Practical atheism does not deny God or reject God outright the cardinal said, but it removes God from the centre of life.

Speaking at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC, the Cardinal warned that this form of atheism is gaining traction among clergy and laypeople alike.

This mindset, he noted, has permeated Europe where Catholicism once thrived but is now waning. More worryingly, he said it has begun to take root within the Church itself.

He reflected on the legacy of Pope St John Paul II, who played a crucial role in the downfall of Soviet Communism which sought to impose atheism. However, Cardinal Sarah emphasised that while ideological atheism has diminished, the threat now comes from within, manifesting as a ‘practical atheism' that renders God irrelevant in daily life.

"How often do we hear from theologians, priests, religious and even some bishops — or bishops conferences — that we need to adjust our moral theology for considerations that are only human" he said.

Yet "a Church based on human resolutions" the cardinal warned "becomes only a human church".

Confusion and dilution of core beliefs

"To be Catholic is more than a culture identification, it is a profession of faith. It has a particular content of faith. To move outside that content, both in belief and practice, is to move outside of faith" the cardinal said.

He warned against considering all voices within the Church equally legitimate, which he believes could lead to confusion and a dilution of core beliefs. "As Cardinal Ratzinger said: ‘A faith we can decide for ourselves is no faith at all'."

None of the proponents of this paradigm shift within the Church "reject God outright, but they treat Revelation as secondary, or at least on equal footing with experience and modern science" the cardinal said.

"This is how practical atheism works. It does not deny God but functions as if God is not central."

Addressing the Church's future, Cardinal Sarah called on US bishops to defend the faith and uphold the centrality of Jesus Christ.

He praised the vitality of the American Church, contrasting it with Europe.

"The United States is not like Europe. The faith is still young and maturing. This young vitality is a gift to the Church" he said.

"Your seminaries have largely been reformed, lay apostolates are breathing new life into the faith and there are pockets of life in parishes" he observed.

Sources

National Catholic Register

The fractures are most obvious on social media where even priests, bishops and cardinals preach from cyber pulpits all along the theological (or, more correctly, the ideological) spectrum.

Pope Francis recently moved against the latest online episcopal celebrity from the doctrinally rigid end of that spectrum when he relieved Bishop Joseph Strickland from his duties as head of the Diocese of Tyler.

Appointed to the small Texas see in 2012 by Benedict XVI, Strickland has been one of the most vocal critics of the current pope, whom he has publicly accused of undermining the Deposit of the Faith.

Francis like John Paul II and Benedict XVI

The bishop marked his 65th birthday on Halloween by joining other like-minded traditionalists at a conference in Rome where he quoted a letter accusing Francis of being an "usurper".

Using the words of someone else to even suggest the current pope is illegitimate is huge, even by Texas standards. Doing so in the pope's own diocese was a huge and lethal mistake.

Strickland has since gained a few more supporters from among the various anti-Francis critics and crackpots, including non-Americans who probably had never heard of him before he was removed from Tyler on November 11th.

If anybody in the pope's inner circle thought this might in any way lead to a cessation of hostilities towards Francis, they miscalculated.

The pro-Strickland crowd that uses social media as its preferred battleground, have called the pope every name in the book. Dictator is one of their favorites.

Interesting how they have forgotten that Benedict XVI and John Paul II also removed a number of bishops in their days.

The snipers have also attacked Francis and his "magic circle" - including the papal nuncio to Washington, Cardinal Christoph Pierre - for lack of transparency and for refusing to state the reasons why Strickland was removed.

The Roman Pontiff is under no obligation to do so. Benedict and John Paul never did so, either.

No one can hold a candle to Archbishop Viganò

Bishop Strickland is only the most recent high profile Catholic to rail against the current temporal head of the Catholic Church. But he is certainly not the only one.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former nuncio to the United States, was one of the first to really veer off the reservation.

And he did so in a spectacular and unprecedented way in August 2018 when he issued an excoriating open letter urging Francis to resign, accusing him of covering up abuse committed by the former cardinal and now defrocked priest Theodore McCarrick.

No one (at least up till now) can hold a candle to the 82-year-old Viganò, who lobs his deranged rantings and conspiracy theories like bombs in order to discredit the Jesuit pope.

He does this from a secret hiding place, no less, so much does he have the courage of his convictions. It's not too difficult for most reasonable people to see that the attention-seeking Viganò is more than a bit of a "nutter".

We'll have to see if Bishop Strickland, who also seems to like the limelight, intends to follow him down that same road.

After all, he was the first bishop to publicly vouch for Viganò's credibility the very morning the former nuncio issued his open letter attacking the pope.

More credible critics of the pope

But if a loose cannon like Viganò can be easily dismissed, other fierce critics of Francis cannot be.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller immediately comes to mind.

