The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors sat for 3 years before its term expired two months ago.

In freshening the commission Pope Francis added nine new people to its ranks, and re-appointed only eight of the previous members to the commission.

Pope Francis did not reappoint 6 existing members including New Zealand Church official Bill Kilgallon.

Kilgallon recently retired as director of the New Zealand National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS) for the Catholic Church.

His retirement was signaled a year ago to the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference (NZCBC).

Spokesperson for NZCBC, Amanda Gregan, had no comment on Kilgallon's non-appointment but points out that he has retired.

NOPS sets guidelines for the Catholic Church's policy for children, young people and adults at risk.

Kilgallon worked as its director for 5 years before his retirement.

Pope Francis' commission renewal comes amid criticism of his handling of accusations against a Chilean bishop.

The bishop stands accused of covering up abuse while he was a priest in the 1980s and 90s.

The Pope's revamped commission will meet with victims of sexual abuse in April.

Criticism of Commission

The abuse commission has faced increasing public scrutiny since it began in 2014.

A former commissioner complained of overwork and understaffing.

Another, Marie Collins, was an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from the commission in frustration last March.

She says some of those not reappointed were among the group's most active members.

Collins says she resigned in frustration at Vatican officials' refusal to cooperate with the commission's work.

She cited one Vatican office's refusal to send a response to all abuse victims who wrote to the office.

The Pope had approved sending the response after the commission asked him to.

Sources:

• • National Catholic Reporter
  • Washington Post
  • Image: Reuters

Earlier this year following Vatican advice, Bishop Michael Gielen instructed the Sons (aka Transalpine Redemptorists) to leave the Christchurch Catholic diocese. That order was later rescinded but others were not.

They may not, however, celebrate Mass or conduct any other "priestly ministry" for anyone outside their religious community.

Growth pains

Rather than follow Vatican instructions, the Catholic sect is in expansion mode. As CathNews recently reported, they're re staying in the Christchurch diocese where they have bought a church and land from the (blindsided) Anglican Church.

The Sons have also appealed Gielen's orders, saying they will take him to the Catholic equivalent of the Supreme Court.

With the new property, the cult's entire New Zealand property portfolio has a rateable value of $5 million.

Abusive power-hungry leaders

Former sect members fear the group's leadership will never cede control. The Church should do more to stop them, they say.

Fr Colin Marshall says his former superior, Fr Michael Mary, enjoyed having control over people.

One aspect of his management style is to isolate members from their families, he says.

Several former members - or their families - attest to this.

As an example, after not having a relationship with her child for several years, one mother recently discovered that might be because her child had joined the Sons.

Now, they have a family she is not allowed to see. The loss is "devastating" she says.

"They've been brainwashed and they need help."

Another former member says outsiders have no idea how extreme the Canterbury group has become.

"If you haven't been in there and heard Fr Michael talking, and heard his sermons and the way he communicates ... he has these people completely under his thumb."

She says the sect's defiant expansion ... "tells you it's about establishing power and control".

A man who left the sect after growing disillusioned with Fr Mary's leadership says the Sons' teachings grew increasingly extreme the more involved that priest became.

As a result members involve him in their personal decisions.

Even those who feel abused stay because most haven't experienced the Latin Mass outside the sect, a former member says.

"So it's like, because they offer the Latin Mass, it gives them this seal of authority and authenticity to anything and everything they say."

The Sons' deny all the pressure and abuse allegations, saying "There is no cult. There is no control".

Cult wants concessions!

Son's leader Michael Mary says he could be willing to do as he's asked - if a few concessions are granted.

He has written to Gielen saying his community will leave if three permanent replacement priests are found from one of three named traditional Church communities.

He says leaving would also be on the condition that it would involve no dereliction of duty on the Sons' part.

Liturgy expert and theologian Fr Joe Grayland has followed the drama surrounding the controversial Catholic sect. He says that the no dereliction of duty condition probably means the Sons want to be absolved of any alleged wrongdoing.

Source

• The Press

They see it as a wasted opportunity to address the gender divide in the Church, and ask if God did not create men and women in his own likeness. They feel confused by an outdated theology that continues to reflect the relationship in terms of a masculine God to a feminine Church.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, says the time is not right. However, "Can't they (the Vatican) read the room? When will the time be right?" asks Matthew.

Synodality needs defining

"I hope the Holy Spirit is blowing," Paul told CathNews.

"I know I'm not directly addressing the topic but it seems to me there is an issue with Synodality, of raising people's hopes only to shatter them seems an abuse of their voice," said Paul.

"This sort of thing happened at the Amazon Synod when there was talk of ordaining approved married men; it went nowhere.

"I guess this happens when the boss takes topics off the synodal table.

"We've heard a little about what Synodality isn't, but little if any about what Synodality is. I just wish someone would define it. In his feedback from the first session, not even Archbishop Martin who was at the Synod was able to give a clear view.

"It's a bit chaotic; how do we aim for something that seems in a fog?

"Francis wants behaviour changes from bishops but, as Bishop of Rome, doesn't he have to give witness to these behavioural changes?

"I really like Pope Francis; he's a breath of much-needed fresh air, and he regularly asks for our prayers. I'm praying for him," he said.

Anthony, a married man and father of three young women, writes - "In the context of the much-vaunted synodality, such secrecy and male authoritarianism is simply inconsistent with a new, listening, discerning and collaborating Church.

"At best it's not a good look - at worst it's deeply cynical and dismissive."

Women deacons not the issue

Some correspondents suggested the issue is larger than women deacons and has gone on for a long time.

"I was absolutely gutted when the opportunity arose to have liturgical language inclusive and it wasn't. I truly felt discriminated against.

"I read the divine office and it's all he and men.

