chiara Corbella Petrillo in Rome on Friday, June 21, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).

When Pope Francis announced on Oct. 6 that he would create 21 new cardinals later this year, he also gave the Rome Diocese its new vicar general.

As he listed the names of the new cardinals, the pope named “His Excellency Monsignor Baldassare Reina, who will be, from today on, vicar general for the Diocese of Rome.”

From May 2022, Reina has gone from a priest of Agrigento, Sicily, serving in the Dicastery for the Clergy at the Vatican, to an archbishop and cardinal in charge of the diocese of the bishop of Rome — the pope.

Cardinal-designate Bishop Baldassare Reina has been temporarily in charge of the Diocese of Rome in the absence of a vicar general after Pope Francis transferred Cardinal Angelo De Donatis to a post as head of the Vatican’s apostolic penitentiary in April.

Reina, 53, was Rome’s vice regent, the second in command, from January 2023, when the diocese was restructured under a new constitution.

The promotion came less than one year after Reina had been appointed an auxiliary bishop of Rome with responsibility over the “western sector” of the city.

Reina’s background also includes nine years as rector of the major seminary of Agrigento in the southern part of the Italian island of Sicily.

He also taught classes on sacred Scripture at several educational institutions after receiving a master’s-level degree in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1998.

The archbishop has been a priest for 29 years. He will be made a cardinal on Dec. 8.

In an Oct. 7 letter to Catholics in Rome, Reina wrote that Pope Francis’ “dedication to the universal Church and the prophecy he has given us in these years of pontificate urge me to work for a transparent and poor Church, capable of releasing and spreading the fragrance of the Gospel.”

Now, Pope Francis will need to nominate a vice regent, the figure who assists the cardinal vicar in the management of the diocese, which he has also recently reconfigured.

In an Oct. 1 document published Tuesday by the Diocese of Rome, the pontiff said he had decided to incorporate the central sector of the diocese into the other four sectors.

Francis explained in the motu proprio La Vera Bellezza (“The True Beauty”) that with the exodus of residents from the historic center, the number of Catholic parishes in that geographic zone has dwindled to 35, many with few parishioners. The high influx of tourists has also had an impact on the pastoral needs of the area.

The Diocese of Rome was divided into five sectors with each of the five sectors being divided into prefectures. Now, the five prefectures of the central sector will be part of the northern, eastern, southern, and western sectors.

“In this view, there is no longer an isolated center and a periphery divided into separate parts but, in a dynamic vision that envisions not walls but bridges, the Diocese of Rome will be conceived as a single center expanding through the four cardinal points,” he said.

The pope added that he hopes this change will dissolve “the bilateral tension that has been ingrained in social and ecclesial perception over time between the historic center and the peripheries” of Rome.

He said the Jubilee Year in 2025, more than just an occasion to welcome pilgrims from around the world, should also be a time of pilgrimage for Romans themselves and an opportunity to rediscover the spiritual riches found in the churches and religious traditions in Rome’s city center. 

“I wish to strengthen the unitary and synodal perception of the Diocese of Rome starting from its geographical configuration, so that it can better explicate the authentic sense of its centrality and beauty,” Pope Francis said.

Cardinals-elect Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD; Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM; and Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbohe discuss the contributions of the Church outside Europe during a Synod on Synodality press briefing on Oct. 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Cardinals-designate from three continents said Tuesday the Church in the global south has a lot of nonmaterial gifts to share with the West, including the richness of priestly vocations and a joy-filled faith.

“When the Holy Father is talking about peripheries, I think the peripheries are moving. ... Maybe the peripheries are moving towards Europe,” Tokyo’s Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, said in response to a question from CNA during a press briefing on the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 8.

The Japanese bishop’s comments on the contributions of the Church outside Europe were echoed by Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Korhogo, Ivory Coast, and Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM, of Porto Alegre, Brazil, who also participated in the press briefing. 

All three men are participants in the synod and will be made cardinals at a consistory on Dec. 8, as announced by Pope Francis on Sunday.

The cardinal-designate from the Ivory Coast, Dogbo, said the Synod on Synodality discussed the theme of the exchange of gifts on Tuesday morning.

“We who come from African dioceses, we can say that they seem to be poor from a material standpoint, but spiritually these dioceses are so rich. And faith is lived with joy,” he said. “And this is something we must share with the universal Church.”

Cardinals-elect Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD; Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM; and Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo answer questions during a Synod on Synodality press briefing on Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

He also mentioned the great grace of many priestly vocations in the Church in Africa.

