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Without mentioning Trump by name, Vatican statement expresses concern following assassination attempt
The Vatican issued a brief statement in Italian on July 14 following the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump: The Holy See expresses its own concern about last...
Ousted Vatican auditor appeals for justice
News analysis by Phil Lawler This week the Vatican’s former auditor general renews his bid to persuade a Vatican tribunal that he was wrongfully dismissed from his position, in a case that...Archbishop Viganò found guilty of schism, declared automatically excommunicated
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has found Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò guilty of the canonical crime of schism and has declared him automatically excommunicated.“His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known,” the Dicastery said in a statement. “The lifting of the censure in these cases is reserved to the Apostolic See.”
Archbishop Viganò, now 83, was Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 2009 to 2011 and apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016. He had earlier served as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe and apostolic pro-nuncio to Nigeria.
Focus on process in working document for October Synod meeting
The working document for the October session of the Synod on Synodality avoids discussion of controversial issues, concentrating instead on the process of implementing a synodal vision of the...GOP drops right to life plank from party platform
The Republican Party’s platform committee has voted to drop an explicit reference to the right to life from the party’s 2024 platform.Whereas the previous GOP platform had affirmed a “fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed,” the new platform says only that the 14th Amendment guarantees that “no person can be denied life or liberty without due process.” The platform also gives Republican support to contraception and in vitro fertilization.
The Trump campaign welcomed the changes, saying that the platform now reflects Donald Trump’s vision “in a way that is concise and digestible for every voter.”
63-year-old German missionary bishop resigns
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Reinhold Nann, 63, who has led the Territorial Prelature of Caravelí, Peru, since 2017.In a statement on his blog, Bishop Nann said he was suffering from stress and high blood pressure brought on by his multiple roles, including president of Caritas Peru and member of the Episcopal Commission for the Protection of Minors, as well as declining physical and mental health “since the time of Covid.”
Despite his membership in the Episcopal Commission for the Protection of Minors, Bishop Nann accepted a priest accused of sexual abuse elsewhere for ministry in his prelature, according to a 2020 report. The priest, according to the prelature, had been cleared by a Vatican investigation, but was still under civil investigation.
In 2020, Bishop Nann also offered strong public criticism of Archbishop Georg Gänswein, a seminary classmate. That same year, Bishop Nann permitted telephone confessions until a Vatican intervention led him to declare his permission null and void.
Bishop Nann said that he would return to Germany and spend time in prayer and reflection at his parents’ home and at a retreat house. He asked forgiveness for his “impatience and impetuosity,” which have “probably caused some damage.”
Vatican demands changes to new Church body in Germany
Representative of the German Bishops’ Conference met with the Pope’s Secretary of State and the heads of six dicasteries of the Roman Curia to discuss the bishops’ Synodal Council—a proposed body composed of bishops and laity that would govern the Church in Germany.The Vatican’s representatives at the meeting asked for a change in the name of the proposed body and made clear that it should be “neither above nor at the same level as the bishops’ conference.”
The wording of the joint statement “suggested that the initiative in the five-year battle over the synodal way has shifted — perhaps decisively — in Rome’s favor,” according to a Pillar analysis.
Vatican spokesman calls on cities to organize tourism opportunities for the homeless
Alessandro Gisotti, vice director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, encouraged “every city, small or large,” to organize tourism activities for the homeless during the summer vacation.In his signed editorial in the Vatican newspaper, Gisotti cited the example of Pope Francis, who hosted a group of homeless people in the Sistine Chapel, and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, who took a group of homeless people to the seaside.
“We would thus discover that even among these ‘discarded’ there is so much richness not only of humanity, but also of professional experiences, of cultures, of intelligences,” Gisotti wrote.
Gisotti added that “alongside the poor, there is another ‘population’ who suffer particularly in the summer and who are very close to Bergoglio’s heart: the elderly ... Since the beginning of his pontificate, the Pope has strongly called for the need for an alliance between young and old, to open the future to a wounded humanity.”
Ecumenical Patriarch lauds papal emphasis on synodality, advocacy for peace
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, praised Pope Francis for his efforts to promote synodality in the Catholic Church and peace and dialogue in the world.“We have rejoiced at Your Holiness’ efforts to strengthen and deepen the theological and practical understanding of synodality in the life of the Church,” the Ecumenical Patriarch wrote in a message to the Pope for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. “We pray fervently that the second and concluding Synod on Synodality, to be held later this year in Rome, will yield abundant fruit, and help to draw us ever closer to one another.”
“We stand with Your Holiness in Your desire for ‘an entirely synodal Church,’” added the Ecumenical Patriarch, who also praised the Pope for his “witness as an instrument of dialogue, peace, and reconciliation throughout the world,” especially in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“We pray that Our Lord grant You perfect health and strength, inspiring Your every step in the exercise of Your ministry, and we look forward with eagerness and spiritual joy to our joint commemoration in 2025 of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea,” the Ecumenical Patriarch concluded.
Pope Francis recalls contemporary martyrs, urges prayers to the Sacred Heart for peace
At the conclusion of his June 30 Angelus address, Pope Francis recalled the first martyrs of the Holy Roman Church and said that “we too live in a time of martyrdom, one that is even more so than in the early centuries.”“Many of our brothers and sisters in various parts of the world suffer discrimination and persecution because of their faith; they thus bring fecundity to the Church,” the Pope continued. “Others face a ‘white-glove’ martyrdom. Let us support them and be inspired by their testimony of love for Christ.”
At conclusion of the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart, the Pontiff also called for prayers for peace.
“Let us implore the Sacred Heart of Jesus to touch the hearts of those who desire war, that they may be converted to plans of dialogue and peace,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, let us not forget martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and many other places where there is so much suffering due to war!”
