They say that scandals and trivia that dominate public debate shouldn't be on the 2023 election agenda.

The bishops' Election Statement for the 2023 General Election says increasing numbers of people are becoming disillusioned and people are disenfranchised because serious issues are treated as political footballs.

Their statement says in part:

"We are concerned with the growing trivialisation of politics, with the focus of politicians and media being on mistakes, misdemeanours or scandals of individual parliamentarians instead of being on the scandals of poverty, mental health and the diminishment of the sanctity and dignity of life."

Their bishops' statement is being distributed to the country's 470,000 Catholics in six dioceses and 194 parishes.

"We are concerned that so many of the issues affecting all of us are treated as political footballs.

"Successive election-season promises and the changing of policies in line with the agenda of each new government are not working.

"More and more people in our land are becoming disillusioned and feel disenfranchised.

"Our hope is that the politicians who will form the Government ... will focus on the issues that beset us as a nation and work together across party lines to make real progress in finding genuine, lasting solutions."

The bishops ' statement also comments on rising levels of poverty and mental health, the lack of housing in various dioceses, and this year's big storms.

During the past three years, the bishops have called out and complimented the government on several issues.

"We lamented the growing indifference to the sanctity of life. We affirmed our commitment for Te Tiriti o Waitangi as offering us a pathway of unity for our nation.

"And we talked about the rapidly growing toxicity in our communities that is dividing us and that generates anger, hate and even violence. These are but some of the many issues we face."

Love your neighbour

Citing Jesus' command to love your neighbour as yourself, the bishops acknowledge finding a party or candidates that subscribe to Christian behaviour can be difficult.

Nonetheless, they urge all Catholics to be informed. All Catholics should look seriously at the policies of each party and the position of each individual candidate, the bishops say.

"At times we cannot find parties or candidates who subscribe to all we believe. When this happens, we make choices, informed by our conscience guided by the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching, for the party or candidate which will bring forth the most common good, especially for the poor and vulnerable, and at the same time whose policies will bring forth the least moral harm."

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference

But you'd be mistaken to think that the decline has to do with Archbishop Viganò's charge that Francis had covered-up for Cardinal McCarrick.

The poll was taken before that story broke.

According to the poll's author, much of the dissatisfaction with the pontiff has to do with his welcoming approach toward migrants.

Even before Viganò's bombshell accusation, Italians were already distancing themselves from the Vatican.

In a sense, the Catholic Church in Italy set itself up for rejection.

In the months leading up to the March election, it doubled down on its policy of greater openness to immigrants whether legal or illegal.

In a dozen different ways, Church leaders let it be known that refusal to welcome the migrant was, in effect, a rejection of Christ.

Yet voters ignored the Church and voted in large numbers for the anti-immigration parties. And there is no sign that they've regretted their choice.

According to recent polls, many practicing Catholics prefer the hardline immigration policies of the new Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, to those of Pope Francis.

As an Ipsos poll reveals, support for Salvini doubled in four months among Catholics who attend Mass at least once a week.

The director of the Ipsos Research Institute said, "There is a clear difference between a significant part of Catholic opinion and the hierarchy of the Church."

A moment's thought will reveal that Catholics are not only rejecting the hierarchy's policy on immigration, but also its policy on Islam.

Italians and other Europeans are not terribly concerned about immigrants from Poland, South America, India, and the Philippines.

They're worried about immigrants from Muslim countries.

With good reason.

Despite numerous attempts to keep it quiet, it's no secret anymore that the influx of Muslim migrants into Europe has resulted in a giant crime wave.

And the situation in Italy is not nearly as bad as it is in other countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, England, and Sweden.

In many parts of Europe, stabbings, rapes, acid attacks, and pitched battles between police and migrant gangs are daily occurrences.

One can surmise, therefore, that Italy is not the only country where respect for the Church has fallen sharply.Continue reading

• Image: Huffington Post

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga said that anyone trying to do good "will have opposition".

"The books of the Bible said, especially the Book of Wisdom, ‘If you want to follow the Lord, prepare to the battle.' And the Pope is prepared," the cardinal said after a US conference.