The German theologian and former bishop of Regensburg, who turns 76 on New Year's Eve, is not stupid.

One can disagree with his theological and ecclesiological views, but he represents some of the most classic positions on issues concerning Catholic faith and morals, issues that Francis — legitimately — has opened up for review and reformulation.

Müller, of course, is also the former head of what is now called the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Benedict XVI appointed him to the post in July 2012, just months before resigning the papacy.

Francis kept him as head of the doctrinal office after being elected pope in March 213, made him a cardinal in February 2014 at the first consistory of the new pontificate, but then decided not to reappoint him DDF prefect in 2017 when Müller completed his first five-year term of office.

The German cardinal has criticised Francis openly and publicly, most thoroughly in a book-length interview with Italian journalist Franca Giansoldati of the Rome-based daily, Il Messaggero.

He's been more or less respectful in tone, while not hiding his bewilderment at the way the Argentine pope has broken with longstanding Vatican protocols and business-as-usual practices - the same reason why many Francis supporters express their jubilation.

The Synod's way of describing the divisions

There are arguably scores (or more) of bishops and untold numbers of priests who are more sympathetic with some variation of Müller's point of view than with the pope's.

And the lay faithful are all probably over the board. It is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the divisions. But, for sure, the Church is deeply divided.

However, you probably would not draw that conclusion if your first introduction to present-day Catholicism was the "Synthesis Report" that the Synod of Bishops issued on October 28 at the end of the first session of its two-pronged assembly on synodality.

Just take the 42-page text and do a simple word search.

You will find "division" only once in the context of the Church. It's in a section that is listed as number 8, "Church is Mission". In paragraph "f", one finds the following:

In all contexts, there is a danger, that was expressed by many at the Assembly, of "clericalising" the laity, creating a kind of lay elite that perpetuates inequalities and divisions among the People of God.

It would be a stretch to say this is any sort of reference to the current divisions mentioned above.

Similarly, words like "disagreements", "fractures", and "factions" do not appear.

And, for obvious and good reasons, the Synthesis Report - which is inspirational in many ways, but also rather anodyne - avoids naming any sort of "liberal" ("progressive") vs. "conservative" ("traditionalist") tensions or divisions that are, perhaps with the use of more appropriate "labels", a glaring reality in the Church today.

"Labels" is actually found in a section 15 on "Ecclesial Discernment and Open Questions" where it states that, in the Gospels, Jesus "never begins from the perspective of prejudices or labels, but from the authenticity of relationship...".

Meanwhile, the word "controversial" is found six times - three times in reference to "matters", twice regarding "issues", and once for "questions".

Bishops, cardinals, and the next conclave

As for the divisions with the hierarchy the document says this:

"Some bishops express discomfort when they are asked to speak on matters of faith and morals where full agreement within the Episcopate is lacking.

"Further reflection is needed on the relationship between episcopal collegiality and diversity of theological and pastoral views (section 12, paragraph "h")."

Our Catholic leaders, we're told, don't feel comfortable talking about matters about which they disagree.

Once again, this does not seem to properly reflect the reality of what is happening in the Church right now. And that, in and of itself, is alarming.

But divisions there are and, in fact, not a few bishops are publicly giving voice to them, from one side or another (and everywhere in between).

So... what will all this mean when the cardinals are finally called together to elect Pope Francis' successor?

Will they adopt the method of the Synod assembly's Synthesis Report and refuse to acknowledge straightforwardly and descriptively the divisions that exist?

More importantly, on what side of the divide (or where along the spectrum) do the cardinals who will be casting ballots for the next pope line up?

Francis, who will be 87 in a few weeks' time, has named more than 70 percent of the cardinal-electors.

But don't be fooled into thinking they will pick someone who will continue leading the Church along the path he has mapped out.

It may sound strange, but a good number of these cardinals could hardly be called "Francis bishops" in the sense that this term has come to mean.

It is more than likely that they will be forced to choose a compromise candidate. Whether that will be enough to heal the Church's divisions, however, is anyone's guess.

• Rome-based Robert Mickens is La Croix International Editor. He regularly comments on CNN, the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and writes a weekly column, Letter from Rome.
• First published in La Croix International. Republished with permission.

Since her father worked in the Prefecture of the Papal Household, she and her family actually lived in Vatican City, making her one of the few minors to have the nationality of the smallest state in the world.

When Vatican Girl disappeared on June 22, 1983, following a lesson - at her music school in Rome, her family initially thought she had run away.

But then it appeared she'd been kidnapped, and a vast investigation was quickly launched. Just a few days after she went missing, John Paul II even appealed publicly for her kidnappers to release her.

Although Emanuela Orlandi was never found, her fate has been the subject of many hypotheses over the past forty years and has become one of the recurring stories in the Italian press.

