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Catholic ethicists decry lax ‘brain-death’ standards [Exclusive]
Current medical criteria for diagnosing “brain death” are woefully inadequate, and more than half of organ donors who have been declared “brain dead” are still alive. These...Free eBook:
Free eBook: Liturgical Year 2023-2024, Vol. 3 |
Ecumenical group chaired by Cardinal Tobin calls for Catholic recognition of some Orthodox divorces, remarriages
The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation—co-chaired by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark and Metropolitan Methodios of Boston—has announced the publication of a new...‘Demos II’—identified as cardinal—writes ‘profile of the next Pope’
Two years after “Demos”—later identified as Cardinal George Pell—wrote a memo strongly criticizing the current pontificate, “Demos II” has written a document that “defines the seven priorities of the next conclave to repair the confusion and crisis created by this pontificate.”“Demos II,” according to La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana [The New Daily Compass], is the principal author of a new text written “after he collated the suggestions of other cardinals and bishops.”
“It is clear that the strength of Pope Francis’ pontificate is the added emphasis he has given to compassion toward the weak, outreach to the poor and marginalized, concern for the dignity of creation and the environmental issues that flow from it, and efforts to accompany the suffering and alienated in their burdens,” writes Demos II.
“Its shortcomings are equally obvious: an autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive, style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even respectful disagreement; and – most seriously – a pattern of ambiguity in matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful,” he continued. “The task of the next pontificate must therefore be one of recovery and reestablishment of truths that have been slowly obscured or lost among many Christians.”
German bishops back off confrontation with Vatican
Following a new warning from the Vatican, the Catholic bishops of Germany have stepped away from plans to approve formation of a new “Synodal Council” to include lay people in forming Church policies.At their meeting this week, the German bishops’ conference was scheduled to vote on statutes for the Synodal Council, despite clear statements from Rome that the step would violate the Church’s teaching that bishops alone have authority to set diocesan policies. But after receiving a letter from Rome urging against the vote, the episcopal conference announced that the measure would be removed from this week’s agenda.
The Central Committee of German Catholics, which has partnered with the German bishops in promoting the Synodal Council, expressed dismay at the bishops’ concession; the group had urged the bishops to defy Rome and proceed with the vote. Irme Stetter-Karp, the president of the lay group, said: “The Catholic Church in Germany will not have a second chance if it stops the synodal path now.”
Leading Nigerian prelate rips government economic policies—and Fiducia Supplicans
As the Nigerian bishops gathered for their first meeting of 2024, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria offered strong criticism of the nation’s endemic insecurity...Russian Orthodox reject Fiducia Supplicans
Evaluating Fiducia Supplicans at the request of Patriarch Kirill, a panel of Russian Orthodox theologians has concluded that the Vatican directive “reflected a sharp departure from Christian moral teaching.”The judgment was made by the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission and announced at a February 20 meeting. The commission is chaired by Metropolitan Hilarion, who for more than a decade was the most prominent and visible Russian Orthodox official in relations with the Catholic Church.
Lapsed Italian Catholics reverting to ancient Roman gods, seers and sorcerers
“Between 10 to 13 million Italians – almost all of them baptized Catholics – have turned to sorcerers or witches at least once in their lives,” according to the report. “The epicenter of witchcraft and occultism is in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, with 2,800 occult operators and 200,000 clients.”Pope, at general audience, warns against envy and vainglory
At his February 28 general audience, held in Paul VI Audience Hall, Pope Francis warned against envy and vainglory, in the ninth talk in a series of Wednesday general audiences devoted to the...Leading Vatican cardinals: German vote in favor of synodal council would be null and void
Vatican News, the news agency of the Dicastery for Communication, has published its own account of the Vatican’s request to German bishops not to vote on a proposed synodal council of bishops and laity. The request led a removal of the item from the agenda of this week’s meeting of the German Bishops’ Conference.The letter, signed by Cardinals Pietro Parolin (Secretary of State), Víctor Manuel Fernández (prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith), and Robert Prevost (prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops), “points out that such a Council is not contemplated by current Canon Law; therefore, a decision adopted by the Bishops’ Conference on such a Council would also be null and void because it would have no authority to approve its Statute,” according to Vatican News.
Even as he postponed the vote on the synodal council, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, dismissed the concerns of the cardinals—and by implication, the concerns of the Pope, who wrote in November that a synodal council “cannot be harmonized with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church.”
“We do not want to limit the authority of the bishop or bishops in any way,” Bishop Bätzing said at a press conference. “We want to place them on new ground because this authority has been undermined by the abuse and scandal we have experienced... And that’s why we need new, binding and transparent advice that really flows into decisions. This is the path we are looking for.”
‘Terrified’ pro-life student group needs police protection from mob at English university
A mob of 250 people surrounded the site of a pro-life student meeting at the University of Manchester in England on March 1. Police assisted the students in leaving the building.“Leaving the building was the most terrifying part, we were surrounded and people were screaming in our faces,” said a pregnant mother who attended the meeting. “I really thought our lives were in danger. The crowd was extremely violent—spitting, throwing eggs, screaming and swearing.... Most of them had their faces covered.”