"I fail to understand how priesthood stemming down through the generations from Jesus has become this male hierarchy," writes Trish.

Jo, another correspondent, writes "I think that the diaconate for women is a distraction from the real issue which is the reform of our priestly/leadership model which is beset with clericalism.

"Ordaining women deacons would be just another layer of clericalism which is, for many Christians, the weight under which the church is sinking into the mire of irrelevance.

"However, of more concern is the reason for this latest decision. It shows once again that a majority of the hierarchy - at least those with the power of global decision making - have an inadequate theology of baptism.

"Baptism admits people to full membership of the church so that there is 'neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. Galatians 3

"And we could of course rehearse again the evidence of the Second Testament about the place of women in the early church which shows that equal membership was their theological understanding and in many places dictated their practice."

Come Holy Spirit

Other ‘good' Catholics want to be hopeful but feel despondent.

"I still read at Mass, visit the sick and am involved in the wider community, but I'm kind of over what the Catholic Church will or won't do," writes Mary.

Anthony again, writes - "Where are the hierarchy's concrete proposals (or even suggestions) regarding recognising women's contributions and improving their influence and status within the Church's governance?

"The clerical hierarchy has had decades, generations, centuries to come up with solutions and proposals that recognise and keep apace with women's out-sized contribution to the Church's life. It has signally failed to offer anything that might persuade many women to linger within the fold.

"In the meantime, we are a Church that is wheezing along with one lung!

"As a husband and father of women I'm now beginning to feel like the last godwit on the beach! Patience is not unlimited. The time for actions rather than words is long overdue."

New Zealand reaction not isolated

New Zealand women and men are not alone in their perspective.

Katharina Goldinger is a theologian, a religion teacher at a grammar school and a pastoral worker in the diocese of Speyer, Germany.

Writing in Katholisch.de she says that the Synod on Synodality was actually supposed to open up the space for consultation, however a man has the last word, even when it comes to the position of women in the Church.

"The many voices around the world that had spoken out in favour of putting the issue of gender equality on the agenda have fallen silent. Instead, a separate room was opened as a diplomatic echo chamber...

"In a word, Brother Francis: it is dishonest to launch a synod that is supposed to open up the space for dialogue and consultation when the message expressed in concrete actions is the opposite...

"Women are not worthy to represent the incarnate God and the literal dominance of men is a brand essence of the Catholic Church."

Protests promised

A coalition of progressive reform groups has announced plans to stage protests, describing the handling of questions about the role of women in the church at the current Synod of Bishops on Synodality as "catastrophic".

"I see no desire on the part of the Vatican to seriously address the issue of women in church offices," said Regina Franken, European chair of the Catholic Women's Council, in remarks to KNA, the official news service of the Catholic bishops in Germany.

Franken labelled the Vatican's response as a "delaying tactic" and said "Women are no longer willing to accept these strategies".

Happy with the Vatican's response

However, some are pleased with the Vatican's response.

"No, to women deacons? Has it worked in the Anglican church?" asks Eileen.

"Catholic women should imitate Mother Mary and the female saints, not the Cows of Bashan or Barbie.

"Generally, XX and XY chromosomes exist for a reason.

"As Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, 'In the end, the truth will out'. And he was a baptised cradle Catholic as well."

Sources

• Supplied: Various
• Katholisch.de
• Crux

In the magazine "Dal cuore dello Stato", the government of the smallest state in the world lists 29 pages of advice from its specialised departments on how to live sustainably and conserve resources.

For example, we should not overload fridges and freezers in the home, use low temperatures in the dishwasher and washing machine and use pressure cookers and aluminium pans, which are 14 times more efficient at conducting heat than steel.

Standby switches and outdated or broken appliances should be taboo; instead, consumers are advised to use LED lamps, blackout curtains instead of air conditioning running at full speed and showers instead of baths with a maximum water temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. Continue reading

The Pope's plea was revealed in a conversation with Jesuits during his trip to Southeast Asia from September 2 to 13. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera published excerpts from these talks on September 24.

"I asked for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and I met her son in Rome. I have proposed to the Vatican to give her shelter on our territory" the report says quoting Pope Francis.

Suu Kyi's Detention and Health Concerns

Aung San Suu Kyi, 78, has been held in custody since the Myanmar military's 2021 coup, which ended a decade of democratic governance in the country.

She is currently serving a 27-year sentence on charges ranging from corruption to violating COVID-19 restrictions.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been kept largely out of public view, sparking concerns over her well-being.

Local reports have also suggested that her health is deteriorating, though officials have provided little information on her condition.

Pope calls for action in Myanmar

Pope Francis, who visited Myanmar in 2017, spoke out against the ongoing violence in the country.

"We cannot stay silent about the situation in Myanmar today. We must do something!" he said during his conversation with Jesuits.

He also emphasised the need for peace and democracy in the nation.

"The future of your country should be one of peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of everyone and respect for a democratic system that enables everyone to contribute to the common good" Francis added.

Executions condemned by human rights groups

As Myanmar's military junta continues its crackdown on opposition, the regime recently executed two pro-democracy activists, Maung Kaung Htet and Chan Myae Thu, for their involvement in a prison bombing in Yangon.

According to the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Myae Thu became the first woman executed since the coup.

"Words of condemnation are no longer sufficient, concrete action is much needed to end the culture of impunity under which the junta operates" said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, executive director of FORUM-ASIA.

"Death sentences and executions are not only a punitive response to legitimate resistance but also serve to crush all dissent through terror and fear" Bacalso added.

Sources

• La Croix International
• UCANews.com
• CathNews NZ

The Vatican is examining complaints against the SCV that include sexual and psychological abuse and financial malpractice.

