"The Church is alive and will always be, albeit under different circumstances. We must accept the decline of Europe. We tend to gaze at our ecclesiastical navel, but it is an undeniable continental movement" Schönborn said.

Speaking to Famille Chrétienne, a French Catholic magazine, Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, highlighted the growing secularisation and rise of Islam in Europe.

The Cardinal stated that Europe's population is changing due to declining birth rates and increasing immigration.

"In 20 years, the European population will not be the same as it is today, and it is already not the same as it was 50 years ago.

"This is inevitable, above all due to the decline in the birth rate in Europe but also due to immigration and the increasing presence of Islam" Cardinal Schönborn stated.

Fraternal rapprochement

However Schönborn pointed out that, despite these shifts, Catholics should trust in the Church's enduring role.

He referenced the 12,000 baptisms in France this year as a sign of hope and grace at work.

The cardinal called the idea that France and Europe are "no longer Christian" because of Islam's influence "absurd".

"If Catholics have left the Church, we should not be surprised that they are in the minority" he suggested.

He then called for Catholics to return to the Church and encouraged a "fraternal rapprochement" with Islam, echoing Pope Francis' views.

"Both our religions have an absolute appeal.

"For Muslims, God has demanded that the whole world be subjected to him and the Koran.

"As for Christ, he has entrusted us with a universal mission: ‘Make disciples of all nations.'

"Neither of them can therefore renounce their mission. But the Christians' way of acting is not that of the Koran but the following of Christ in all dimensions of our lives" Schönborn said.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

"Women cannot be called to this office" Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller stated during an interview with Swiss portal kath.ch on 7 June.

Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explained that the exclusion of women from priestly ordination is rooted in the sacrament itself.

He emphasised the theological belief that, while all people are fundamentally equal in their relationship with God, only men can embody the role of Christ within the Church.

Just as "a man cannot become a mother and a woman cannot become a father", it is only men who are called to the priesthood Müller said

"The vocation comes from God. One would have to complain to God himself that he created human beings as man and woman."

He also referenced the symbolic nature of the Church which is traditionally viewed as female, with Mary, the Mother of God, serving as its archetype. Thus, Müller asserted "Only a man can represent Christ in relation to the Church".

The Church "must not change this"

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, echoed Müller's sentiments.

Speaking at ITI Catholic University in Austria on 1 June, Schönborn expressed his conviction that the Church "cannot and must not change this because it must keep the mystery of women present in an unadulterated way".

"We were all born of a woman. This will always be reflected in the mystery of the Church."

He stressed the importance of maintaining the Church's traditional teaching on this issue, as Pope John Paul II articulated in 1994.

In his apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul II declared that the Church has "no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women" and that this teaching must be "definitively held by all the Church's faithful".

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Catholic World Report

CathNews New Zealand

The council was intended to be a mixed body of laity and bishops governing the Church in Germany. It was scheduled for discussion during a February 19-22 plenary assembly in Augsburg.

Matthias Kopp, spokesperson for the German Bishops Conference (DBK), confirmed on February 17 that the bishops have withdrawn a vote on endorsing a committee responsible for preparing the Synodal Council.

The development comes after the DBK received a letter from the Vatican shortly before the start of the plenary session.

"This letter requests that the General Assembly — also due to upcoming discussions between representatives of the Roman Curia and representatives of the German Bishops' Conference — not vote on the statutes of the Synodal Committee" Kopp told Germany's Catholic News Agency (KNA).

Although not explicitly listed on the publicly available agenda, the vote on approving the committee's formation was widely anticipated during the DBK assembly.

The decision to remove it from the agenda is notable. It marks a rare instance of Vatican pressure influencing the DBK's progression with a Synodal Way priority since its inception in 2019.

Dialogue with Rome

The DBK chairman, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said the letter's timing "surprised" him.

At the same time, Bätzing emphasised unity with Rome. He said it was a matter of course to comply with this request "out of respect for the Roman authorities".

