This is a record number of women to be on the 30 member commission.

There were two women appointees in the previous five-year term of the commission, which is an aid to the Pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Among the other woman appointees are American Sr Prudence Allen, RSM, former chair of the philosophy department at St John Theological Seminary in Denver and Moira Mary McQueen, who is director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute.

The other women appointees are Sr Alenka Arko (Slovenia-Russia) and Marianne Schlosser (Germany - Austria).

Dr Rowland is dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne.

Writing for the Boston Globe's Crux Now website, Vatican commentator John Allen said Professor Rowland would be seen as among the leading intellectual lights of the "Evangelical Catholicism" movement.

American Catholic writer George Weigel described Evangelical Catholicism as a faith that "unapologetically proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the truth of the world".

Professor Rowland has written a number of books on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger.

Her writings have been praised by commentators like the National Catholic Reporter's Michael Sean Winters.

But Allen wrote that looking at the 30 appointees, "the thing that truly jumps out is the preponderance of figures regarded by most Catholics in the know as fairly conservative".

He wrote of Professor Rowland: "She writes frequently for publications with a conservative editorial bent, and is seen as an articulate defender of traditional Catholic doctrine."

He also noted that she is close to Cardinal George Pell and Sydney's new archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP.

Allen said all the ITC appointees are "accomplished thinkers who are eminently qualified to advise the Vatican on doctrinal matters".

"It's hard not to be struck, however, by the fact that they seem to come largely from one side of the street," he added.

Allen said the best way to explain these conservative appointments is that Francis wants to maintain a sense of balance.

"He's said he wants the Church to be in dialogue with everyone, and one way to accomplish that is to ensure a mix of points of view in leadership positions."

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Vatican News
• Crux Now
• Crisis Magazine
• National Catholic Reporter
• Amazon
• Image: Mary Magdalen blog

"There is a resurgence of global interest in the Catholic Church, inspired by the words and deeds of the newly installed leader, Pope Francis," Brian McGrory, the editor of The Globe, said in a statement.

Mr. Allen's hiring, and the plans for a publication aimed at Catholics, come as more news organizations seek to break out specialized content for specific groups. They are among the first moves made by The Globe since it was purchased from The New York Times Company by John W. Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, in 2013. Continue reading

"Oppression and exodus now threaten Christianity's status as a worldwide religion."

The Catholic charity, which operates directly under the Holy See, said over the past two years the persecution of Christians has worsened in 20 of the 30 nations it assessed.

"In others where the problems were already extreme, there has been little or no change."

In the Middle East, the charity said, "a Christian exodus of almost biblical proportions now threatens the survival of the Church".

Aid to the Church in Need's media head, John Pontifex, said incidents of persecution are now apparently relentless and worsening: "Churches being burnt, Christians under pressure to convert, mob violence against Christian homes, abduction and rape of Christian girls, anti-Christian propaganda in the media and from government, discrimination in schools and the workplace…the list goes on."

Meanwhile, Vatican correspondent John Allen has said that Christians are currently the most vulnerable minority on earth and massive outside intervention will be needed to stem the rising tide of persecution against them.

In a Zenit interview, he put Christians in the same category as dissident Jews in Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s and black

Allen's new book is called The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution.

Citing statistics from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, he said an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed in a "situation of witness" each year for the past decade. That works out at 11 Christians killed somewhere in the world every hour.

Allen said he would like to see a grassroots mobilisation of the Christian consciousness — so there would be "something analogous to what happens in the Jewish world every time there's an anti-Semitic attack someplace".

Sources:

Aid to the Church in Need

Zenit

Image: Spero News

In a new book, The Global War on Christians, he says 100,000 Christians were killed each year throughout the first decade of the 21st century — 11 new martyrs every hour.

"I don't think it takes any religious convictions or confessional interests at all to see that defence of persecuted Christians deserves to be the world's number one human rights priority," he says.