According to some theories, a Rome-based crime organization called the Banda della Magliana was kidnapped as ransom to recover money it had loaned to Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, former president of the so-called Vatican bank (IOR).

The loan was apparently used to finance Poland's anti-communist trade union Solidarnosc, but it was never repaid.

Another theory alleges Orlandi was kidnapped in order to obtain the release of Mehmet Ali Agça, the Turk who tried to assassinate John Paul II in 1981.

The Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist Turkish organization, has long been accused of kidnapping the young woman without this ever being proven.

Ali Agça was released in 2010 and in an open letter published in 2019 he alleged that Emanuela Orlandi was still alive and that it was necessary to search for traces of her in the CIA archives.

What has the investigation revealed in recent years?

In recent years, her body has been sought in several places: the Teutonic Cemetery inside Vatican City, where an anonymous letter provoked exhumations in 2019; the Villa Girogina, in Rome, where bones were found in 2018; the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare near Piazza Navona where, in 2012, the police reopened the tomb of a mafia boss who was buried in the crypt where they hopes of finding the remains of the young woman.

But there was no trace of Emanuela Orlandi in any of these places.

Clues for the location of Orlandi or her mortal remains have also been sought in England, where some say that she was sent by her captors to a boarding school in the suburbs of London.

Searches have also led to Liechtenstein, France and Switzerland - but all in vain.

Why has her case resurfaced now?

To everyone's surprise, the Vatican announced this past January that its civil justice system was reopening investigations into Emanuela Orlandi's mysterious disappearance.

This took place a few weeks after Netflix aired a documentary on her case called "Vatican Girl".

Then on April 11, Orlandi's older brother Pietro, who has been fighting for years to find out the truth concerning Emanuel, met for nearly eight hours with Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican's promoter of justice (chief prosecutor).

The elder Orldandi said he provided the prosecutor with new evidence.

But Pietro Orlandi's comments in an Italian television program broadcast on the La7 television network later that evening provoked an uproar in the Vatican.

He said he had proof that John Paul II would sneak out of the Vatican at night to abuse young girls.

"I am told that Wojtyla (John Paul II's family name) used to go out at night with two Polish priests, and it was certainly not to bless houses," Orlandi said.

He produced an audio recording in which a man with close mafia ties claims to have been in charge of eliminating young girls who prelates of the Roman Curia had sexually exploited.

"Pope John Paul II used to bring these (girls) to the Vatican; it was an intolerable situation. At some point, the Secretary of State intervened to get rid of them and he turned to people in the prison system," Pietor Orlandi claimed.

The Vatican's response to insinuations against John Paul II

The remarks caused a huge shock in the Vatican. And the response from Church officials came in waves. Polish Cardinal Stanislas Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime personal secretary, issued a statement on April 13 denouncing the "virulent accusations".

He said they boiled down to "false accusations from beginning to end, unrealistic, laughable, bordering on comedy if they were not tragic, even criminal themselves".

"I can testify, without fear of denial, that from the very beginning, the Holy Father took charge of the case," the 84-year-old cardinal added.

The next day Vatican News - the main media arm of the Dicastery for Communications - denounced what it called a "media massacre" that "wounds the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers".

"No one deserves to be slandered in this way, without even an ounce of proof," wrote Andrea Tornielli, the dicastery's editorial director.

"Any proof? No proof. Any evidence? Even less," Andrea Tornielli insisted.

"Testimonies that are at least second or third-hand? No shadow of a doubt. Only anonymous slanderous accusations," the Italian journalist wrote.

Vatican prosecutors also criticized Orlandi's lawyer for not turning over the names of certain sources, objecting to his claims of attorney-client privilege.

Finally, Pope Francis spoke out this past Sunday while addressing crowds in St. Peter's Square after praying the noontime Regina Caeli.

"Certain of interpreting the feelings of the faithful throughout the world, I direct a grateful thought to the memory of Saint John Paul II, the object of offensive and unfounded inferences these past few days," Francis said.

Following the uproar over his initial remarks, Pietor Orlandi has since said that he never accused John Paul II of anything. Instead, he claims he was only conveying information that had come his way.

"It is certainly not for me to say whether this person has spoken the truth or not," he wrote on April 15.

"We have never accused Wojtyla of anything, as some would have you believe. Our only intention is to have justice for my sister Emanuela and to reach the truth, whatever it may be."

• Loup Besmond de Senneville has been a journalist with La Croix since 2011 and a permanent correspondent at the Vatican since 2020.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

Pietro Orlandi, the brother of a missing 15 girl, Emanuela Orlandi, made the allegation.

However, the Vatican's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, blasted Pietro Orlandi's insinuation, calling it slanderous.

Tornielli said Orlandi's comments were accompanied by "no evidence, clues, testimonies or corroboration."

