Four alleged religious obtain deacon ordination fraudulently
(Katholisch)
It was quickly discovered that the Bishop of Lokoja had been tricked by fraudsters: four alleged members of the order fraudulently obtained an ordination as deacons. The diocese has distanced itself from the men – and is now looking for ways to limit the damage.
Venezuela’s police threaten president of the bishops’ conference
(English. Katholisch).
After heavy rainfall, a devastating landslide occurs in the Cumanacoa region. The church organises help for the victims and draws attention to their suffering. This does not go down well with the government.
Abbot Schröder: Redefining the office of bishop makes sense
(Katholisch).
Retired bishops are constantly speaking out and justifying their views with their responsibility as successors to the apostles. Abbot President Jeremias Schröder criticizes such behavior and points out possible changes with regard to the office.
(Katholisch).
The Catholic parish of Zizers in Switzerland is looking for a new priest starting this summer. In times of priest shortages, this is not an easy undertaking. The parish has therefore come up with something special and taken the initiative itself.
(Katholisch).
One could consider the case of the former papal ambassador Carlo Maria Viganò, who has now been excluded from the Catholic Church, to be a tragic and bizarre isolated case. A recognized Vatican diplomat descended into the realm of conspiracy ideologies during and after the Corona pandemic . He transformed from a conservative critic of the Pope to a reactionary hater of the Pope and now rejects the reforms of the Second Vatican Council . Even the traditionalist Pius Brotherhood , which broke with the Roman Church in 1988, has distanced itself from him. Excommunication is only logical.
(Katholisch).
For the first time, the Catholic city deanery of Cologne is taking part in the program for more rights for sexual minorities around Christopher Street Day. Among other things, a panel discussion entitled “God meets Gays” is planned, as the deanery announced on Wednesday in Cologne . There will also be a film screening and a stage program. The drag artists Cassy Carrington and Julie Voyage are also taking part.
(Katholisch).
The former Vatican auditor, Libero Milone , has described the death of Cardinal George Pell as “shrouded in mystery”. “At his funeral, at his coffin, I promised him that we would bring the truth to light,” Milone said, according to a report in the newspaper “The Australian” on Wednesday (local time). The economic expert thus suggests a connection between Pell’s death and the real estate scandal in the Vatican. According to research by the Australian media, there were rumors in the Vatican for months about the last hours of Pell’s life because of the unusual handling of his body. After the autopsy, it was said that it was not prepared, as is usually the case, but was left “in disarray”. After a routine hip joint operation on January 10, 2023 in Rome’s Salvator Mundi Hospital, the Australian former Curia cardinal died as a result of complications.
(English.katholisch).
Not for the faint-hearted: The figure of the Virgin Mary giving birth with her legs spread apart was supposed to open up a new perspective on the incarnation of God – in St Mary’s Cathedral in Linz. She did not survive.
The sculpture of the Virgin Mary giving birth in St Mary’s Cathedral in Linz has been destroyed. As reported by the online portal ooe.orf.at and confirmed by the Diocese of Linz, the head of the sculpture was sawn off on Monday morning. The police have been called in. “Whoever removed the head of the sculpture acted very brutally,” said the artist of the statue, Esther Strauß. This shows “that there are still people who question women’s right to their own bodies. We must take a firm stand against this,” said the artist.
(English.Katholisch).
Rumours are “completely unfounded”
Does the Vatican want to further restrict or even ban the Traditional Latin Mass? Several traditionalist blogs have spread the rumour that a new document on this is to be published shortly. However, there is now other information.
(Katholisch)
German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has been promoted from cardinal deacon to cardinal priest. On Monday, the consistory led by Pope Francis decided to elevate Müller to the class of cardinal priest upon his request, the Vatican announced . Müller’s titular deaconry, Sant’Agnese in Agone, will be temporarily elevated to a titular church during his term of office (“pro hac vice”). After ten years in office, cardinal deacons have the right to ask the Pope for elevating them to cardinal priest and for a titular church (“optatio”). Müller was admitted to the College of Cardinals on February 22, 2014. Following his retirement as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Müller is now a judge at the Apostolic Signatura , the Church’s highest court.
(Katholisch)
Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx is concerned about the European Union (EU). This peace project is threatened by “ethnic nationalism,” warned the Archbishop of Munich and Freising on Sunday evening during a service in Munich’s St. Boniface Basilica. The service was held in memory of the journalist Fritz Gerlich (1883-1934), who was murdered in the Dachau concentration camp 90 years ago.
(Katholisch).
Regensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer has banned the ordinations of deacons and priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) announced for Saturday in their seminary in Zaitzkofen, Bavaria. As the Diocese of Regensburg announced on Wednesday, Voderholzer stressed in a letter to the rector Pascal Schreiber that the ordinations were being administered without permission. The Pius Brotherhood is ignoring the necessary legal conditions of the Roman Catholic Church for the ordination. “Due to this behavior, I once again feel compelled to protect the order of the Church and, as Ordinarius loci (local bishop, editor’s note), to prohibit the unauthorized ordinations for the area of the Diocese of Regensburg, as I have done in previous years,” Voderholzer said in his letter.
(English.katholisch).