The SCV is using media to discredit critics. Some supporters have threatened individual complainants and their families.

Nun discredited

Sister Lucía Caram OP faced the Catholic group's aggression could be when she posted a comment on X addressed to Alejandro Bermúdez, who is a journalist and SCVs longstanding public face, .

Caram's post indicated her support for the Vatican for expelling SCV founder and former leader Luis Fernando Figari from the order in August.

She also accused Bermúdez of having defamed, attacked and destroyed victims and asked if he would now deny his ties to the Catholic group.

Bermúdez replied, saying "Enjoy this heretic nun's charitable gem" and calling her a "malignant and horrible woman".

Many of his followers posted insults to Caram.

On 20 August Bermúdez published a podcast against Caram, making more attacks on her.

The SCV itself had demanded Figari's expulsion six years ago, he claimed. His expulsion shouldn't lead Caram to "rejoice in evil".

Bermúdez says the SCV critics "have no faith" and intend to destroy the organisation.

Victimising victims

Dr Rocio Figueroa, a former member of the Catholic group and an abuse survivor, told Crux most members are more diplomatic than Caram and some fear the press.

"Bermúdez shows the true face of the organisation, a reflection of how they think and how they act that can be seen without filters."

Figueroa is now a lecturer in Systematic Theology at Good Shepherd College in Auckland and an External Researcher at the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at Otago University, In 2011 she spoke out against the SCV.

What happened next piled abuse on abuse.

She says the whole community turned against her, insisted the abuse was her fault and tried to discredit her and her denunciation.

They think the measures against them are being taken "because they have enemies in the Church and in the press, not due to their faults. They're unable to question themselves".

Despite rumours about large financial compensation, Figueroa says none of the six accusers have received any form of compensation or indemnity until now.

Jose Enrique Escardó, who was the first victim to publicly accuse SCV of crimes in 2000 told Crux that, besides being accused of wanting to "destroy the Church", he and his daughter have suffered threats of torture and death.

Authors Pedro Salinas and Paula Ugaz who have written about SCV have been accused of "absurd crimes and face lawsuits".

They say they believe the SCV is behind the judicial measures.

The lawsuits against SCV members are progressing slowly, and its major leaders are being kept "out of risk" Salinas claims.

Source

• Crux Now

Steve Bassett, a UFO lobbyist in Washington, insists that it's evident the Catholic Church is aware of the existence of alien life and has concealed evidence in their archives.

As the executive director of the Paradigm Research Group, Bassett pointed out that the church has subtly suggested the existence of UFOs in religious artwork.

He told The Sun: "The Catholic Church, we have always known, has been aware of this subject going back perhaps hundreds and hundreds of years.

"It's gone so far as to say whoever these beings are, the Church would be happy to baptise them if they wanted to be baptised."

Bassett alleges that the Vatican library houses centuries of knowledge about aliens, with experts attempting to gain access to the Vatican Apostolic Archives. Continue reading

The instant outrage the tableau aroused — right or wrong — tells a larger story about something that has happened in Catholic life across the last four decades. But it has not been the only recent indicator.

In a January report on religious liberty the U.S. bishops told us somewhat alarmingly of their concern that "the very lives of people of faith" are threatened in the United States.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan inveighed in June against New York's proposed Nonpublic Dignity for All Students Act with complaints about "bullying" Catholics and forcing Catholics to "toe the line on "gender ideology."

One of the first attacks leveled at Kamala Harris once she became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president was that she "hates what [Catholics] believe."

We Catholics have come to prize a little too much being outsiders set against the culture and the world. Quite often, Catholics seem crouched defensively as though the church were under constant attack.

That's not a coincidence. For several decades, Catholics in the U.S. have been taught to see the world as a hostile place set against us, and to think of ourselves as a "sign of contradiction" set against that world.

This point of view has been nurtured within the church for two generations. Forty years can make it seem like Catholics always have seen our relationship with the world this way. We have not. And, in fact, that idea does not reflect our tradition very well.

The world as a partner

No matter how the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council called the church to turn toward and embrace the world — indeed, no matter how St. Augustine reminded us that our faith "does not repeal or abolish" the laws and norms of the world in which we make our earthly pilgrimage — we Catholics insist more and more on what historian Leslie Woodcock Tentler has called "Catholic difference."

We have come to be intoxicated by being different, standing apart, and the idea that the world is out to get Catholics.

It was not always this way. Vatican II itself proved that while the world is not the same as the Church, the Church can and must see the world as a partner.

The world is the field of salvation given to the church (Matthew 13:38).

A sign of contradiction

A temptation to stand apart from the world has always dogged the Church. The last 40 years have seen Catholics succumb thoroughly to that temptation, desiring to be a "sign of contradiction."

That phrasing — "sign of contradiction" — deserves particular attention. We find it in the Gospel of Luke (2:34) and in the Acts of the Apostles (28:22).

But the phrase came into its recent popularity during the John Paul II papacy. He used the phrase as early as a 1979 Angelus message, three months after his election.

But Pope John Paul began to speak of Catholics as a sign of contradiction to the world with considerable frequency after 1987.

A quick search of the Vatican website discloses 45 uses of the phrase "sign of contradiction" during the John Paul II papacy, 39 of which came in 1987 or later.

The Seventh General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which took place in October 1987 may well have been the turning point that gave so much life to that oppositional, "sign of contradiction" narrative that we live with even today.

Addressing "the vocation and mission of the lay faithful in the church and the world," the synod took up the most neuralgic questions that had dogged the church since Vatican II.

They included the role of women and the participation of laypeople more generally in church leadership.

In 1987, NCR described that synod as the "first clear test of strength between papal loyalists and post-Vatican II church leaders" — we might say, between those who preferred to restrain the Council's reforms and those who intended to press them forward.

