So far, both countries have excluded the need for passes to be shown before attending Mass!

The Italian government rolled out new rules requiring citizens to present a ‘Green Pass' to be admitted to most indoor venues.

The pass demonstrates they have been vaccinated, or have had a negative COVID test in the past 48 hours.

A spokesman from the Italian bishops' conference told Crux that "there has been nothing" in terms of discussion about whether a Green Pass or negative COVID test will be necessary to attend Mass or other indoor church events.

During Italy's strict coronavirus lockdown in 2020, Masses were suspended for nearly three months. This was part of a wider ban on all public gatherings in a bid to curb the number of infections.

The suspension of Masses sparked a widespread national debate on religious freedom. Many arguing that access to spiritual support was an ‘essential service' in such a difficult time.

It was also suggested that the ample size of Italian churches allowed faithful to spread out without fear of contagion.

Meanwhile, in France, President Emmanuel Macron has mandated that only people who possess a "health passport" will be allowed to participate in cultural and recreational events attended by more than 50 people.

The passport will attest they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Father Gwenaël Maurey, rector of the basilica and shrine of Sainte-Anne d'Auray, said the extension of the health passport for religious ceremonies would have been "a normal measure".

The priest said he would have welcomed extending the measure to churches. "The health passport is an act of charity, to protect others," he said.

French church officials say that even though health passports are not required to attend Mass, people must still be vigilant.

During the Easter celebrations in April, several parishes were accused of not respecting protective measures.

Consequently, "the introduction of a health passport in places of worship could have resolved these concerns and reassured parishioners," opined Father Maurey.

Sources

Crux

La Croix International

Unlike the controversial issues the German bishops are grappling with in the "Synodal Way" taking place in Germany, Italy's synodal journey begins with a different place, says Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti (pictured).

"Ours is not a synod; it is a synodal journey that starts from conditions that are very different from those in Germany," says Bassetti.

Italian bishops' conference president says their German counterparts oversee a Synodal Way that is pressing for changes on marriage, ordination, clerical celibacy, and sexual ethics.

Italy's bishops hope to focus on how the Church can address societal issues, such as joblessness and family breakdown.

"The German synod dealt with some very particular problems, and I believe that the basic problems of our people are quite different," the cardinal says.

"The celibacy of priests, those of the priesthood of women, are not the fundamental problems that are gripping the Church and humanity at this moment."

Bassetti listed several more pressing problems in Italy requiring the bishops' attention, including "loneliness, the education of children, the hardships of those who don't make it to the end of the month because they don't have a job, [and] the problems of emotional immaturity that lead families to break up."

The cardinal and Italy's 200-plus bishops' general assembly last week adopted the theme: "Announce the Gospel in a time of rebirth: To start a synodal journey."

One of the assembly's main discussion points considered the pandemic's economic repercussions.

The bishops approved a grant of 60 million euros (around $73 million) allocated to dioceses to be used before the end of February 2022.

The bishops also passed resolutions on local patron saints to be sent to the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship for confirmation.

These include a resolution to make Our Lady of Graces in Ponte of Porretta, near the northern Italian city of Bologna, the patron saint of Italian basketball.

Bassetti also responded to questions about Italy's "anti-homophobia bill." The proposed law, known as the Zan bill, was approved in the lower house of parliament last year and is due to be considered by the upper house.

He reaffirmed the bishops' "defence of the person against all violence and discrimination."

"This is a point that must underlie the very broad protection of the plurality of opinions and the freedom to express them without fear of sanction mechanisms that could generate intolerance.

"There are certainly issues on which there are different visions, and on gender, we have a biblical vision: male and female he created them," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Herald Malaysia

Conference president Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti says Pope Francis authorised the publication of the revised translation of the third edition of the Messale Romano, which the bishops had approved last November.

It will be some months before the books are printed and available for liturgical use.

One of the changes involves the Lord's Prayer.

It will no longer say "and lead us not into temptation" (e non ci indurre in tentazione), but will become "do not let us fall/be abandoned into temptation" (non abbandonarci alla tentazione).

The change will bring the prayer in line with the translation of this passage in the Italian translation of the Bible the bishops approved in 2008.

The Gloria will also be revised. "Peace on earth to people of good will" (pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà) will become "Peace on Earth to people beloved by God" (pace in terra agli uomini, amati dal Signore).

The changes will be implemented to the Italian missal only and will have no effect on the English speaking world.

Francis has often spoken of his desire to update the "lead us not into temptation" part of the Lord's Prayer.

He argues it portrays God in a false light.

"A father does not lead into temptation, a father helps you to get up immediately," he commented.

"It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation."

Francis also said other translations had already been changed to correct mistakes and to modernize the language.

"The French have modified the prayer to 'do not let me fall into temptation,' because it is me who falls, not the Lord who tempts me to then see how I fall," he said.

One source says the change to the Lord's Prayer comes after 16 years of research by experts who found a mistake in the current translation "from a theological, pastoral, and stylistic viewpoint."

