Pell "must be accorded the appropriate acknowledgment for his dignified and coherent personal testimony, from which yet again there emerges an objective and lucid picture of the errors committed in many ecclesial environments during the past decades," said Lombardi in a statement.

On Sunday, Australian victims of child sex abuse expressed disappointment after they failed to meet Pope Francis last week.

The Vatican, however, said the victims did not make their request through the proper channels.

Pell, the Vatican's treasurer, is the highest ranking Vatican official to give testimony on the issue of sex abuse within the church.

Lombardi, meanwhile, admitted that the inquiry of the royal commission and the Oscar award winning movie "Spotlight" had been "accompanied by a new wave of attention" into the sexual abuse of minors, especially by members of the clergy.

"The sensationalist presentation of these two events has ensured that, for a significant part of the public, especially those who are least informed or have a short memory, it is thought that the Church has done nothing, or very little, to respond to these terrible problems, and that it is necessary to start anew," said Lombardi.

"Objective consideration shows that this is not the case," he added.

Sources

Crux
Herald Sun
Channel News Asia
The Sydney Morning Herald

Image: Herald Sun

As reports of the story originally published in Italy's Quotidiano Nazione spread around the world, the Vatican issued three denials.

The report was called "a grave act of irresponsibility, absolutely inexcusable and unconscionable".

Quotidiano Nazionale reported on its front page on Wednesday that a Japanese doctor and his team had secretly flown from Tuscany to the Vatican on a helicopter bearing the Holy See's white-and-yellow flag to examine the Pope "some months ago".

Under the headline "The Pope is Sick", it said the Argentine pontiff was diagnosed with "a small dark spot on the brain", but that it was curable without surgery.

Dismissing the article, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said: "I am able to confirm that the Pope is in good health."

The spokesman said he had checked directly with the Pope and other Vatican officials.

"No Japanese doctor has visited the Pope in the Vatican and there have been no examinations of the type indicated in the article," Fr Lombardi said.

The spokesman challenged anyone who thinks the Pontiff is seriously ill to try keeping up with him.

Quotidiano based its story largely on the supposed account of a nurse who reportedly saw medical notes under Francis's real name, Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Japanese neurosurgeon Takanori Fukushima did meet Pope Francis, but it was in October, 2014, according to a post on the surgeon's Japanese blog, which does not indicate any professional papal connection.

Andrea Cangini, the director of Quotidiano, said he had anticipated the Vatican reaction.

"This denial is understandable and to be expected," he said.

"We waited a long time before publishing the report in order to carry out every possible check. We don't have the slightest doubt that it is founded."

The Pope has appeared in good health in recent months apart from some leg pain due to sciatica, for which he undergoes regular therapy.

Sources

• Reuters
• AFP
• Image: Our Sunday Visitor

In a long interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper on Saturday, Msgr Krzysztof Charamsa, 43, announced he is gay and has a partner.

He later held a news conference with his partner, a Spanish man, and gay activists at a Rome restaurant.

Msgr Charamsa, a Polish theologian, said he is "ready to pay the consequences" of his coming out.

"But the moment has come for the Church to open its eyes to gay believers and to understand that the solution which it offers to gays, namely total abstinence from a love life, is simply inhuman," he said.

He added: "It seems to me that, in the Church, we don't know homosexuality because we don't know homosexuals, yet we have them all over the place."

"With my story I want to shake the conscience of the Church a bit."

Msgr Charamsa disputed that biblical passages forbad genuine same-sex love.

The Vatican responded by stating that Msgr Charamsa would be unable to carry out his previous work at the CDF.

He will also have to stand down from lecturing at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

"Other aspects of his situation shall remain the competence of his diocesan ordinary," said Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ.

Msgr Charamsa said he knew he would have to give up his ministry.

The Vatican said Msgr Charamsa's dismissal had nothing to do with his comments on his personal situation, which it said "merit respect".

But it said giving the interview and planning a later demonstration was "grave and irresponsible" given their timing on the eve of the synod on the family.

There is believed to be a book is in the offing which may reveal further details of Msgr Charamsa's 12 years of hidden life inside the Holy See.

In a blog on the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference website, Bishop Charles Drennan of Palmerston North wrote about CDF official's actions.

Sources

• The Independent
• BBC
• Irish Times
• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference blog
• Image: CBS News

A Vatican spokesman said the Holy Father regularly gets physical therapy to address the problem.

The 78-year-old Pontiff has been observed walking slowly with faltering steps and getting help from accompanying priests when going up or down stairs.

"He has some problems in the movement of his legs. Some days are better than others," Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said.

Continue reading