There is a high interest among the bishops in staying in dialogue with the Roman authorities.

"We will use the time to discuss the objections from the Roman side, to derive consequences from them and to prepare the talks" Bätzing said.

"We do not and cannot simply ignore the Roman objection. Now, we need to talk."

Meanwhile Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has urged German bishops to heed the Vatican's warnings and maintain dialogue.

Speaking to "communio.de" Schönborn supported Rome's critique of Germany's reform plan, including the establishment of a Synodal Council. He also cited concerns over lay involvement conflicting with Church doctrine.

Schönborn further warned against actions leading to schism and urged loyalty to the Pope.

"I am impressed by the patience with which the Pope and the Roman dicasteries are trying to remain in dialogue with the German bishops and maintain unity and communion" the Cardinal emphasised.

The current conflict between the German bishops and Rome is not about "questions of power" or disciplinary issues, Schönborn added.

"Rather, Pope Francis is fulfilling his core task of maintaining unity in the faith" because it is about the "basic understanding of the Church".

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Crux Now

Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

There was just a tentative suggestion that the two unpublished papal-commissioned reports on women and the diaconate be made available for the 2024 Synod, she says.

Balance of power

Referring to October's synod on synodality and its subsequent synthesis report, McAleese remarked that the balance of power within the Synod "always lay with the bishops".

As an example, she says the African bishops were responsible for LGBTQI inclusion "totally" disappearing from the synod.

She also blames Pope Francis for reducing "to bare minimalism of the ‘urgent' need for greater inclusion of women in decision-making".

In her words, Francis "conveniently" took female ordination off the agenda in advance of the Synod. He also excluded blessings for same-sex marriages at the same time.

Though everything was supposed to be on the agenda, it "obviously" wasn't, she says.

Some progress

Professor Massimo Faggioli of Villanova University can see Francis's achievements.

In a Trinity College Dublin lecture, Faggioli praised Francis's achievement in enlarging the Synod's membership and voting rights.

He began something "new" and "a different kind of Synod" Faggioli said.

Women's presence at the synod was not token, he added.

"It was more than that. Their voices were really present and heard and visible."

He thinks we are at a very important juncture for the Catholic Church.

However he said he is "very hopeful"; what he saw at the synod was "very encouraging. A few years ago I would never have imagined this happening" he said.

Women

The pope needs help in regard to women, Faggioli said.

"As much as he is very open minded on LGBT," his language on women "is from another century".

Francis needs to be "surrounded by women theologians" he suggested.

Best synod contribution

In McAleese's opinion, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn's synod contribution was the best.

He pointed out that "the Pope alone has complete freedom to make changes to canon law, language and teaching".

The "People of God" had suggested these changes, he said.

They "painstakingly expressed their views on [proposed changes] during the two-year Synodal 'listening' journey."

Source

• The Tablet

The Synod's sceptics, who are not numerous but have been vocal, are questioning the status of the assembly: how can it be a Synod of Bishops if it includes non-bishop voting members?

By questioning its authority, however, they make it easier to distance themselves from any reforms it adopts.

I raised this issue with the Dominican Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, perhaps the most respected theologian in the Church's hierarchy.

He studied under Joseph Ratzinger - later Pope Benedict XVI - before becoming a university professor and was the editor of the Catechism before being appointed the Archbishop of Vienna. He has attended many Synods.

Did he think the inclusion of laypeople diminished the Synod's status?

"I can't see the problem," he said at a press briefing. "It remains an episcopal Synod, with the real participation of non-bishops."

Cardinal Schönborn agreed it has been "enlarged", but the nature of the Synod has not changed.

He pointed out that lay experts had made important contributions to Synods in the past. There was a stronger connection with lay people, but he saw this as a "positive" thing.

Several bishops have taken to the Synod floor to ask about the nature of the Synod's structure and authority.

Furthermore, the Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher — a Dominican, like Cardinal Schönborn — raised the point in an interview with the Catholic News Agency: "What is its [the Synod's] authority? …

"Is it trying to be the bishops like the gathering of the apostles? Or is it trying to be the gathering of all the baptised?" he said.