Looking back, it seems clear that those who preferred to restrain the Council prevailed, and something shifted in the church after the 1987 synod.

The influence of leaders like Milwaukee's Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Chicago's Cardinal Joseph Bernardin waned.

Others like Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law and New York's Cardinal John O'Connor ascended, and the overall trajectory of the U.S. bishops has traced the path of their influence since 1987.

It seems inescapable that under Pope John Paul the church began to embrace its identity as a "sign of contradiction," a church in opposition to the world. Read more

• Steven P. Millies is professor of public theology and director of The Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

The Vatican served up a reminder of the point this week with a new "little end-of-life lexicon," which not-so-subtly amends an earlier Vatican ruling on the issue of withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration from chronically ill patients 17 years ago.

New end-of-life lexicon

The new lexicon was issued by the Pontifical Academy for Life.

While it doesn't have the force of law or express any new teaching, it nevertheless clearly marks a departure from the position taken by the Vatican in 2007, which was framed in the wake of the anguished Terri Schiavo case in the United States.

The lexicon, by way of contrast, so far has been issued only in Italian, and doesn't appear linked in a direction fashion to any current high-profile case.

The Schiavo case

Though it may be difficult to remember now, the Schiavo case was perhaps the most notorious, and controversial, end-of-life debate in the United States throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It became a political football during the 2004 election, in part because it was unfolding in Florida, a premier presidential battleground state, which at the time was governed by Jeb Bush, the brother of President George W. Bush.

To recap, Terri Schiavo went into cardiac arrest at her home in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1990, experienced massive brain damage, and was eventually diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state.

For the next several years various therapies were attempted without a favorable result, and in 1998, Schiavo's husband decided to remove the feeding tube which was keeping her alive.

That decision was immediately challenged by Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler.

Among other things, they insisted that Schiavo was a devout Roman Catholic and would not have wished to defy Church teaching, including the idea that withdrawing food and water from a patient is tantamount to a form of euthanasia.

The clash between husband and parents triggered an explosive legal and political debate which played out for the next seven years, until the feeding tube was definitively withdrawn and Schiavo died on March 31, 2005.

The case aroused wide and passionate Catholic activism, often driven less by the Church's official leadership than by a sprawling, informal horizontal network of pro-life activists and movements. Read more

• John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux, specializing in coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin's Aug. 12 conversation with President Masoud Pezeshkian was well-timed.

Iran is widely believed to be preparing to attack Israel following the July 31 assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

The Holy See press office said that the Vatican Secretary of State congratulated Pezeshkian on assuming office, after his victory in a July election triggered by his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash.

Parolin "expressed the Holy See's serious concern regarding current events in the Middle East, reiterating the need to avoid by any means the spread of the very grave ongoing conflict, instead favoring dialogue, negotiation, and peace," the press office said.

Is it surprising that Pezeshkian took Parolin's call as Iran reportedly gears up for a strike on Israel? How far do Holy See-Iran relations go back?

And why does the Vatican invest in relations with a country that the U.S. cut ties with in 1980 and categorizes as a state sponsor of terrorism?

The Pillar takes a look.

Was the call surprising?

When world leaders are on the warpath, they are typically reluctant to take phone calls from the Vatican.

While they may appreciate Holy See diplomacy in abstract terms, they are usually unwilling to listen directly to the Vatican's appeals for restraint and negotiation.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, for example, President Vladimir Putin eluded Pope Francis' attempts at a direct conversation.

Why was Pezeshkian willing to pick up the phone to Parolin? Was it because he's new to the top office? Or was he expecting a quick congratulatory call with little substance?

These hypotheses are unlikely, given that Pezeshkian has been in politics for more than a quarter-century. More likely is that Iran's new president thought the call would be beneficial.

How so? An account of the conversation on the Iranian president's website offers clues.

The readout says:

"Emphasising the principled positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in avoiding war and promoting world peace and security, the president considered and clarified that the actions of the Zionist regime in killing women and children, as well as the criminal act of this regime in the assassination of the guest of our country, are against all humanitarian and legal principles."

"According to all international standards and regulations, the right to defend and respond to the aggressor is reserved for the aggressed country."

Pezeshkian seems to have seen the phone call as a chance to present Iran as a country committed to international law, yet constrained to defend itself against external aggression.

The statement also appeared to suggest that Iran and the Holy See's positions on Gaza were compatible, if not exactly the same.

Cardinal Parolin, it said, noted that the Vatican wished to see "an immediate end to the killing of civilians in Gaza and the immediate establishment of a ceasefire."

The Iranian president, for his part, "considered the genocide and the killing of oppressed women and children in Gaza, the cowardly assassinations in the countries of the region, and the attack on hospitals and schools where refugees are housed, as part of the criminal actions of the Zionist regime."

Pezeshkian was no doubt aware that news of his conversation with Parolin would likely reach a global audience.

So the president probably concluded that it was in his overall interest to engage directly with the Vatican, seizing the opportunity to portray Iran as an unjustly injured party and any retaliatory action as self-defense.

• First published by RNS
• Luke Coppen is The Pillar's Senior Correspondent.

He told the UN committee on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons that the threat is especially dangerous today.

He highlighted the global increase in rhetoric and threats about nuclear weapons' use, the "tense strategic environment" many countries are facing and the "ongoing modernisation and expansion of nuclear arsenals".

He noted Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned nuclear weapons could be used if Russia faces a serious enough threat from Ukraine.

He said that in the Middle East conflict between Israel and Hamas, the possibility of nuclear weapons being deployed is a real concern.

He also noted that no-one knows if Israel has a nuclear arsenal - if so, some experts say it's likely to be small. Israel maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity on the matter.

While Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, it is reportedly trying to develop them in nuclear facilities Balestrero added.

His views are backed by calculations from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican).

It is quoted as saying global spending on nuclear weapons hit a world record last year.

Ican reported that estimated nuclear weapons spending went up about 13 per cent to a record $91.4 billion during 2023. It attributed the increase in part to a sharp increase in US defence budgets - although all nine of the world's nuclear-armed nations are spending more.

Technologies to deploy the weapons are also advancing.

Madly costly affront to humanity

Balestrero noted the Vatican believes possessing nuclear weapons even for deterrence is morally wrong. So is manufacturing them.

He told the UN that such actions are "an affront to humanity as a whole".

This view is the opposite of the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine, he noted. In that doctrine the opponents have nuclear weapons they can never use as each would wipe the other out.

Balestrero told the UN a nuclear weapons-free world is "both possible and necessary".

He suggested there are three ways to address the increase in rhetoric and spending around nuclear weapons and their use:

Make it so that non-proliferation and disarmament are seen as more than just legal obligations. Show them as "ethical responsibilities towards all members of the human family".

Develop "sincere dialogue" aimed at reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles worldwide.

Spend the money currently invested in nuclear weapons on humanitarian projects.

Source

• Catholic Herald

After learning of the General Secretary's passing on 22 July, Francis sent condolences to Vietnam's president and spoke of Trong's major contribution to the diplomatic process.

The Pope's message expressed his gratitude for Trong's fostering, promoting and developing of relations between Vietnam and the Holy See.

As the country's general secretary from 2011 until his death, Trong set the general direction of Vietnam's policies. He also served as president from 2018 to 2021.

"Pope Francis willingly sends the pledge of his spiritual closeness to your Excellency and all your fellow citizens at this time of sorrow for the nation" wrote Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Francis' behalf.

Full diplomatic relations

The improvement in the Vatican-Vietnam relationship has been coming for a long time.

It began in 2007, with Pope Benedict XVI seeking to establish full diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Vatican. Francis has continued to foster this objective.

Last July, Francis wrote to Vietnam's Catholics for the first time after reaching a landmark pact with the country's communist rulers.

The pact allowed a papal representative to reside in Vietnam and open an office in Hanoi for the first time since the communist government severed ties with the Vatican in 1975.

Ending historical conflict of ideologies

The Pope's letter "formally abolished and definitively ended the historical conflict of ideologies" said Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Vu Chien Thang last July at a Government Committee for Religious Affairs workshop.

The workshop discussed the letter's implications and sought ways to enhance bilateral ties. It also discussed strategies for greater Catholic engagement in education, healthcare and social welfare initiatives.

This development marks "a significant milestone in Vietnam-Vatican relations after nearly a century of strained ties due to ideological conflicts" said Bishop Joseph Do Manh Hung, secretary-general of Vietnam's Catholic Bishops' Conference.

He is sure both sides will find common ground to benefit the Vietnamese people and the Vatican.

"The papal letter represents a crucial historical moment with profound implications for the local Church, encouraging local communities to continue accompanying the nation."

It is a substantial achievement, reflecting Vietnam's commitment to safeguarding religious freedom for its citizens.

Thang is quoted as saying "This marks mutual recognition - the Communist Party of Vietnam acknowledges the Vatican as a friend and partner, while the Vatican acknowledges the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as cooperative partners, without posing threats to the Catholic Church and the Vatican State".

Vietnam's 7.2 million Catholics are an essential and inseparable part of the nation, he pointed out.

They work alongside other religious and non-religious communities to build the country and significantly contribute to Vietnam's social welfare, charity, healthcare and education.

Papal visit likely

After Pope Francis met with then-President Vo Van Thuong at the Vatican in 2023, Thuong officially invited him to visit Vietnam.

Francis told reporters if he does not go, his successor "certainly will!"

Source

• UCA News
• UCA News

The letter, written by poet Dana Gioia, emphasised the aesthetic value and cultural significance of the liturgy according to the 1962 rite: "It would be short-sighted to deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty, and devotion," the letter stated.

The signatories write: ‘We all, whether believers or not, agree that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the works of Palestrina, Bach, and Beethoven, as well as generations of great artists, is a great achievement of civilisation and part of humanity's shared cultural heritage.

"It is medicine for the soul, an antidote to the crass materialism of postmodernity."

The Catholic signatories explicitly emphasised their loyalty to the Pope and the validity of the current Novus Ordo: "We hope that you do not lump us together with some of the angry and disrespectful voices amplified by social media."

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco praised the letter as an ‘extraordinary statement by some great artists and cultural figures on the value and inspiration they have drawn from the traditional Latin Mass.'

A group of British celebrities published an open letter in the London Times:

"We implore the Holy See to reconsider any further restrictions on access to this great spiritual and cultural heritage."

This letter referred back to a similar one from a group of British writers and artists sent to Pope Paul in 1971.

That letter resulted in the "Agatha Christie Indult," which allowed the bishops of England and Wales to celebrate the pre-conciliar liturgy on special occasions.

Both letters react to speculation of further restrictions on using the pre-conciliar rites, to which recent Vatican decisions have contributed.

The Vatican's refusal to permit the recitation of the 1962 Mass in Australia's Melbourne Cathedral, based on the cathedral's role as a "parish church," is an example of the implementation of Traditionis custodes (2021).

Another example is its refusal to allow the ordination of members of the traditionalist Society of Missionaries of Divine Mercy in the scandal-plagued French Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon.

While some media, including the French daily "La Croix," cite curial officials denying that further restrictions are immanent, speculation continues.

Speculation intensified after Pope Francis received Gilles Wach, Prior of the "Institute of Christ the King," in an audience.