"Think what would have happened if someone had gone on television to state, on the basis of a 'hearsay' from an anonymous source and without the shred of a match or even third-hand testimony, that your father or grandfather left the house at night and together with some 'snack buddies' went around harassing underage girls.

"And imagine what would have happened if your now deceased relative were universally known and esteemed by all, due to some important role held.

"Wouldn't we have read comments and editorials indignant at the unspeakable way in which the good reputation of this great man, loved by so many, has been harmed?"...

"And we are not saying this because Karol Wojtyla is a saint or because he was Pope.

"Even if this media massacre saddens and dismays, wounding the hearts of millions of believers and non-believers, defamation must be denounced because it is unworthy of a civilised country to treat anyone in this way, alive or dead, whether cleric or layman, Pope, metalworker or young unemployed person."

"It is right for everyone to answer for any crimes, if they have committed any, without any impunity or privileges.

"It is sacrosanct that a 360-degree investigation be undertaken to seek the truth about Emanuela's disappearance.

"But no one deserves to be defamed in this way, without even a shred of clues, on the basis of the "rumour" of some unknown character from the criminal underworld or some sleazy anonymous comment broadcast on live TV."

Then on Sunday in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis doubled down on Tornielli's rebuke, labelling the insinuations "offensive and baseless."

Francis made the comments to tourists and pilgrims, saying he aimed to interpret the feelings of the faithful worldwide by expressing gratitude to the Polish pontiff's memory.

"Confident of interpreting the sentiment of all the faithful of the entire world, I direct a grateful thought to the memory of St John Paul II, in these days the object of offensive and baseless insinuations," Francis said, his voice turning stern and his words drawing applause.

During an interrogation with Vatican prosecutors Tuesday, Orlandi provided an audiotape containing a statement from an alleged mobster saying the late St Pope John Paul II used to go out at night with some monsignors in tow to harass and molest underage girls.

In January, the Italian Parliament reopened a parliamentary commission of inquest into her case.

At the same time, Vatican chief prosecutor Alessandro Diddi reopened the Vatican investigation when he inherited the files from his retired predecessor.

The Pope wants "the truth to emerge without any reservations" and has an "iron will" regarding the case, Diddi says.

John Paul's longtime secretary, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, also criticised the insinuations as "unreal, false and laughable if they weren't tragic and even criminal."

He said he understands the pain of the Orlandi family and hopes for the truth to finally come out.

At the same time, he defended John Paul and denied any attempts to cover up the Orlandi case.

"We hope this can shed light on this episode ..." his lawyer says.

"The Vatican's openness and the pope's determination is absolutely positive."

After receiving harsh backlash from the Vatican for what they said were "defamatory" insinuations against the late Pope John Paul II made on national television, Pietro Orlandi, the brother of a missing Italian teen, appears to distance himself from his initial statements.

He now welcomes the probe and promises by Vatican prosecutors that they have been given carte blanche to investigate "without reservations" to find the truth.

Source

• USNews
• AP News
• Crux Now
• National Post
• Vatican News (Translation by Google)

The fact that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla — the future Pope John Paul II—knew about abuse when he was an archbishop of Krakow, Poland, is neither new nor surprising, experts say.

Others agree and are defending Poland's national hero.

Government figures, including the Prime Minister, have strongly defended John Paul as a national hero and the country's highest moral authority.

The lower house of parliament passed a resolution defending John Paul as the "most outstanding Pole in history," but many opposition members walked out or abstained from voting.

Leftist politicians, seized on allegations that he knowingly protected predator priests. Some called for John Paul's name to be taken off street and school names.

Polish bishops' conference president, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki,is strongly defending the late pope and appealing to "all people of good will" to not destroy his legacy.

"Further archival research" is needed to fairly assess a new allegation, the conference says.

At present, the abuse claims are based on communist secret police records. These allege the late pope covered up child sexual abuse by a priest.

The bishops conference has invited the American ambassador to Poland for "talks" about the claims, which were raised in a report on a U.S. company Warner Bros Discovery channel.

The report named three priests whom John Paul allegedly moved around during the 1970s after they were accused of abusing minors.

The cases are "proof" John Paul "covered up" abuse. But for historians and experts in Poland, the situation is much more complicated.

The allegation was included in a documentary broadcast March 6 on Polish television channel TVN24.

What remains to be answered is what he knew, from whom he knew it, and how much of his decisions regarding abusive priests were influenced by the anti-church actions of the communist Security Service (SB), Polish experts say.

The SB often falsely accused good priests of immoral behaviour only to discredit them, they point out.

"The type of complaints about the priest should be in his personal file in the curia," Rafal Latka, professor of history at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, said.

"If the curia in Krakow decided to open the archives to historians, we could investigate the reasons for the cardinal's decision."