"I think we need to do probably a lot more thinking about, well, what does all that mean ecclesiologically, canonically, practically?"

The Tablet understands that Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary-general of the Synod office, responded to those questioning the structure and authority of the body on the Synod hall. Continue reading

• Christopher Lamb is a British journalist who is the Rome Correspondent for The Tablet Catholic newspaper.

However, Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who was involved in drafting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, has reinforced Church teaching on LGBTQ+ issues.

Speaking at a press briefing during the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Schönborn stated that the Pope has the prerogative to modify the catechism.

He cited a precedent in Pope Francis' 2018 revision of the Church's stance on the death penalty.

Pope Francis changed the catechism's language to say that capital punishment is "unacceptable".

LGBTQ+ issues have been a major point of interest during this month's Synod of Bishops.

It is one of the most frequently asked about topics alongside other hot-button issues such as women's priestly ordination and the married priesthood.

In terms of whether there will be further changes to the catechism's language, Schönborn said he does not know.

He added that "the pope is the only one who can decide because he's the one who promulgated the catechism."

The cardinal recommended viewing the text holistically, stressing the importance of respecting all individuals despite their sins.

"Human beings always have the right to be respected, even though they sin, which we all do.

"I personally, you, all of you, we all sin, but we are entitled to be respected; we have a right to be respected" Schönborn said.

Global shift in the Church

Cardinal Schönborn pointed out a shift in the Catholic Church's centre from Europe to the global south.

This included regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Schönborn said what had struck him throughout the synod process was "the fact that Europe is no longer the main centre of the Church."

He noted the Catholic Church's centre had shifted to the global south including regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He remarked that these regions have more developed continental bishops' conferences and more synodality.

Europe is "lagging behind a bit in the way in which we live synodality among the local churches in Europe. I think we need some stimulus to move forward," Schönborn said.

Sources

Crux

CathNews New Zealand

The Archbishop of Vienna has joined more than a dozen German-speaking bishops who have voiced displeasure with the Vatican's recent effort to reinforce a ban on blessing gay couples.

He said the responsum and explanation produced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has deeply wounded many people.

"If the request for a blessing is not a show. If the request is honest and is really a plea for God's blessing of a way of life that two people want to embark on together, then such a blessing will not be refused," the 76-year-old cardinal said in the latest issue of his archdiocesan weekly paper, Der Sonntag.

Schönborn said many homosexuals wanted to see "the Church as their mother".

He added, "That is why the Vatican declaration was especially painful for so many, as they felt that they had been rejected by the Church."

The criticism by Schönborn is seen as extremely significant. Not only is he a member of the CDF, but also the Church's second most senior cardinal in active ministry.

He received his red hat in 1998, and is outranked only by 75-year-old Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo, who became a cardinal four years earlier.

"A blessing is not a reward for good behavior, but a plea for help from above," said the Austrian Church leader.

Seven out of the ten bishops who lead dioceses in Austria have publicly criticized the CDF text.

In addition, some 200 German-speaking theologians and more than 2000 priests in Germany and Austria have issued a statement protesting the Vatican's doctrinal congregation.

They publicly stated that they will continue to bless homosexual couples.

The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) pointed out that the issue of blessing gay couples was not only being discussed in Germany, but also "in many countries in the world Church".

The ZdK has called for "further development of Church teaching" on homosexuality that could therefore not just simply be rejected.

Catholic bishops and leading laity have already begun discussing this and other issues pertaining to sexual morality. They have done so as part of Germany's ongoing "binding synodal procedure" for ecclesial renewal.

The series of synodal gatherings was triggered by the Church's shattered credibility as a consequence of the abuse crisis.

Sources

• La Croix International
• Catholic Philly

Father Hermann Geissler who formerly worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith resigned from his post in January after allegations against him went public.

He has always maintained his innocence.