The institute celebrates the liturgy in the pre-conciliar form.

Initially, nothing was known about the content of the conversation until the institute announced that the pope had encouraged them to adhere to their charism.

The most recent example of the problem of "Latin-Mass" groups comes from Christchurch, New Zealand, where Bishop Michael Gielen has expelled a fringe group who lead illicit and abusive exorcisms without training and episcopal permission.

Traditionis Custodes

Traditionis custodes (Guardian of Tradition, 2021) restricted the celebration of the 1962 Missal and other pre-conciliar rites.

It rejected Benedict XVI's distinction of "ordinary" and "extraordinary" forms of the Mass in his motu proprio Summorum pontificium (2007).

It returned permission for the limited use of the pre-conciliar rites from the individual priest to the diocesan bishop.

Theoretically, this might have worked if it hadn't been for the divergent way bishops applied this permission.

In February 2023, Francis removed the diocesan bishops' authority to grant dispensations for the 1962 Missal by transferring this to his liturgical office.

He stipulated that bishops may not dispense from the prohibition of celebrating the pre-conciliar liturgy in parish churches and must seek the explicit permission of the Holy See.

Based on the cathedral's role as the "parish church of the diocese," Melbourne Archbishop Comemsoli's request to use the cathedral was denied.

The refusal to ordain the seminarians of the Society of Missionaries of Divine Mercy in Fréjus-Toulon is based on specific requirements.

All seminarians who wish to use the 1962 Missal after their ordination must show obedience to the Church's magisterium and seek the permission of their diocesan bishop, who must, in turn, obtain consent from the Vatican.

Part of the problem is the papacy's indecision on the matter since the 1970's.

While traditionalist groups such as the Institute of Christ the King continue to celebrate the pre-conciliar Mass based on their statutes, seminarians of the traditionalist Missionaries of Divine Mercy are refused permission for ordination due to their adherence to pre-conciliar liturgy, and exceptions seem random.

The confusion will continue, and the true nature of liturgical prayer will remain prey to secondary influences.

Liturgy is based on baptismal fidelity

Pope Benedict XVI wrote that the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963), came first because the liturgy is the heart and center of the Church's life.

We are not a social club but a community of baptised people who worship God and seek to live the Gospel of Christ daily.

Baptism brings responsibilities and an acceptance of what constitutes the Church's teaching authority.

We accept that the teaching authority of the Pope and bishops in council, to which the Second Vatican Council belongs, is a category of magisterium.

As baptised members of the ecclesial community, we listen to the Spirit guide the Church through the Church's magisterium.

To deny this is to turn one's back on the Catholic Church and to call into question the reality of one's baptism.

It becomes inauthentic to say that the teaching authority is wrong simply because it does not suit a personal point of view.

Baptism is the basis of how we pray, and how we pray shows what we believe.

Together, these create the "law of prayer" and "law of belief."

These are not cultural or aesthetic categories but theological ones. Liturgical prayer expresses an ecclesiology.

The breakdown in baptismal authenticity that unites magisterium and liturgical prayer as the basis of faithfulness to the Church has created a situation where ecclesiology becomes a matter of personal choice, and liturgical rites become the battleground of these choices.

One of the main reasons for the liturgical changes during and following the Second Vatican Council has been how the Church understands salvation (who can be saved, the Church's mission, and the sacramental role in the mysterion of salvation history).

Simply put, the pre-conciliar rites do not reflect this change and are at odds with the church's self-understanding.

When, in the 1950s rite of Good Friday, the Church prayed for the "perfidious Jews," and no one blinked an eye at the deep antisemitism, now we pray for the "Jewish People, the first to hear the word of God."

We pray differently now because the Church's self-understanding, expressed in the constitutions and documents of the Second Vatican Council, is different from those that went before.

Liturgical rites have meaning, and liturgical rituals express the inner meaning of belief, which is why the liturgy is called a "lex orandi," a law of prayer.

This "law of prayer" cannot be separated from the "law of belief," nor can they be played off against each other.

Since the Council, most so-called "Latin Mass" groups have become deniers of the magisterium of the bishops and Pope in council.

A recent example of this is the ordinations of priests in the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) in the Bavarian diocese of Regensburg.

The diocesan Bishop, Rudolf Voderholze, emphasised that the SSPX's ordinations were unauthorised and violated ecclesiastical norms. He also expressed hope for the SSPX's genuine efforts to return to full communion with the Catholic Church, respecting canonical regulations.

The prominent British and United States figures from politics, business, art, and media display an essential misunderstanding of liturgy as aesthetic.

They make a fundamental mistake: they do not understand the initiative sacramental function of the liturgical rites that underpin what the Church believes about itself and how it expresses this belief in a particular place and culture.

As a result, they do not express the deeper meaning of ecclesiology of the rites beyond the aesthetic of specific rituals.

Ultimately, it is nice that the liturgy inspires artists and musicians, but this is not the point or even essential; it is tangential.

Liturgical prayer is not primarily defined by its aesthetic but by its participation in the mysterion of salvation.

The rites use ritual gestures, postures, etc., to express the mysterion.

The problem with an aesthetic approach is that either the ritual expressions become overdone (rituals for the effete, or available to the "gnostic" few) or underdone (becoming too anthropocentric and robbed of mysterion).

The danger in both is either an appeal to a "universal" or idealised culture with its call to uniformity or an appeal to a "particular" or anthropocentric culture and its appeal to local culture.

In both instances, the unity of the Church is not considered because the ecclesiological basis of liturgy is lacking.

The struggle behind the liturgical fights

Liturgical divisions weaken the unity of the Church and are not to be ignored. However, the more fundamental issues are not essentially liturgical but soteriological.