Continue reading

The archbishop, who is known for speaking plainly, made this comment in an interview with National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen during World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

Allen had asked Archbishop Chaput if the initial enthusiasm for the new Pope would fade "when the honeymoon wears off".

"This is already true of the right wing of the Church," the archbishop said. "They generally have not been really happy about his election, from what I've been able to read and to understand. He'll have to care for them, too, so it will be interesting to see how all this works out in the long run."

Archbishop Chaput was asked whether there was a concern over the fact that Pope Francis had not used the words "abortion", "gay marriage" or "euthanasia" in his first 120 days.

"He hasn't expressed those things in a combative way, and perhaps that's what some are concerned about," he said, "but I can't imagine that he won't be as pro-life and pro-traditional marriage as any of the other popes have been in the past."

Back in Philadelphia, the archbishop said, he had a sense that practising Catholics love Pope Francis and have a deep respect for him, "but they're not actually the ones who really talk to me about the new Pope.

"The ones who do are non-practising Catholics or people who aren't Catholic or not even Christian. They go out of their way to tell me how impressed they are and what a wonderful change he's brought into the Church."

Part of this enthusiasm, the archbishop thought, was "genuine appreciation for the Pope's extraordinary friendliness and transparency.

"But also, I think they would prefer a Church that wouldn't have strict norms and ideas about the moral life and about doctrine, and they somehow interpret the Pope's openness and friendliness as being less concerned about those things."

Source:

National Catholic Reporter

Image: CathNewsUSA

This means the five Christian schools on the strip, two Catholic and three Protestant, may have to close — even though they serve a largely Muslim population.

National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen points out that the distorting effect of politics makes it difficult to tell the full story of anti-Christian persecution, especially in the Holy Land.

Continue reading

A Vatican statement said the retired Pope intended to "dedicate himself to the service of the Church, above all with prayer".

But Vatican correspondent John Allen says "Benedict almost certainly will be a point of reference for critics of [Pope] Francis, especially in conservative circles".

Continue reading

Allen offers these statistics on anti-Christian discrimination:

+ According to the Germany-based International Society for Human Rights, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.

+ According to the Pew Forum in the United States, Christians face either de jure or de facto discrimination in 139 nations, roughly two-thirds of all countries on earth.

+ The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the US estimates that an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed for the faith each year over the last decade, which works out to 11 new martyrs every hour.

Allen reports several events since Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation on February 11.

On February 17, a 55-year-old Catholic priest, Father Evarist Mushi, was shot to death in Tanzania, in front of Zanzibar's Catholic cathedral. An Islamic group claimed responsibility, saying: "We thank our young men, trained in Somalia, for killing an infidel. Many more will die. We will burn homes and churches. We have not finished: At Easter, be prepared for disaster."

On February 18, Italian missionaries in Syria launched an emergency fundraising appeal called "Ransom a Christian" to help fund the release of Christians kidnapped by Islamist-inspired rebels.

The going price for a kidnapped Catholic priest was given as around $US200,000.

On February 21, Saudi Arabia's religious police swooped on a private gathering of at least 53 Ethiopian Christians, shutting down their private prayer and arresting foreign workers for practising their faith.

Also on February 21, police in India arrested four Protestant pastors while they were having dinner, after Hindu extremists accused them of forceful conversion.

Source:

National Catholic Reporter

Image: CNEWA

These figures from a conference on the persecution of Christians around the world lead John Allen to comment: "By any standard . . . the scale of anti-Christian violence is stunningly vast. In fact, this may be one of the reasons it's difficult to raise an alarm: the numbers are so big it's hard to believe they're real."

Continue reading

Allen says Nuzzi's book leaves little doubt about the resistance around Bertone and the Vatileaks thriller cites the following example from early 2009, around the time of the lifting of the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including one who is a Holocaust-denier.

"In roughly the same period," Allen writes, "Benedict XVI was also putting the finishing touches on his social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which would be released that summer.