The day he resigned, the congregation issued a request for a canonical investigation and penal measures enacted.

A five-member group from the Court was was established to investigate the allegations.

After a meeting last week, the investigators "issued the decree of acquittal of the accused".

They said they could not prove the crime "with the required moral certainty" and, "after a thorough examination of the case," determined that Geissler was innocent.

The investigators said "the configuration of the alleged serious offence" was not proven "with the requisite moral certainty" after a "careful examination of the case".

Geissler, who is member of the German community "The Work" ("Das Werk"), or "Spiritual Family Work" ("Familia Spiritualis Opus"), had been accused by a former nun of this community for alleged "advances" in the confessional.

The former nun, Doris Wagner-Reisinger, a former member of Das Werk community, spoke of having unwanted advances from a member of the Vatican's doctrine office at a November 2018 women's event in Rome.

In January, she told media that in 2014 she reported Geissler to officials in the congregation, saying the alleged encounter happened in 2009.

The Vatican announcement may make waves in Germany and Austria, given comments on the case Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna made to Wagner-Reisinger that led many to conclude he accepted her claim.

However, Schönborn said his comment to Wagner-Reisinger was not "a legal act," and therefore bore no weight on the guilt or innocence of the parties. Although Schönborn said he trusts what Wagner-Reisinger recounted, "I am not a judge who must decide in a case of law".

Source

• Crux Now
• Zenit
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Reflecting that he recently had ordained 14 men to the permanent diaconate, the Cardinal of Vienna said "perhaps one day also female deacons."

There had been female deacons in the Church in the past, he says.

Pope Francis, who often speaks of the importance of women's role in the Church appointed a new commission of six men and six women to examine the possibility of ordaining women to the permanent diaconate in 2016.

Archbishop Luis Ladaria, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is president of the commission. Although the commission's report is rumoured to have been completed, this has not been confirmed. Copies of the supposedly completed report have not been published or provided to the press.

In 2002 the International Theological Commission, an advisory body to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a report which gave a thorough historical context of the role of the deaconess in the ancient Church.

The commission overwhelmingly concluded that female deacons in the early Church had not been equivalent to male deacons, and had neither a liturgical nor a sacramental function.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

He says maleness is "an indispensable element" of the priesthood and the Church is "bound" by Christ's decision only to choose male apostles.

Ladaria's opinion reflects a 1994 decree issued by St John Paul in which he said: "the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women."

St John Paul also said this teaching should be "definitively held" by all Catholics.

Some theologians argue this ruling is not considered infallible, as St John Paul did not proclaim the teaching " ex cathedra" (from the Chair of St Peter), as is required for popes when they make infallible pronouncements.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, for example, believes the question of female ordination need to be settled by a church council and not from the "desk of a Pope."

Ladaria holds the opposite view.

"Sowing these doubts creates serious confusion among the faithful not only about the sacrament of orders as part of the divine constitution of the church but also about how the ordinary magisterium can teach Catholic doctrine in an infallible way," he says.

He also points out infallible teaching is not only proclaimed by a council or a Pope speaking "ex cathedra," but is also proclaimed by bishops across the world who, in communion with the Pope, propose doctrine that should be "held definitively."

Ladaria says St John Paul II consulted with leaders of episcopal conferences about this matter. He did not wish to "work alone" but sought to ensure he was listening to an "uninterrupted and lived tradition."

Pope Francis endorsed this in 2015, saying it was after "long, long intense discussions" St John Paul had issued his ruling on women's ordination.

"He did not declare new dogma, but with the authority conferred on him as successor of Peter, he formally confirmed and made explicit - to remove any doubt - that which the ordinary and universal magisterium had considered as belonging to the deposit of faith throughout the history of the church," Ladaria says.

We Are Church International (WACI) this week strongly rejected Archbishop Ladaria's claim that the ban on ordaining women to Catholic priesthood has a "definitive character" and "is a truth belonging to the deposit of faith."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic Herald

Speaking last week at the "Let's Talk Family: Let's Be Family" conference in Ireland, Schönborn endorsed family life.

