Posts Tagged ‘Reform’

The Church needs profound reform

Thursday, March 9th, 2023
Church needs profound reform

Thomas Halik, the Czech Catholic priest and former Soviet dissident, has told Europe’s bishops and lay leaders not to fear that “some forms of the Church are dying”, encouraging them to courageously undertake a synodal journey marked by “openness to the future, and receptivity to God’s challenges in the signs of the times”. The 74-year-old Read more

Pope Francis: Doctrine and pastoral practice

Thursday, September 8th, 2022

The two-day meeting of all the world’s cardinals, which Pope Francis held on August 29-30, was something truly extraordinary for this pontificate — and not just because it was held, contrary to custom, in the sweltering heat of the late Roman summer. This was only the second time that Francis has convened the entire College Read more

The Catholic Church: who needs reform?

Monday, October 12th, 2020
reform

There are many aspects to reform in the church. Different people and different reform groups, have their own take on what, or who, needs reform the most urgently. I must admit the recent article by Antonio Spadaro on Pope Francis has prompted me to think more about it.[1] I would like to share some of Read more

Pope’s annulment reforms run into Italian snag

Friday, June 17th, 2016

A working group involving the Vatican and Italian dioceses has been set up to interpret Pope Francis’s reform of the marriage annulment process. As part of the reform, Pope Francis repealed aspects of a motu proprio from Pope Pius XI that set up regional tribunals in Italy. In the wake of Francis’s reforms, the Roman Read more

Vatican bank board members resign amid slow reform

Friday, May 27th, 2016

Two Vatican bank board members have resigned amid what one source says is frustration at the slow pace of reform. Two experienced bankers, Italian Carlo Salvatori and German Clemens Boersig, resigned from the board of the Institute for the Works of Religion. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said this followed a “divergence of opinion over Read more

Curia blamed for delaying abuse-related reforms

Friday, February 19th, 2016

A member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has detailed two instances where she believes the Roman Curia has frustrated reform. Marie Collins, an abuse survivor, referred to commission’s proposal that a Vatican tribunal be set up hold bishops to account for their handling of abuse cases. This was approved by the Read more

200 theologians call for fundamental changes in Church

Friday, December 18th, 2015

Two hundred theologians have declared that reform of the Roman Curia must be widened to become reform of the whole Church. The theologians, from throughout the world, issued a declaration at the end of a theological congress in Germany earlier this month. The title of the gathering in Munich was “Opening the Council – Theology Read more

Theologian slams making Humanae Vitae into fetish

Tuesday, November 24th, 2015

An Irish theologian has slated US bishops for making “Humanae Vitae” into a “fetish” by which the Catholic Church is publicly known. Augustinian Fr Gabriel Daly said the 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI which banned contraception had never been accepted by the Church at large. The priest, 88, said this is in a lecture Read more

Francis outlines vision of Church unafraid of change

Friday, November 13th, 2015

Pope Francis has outlined a comprehensive vision for the future of the Church, which requires a deeply merciful Catholicism unafraid of change. Francis told a national Italian church conference in Florence that Catholics must realise: “We are not living an era of change, but a change of era.” “These times of ours demand that we Read more

Scandals won’t deflect Pope from reform: Cardinal

Friday, November 6th, 2015

Despite opposition from some quarters and fresh revelations of Vatican scandal, Pope Francis is at peace with his reformist course, a senior advisor says. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga said that anyone trying to do good “will have opposition”. “The books of the Bible said, especially the Book of Wisdom, ‘If you want to follow Read more