Kikuchi of Tokyo also pointed out the large number of vocations to the priesthood coming from countries in Asia, though he remarked that Japan is unfortunately not included in this.

“There is a point in [the synodal assembly] in which we discussed the exchange of gifts from one Church to the other — those who have and those who don’t have. Formerly it was understood as rich Churches, those who have money and resources, who support the poor countries like in Asia and Africa,” Kikuchi said. 

With more priestly vocations coming from Asian and African countries, however, “the exchange of gifts is changing ... from the developing countries to the developed countries,” he said.

Spengler, president of the Brazilian bishops’ conference and president of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) since 2023, said Brazil and other Latin American countries are celebrating the anniversary of the arrival of immigrants from Germany, Italy, and other countries to the continent.

“Somehow [these immigrants] promoted a process of evangelization in Latin America in a historical context other than our own, and they did this so well,” he said. “Today, if we have a Christian tradition that is strong and lively [in Latin America] we owe it to immigrants.”

The archbishop said the immigrants were brave to leave their own countries and cross the ocean, in some cases more than 200 years ago, to a continent where there was little at the time. But most importantly, he added, they brought the Catholic faith with them.

He said today’s challenge for the Church in traditionally Christian countries is understanding how to present the faith to the next generation.

Bishop Yao Shun of Jining and Bishop Yang Yongqiang of Zhouchun (right) of the People’s Republic of China at the Synod on Synodality at the Vatican in October 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The Synod on Synodality, meant to be a moment of encounter and dialogue for the global Church, has provided a venue for Catholic bishops from mainland China and Taiwan to meet together.

Bishop Norbert Pu is the Catholic Church’s first bishop born in Taiwan. The 66-year-old bishop of Chiayi is a delegate in the nearly monthlong synod assembly as a representative of the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference of Taiwan.

In an interview with CNA, Pu said he is most looking forward to getting to know the different bishops, cardinals, and synod delegates from other parts of the world gathered at the Vatican for the second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of Bishops.

Bishop Norbert Pu speaks to CNA at the Vatican, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. Credit: EWTN News

Pu noted that he had already met with the two bishops from mainland China taking part in the synod and plans to meet with them again.

“It’s very important to dialogue with them, to respect each other. I think it’s good … not only for the Chinese, for the whole Church,” the Taiwanese bishop said.

Bishop Antonio Yao Shun of Jining, the first bishop consecrated in China under the terms of the Sino-Vatican agreement, represented the Church in China at the synod assembly in October 2023 along with Chinese Archbishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang before the two suddenly departed early without explanation. 

Yao has said that many of the participants in last year’s synod assembly “showed interest in the development of the Church in China, eager to know more and to pray for us.”

The synod also provided an opportunity for the bishops from the People’s Republic of China to spend time with the bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow. 

During last year’s synod assembly, the cardinal and the two bishops even took a brief trip together to Naples where they offered Mass at the Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia dei Cinesi (Church of the Holy Family of the Chinese), a church built in 1732 as part of an institute founded by Pope Clement XII to train Chinese seminarians and teach missionaries the Chinese language to help with the evangelization of China.

A new synod delegate from China

For this year’s assembly, Yao has been replaced by Chinese Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu of Mindong diocese in China’s southern Fujian province.

Zhan Silu, 63, was formerly excommunicated for having been ordained a bishop without a papal mandate in Beijing in 2000. His excommunication was lifted in 2018 when the Vatican signed a historic provisional agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops.

When Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich was asked why Yao had been replaced by Zhan Silu, the relator general of the synod replied: “The Secretariat of State communicated the names to us, but we have no other information on the matter,” according to Asia News.

Without Yao, Archbishop Yang, 54, is the synod veteran among the two Chinese bishops. Since participating in last year’s synod assembly, Yang has been transferred to the Archdiocese of Hangzhou, a move that took place “within the framework of dialogue” of the provisional agreement with China, according to the Vatican. The change elevated him to the rank of archbishop.

Yang was ordained a bishop with Vatican approval in 2010 and served as the bishop of Zhoucun in mainland China’s Shandong Province from 2013 to June 2024. 

He participated in the 2023 National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body that is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s united front system, where it was decided that the Catholic Church should integrate its thought with the party and unite more closely to Xi Jinping, according to the official website of the Catholic Patriotic Association.

Zhan Silu and Yang are among the 368 voting delegates taking part in the second synod assembly at the Vatican Oct. 2–27.

The synod is taking place amid the ongoing dialogue between Beijing and Rome on the appointment of bishops. The Vatican has yet to announce if it renewed its provisional agreement with China, which is expected to have been renewed this fall for the third time since it was first signed in 2018.