"[Family is]the survival network of the future" and "will remain forever the basis of every society, he said.

"Favouring the family does not mean disfavouring other forms of life - even those living in a same-sex partnership need their families," he pointed out.

"Today, everybody can get married, but so many choose not to get married," Schönborn (who is the theologian who reviewed Amoris Laetitia, the papal encyclical on the family), said.

He suggested the number of "irregular situations" has increased enormously because the "framework of society has changed so much.

He went on to explain that marriage as we know it today has not always been available for many people because in the past the laws of the land often prohibited servants from marrying.

He said if he had to sum it up for Twitter, he would say, "Amoris Laetitia tells you marriage and family are possible today" ... and ... "Amoris Laetitia is Pope Francis' 2016 apostolic exhortation after two synods of bishops on the family".

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Crux
• Image: Bondings 2.0

Although Shonborn says there is a chance for this to happen, he cautions waiting until the group Pope Francis commissioned last year to study the mater of female deacons.

Shonborn says there is a precedent for women undertaking deacons' roles in the Church. He says it is still practised in the Eastern Church, but has fallen out of favour in the West.

He noted women were ordained deacons in the West up to the Middle Ages, which he thinks "should give the Latin-rite Church food for thought.

"The big theological question is, of course, what sort of ordination this was and what consequences one can draw from this today," he added.

While he is adopting a 'wait and see" approach to the outcome of a women's deaconite, Shonborn said he has no doubt that women should take a far more prominent role in the church than is currently the case.

For the past eight months Pope Francis has had a 12-member commission studying the issue of women deacons, especially in the first centuries of the Church's history.

Six members of the still-ongoing commission are women. They include American professor Phyllis Zagano, a leading scholar on women deacons.

The group also includes six faculty members of pontifical universities, four members of the Vatican's International Theological Commission, and one member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Source

• Aleteia
• La Croix
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic Herald

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said in an interview with La Civilta Cattolica that the bishops at next month's synod on the family should not take a stance that highlights failure.

Rather they should adopt "a benevolent gaze that sees how much good will and how much effort there is even in the midst of much suffering".

The next step, he said, is not to pretend that everything in all those situations is fine, but to help Catholics build on what is good, growing in holiness and faithfulness to God and to each other.

The cardinal said a civil marriage is better than simply living together, because it signifies a couple has made a formal, public commitment to one another.

"Instead of talking about everything that is missing, we can draw close to this reality, noting what is positive in this love that is establishing itself."

Cardinal Schönborn spoke about a gay friend of his who, after many temporary relationships, is now in a stable relationship.

"It's an improvement," he said.

They share "a life, they share their joys and sufferings, they help one another".

"It must be recognised that this person took an important step for his own good and the good of others, even though it certainly is not a situation the Church can consider ‘regular'."

The Church's negative "judgment about homosexual acts is necessary", the cardinal said, "but the Church should not look in the bedroom first, but in the dining room! It must accompany people."

Pastoral accompaniment "cannot transform an irregular situation into a regular one", he added.

"But there do exist paths for healing, for learning", for moving gradually closer to a situation in compliance with Church teaching.

Cardinal Schönborn said this approach did not dilute Church teaching.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Images: Le Figaro

Speaking to the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said "we have to speak about mercy and be merciful to the divorced and remarried, who often experience many sufferings and troubles".

"And if we speak about mercy for those who are remarried, we must also speak about those who are left alone," the cardinal said.

He said he always insists on the pastoral accompaniment of people who have divorced and remarried.

But pastoral accompaniment is also needed for those who remain alone after a divorce, "very often homeless, in great economic troubles and in solitude".

"They need the Church's attention."

Cardinal Schönborn, whose own parents divorced, said divorce inflicts "tremendous harm" on society.

"How many family businesses have collapsed through the divorce of the parents?

"What enormous economic damage comes from divorce.