It has been translated into literally hundreds of languages from the original texts in ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

In 2017 Francis issued Magnum principium, which called for translations which are both faithful to Latin and respectful of the characteristics of the receptor language.

It is this second quality which was seen to suffer in the overly literalist translations prepared since Liturgiam authenticam.

He also restored authority over translations to bishops' conferences, as the Second Vatican Council had decreed, and rolled back the creeping centralism of previous decades at odds with the Council's decisions.

Source

• Pray Tell
• Daily Wire
• Image: Catholic News Agency

"I am saddened to note that the reform, after more than four years, remains far from being applied in most Italian dioceses," Pope Francis, the bishop of Rome, told other members of the Italian bishops' conference on Monday.

Francis issued the streamlined annulment process in September 2015. It went into effect December that year to coincide with the launch of the Jubilee of Mercy.

The process was enacted with two legal documents issued under the pope's own authority.

One is the Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus ("The Lord Jesus, a meek judge"), which handles modifications in the Latin Rite's Code of Canon Law.

The other is the Mitis et Misericors Iesus ("Jesus, meek and merciful"), which deals with changes for Eastern Catholic Churches.

The changes include strengthening the local bishop's role, dropping automatic appeals in obvious cases of annulment, and ensuring the process is free of charge.

In his speech to Italian bishops on Monday, Francis called for the "full and immediate application" of the documents, saying the process should be fast, free and characterised by "closeness" to families in difficulty.

"Closeness to wounded families means that judgement, as much as possible, is in the local dioceses without delays and unnecessary prolongation," which will require a "conversion of structures".

"We cannot allow the economic interests of some lawyers or the interest in personal power of some judicial vicars (to slow down the process)," he said.

Source

• Catholic News Service
• The Dialog
• Crux Now
• Image: The Dialog

His comments aimed to help the bishops explore their conference theme: "The Gospel of Love between Conscience".

Drawing on Amoris Laetitia (AL), his 2015 post-synodial document, Francis defended AL's stance on conscience-based decisions.

This is the first time Francis publicly defended AL, which has been called "heretical" by some of the church heirarchy and faithful.

"The family born of marriage creates fruitful bonds which reveal themselves to be the most effective antidote against the individualism that currently runs rampant; however, along the journey ... there are situations that require arduous choices, which must be made with rectitude," he said.

Citing AL37, Francis stressed the distinction between conscience, where God reveals himself, and ego, that thinks it can do as it pleases.

"The contemporary world risks confusing the primacy of conscience, which is always to be respected, with the exclusive autonomy of the individual with respect to the relations that he entertains in life," Francis explained.

"In the very depths of each one of us, there is a place wherein the Mystery reveals itself and illuminates the person, making the person the protagonist of his story.

"Conscience, as the II Vatican Council recalls, is this ‘most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.'

"To the Christian falls the task of being vigilant, so that in this sort of tabernacle is no want of divine grace which illuminates and strengthens married love and parental mission.

"Grace fills the amphorae of human hearts with an extraordinary capacity for gift, renewing for the families of today the miracle of the wedding feast at Cana."

Francis told the bishops that priests must inform Catholic consciences "but not replace them, so Christian faithful are capable of 'full moral agency'".

In making these statements, Francis aimed to help the bishops decide how to respond to the desire for family that emerges in the soul of the young generations.

He also sought to help the Conference find ways to help the faithful assimilate and develop AL's content and style, as well as the means to contribute to pastoral outreach to families and support them on their journey through life.

This includes helping all families to live the joy of the Gospel and be active in the community.

Source

• America
• Vatican Radio
• the star.com
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Bishop Nunzio Galantino, who is secretary-general of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI), said he wants Church leaders to open their minds on these issues.

"My wish for the Italian Church is that it is able to listen without any taboo to the arguments in favour of married priests, the Eucharist for the divorced, and homosexuality," he told the La Nazione newspaper.

These topics are likely to come up for discussion at the synod of bishops assembly at the Vatican in October.

Bishop Galantino said the Church had invested a lot of its time on issues relating to the sanctity of life, perhaps at the expense of other important issues.

He said: "In the past we have concentrated too much on abortion and euthanasia. It mustn't be this way because in the middle there's real life which is constantly changing."

"I don't identify with the expressionless person who stands outside the abortion clinic reciting their rosary, but with young people, who are still against this practice, but are instead fighting for quality of life, their health, their right to work," the bishop added.

He said he believed the arrival of Pope Francis represented a unique chance to usher in liberal reforms.

"With Pope Francis the Italian Church has an extraordinary opportunity to reposition itself on spiritual moral and cultural beliefs," he said.

Pope Francis appointed Bishop Galantino interim secretary-general of the CEI last December and made the position permanent in April.

Last September, in an interview published in Jesuit outlets, Pope Francis responded to criticism that he did not talk enough about contraception, abortion and gay marriage.

The Pope said the Church's teaching are clear and he agreed with them, but was not necessary to insist on these issues all the time.

"The Church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines," he said.

Sources

• The Tablet
• The Telegraph
• Image: Francolo Frano