Vatican-Taiwan relations

During the first week of the assembly, some synod delegates took a break from the day’s meetings to join in the celebration of Taiwan’s 113th National Day at a reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See just down the street from St. Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinals and others enjoy a celebration of Taiwan’s 113th National Day at a reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See in Vatican City, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. Credit: Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See

Vatican City State is the only remaining country in Europe that recognizes Taiwan as a country.

The Holy See has had formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China (ROC), since 1922, while the Church has not had an official diplomatic presence on the mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC) since it was officially expelled by Beijing in 1951.

The island of Taiwan, fewer than 110 miles off the coast of China and home to a population of more than 23 million people, has maintained a vibrant democracy with robust civil liberties despite increased pressure from Beijing regarding the island’s status.

Unlike mainland China — where images of Christ and the Virgin Mary have been replaced with images of President Xi Jinping, according to a report released last week — Catholics in Taiwan enjoy religious freedom, which is enshrined in its constitution.

More than 10,000 people attended the National Eucharistic Congress in Taiwan last weekend, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Pope Francis sent a message to the congress, writing that he hoped it would “arouse in the hearts of the Christian faithful a true worship and love of the Eucharist.” The congress in the Diocese of Kaohsiung was the fifth Eucharistic congress held in Taiwan since 2011.

Bishop Pu told CNA that the congress presented an opportunity to let more people in Taiwan know about the Eucharist and its central importance to the Catholic faith.

“We hope we can always maintain this formal and good relationship with the Vatican. Because for Taiwan, this is very important. We hope that the world will see this because Taiwan is a democratic and free country, respected by other nations,” Pu said.

Delegates attend a session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall on Oct. 5, 2024, in Vatican City. / Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 7, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

While “women deacons” are not formally up for discussion at the Synod on Synodality assembly this month, the official Vatican press conference for the synod on Monday showcased a female delegate who spoke about women experiencing “a call to priesthood.”

Synod delegate Sister Mary Theresa Barron, OLA, said that while we tend to look at the topic of women deacons from the perspective of “can women or can they not be ordained in the Church today?” — she believes that the question should also be asked in another way.

“I think we have to look at the question very much from … the Spirit. ‘Is the Spirit calling women?’ Because some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate,” she said on Oct. 7. 

Barron currently serves as the president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a Catholic organization representing 600,000 religious sisters from 80 countries. She said that “even if at the moment we may not be looking at ordained ministry” for women, she is asking to continue the discussion.

“I think we have to look at broader than just can or can we not from a theological or a canonical point of view, but in terms of the spirit calling to ministry today and in terms … of the needs of mission today,” Barron said.

The sister spoke in response to a question from a female Catholic journalist who asked her to describe ways that women can “take on meaningful leadership and governance roles that don’t necessarily have to do with ordination.”

“I think one of the calls from this synod is to share the possibilities that are open to women for governance, leadership roles within the Church, and there are many good practices from all around the world,” she said. “But we as Catholics are very ignorant of the possibilities that are there.”

As a synod delegate, Barron will have the opportunity to meet with the synod study group that is focused on the subject of women deacons on Oct. 18 to provide her input for them to consider on this topic.

Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, another synod delegate who spoke at the press conference, pointed out that if any Catholics around the world would also like to submit their input to any of the 10 study groups established by the pope, they can send their contributions, observations, and proposals to the General Secretariat of the Synod, who has promised to collect and pass on such materials to the groups concerned.

After hearing Barron’s comments, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay and a member of the Council of Cardinals established to advise Pope Francis, intervened to add that the conversation on the women’s diaconate “has been taken off and given to part of a study group which is studying theological questions.”

“So it will not be discussed at the synod,” Gracias underlined at the synod press conference.

“I may mention here also that I am a member of the Council of Cardinals, and for the last three meetings which we’ve had with the Holy Father, the Council of Cardinals, there’s been one session devoted entirely to the role of women in the Church — theological concerns, pastoral concerns, canonical concerns,” Gracias said. 

“So it’s a matter of great importance, concern. And the Holy Father has personally taken an interest in this,” the cardinal added.

The possibility of allowing Catholic women to become permanent deacons has been a persistent issue in Francis’ pontificate. And while the pope has on multiple occasions indicated his willingness to study the issue, especially the historic figure of the deaconess in the early Church, he has also given a firm response that “deacons with holy orders” is not a possibility for women.

“Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the holy orders,” he told CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell during an appearance on the program “60 Minutes” in May.

Though women’s admission to ministries such as the diaconate was one of the big topics at the monthlong synod assembly last year, organizers have said the issue is now in the hands of experts after Pope Francis created a commission in the Vatican’s doctrine office to study the question at the request of 2023 synod delegates.

Instead synod delegates in the 2024 assembly have been asked to discuss less controversial proposals, including expanding the role of women in diocesan leadership.

Grušas, a Lithuanian-American who is participating in the synod as the president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, noted that there were comments in the synod hall on how what was said in the first part of the section on women in the Instrumentum Laboris, or working document guiding the synod discussions, “basically all applies to laymen as well.”

“There were comments also on the fact that the charisms of the vocations of lay Christians in families, in the roles that they are currently doing — it could be in hospitals, it could be in schools — has to be valued as well,” he said.

“The role of women and men, wherever they are working in the Church, must be correctly valued. And one or another part of the discourse should not skew that vocational call,” he added.

Pope Francis holds his rosary beads during a Rosary prayer for peace at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome on Oct. 6, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome, Italy, Oct 6, 2024 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis presided over a solemn Rosary prayer in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major on Sunday evening, invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary for peace in the world amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, the pope implored Our Lady, Queen of Peace, to “dispel the dark clouds of evil.”

“Mother, intercede for our world in danger, that it may protect life and reject war, care for the suffering, the poor, the defenseless, the sick and the afflicted, and guard our common home,” he prayed during the Oct. 6 service.

“We beg you to intercede for God’s mercy, O Queen of Peace! Convert the souls of those who fuel hatred, silence the noise of weapons that give rise to death, extinguish the violence that  broods in the heart of human beings and inspire projects of peace in the deeds of those who govern nations.” 

Rome’s largest Marian basilica was packed for the rosary prayer on Oct. 6 with bishops, cardinals, priests, religious sisters, and laypeople — many of whom are delegates in the Synod on Synodality assembly taking place at the Vatican this month. Foreign diplomats accredited to the Holy See could also be seen in the crowd praying for peace.

Two young people led the congregation in the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary with a choir singing a short Marian hymn between each mystery. 

Pope Francis sat in a white chair in front of the basilica near the chapel that contains the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani,” an icon which he has visited more than 100 times since becoming pope.

The congregation sang the traditional “Salve Regina” prayer in Latin and the Litany of Loreto at the end of the rosary before the pope read out his prayer for peace.

“O Mary, our mother, once again we stand before you. You know the sorrows and difficulties  that burden our hearts in this hour. We lift our gaze to you, we focus on your eyes and entrust  ourselves to your heart,” Francis said.

“You who are ready to embrace our sorrows, come to our aid in these times oppressed by injustice and devastated by wars, wipe away the tears from the suffering faces of those who mourn the death of their loved ones.”

A small crowd stood outside the basilica praying the Rosary in union with the pope inside. 

Pope Francis presides over a Rosary prayer for peace on Oct. 6, 2024, in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. The prayer service took place on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid escalating violence in the Middle East. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

At the end of the prayer, the 87-year-old pope was brought in his wheelchair to pray in silence before an icon of the Virgin Mary. Pope Francis has said that he wishes to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. 

A few hours earlier, the pope made an impassioned appeal for peace in the Middle East during his Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square.

“Tomorrow marks one year since the terror attack on the population in Israel, to whom I once again express my closeness. Let us not forget that there are still many hostages in Gaza. I ask for them to be released immediately,” Pope Francis said.

“Since that day, the Middle East has been plunged into a condition marked by increasing suffering, with destructive military actions continuing to strike the Palestinian people. The people are suffering very much in Gaza and other territories. Most of them are innocent civilians, all of them are people who must receive all necessary humanitarian aid. I call for an immediate cease-fire on all fronts, including Lebanon. Let us pray for the Lebanese, especially for those who live in the south, who are forced to leave their villages,” he added.

The Basilica of St. Mary Major — Rome’s largest Marian basilica — was filled with bishops, cardinals, priests, religious sisters, diplomats and laypeople — on Oct. 6, 2024, for a special Rosary prayer for peace.

Appealing to the international community to stop “the spiral of revenge” and to prevent attacks “like the one recently carried out by Iran,” Pope Francis underlined the right of all nationals to exist in peace and security.

“In this situation, prayer is more necessary than ever,” Francis said, reiterating his invitation for a global day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world on Oct. 7.

“Let us unite with the power of good against the diabolical plots of war,” the pope said.