"Therefore, I hope the synod will have very encouraging words to help Catholics overcome the temptation of divorce."

He also referred to the pain children can experience in divorce.

"If [parents] separate, something is always broken in the life of the child.

"Therefore, I fully agree we have to speak about mercy and be merciful to the divorced and remarried, who often experience many sufferings and troubles.

"But before speaking about the suffering of the parents, we must speak about the suffering of the children."

Speaking of his own experience of his parents' divorce, Cardinal Schönborn said he was sustained by his extended family and his strong religious faith.

Speaking at a US event, the cardinal said he is confident there will be no change in Church doctrine at the family synod.

Sources

• National Catholic Register
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Speaking to media at the synod on the family, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said it is clear that the Church must reach out to those whose marriages have failed.

No one must feel that their membership of the Church ended because they failed, he underlined.

Referring to people in irregular relationships from the Church's perspective, he said: "I can look at an imperfect situation from two sides."

"I can look at what is missing, and I can see what is already there".

"When couples live together in a stable, faithful relationship, one could say that is not a sacramental marriage, that there is something missing, but one could also say that it is a beginning, that there is already something there," he said.

During an ad limina visit by the Austrian bishops, Cardinal Schonborn said, Pope Francis raised the issue of young people cohabiting before getting married.

The Pope encouraged the Austrian bishops to accompanying people "towards something more complete and more perfect".

People's personal circumstances also need to be considered, Cardinal Schonborn said.

The main thing is to accompany such relationships non-judgmentally and with understanding and encouragement, he noted.

Also speaking to media, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx cautioned against glorifying what some people see as the good old days of marriage and family life.

Undertones about the ideal marriage and family life of yesteryear should be avoided, he said.

He also said that faithful homosexual relationships that have been stable for decades should not be viewed as "nothing" by the Church.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Catholic News Agency

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, said he had personally had two "strong signs" that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was "the chosen one" in the run-up to voting.

He said only divine intervention could explain the speed with which the Argentine cardinal — who did not feature on any of the main lists of likely candidates compiled by Vatican experts — was elected.

Speaking to an Anglican conference in London, he also said the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Justin Welby, had a "strange similarity" to the new Pope.

He said that the two elections were a "little miracle" and a "sign from the Lord" that the two churches should work towards closer unity.

Cardinal Schönborn said he was certain that on the evening of March 12, as the papal conclave began, none of the cardinals knew who would be chosen.

"It was a tremendous experience of the Holy Spirit," he said. "We were driven by the Holy Spirit to this man — he was sitting in the last corner of the Sistine Chapel: This man he is the chosen one."

He added: "I received at least two strong signs: one I can tell, the other was in the conclave I can't speak about — but real signs of the Lord giving me indication ‘he is the one'."

The cardinal said that just after a special Mass before the conclave began he came across a couple from Latin America who are friends of his.

He said: "I met them outside the basilica and I asked: ‘You have the Holy Spirit, can you give me advice for the conclave that will start in a few hours?'

"And the woman whispered in my ear ‘Bergoglio', and it hit me really: If these people say Bergoglio, that's an indication of the Holy Spirit.

"And I'm sure many of us have received similar signs during the conclave, [or] it wouldn't have been possible to have this election so soon and so rapidly."

Source:

The Telegraph

Image: Talking Points Memo

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, tipped as a possible Vatican Secretary of State, told The Sunday Times that Francis would consider appeals made by Cardinals Christoph Schönborn of Vienna and John Onaiyekan of Nigeria on the eve of his election for the bank to be scrapped.

National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen said there is talk in Rome that the bank — formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion — may soon be placed under the control of the government of the Vatican City State.

The Sunday Times report quoted Archbishop Celli as saying the Pope would be guided by a desire for "transparency . . . and faithfulness to international laws or rules in this field", including those on money-laundering.

"The Pope will consider some suggestions because during the general congregations [the formal meetings that preceded the conclave] some cardinals were intervening about the problems of the IOR," said Archbishop Celli, who has known Francis since 1979, when they served together in Argentina.

