Most Popular News Within Last 30 Days
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Italian bishops’ agency published prayer to Pachamama
Missio, the pastoral agency of the Italian Episcopal Conference, published a prayer to Pachamama in an April 2019 publication devoted to the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the...2
Leaked documents expose Vatican financial scandal
Using leaked Vatican documents, the Italian journal L’Espresso has revealed details of unauthorized financial transactions, concluding that “the Holy See is facing a scandal that has few...3
Vatican newspaper offers inaccurate reporting on US election
In its brief front-page coverage of election results in four states (“Negative election test for Trump”), L’Osservatore Romano inaccurately reported that New Jersey is “tradizionalmente un red state”—“traditionally a red state.” The newspaper also inaccurately reported that the November 5 election was “Super Tuesday”; in reality, Super Tuesday will not take place until March 3, 2020.4
US bishops elect Archbishop Gomez as conference president
Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles has been elected president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Archbishop Gomez—the first Hispanic prelate to head the...5
Archbishop Viganò decries ‘aberrant and sacrilegious pagan rites’ during synod
“Bishops and cardinals and even the one who more than any other would have had to protect the Bride of Christ from the attacks of the Devil have been responsible for abominable acts of profanation and apostasy,” said the retired apostolic nuncio to the United States, who has been in hiding since his 2018 testimony on the cover-up of sexual abuse.6
Pachamama images reappear at synod’s closing session
On October 25, Pope Francis apologized for the removal of “the statues of the Pachamama” from a Roman church, said that they had been retrieved from the Tiber, and added that they might be displayed during the synod’s closing Mass. The following day, during the synod’s closing session, the images were on display in a canoe; however, they did not appear to be on display during the October 27 closing Mass, according to an examination of the video.7
Amazon synod’s final document calls for married priests and discussion of female deacons
The Vatican press office has published the synod’s final document in Spanish; the National Catholic Register has published a translation of three key paragaphs.8
Vatican newspaper: Pachamama is not a god, but mother earth
Pachamama is not a divinity or idol that is worshiped, but is mother earth, honored as the “creation and manifestation of the love of God,” writes retired Mexican Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel. He recalls that years ago, while in Bolivia for a meeting, he asked a member of the indigenous Aymara people whether his people consider Pachamama and Inti to be gods. The man replied, “Those who have not received evangelization consider them gods; for those of us who have been evangelized, they are not gods, but God’s best gifts.” Bishop Arizmendi commented, “Wonderful response! … They are manifestations of God’s love, not gods.” (For background on the deities, see the Encyclopedia Britannica articles on Inti and Pachamama.)9
Italian bishops’ agency’s prayer to Pachamama originated in South America
The prayer to Pachamama published by Missio, the pastoral agency of the Italian Episcopal Conference, is not a new composition, but a recent Italian translation of a prayer first published in...10