Furthermore, "we could verify whether there was any more communications regarding that case," Latka said.

It is improbable that at the time of communism, Wojtyla would specifically point out in a letter to another cardinal that a priest he was sending to him was an abuser.

"The regime was checking the letters sent through the national post," he said.

The Church should decide on an independent commission to investigate the past, one that is "independent and lay-based," Latka added.

Source

• America Magazine
• AP News
• Catholic News Agency

The purpose of their visit was to urge Francis to publicly apologize for the abuse that their ancestors - and even some of them - suffered at residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

But can a pope really ask for forgiveness when it's been the Vatican's practice to leave the appropriateness of such apologies up to local bishops? And in what cases have popes issued their own apologies in the past?

Paul VI was the first Roman Pontiff to ask forgiveness of past wrongs. He did so in 1965 during a visit to Jerusalem when he and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople made an important "gesture of justice and mutual pardon" through a joint Catholic-Orthodox declaration.

The two Church leaders expressed "regret" for the "offensive words" and "reprehensible gestures" that marked a "sad period" culminating in their predecessors' reciprocal excommunications in 1054.

"The words are not the same as today, we do not speak of apologies, but we must take into account that it was 60 years ago," explained Father Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

"This declaration was indeed a request for mutual forgiveness," he pointed out.
Slave trade

Two decades later, John Paul II made another type of apology during a visit to Cameroon.

During a meeting in 1985 with intellectuals and Catholic students in Yaoundé, the Polish pope addressed the painful history of slavery.

"Throughout history, people belonging to Christian nations have unfortunately not always behaved well, and we ask for forgiveness from our African brothers who have suffered so much, for example, from the slave trade," he said.

It repeated those sentiments during a 1992 visit to Senegal, but this time his words were addressed to God.

"From this African sanctuary of black pain, we implore heaven's forgiveness," John Paul II said on the island of Gorée, a historic site of the French slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.

"These men, women and children were victims of a shameful trade, in which people who were baptized, but not living their faith, took part," he continued.

"How can we forget the enormous suffering inflicted, in disregard of the most basic human rights, on the populations deported from the African continent? How can we forget the human lives destroyed by slavery," the late pope said.
The turning point of the year 2000

John Paul II continued this work of critical examination of the past. In particular, he gave his personal backing to a 1998 symposium on the Inquisition.

That same year he also embraced, as his own, a statement on anti-Semitism that was issued by the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee.

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 marked a very important step in this process.

At a Mass in Rome on the March 12 "Day of Forgiveness", the pope implored "divine forgiveness for the sins of all believers".

"Let us forgive and ask forgiveness," John Paul II said.

In particular, he implored forgiveness for "the divisions which have occurred among Christians".

"The recognition of past wrongs serves to reawaken our consciences to the compromises of the present, opening the way to conversion for everyone," he said on that occasion.

"We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries," he insisted.

This request also went hand in hand with the Church's "forgiveness" of those who had persecuted Christians throughout history.

"At the same time, as we confess our sins, let us forgive the sins committed by others against us," John Paul said.
"Distinguishing between error and those who commit it"

Other apologies would follow, including in the current pontificate.

For example, Pope Francis asked forgiveness of Italian Protestants in 2015 and specifically begged "forgiveness for the sin committed by those who have gone before us" during a 2017 symposium on Luther that was held at the Vatican.

Father Ardura said this move towards asking for pardon was all made possible by John XXIII.

"In his encyclical Pacem in terris, published in 1963, he clearly states that a distinction must always be made between error and those who commit it, 'even in the case of those who err regarding the truth or are led astray as a result of their inadequate knowledge, in matters either of religion or of the highest ethical standards'," the historian explained.

By restating this ancient distinction in a major papal document, the late Italian pope opened the possibility for the Church to ask for forgiveness.

"It is therefore possible to condemn the Church's error without condemning the Church itself," Father Ardura noted.

But he said this should be something that is done only rarely, otherwise it will lose its value.

"The pope cannot ask for forgiveness for everything, otherwise it would considerably dilute the significance of these requests," he said.

"That's how we became capable of distancing ourselves 70 years ago. But the request for forgiveness is only one step," the Vatican historian continued.

"After forgiveness comes reconciliation. And that can still take years."

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Catholic News Agency

The report triggered questions about whether John Paul was rushed through the saint-making process, and whether the author of contemporary Catholic teaching on human sexuality didn't understand the complex nature of the topic.

The 450-page report released Tuesday is an unprecedented effort by the church at full transparency, a rare window on internal Vatican decision-making that showed that not only John Paul but also popes Benedict and Francis knew McCarrick had faced multiple accusations.

Each pontiff was aware of different aspects of the accusations against McCarrick, but the initial years of the case came under John Paul's 27-year reign.