Before the conclave Cardinal Onaiyekan said the bank "is not essential to the ministry of the Pope, who is the successor to St Peter". He added, "I don't know if St Peter had a bank."

The Sunday Times quoted one "influential Vatican official" as saying the abolition of the bank was under discussion but there was doubt over what might replace it. "We need something, because the Holy See's own funds cover a bit more than half its budget, and the IOR's revenues cover part of that deficit," he said.

Set up in 1942, the bank has 33,000 accounts and about $NZ7 billion in assets, all run from a former Vatican prison building. Most of the money belongs to dioceses, religious orders and Catholic organisations, which use the bank to transfer funds around the world.

Sources:

The Sunday Times

National Catholic Reporter

Los Angeles Times

Image: Spiegel Online

The first term of comparison is the tension between Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles and his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony. On Jan. 31, Gomez announced that Mahony would "no longer have any administrative or public duties" because of failures to protect children from abuse, documented in files released by the archdiocese. That triggered an open letter to Gomez from Mahony acknowledging mistakes, but insisting he went on to make Los Angeles "second to none" in keeping children safe.

Mahony remains a priest and bishop in good standing, and he really hasn't had any administrative role since stepping down in March 2011. The practical effect of the action thus is limited, but symbolically it amounts to what Jesuit Fr. Tom Reese has called a "public shaming."

So far, the Vatican hasn't said much other than it's paying attention and clarifying that the action applies only to Los Angeles.

Behind door No. 2 lies the highly public spat in 2010 between Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, and Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a former Secretary of State and still the dean of the College of Cardinals.

For those whose memories may have dimmed, a series of clerical abuse scandals exploded across Europe in early 2010, which among other things cast a critical spotlight on Benedict XVI's personal record. Sodano created a media sensation in April 2010 by calling that criticism "petty gossip" during the Vatican's Easter Mass.

In a session with Austrian journalists not long afterward, Schönborn not only said Sodano had "deeply wronged" abuse victims, but he also charged that Sodano had blocked an investigation of Schönborn's disgraced predecessor, Cardinal Hans Hermann Gröer, who had been accused of molesting seminarians and monks and who resigned in 1995. Schönborn reportedly said that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wanted to take action, but he lost an internal Vatican argument to Sodano. Continue reading

Sources

• John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Daily News Los Angeles

John L Allen Jr is NCR senior correspondent.

The cardinal and the Priests' Initiative group, formed by Father Helmut Schueller, have engaged in an intensifying war of words for several months.

The priests' group has pledged to give Communion to Protestants and to divorced and remarried Catholics. It has also called for an end to the celibate priesthood and for the ordination of women as priests.

The group says these such reforms are necessary to reduce the number of Catholics cancelling their membership of the Church, and to make the priesthood a more attractive option for young men.

Fr Schueller says 10 per cent of Austrian clergy have joined his group, though other reports say the figure is closer to 7.5 per cent.

Cardinal Schonborn has criticised the group for using the word "disobedience", saying "you cannot build up Church life on the basis of disobedience".

He said: "We think the diagnosis is correct: yes, there is a crisis. But we have a different opinion regarding the therapy."

Cardinal Schonborn said he will not appoint supporters of the manifesto to the position of dean, and will not renew appointments of those who already have this status.

"You can easily remain a member of the Priests' Initiative. You must only distance yourself from the ‘Call to Disobedience' in an appropriate way," his spokesman said.

One dean, Father Peter Meidinger, said he had stepped down after a conversation with the cardinal. He said that the manifesto used the word "disobedience" in the sense of "civil disobedience", a concept to be used "when the leaders are simply not prepared to listen to people".

Sources:

Catholic News Agency

Austrian Times

Image: Benoit-et-moi 2012

Catholic rebels in Austria have been making increasingly strident calls for "disobedience" and changes in the Church, after record numbers of Austrians deserted it last year, many of them in response to allegations of sexual abuse by priests.