"It's a revolution going on (in the Vatican). But a revolution of love, and hope," Cardinal Rodriguez said.

Cardinal Rodriguez also said that the latest reports of excessive spending and political machinations by officials of the Roman Curia only confirm the need to press ahead with an overhaul of the papal bureaucracy.

Two books detailing financial mismanagement and scandals at the Vatican are being published this week.

The Vatican has said the revelations in the books are based on information that Francis himself requested in the early months of his pontificate as he sought to tackle corruption.

Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, rejected the notion of "a permanent reign of confusion" in the Vatican.

He said that under Francis the reforms are ongoing. Francis "knows the situation, he knows what needs to be done, and how to proceed".

Cardinal Rodriguez — who said he had not yet read the two books — also said in an interview in New York that Francis will not be swayed or discouraged and will continue to clean house in Rome.

A Spanish priest and an Italian laywoman were arrested last weekend at the Vatican after an investigation into "misappropriation and disclosure of classified documents and information".

Both were former members of a commission that Pope Francis set up shortly after his election in 2013 to advise him on economic and bureaucratic reforms in the Curia.

The woman, Francesca Chaouqui, was subsequently released after co-operating with authorities.

She is reported to be a friend of one of the authors of the latest books, but she has protested her innocence.

The priest, Msgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, the secretary of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, belongs to a priestly society linked to Opus Dei, which expressed "surprise and pain" at his arrest.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• ABC
• The Tablet
• Image: Huffington Post

A north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations he looked for gay lovers on the Internet and had been involved in gay orgies.

The priest admitted online to sexual relationships with other religious figures - as well as members of the Vatican's elite Swiss Guard - and to using the Internet to find new partners.

After local Church authorities failed to act following an official complaint, the complainant went to the media with the story.

After the facts had been reliably established, the priest was removed from office with his archbishop saying his behaviour had been "absolutely incompatible with the priestly ministry".

And a priest in southern Italy is under investigation on suspicion of murdering one of his female parishioners.

The second priest has asserted his innocence.

Continue reading

Albenga-Imperia diocese in northern Italy has been seen as hosting a number of so-called "playboy priests", who frequently broke the law.

An apostolic visitor will assess the capability of Bishop Mario Oliveri, 70, who has been in charge of the diocese for 25 years.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, told The Tablet that the diocese "may be expecting an apostolic visitator", but would not disclose any further details.

An independent investigator has already been called in to Albenga-Imperia.

The various scandals include one priest having been convicted for child abuse, after he was strenuously defended by Bishop Oliveri.

Another priest allegedly had an affair with a parishioner, and one was allegedly caught posting naked photos of himself on a gay website.

Yet another priest is accused of defrauding parishioners.

The bishop is alleged to have welcomed aspiring priests into the seminary without discernment.

Aspirants he accepted included former models, priests with tattoos, bodybuilders and others who had been expelled from the seminary.

The decision to order an investigation follows an inquiry by the papal nuncio Adriano Bernardini.

He was sent in after Pope Francis was warned about the diocese, La Repubblica reported.

A local doctor handed Pope Francis a dossier of complaints from parishioners earlier this year, the Italian newspaper added.

The bishop did not respond to requests for comment, saying it was not the "right time".

The investigator is expected to be Alberto Maria Careggio, 77, former bishop of Sanremo-Ventimiglia.

He is a former mountain guide to St John Paul II, according to rumours in Rome.

Sources

• The Tablet
• International Business Times
• Image: Il Secoloxix

Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton diocese said in a statement read in churches that his unfaithfulness had gone back several years.

He apologised for the damage and hurt caused by his actions, but he said he had done nothing illegal and no minors were involved.

"As a result, however, I have decided to offer my resignation as bishop with immediate effect and will now take some time to consider my future."

According to a report by The Mail on Sunday, the reasons behind Bishop Conry's resignation involved a relationship with a woman six years ago.

The newspaper also alleges the bishop was involved more recently with a married woman and mother of two children.

The bishop denied this more recent relationship had anything to do his decision to step down.