Nuzzi publishes a Feb. 5, 2009, letter to Benedict XVI from Cardinal Paolo Sardi, formerly a principal ghostwriter for John Paul II and still consulted on Benedict's texts. Sardi complains that Bertone was mishandling consultations on Benedict's encyclical, in part because of his frequent trips out of the country.

Toward the end of the letter, Sardi adds a stinging observation.

"A final, painful annotation: For some time in various parts of the church, including among people extremely faithful to it, critical voices have been raised about the lack of coordination and confusion which reins at its center. I'm saddened by that, but I can't avoid recognizing, from my own modest angle of vision, that there's some foundation to it. For instance, I'd like to note that I was not consulted on the editing of the decree about the Lefebvrite bishops (and I could have given some suggestions which wouldn't have been useless). Moreover, yesterday the text sent to Your Holiness on the same subject by the substitute was not shown to me until a few minutes before the deadline, when Monsignor Gänswein yelled [at me] over the telephone to get it back. I'm trying to see in these situations (which, to tell the truth, are numerous) the benevolent intervention of Providence, that wants to prepare me to leave the Secretariat [of State] without regrets."

Nuzzi also includes the text of a lengthy memo from an unnamed senior Vatican official, presumably at the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, written for Gänswein in spring 2011. The memo ticks off a series of alleged problems with Bertone's leadership, including ignoring the Vatican's own internal checks and balances, "demoralization" of personnel, and the appointment of people "who lack the adequate competence" in important jobs.

The conclusion is unequivocal: "The problematic situations are numerous and of notable gravity, above all because they could have devastating effects in the future, even if they can't been seen right now and everything looks fine. My direct superiors, with whom I've spoken repeatedly, for now don't believe it's opportune to do anything. They say that our principal point of reference is the Secretary of State, yet in many cases he's precisely the problem. Conscience requires that I present these matters to the Holy Father.""

Sources

• NCR
• Image: Chiare Lettere

Geoghan remains an appalling symbol of the church's failures. He was the archetypal serial predator, transferred from parish to parish despite repeated warnings about his crimes.

A decade into the arc of the crisis, we now have a new symbol of another of its distressing features: the way all Catholic priests have been tarred with the same brush, presumed guilty until proven innocent and often cut loose by officialdom at the first hint of an allegation.

That symbol is Fr. Kevin Reynolds of Ireland, and his is a story that merits serious reflection. Before getting into it, however, let's stipulate two points.

First, there's no moral equivalence between the agony experienced by victims of sexual abuse, especially children, and the hardships of a falsely accused priest. The point is not to compare the two things, but rather, that you can't remedy one injustice by creating another.

Second, the fact that some priests have been falsely accused does not mitigate the culpability of the church, or its leadership, for scores of other cases in which the abuse is all too real. Nor does it supply a free pass to church leaders to dismiss criticism, or to wave off arguments for reform.

That said, the Reynolds story illustrates two points that must figure on any list of lessons learned in the last decade:

• The need for more effective firebreaks against false allegations, both in the church and in the media.
• Greater support for priests facing accusations, including church leaders more inclined to balance legitimate measures of precaution when an allegation surfaces against concern for the reputation and rights of the accused party.

Continue reading the story at NCR: A new symbol of false sex abuse allegations

Image: Clerical Whispers

That latter possibility was captured by a recent banner unfurled by indignados protestors in advance of the trip: "Fewer crucifixes and more jobs!"

A mounting debt crisis has raised fears that Italy and Spain, the third- and fourth-largest economies in the eurozone, may follow smaller nations such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal into possible bankruptcy.

At the intellectual level, Benedict has already delivered his response to the unfolding "Great Recession" in his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, arguing that economic recovery is dependent upon moral and spiritual renewal. Structures won't change for the better, he argued, unless individual hearts change first.

Source

• Read John Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: American Papist