John Paul, who died in 2005 and was made a saint in 2014, elevated McCarrick to archbishop of Washington and summarily to cardinal despite the allegations.

Under Benedict, McCarrick was asked to step down as archbishop of Washington when he reached the standard retirement age of 75 and told to keep a lower profile.

Francis assumed his predecessors had already vetted the allegations against McCarrick, but took action once a credible accusation surfaced involving a minor. McCarrick was laicized in 2019.

Reactions to the revelations about John Paul have been emotional and divided.

Some saw a man perhaps naively believing a scheming friend.

The report's authors raised the possibility that John Paul's judgment was heavily coloured by his experience in the Eastern Bloc, where negative propaganda about priests was used to weaken religious organizations. Others felt his decisions were potentially disqualifying for the high moral honour of sainthood.

Vatican's McCarrick report says Pope John Paul II knew of misconduct allegations nearly two decades before cardinal's removal
"Saints are holy, not perfect. There's no chance his canonization would be reversed," said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, head of a centre on U.S. Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, who has written extensively about saints.

She added that if the report had come out before his canonization was complete, it would have mattered. "We canonize people for [Catholics], not for the person themselves. But what we know about sex abuse, this is not the kind of person — a person who failed on this level — he's not to be imitated."

Others felt the report made the case against John Paul's canonization.

"It's almost a bill of particulars against his sainthood," said Jason Berry, an investigative journalist who wrote a book in 2004 about John Paul's failure to address the sexual abuse scandal of Marcial Maciel, a Mexican church leader who abused youth and adults.

"He was unwilling to confront the phenomenon of priests involved in sex crimes. I don't think he thought of it as criminal. He thought of it as a sin, a failing of celibacy," said Berry.

The report showed that John Paul was among many Catholic clerics in the United States and Rome who had heard different pieces of the McCarrick sexual scandal that critics believe should have triggered further investigation. Instead, time after time, church officials, including John Paul, were often reluctant to probe deeper.

The report showed there was a range of allegations swirling around McCarrick starting in the 1980s, but they primarily remained in the United States, with letters sent to various bishops and priests.

By 1999, New York Cardinal John O'Connor wrote a lengthy letter to the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, describing "grave fears" about what might happen if McCarrick, then the archbishop of Newark, were to receive a promotion.

By the time McCarrick was appointed to lead the D.C. archdiocese, John Paul's assistants had told him that McCarrick would share a bed with seminarians, that anonymous letters accused him of paedophilia with young relatives and that a priest accused him of "attempting to engage in sexual activity," the report said.

The priest was later diagnosed with psychological trauma.

To some readers, those allegations, while serious, didn't add up to a "smoking gun" against McCarrick, who swore on his office to John Paul that the reports were untrue and that he'd never abused or hurt another person. John Paul was guilty only of being too trusting of a man who fooled and charmed Catholics around the globe. Continue reading

Their views on capitalism contrast with those of Pope Francis, who is calling for a rethink of the free market economy.

At a recent webinar, "Pope John Paul II Centennial: The Liberation of a Continent's Political-Economic Systems of Christ," Father Robert Sirico and John Paul biographer George Weigel analyzed the benefits of a free economy through the doctrine of John Paul.

Sirico (pictured) said in the webinar that secular attempts to weaken a free economy "have resulted in material deprivation, human impoverishment and great sadness."

Economic policy should try to expand productivity and the availability of goods, he said.

Sirico and Weigel pointed to the US with its democracy and capitalism as a place with prospering systems.

There was hardly any mention of Francis in the webinar other than to acknowledge his perspective on the "free economy" comes from his personal experience in Argentina and what he's seen in Latin America.

Francis took a strong stance against the "free economy" in Fratelli Tutti. In this, he notes the "marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith."

This type of market promotes inequality and lends itself to violence, he wrote.

Sirico says Francis's view doesn't mean we should abandon Pope John Paul's teachings.

"I don't think there's any necessary contradiction certainly in the moral or theological level between Francis and John Paul, but I do think in terms of depth, in terms of experience, we need to retrieve the magisterium of John Paul II," he says.

Sirico emphasised the importance of money, entrepreneurship, charity in a free economy from Pope John Paul's encyclical Centesimus Annus.

Citing this, Sirico said money is a key part of human communication and cooperation. Successful entrepreneurs help a community by providing goods and services people want - and is an example of a person using their God-given creative talents.

Charity needs to be left to local communities for the good of the church, he added.

"This is in large part important to us theologically because when state bureaucracies insinuate themselves between us and those in need the church itself loses a rich source of our own spiritual nourishment."

People of faith need to reread John Paul's encyclicals to get a more complete understanding of the Church's teaching, he added.

This way, the Church won't completely abandon his teachings.