With the introduction of culture as a category of theology throughout the 20th century (and since Vatican II), our understanding of redemption, humanness, salvation, gender, sexuality, and procreation has radically changed.

The liturgy is not at war with itself because it articulates our theology of redemption, which reflects the deeper changed experience since the mid-eighteenth century.

The crux of the liturgical debates is the viability of the Latin Rite Catholic Church to maintain a single liturgical expression when it cannot retain a single pre-modern understanding of salvation because culture has been given a place within the Church in the salvific dialogue between God and humankind.

As the forces of globalisation and inculturation make deeper inroads into the magisterial system's presumptions, we struggle to maintain a unified view of what it means to be Christian and Catholic in the modern world.

Therefore, it is no surprise that we have a disunified episcopacy, the rejection of papal authority, and liturgical divisions.

The divisions concerning the use of the 1962 Missal are significant theological ones.

That is because within this conflict lie our theological understandings of the Church, laity, ordination, ministry, salvation, women's rights, participation in worship, and the discipline of believing in the teaching authority of the Church.

Those who choose one over the other should be respected for their choice.

Those who try to celebrate in both rites create a schizophrenic relationship with the Church.

• First published in La Croix
• J. P. Grayland is a visiting professor at the University of Tübingen (Germany). A priest of the Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North (New Zealand) for nearly 30 years, his latest book is titled: Catholics. Prayer, Belief and Diversity in a Secular Context (Te Hepara Pai, 2020).

The "Instrumentum Laboris," or "working document," is an initial plan for the second and final stage of the synod that Pope Francis called in 2021.

His aim was to promote dialogue in the Church and beginning with months of listening sessions at the parish and diocesan levels.

Among the most mentioned concerns were LGBTQ acceptance, combating sexual abuse, fighting poverty and violence, and women's roles in the Church.

"The contributions received at all stages highlighted the need to give fuller recognition to the charisms, vocation and role of women, to better honour this reciprocity of relations in all spheres of the Church's life," Tuesday's document stated.'

What's happened since last year

After last October's synod meeting, bishops and lay representatives met to produce a report on the synod that was sent to local churches for feedback and reflection.

Male and female religious organisations, 108 national bishops' conferences as well as nine participating Eastern rite churches then sent their reflections back to the Vatican's synod office.

A team of 70 experts, including canon lawyers and theologians, collaborated to draft the document released on Tuesday.

But while the topic of female participation and leadership is prevalent in the latest document, highly anticipated questions about allowing women to serve as deacons — ordained persons who can perform some of the sacraments and preach at Mass — will not be discussed at the gathering.

The Vatican has made that clear.

Asked about women in the diaconate in a May interview with CBS News, Francis pushed back, saying that women have functioned as deaconesses without ordination in the past, providing "a great service" to the Church.

Off the agenda

On Tuesday, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Vatican synod office, confirmed that women deacons would not be on the agenda at the synod.

"I read what the Holy Father said and so far it's a ‘no,'" Grech said at the news conference presenting the document on Tuesday.

"But at the same time, the Holy Father said that the reflection and in-depth theological analysis must go on."

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who leads the European bishops' conference, also clarified that the synod will not be making a final decision on such matters.

"The synod will entrust its conclusions to the Holy Father," he said.

A synodal Church in mission

Indeed, Francis has already asked that this October's meeting focus on the question of "how to be a synodal church in mission," pushing off other hot button topics, including the welcoming of LGBTQ people, priestly celibacy and women's ordination, for study by 10 small groups, which will issue a single report in 2025.

The "Instrumentum Laboris" instructed participants to consider practical actions to realise Catholic women's "untapped" potential and to develop new possibilities for women at every level.

The document suggested creating new spaces where women may share their skills and insights, allowing for more women in decision-making roles, expanding religious women's roles and responsibility and increasing the women's leadership in seminaries and Church tribunals.

The document urged acceptance and embrace of diverse communities in the Church more generally.

It calls calling for greater lay participation, accessible liturgies and for the welcoming of marginalised groups.

The document also asked that language and images used in churches be "more inclusive."

Synod participants were asked to strengthen the role of councils of lay and religious people that assist parish priests in managing the community.

"This is one of the most promising areas on which to act for a swift implementation of the synodal proposals and orientations, leading to changes with an effective and rapid impact," the document read.

The authors of the document appear to recognize that the financial and clerical abuse scandals of recent years have tarnished the Church's reputation.

They call for more scrutiny of local churches to ensure transparency and accountability, suggesting that laypeople with experience in financial planning and audits be more involved.

To combat abuse, the authors proposed that Catholic congregations explain how they have implemented safeguards.

All these issues, the "Intrumentum Laboris" said, could be better dealt with through closer collaboration between dioceses and the national bishops' conferences.

If the Vatican can't solve the most contentious disagreements in the Church, the latest document seemed to project a softer approach on these issues.

"Sure, there have been tensions and conflicts," said the Rev. Giacomo Costa, special secretary of the synod.

He adds: "the Church is not homogeneous but harmonious."

On Tuesday, Costa said at the news conference: "It would be nice if everyone were able to put harmony first, and not ideas, ideologies or interests, that end up destroying what we claim we want to preserve."

Source

• RNS

The Vatican-published document - called the Instrumentum Laboris (or Working Instrument) - is based on 108 national summaries of bishops' conferences from around the world presented to the General Secretariat.

It is not a magisterial document or a catechism, but a way to encourage prayer, dialogue, discernment and the "maturing of a consensus", according to an explanatory paper.

The second round of the Synod on Synodality is to focus more on how decision-making processes in the church can be made more transparent at all levels.

The NZCBC also says the General Secretariat considered submissions from the 300 parish priests from around the world who attended a three-day working session in Rome in April, including Whanganui Parish Priest Fr Craig Butler.