The Mail on Sunday reported having seen love letters between Bishop Conry, 63, and the second woman, 43, written in recent months, in which he told her that her husband didn't love her.

Approached by the newspaper in June, the bishop denied any sexual relationship with the married woman, but admitted she had stayed at his house twice, adding: "She is not the only woman who has stayed here."

The second woman's estranged husband, who filed for divorce last month, has labelled the bishop's behaviour as "appalling" and said he was sickened by it.

The Mail on Sunday understood the woman and her husband became involved with Bishop Conry in church activities last year.

The marriage hit a crisis last year and the woman moved into rental accommodation and became a regular visitor at Bishop Conry's house.

The husband's lawyer said legal action against the Church is being considered, because it had allegedly known for years about Bishop Conry's affairs and took no action.

The Mail on Sunday said Bishop Conry, who is a former press officer for the England and Wales bishops, is "seen as a progressive who has been critical of the Vatican's hard-line pronouncements".

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster said the resignation was a "sad and painful moment", adding that the Church is made up of sinners called to conversion and repentance.

Sources

• Mail on Sunday
• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Christian Today
• Image: Catholic Herald

In an interview with the Sunday Star Times, American Msgr Robert Oliver praised the media's role, echoing a tribute he paid early last year.

"It's hard for any group over time to keep up the kind of energy that's needed to do this work," he said.

"What the media has been doing was to keep that energy up . . ."

Msgr Oliver was in New Zealand at the invitation of the National Office for Professional Standards late last month.

The promoter of justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he spoke at a training day in Wellington run by the Church.

Msgr Oliver told the SST the Church has made many mistakes historically, especially in not listening to victims.

"We had to change very much from those days. Is it true to say we are lagging behind others? I think the unfortunate truth is just about everyone was not listening to victims and not responding."

Msgr Oliver said statistical modelling suggests the number of paedophile priests has dropped below 1 per cent now and only a "very small number" are true paedophiles.

Pope Francis has said abusive priests number 2 per cent.

Serving in Boston when a major abuse crisis was exposed in 2002, Msgr Oliver said at the time he had no idea this was happening.

"When you first hear about abuse, the reaction is ‘it's just not possible, how would an adult harm a child' and then you quickly come to realise not only does it happen, but it is frightening how often it does happen."

As a canon lawyer, then Fr Oliver served as director of Boston's Office for Investigations from 2002 to 2005 and was part of a training team for implementation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' charter for the protection of children and young people from 2003 to 2008.

He is not interested in winning a PR battle over the Church's image, but rather in making concrete improvements and in hearing from victims' groups about these.

"You realise what this [abuse] does to people . . . how deeply harmed they are."

Sources

• Sunday Star Times
• Huffington Post
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Cardinal Raymond Burke, said it is impossible to reconcile the Catholic identity of a Catholic college with decisions to honour political figures who have taken positions in support of abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

"You cannot reconcile it — it is a contradiction, it is wrong, it is a scandal, and it must stop!" Cardinal Burke said.

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Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca was described as a "trusted cleric" when the Pope's appointment was announced on June 15.

A veteran diplomat, Monsignor Ricca had recently been serving as director of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican residence where the Pope has chosen to live.

Now Vatican journalist Sandro Magister of L'Espresso newspaper says questions have arisen about Ricca's conduct during a brief assignment at the apostolic nunciature in Uruguay, between 1999 and 2001.

According to Magister, a "rupture" occurred between Ricca and the nuncio in Uruguay, Bishop Janusz Bolonek, and Ricca was suddenly transferred. The journalist says those who confidentially examined the case used the expressions "pink power" and "conducta escandalosa".

Ricca was selected by the council of cardinals supervising the bank. But Magister says he won the Pope's trust through the familiar relations he established with him as director of the Domus Sanctae Marthae and of two other residences for priests and bishops passing through Rome, including one at which the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio used to stay.

Magister says that in late June, when nuncios gathered in Rome to meet Pope Francis in person, the Pope became convinced by "several incontrovertible sources" that he had put his trust in the wrong person.