Weigel said John Paul had a unique insight on the value of labour.

"John Paul speaks of work not as punishment for original sin but rather as work for our participation in God's ongoing creation of the world," Weigel said. "Our work is not making more but being more. Work is part of human vocation. Work is part of human responsibility."

Source

• Crux
• Image: YouTube

On Wednesday last week the Spoleto Cathedral' sacristan, who is in charge of protecting the building and its contents, discovered the vial was missing.

Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto-Norcia, who was a close aide to John Paul for years at the Vatican, is pleading with those responsible for the theft to "give the reliquary back to the cathedral and the faithful."

The stolen gold and crystal vial was part of a relic - one of several containing the late-pontiff's blood. It had been stored in the Spoleto Cathedral chapel on an altar dedicated to John Paul, who died in 2005.

It was a gift from the Archbishop of Kraków to the Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia in 2016.

The archdiocese had been planning to move the relic to a new church in honor of Pope St John Paul on 22 October, which is his feast day.

Boccardo says it is not clear if the vial containing Pope St. John Paul's blood has been stolen for ransom, which has happened in the past with other such artifacts in Italy.

The police have launched an investigation to try and find the culprits. They have reviewed CCTV from inside and outside the building, but have not said if they have identified a suspect.

Source

• Daily Mail
• Aleteia
• Image: Philstar.com

One expert on Chinese affairs has stepped in insisting that the deal was not only good, but a product of more than 30 years of Vatican diplomacy.

Paolo Affatato, head of the Asia desk for Fides News, told Crux that Pope Francis's agreement with China on the appointment of bishops "is a fruit of 30 years of work, it wasn't born yesterday."

"It was born under John Paul II, who was the first to begin the process of closeness and communion of the bishops in China who were considered illicit," he said, calling the agreement a "point of arrival" for not only Francis, but also St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Read more

He "was an important, and at the same time, controversial man of the church, who played a critical role in gaining 'more spaces' so that the Catholic Church in Cuba could exercise her mission of evangelisation within a Marxist nation," says one of Ortega's frequent visitors, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami.

"He was key to receiving the visit of three popes and negotiating the freedom of political prisoners. May he rest in peace."

Ortega (82), who was Havana's retired archbishop, died on 26 July.

Many visitors, including various US bishops, visited and prayed by his bedside during his last days.

Wenski, who was among them, says Ortega was "a dedicated man of the church and an exemplary Cuban".

After Fidel Castro's communist revolution in 1959, he was jailed for eight months as a suspected opponent of the regime.

He was a leading spokesman for Cuban Catholics on national and international issues during his 35 years as archbishop.

Like popes St John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, Ortega took the view that the US economic blockade was keeping thousands of people poor while doing little to pressure the Cuban government to expand freedoms and human rights.

As archbishop, he hand-delivered private messages from Pope Francis to then US president Barack Obama and Fidel Castro's brother and successor, Raul Castro, urging them to put aside Cold War-era mistrust and forge a new relationship between the United States and Cuba.

He also used every opportunity possible to plead with the US government to end the blockade. Eventually political tensions thawed and more contact between Cuba and the US recommenced.

Ortega also negotiated with the government for church buildings to be restored and reopened, and this year saw a new Catholic church opened - the first to be built since 1959.

Not everyone appreciated Ortega however.

Some Cubans in exile say he didn't do enough to denounce the island's government.

Some even singled out the date of his death - on the anniversary of an important rebellion that led to the overthrow of Cuba's former government - as proof that he was favourable to the government.

However, Puerto Rico's Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves says although Ortega was "misunderstood" by Cubans in exile, "he was much loved by the faithful Catholics in Cuba."

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• National Catholic Reporter
• CNN
• Image: Crux Now

"John Paul II was a man of the Second Vatican Council, which shaped his thinking about the Church and contemporary world", said Cardinal Dziwisz, who was the Polish pontiff's personal secretary for 39 years.

"Efforts are being made to undermine his authority and even question his sainthood - and the situation the Church now finds itself in is encouraging this, among people whose consciences are troubled by John Paul II and who seek to weaken the Church's position". Read more

A circumstance that various Vatican sources think very probable.

The traffic in child pornography is one of the most abhorrent crimes and many States - including the Vatican City State - have adopted very strict rules to punish it.

Capella did not deny the evidence, he admitted his guilt, and explained that he began to hook up with child pornography dealers on the web because of a "personal crisis" stemming from his transfer to Washington D.C.

Videos and explicit content were found on his smartphone and computer.

Loneliness, frustration at not having felt valued and having found himself alone, without friends...

Obviously the prelate had to have a predisposition for that kind of shocking images, which include children filmed in sexual acts and abuses, because fortunately child pornography is not a widespread landing place for personal crises or excessive loneliness.