Only men can be ordained as deacons in the Catholic Church. A Belgian court does not want to change this – yet it has awarded compensation for discrimination to a woman who wanted to complete a diaconate course.
The incumbent and emeritus archbishops of Mechelen-Brussels must pay a woman compensation of 1,500 euros each because they did not admit her to deacon training.
(Katholisch).
Those affected by abuse have reiterated their call for the resignation of Hanover’s regional bishop Ralf Meister and rejected an offer of talks from the Protestant bishop. “We will not accept the invitation,” the initiative declared in an open letter in Hanover on Friday. “We have not asked Bishop Meister for an audience.” From the perspective of those affected, resignation is more than ever “the only responsible option.” The initiative had already called for the 62-year-old’s resignation at the beginning of June, before the Synod’s deliberations. He must accept the consequences of the church’s inadequate handling of cases of abuse, it said at the time
(Katholisch.de. FELIX NEUMANN)
Even popes have realistically assessed what the papacy means for ecumenism. Paul VI described his office as the “greatest obstacle” on the path to church unity. With the primacy of jurisdiction and infallibility, the First Vatican Council drove in stakes that are almost impossible to circumvent, and whose status as dogma cemented what was already pretty entrenched. Even below this highest level of formally proclaimed dogma, however, it is not just the papacy in general that is an obstacle to ecumenism, but also many of the decisions of the incumbent pope – despite all the signs, from the cordial dialogue with Orthodox and Anglicans to the inclusion of Coptic martyrs in the Catholic calendar of saints to the reinstatement of the title of Patriarch of the West. The Anglican Ordinariates are still committed to the return to ecumenism, which has long since been overcome with regard to the Eastern Churches. Recognition of Anglican ordinations is not up for debate. The reason for declaring them null and void in the 19th century was questions about the ordination rite – today the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith makes the wording of sacraments so strong that the validity of the sacraments in separate churches is called into question.
(Katholisch).
A liturgical dispute that has lasted for years in the Syro-Malabar Church, which is linked to Rome, could now possibly be ended after concessions from both sides. “Subject to the approval of the Vatican, the conflict has been resolved,” an unnamed bishop told the Asian news portal “Ucanews” (Thursday). An official announcement will be made in a day or two. The compromise states that priests in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly can continue to celebrate Mass as traditional, said the clergyman, who wished to remain anonymous. “But they must celebrate a uniform Mass in their parishes on Sundays, as approved by the Synod.”
(Katholisch).
The Vice President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Söding, has appealed to the bishops of Eichstätt, Cologne, Regensburg and Passau to still take part in the Synodal Committee. “The door is still open, but they have to go through it,” said Söding on Monday in an interview with domradio.de . The absence of the four bishops creates an unpleasant situation. However, he hopes that through the “further constructive work of the Synodal Committee and through coordination with the World Synod” this gap in the Bishops’ Conference can ultimately be bridged.
(Katholisch).
Late last year, ten defendants were tried in the Vatican for financial crimes. Nine of them were convicted, among them Cardinal Becciu. Now the former director of the facilities of the Secretariat of State has filed a complaint against the Vatican.
Investment manager Raffaele Mincione, at the center of the London property scandal and the Vatican trial against him, has filed a formal complaint with the United Nations. According to media reports, Mincione claims that he has been denied his rights in the ongoing proceedings against the Vatican. Mincione also criticizes alleged procedural violations during the investigation, which lasted more than three years.
The Italian worked as an investment manager for the Vatican Secretariat of State from 2014 to 2018. According to the Internet portal “El Pilar”, the complaint to the office of the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers also contains a repetition of previous legal criticism of the search warrants approved by Pope Francis in 2019 that were used to conduct the investigation. These included four executive acts, the so-called rescripts, which allowed the electronic surveillance of certain suspects by the Gendarmerie Corps for a limited but renewable period. This was intended to guarantee the protection of the research results.
(Christoph Brüwer. Katholisch).
Mara Klein is now one of the best-known faces of the Synodal Path. Recently, the non-binary person also joined the steering committee of the Synodal Committee. In an interview with katholisch.de, Mara Klein talks about her*his work on the committee and the pressure she*he is under.
Mara Klein was the only diverse person to stand out at the synodal meetings in Frankfurt. He*she was also elected to the Synodal Committee by the assembly. He*she has now been given a prominent role ahead of the committee’s second meeting: Together with Bishop Georg Bätzing, Irme Stetter-Karp and Bishop Peter Kohlgraf, Mara Klein forms the Presidium of the Synodal Committee. In an interview with katholisch.de, he*she talks about the work of the committee and the hope for change in the Church.
(Katholisch).
For centuries, the Pope claimed clear primacy for all Christian churches. Now new sounds are coming from Rome that might also be acceptable to other church leaders. Curia Cardinal Kurt Koch comments in an interview.
The Vatican has presented a document with proposals for an ecumenical honorary primacy for the Pope. In an interview, Curia Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Dicastery for Christian Unity explains what could happen next.
Question: Cardinal Koch, the Anglican representative in Rome, Archbishop Ian Ernest, called the document a great success. What is this success due to?
Koch: The papal office, which has long been seen as the greatest obstacle to Christian unity, is now becoming an important opportunity to promote this unity and make it more visible.