Another scandal at the Vatican Bank would follow the sudden resignations of its two highest-ranking operational officers, director-general Paolo Cipriani and vice-director Massimo Tulli, on July 1, following the arrest of Vatican accountant Monsignor Nunzio Scarano on a money-smuggling charge.

Their departures — "in the best interests of the [bank] itself and of the Holy See" — forced the president of the bank, Ernst von Freyburg, to step in temporarily as director-general.

Sources:

Chiesa

National Catholic Reporter

Image: La Voce Del Popolo

"No. Never," the Sydney cardinal told the inquiry. He said the offending had largely escaped the view of Church officials who didn't know what a "mess" they were presiding over.

Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 till 2001, and responsible for establishing the Melbourne Response to deal with victims of child sexual abuse.

An overflow crowd heard him reject claims that there had been a "culture of abuse" among priests.

"I think the bigger fault was nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it," he said. He admitted his predecessor as Melbourne archbishop, Archbishop Frank Little, had "mishandled" one abuse case by destroying documents.

Cardinal Pell agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up.

"The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the Church," he said. "There was a fear of scandal."

He said the Church had been the victim of years of "intermittent hostility from the press" but he said this had helped uncover some of the Church's failings.

In its submission to the inquiry, the Catholic Church said at least 620 Victorian children had been abused by its clergy in the past 80 years.

The cardinal, who was the last of 160 witnesses before the inquiry, said many in the Church did not understand "just what damage was being done to the victims".

"If we'd been gossips, which we weren't ... we would have realised earlier just how widespread this business was," he said.

He agreed that the Church had been slow to address the anguish of the victims.

"I'm certainly totally committed to improving the situation. I know the Holy Father is too," he told the inquiry.

Cardinal Pell admitted that priestly celibacy "might have been a factor in some cases", though paedophilia was also perpetrated by married people in the community.

In the middle of last century, he said, the screening process for seminarians was "much too loose".

Sources:

The Australian

ABC News

The Age

The Australian

Image: The Age

Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said that priests who used theological language that was formulaic and boring risked making the gospel irrelevant.

Grey, dull and flavourless sermons need to be livened up with graphic stories and scandal contained within the Bible, the Cardinal said.

"The advent of televised and computerised information requires us to be compelling and trenchant, to cut to the heart of the matter, to resort to narratives and colour."

The Bible was "crowded with stories, symbols and images," he said.

Speaking at a conference in Rome, he said Twitter was also an effective way of spread the Word of God.

"We need to remember that communicating faith doesn't just take place through sermons. It can be achieved through the 140 characters of a Twitter message."

Cardinal Ravasi, a champion of new media who writes a blog for the website of Italy's respected financial daily, Il Sole 24 Ore, said that whether they liked it or not, priests in the pulpit should be aware that their congregations were "the children of television and the internet."

Sources

• The Telegraph
• SMH
• Image: Incaelo

In a interview on CBS, Dolan said the acts themselves and the decades-long cover-up are hard for him to bear or understand.

"In some ways, I don't want it to be over because this was such a crisis in the Catholic Church that in a way we don't want to get over it to easily. This needs to haunt us," said Dolan. "Those were very powerful moments that you don't forget."

"This painful issue continues to receive our careful attention", the Archbishop said.

Elected recently as president of the North American Bishops' conference, Dolan says that restoring the Church and the image of the Church is a huge task, but that radical change isn't the answer. He does not want to see

• married clergy
• women priests
• the diminution of sanctity of human life, and
• he is a strong supporter of marriage between a man and a woman that lasts forever.

Dolan says he would rather people to focus more on the beauty, charity and timelessness of the Church and not focus so much on what the Church prohibits. "Let's get back to where the Church is at it's best, rather than focus on these headline issues", he said.

Described by CBS' Morley Safer as an "hard to miss", "overweight", "burley", "cherubic Irish American" and as someone who who has "loads of charm", who "charges through life like a holy bulldozer", Safer says Dolan is "a laugh a minute" and a "tireless promoter of all things Catholic".

Asked by Safer if he always had the gift of the gab, Dolan said, "yes, according to my mom, she said she couldn't shut me up".

View the complete interview at CBS.

Source

• CBS News