Beyond the conclusion of the Vatican judicial affair, and the subsequent canonical trial to be celebrated against the former counselor of the nunciature, there remains the paradox: a prelate who has unleashed his perverse fantasies by compiling web images will have to serve a five-year sentence, while prelates who have effectively abused children and teenage boys ruining their lives, in several cases, do not spend even one single day in a cell.

Recent cases of illustrious founders or very prominent prelates (as the Chilean case teaches) prove it.

It is evident that in the case of Capella, the Vatican authorities wanted to set an exemplary tone, to show that no one will be given any discounts for the turbid phenomenon.

But the paradox remains.

The other striking case was that of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington.

Accused of abusing a teenager about 45 years ago in New York, the prelate - who has been long retired - was suspended from his episcopal duties until his position became clear.

With McCarrick, the cardinals appointed during the long pontificate of John Paul II involved in abuses are now four (in total 231, created during 9 Consistories).

The first was the Archbishop of Vienna Hans Hermann Groer: nominated by surprise as the successor of Cardinal Franz König in 1986, elevated to cardinal in 1988, forced to leave the leadership of the diocese in 1995 following accusations of having abused, many years earlier, a number of underage seminarians.

The second was Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh (Scotland), elevated to the red cap in 2003, retired in 2013 at the threshold of 75 years of age without participating in the conclave because he was accused of repeatedly abusing, in the Eighties and Nineties, two seminarians and a priest (of age).

The third is Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, who is defending himself in Australia from the accusation of having abused minors.

And now there is McCarrick.

Without going into details of each individual event - in the case of Pell, for example, certain testimonies leave considerable doubts open - one cannot help but notice the existence of a problem in the process of nomination of bishops. Continue reading

• Andrea Tornielli is a journalist and is the coordinator of their website Vatican Insider
• Image: Communione e Liberazione

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

Fr Pawel Galuszka has been involved with Hanna Chrzanowska's canonisation cause.

He said the Polish nurse "teaches us how important it is to make a sincere gift of oneself, even sacrifice, for the good of the other".

She will be beatified in Krakow on Saturday.

"The laity know well the reality of everyday life," Galuszka said.

"Hanna, as a nurse, knew in person and from experience the problems of the sick, alone, abandoned and disabled."

Besides being a nurse, Chrzanowska was an oblate with the Ursuline Sisters of St Benedict.

Galuszka noted that St John Paul II, then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, knew Chrzanowska during her life.

When he presided over her funeral Wojtyla said:

"We thank you, Miss Hanna, for having been among us... a particular incarnation of Christ's blessings from the Sermon on the Mount, above all that he said ‘blessed [are] the merciful.'"

Galuszka noted St John Paul II "had no doubt that Hanna in a heroic way fulfilled the commandment of love of neighbour."

With the help of nuns, seminarians, priests, doctors, professors and students, Chrzanowska organised retreats for her patients.

These brought back joy and gave them the strength to face everyday life.

"Thanks to her efforts, the tradition of celebrating Holy Mass in the homes of the sick, and going to visit patients during pastoral visits, spread," Galuszka said.

Galuszka said that the miracle which paved the way for Chrzanowska's beatification was the healing of a 66-year-old woman.

The woman had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and mild heart attack.

She was paralysed in both legs and in one hand and was considered to have no chance of surviving.

While in a coma, she had a dream that Hanna Chrzanowska appeared to her and said, "Everything will be fine."

Waking soon after, she surprised the doctors, because not only could she speak normally, but she could move her limbs.

It was later discovered that on the same day she was miraculously healed, the woman's friend, a nurse, had attended a Mass and prayed to Chrzanowska for her healing.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• National Catholic Reporter
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Niedzelia.pl

Speaking during the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II's revised publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Francis said the death penalty violates the Gospel and amounts to the voluntary killing of a human life, which "is always sacred in the eyes of the creator."

"It must be clearly stated that the death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity."

Francis went on to say the church must take a strong stand against capital punishment. This would include making changes to the Catechism.

At present the Catechism says while saying capital punishment's need is increasingly rare "if not practically non-existent," it is permissible if it's the only way to defend life against an "unjust aggressor."

(The Catechism is a question and answer guide to what Catholics should think about a wide range of moral and social issues.)

Acknowledging that in the past the Papal States allowed this "extreme and inhuman recourse," he said the Holy See had erred in allowing a mentality that was "more legalistic than Christian" and now knew better.

Noting that church doctrine can develop over time, Francis said the Catechism "should find a more adequate and coherent" way to express the Gospel message about the dignity and value of every human life.

"It's necessary to repeat that no matter how serious the crime, the death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolable dignity of the person," he said.

Source

• ABC News
• Yahoo 7
• Vatican Radio
• Image: Live Law