The working paper

The working paper consists of five sections - the introduction, a section on "foundations" of the understanding of synodality, and three "perspectives" sections covering relationships, paths and places.

The NZCBC says the assembly will conclude with a final document,

After that, the synodal process will continue as "the entire People of God in each local Church will be called to concretise the call to grow as a synodal missionary people".

Transparency, accountability, synodality

The working paper focuses particularly on the need for transparency and accountability, and also on the role of women in the Church.

"A synodal church needs a culture and practice of transparency and accountability, which are essential to foster the mutual trust necessary to walk together and take co-responsibility for the common mission" the working paper says.

Demands for transparency and accountability are especially high-profile because of the Church's loss of credibility due to sexual abuse and financial scandals.

The paper also emphasises the fundamental need to make synodality visible in the Church through concrete changes.

"Without concrete changes, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible, and this will alienate those members of the people of God who have drawn strength and hope from the synodal way."

The need to recognise and strengthen the position of women in all areas of Church life has become clear in the course of the synodal process, the paper says.

"The contributions from all over the world called for a broader participation of women in all phases of church decision-making processes as well as better access to positions of responsibility in dioceses and church organisations in accordance with existing regulations."

The Australian Bishops Conference welcomes the Instrumentum Laboris' publication.

President Archbishop Timothy Costelloe says the working document "will help guide the members of the second assembly of the Synod during their meeting in October in Rome.

"The fruits of that meeting and the consensus that emerges will be entrusted to the Holy Father. He will then, after his own prayerful discernment, offer guidance and direction for the universal Church as it enters the implementation phase of the synodal journey."

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
• Katholisch.de

Most say they are not trying to damage the Order St Teresa of Kolkata (Mother Teresa) founded. Rather, they want to help it become the best version of itself.

Allegations

Power and authority are abused in the Order, the former sisters claimed.

There is a climate of excessive control and unthinking obedience.

A podcast in 2021, "The Turning: The Sisters Who Left", describes many former sisters' experiences.

They spoke of depression, sexual abuse, feeling trapped and suicidal thoughts.

Sisters' lives are isolated, with little family contact. Superiors keep sisters' passports, review mail and supervise phone calls.

Boundary violations in terms of physical contact were tolerated or explained away, they said.

Sexual abuse could unfold over considerable periods without being detected or punished.

Alleged perpetrators were sometimes transferred rather than held accountable; alleged victims were encouraged to remain silent.

The former sisters describe attempting to bring these problems to the attention of authorities, inside the Order and in the Vatican.

There was generally no response.

Reasons for leaving

Many former sisters cited abusive behaviour within the order and lack of action to resolve it as their reasons for leaving the Order.

One spoke of the Order's unhealthy attachment to suffering and harmful penances including daily self-flagellation.

Several said they were given little help when they left. Some were given as little as $500 after decades of service.

Years of Complaints

Former members say their attempts to bring concerns to church authorities, including the Vatican, yielded no concrete results for years.

As an example, one spoke of making a complaint at the Vatican around the time of Mother Teresa's death in 1997.

She wrote to Pope Francis in 2018, insisting the issues she'd perceived two decades before were still present.

Shortly afterwards, she had a phone call and later a meeting with Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo from the Vatican's Dicastery for Religious.

Carballo said he was "very concerned" about the issue and feared a potential public scandal, given the Missionaries of Charity society's global fame.

He said taking action was difficult as many sisters don't want to write things down.

Some told him they prefer to use the confessional to discuss any problems they face.

Several former sisters said they have been in touch with Carballo's successor at the Dicastery. Dialogue about problems within the Order is ongoing, they said.

"I believe that the pope should choose a person, or more people, to help the sisters to change and update their constitution or ways of life according to the Second Vatican Council" a former sister said.

Reaction

A spokesman for the Missionaries of Charity said the claim of an internal culture of abuse and neglect within the Missionaries "is patently false".

The complaints are "repeats of old grievances from a determined, small group of former members, nearly all of whom left the Missionaries of Charity a decade or decades ago".

Source

• CruxNow

Registrations for the "Oceania Speaks" conference included representatives from the Holy See diplomatic corps, religious communities and charitable organisations.

The June 23 event aimed to raise awareness of the impact of climate change in the Asia Pacific region.

The Australian Embassy to the Holy See-organised event incorporated an impassioned plea from Fiji's Archbishop Peter Loy Chong.

Listen to Oceania

In a video message, Loy Chong said "The world has yet to really listen deeply to the voices, particularly to the ‘tagi' [cries] of Oceania people".

We are vulnerable to the immediate and enduring impacts of climate change, he told those at the conference.

"We have to educate, empower and allow the regional voices of peoples of the Pacific to be heard, and not to be dominated and framed by politicians and funders who dominate these climate narratives."

Pacific is forgotten

A United Nations Development Programme report found about three quarters of Pacific Island nations' populations are affected by natural disasters.

The impact of climate change in the region is "largely overlooked" the report says.

It poses a serious threat, particularly to young people and future generations.

The report says that, as a result of rising sea levels, they will face the potential loss of their homelands, their cultural identity and work opportunities.

The report estimates that sea levels will rise between 25.5 centimetres to 61 centimetres by 2050.

Laudato Si'

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has stressed our responsibility to care for creation.

This includes everyone's "integral human development", particularly that of the poor and vulnerable.

He has written the encyclical Laudato Si' (2015) and the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum (2023) on the topic.

Francis also discussed these issues at the UN General Assembly in 2015 and at COP - the annual UN climate change conference.

Global response needed

At "Oceania Speaks," the Vatican's Archbishop Paul Gallagher said there is an "urgent need for a unified global response" to the crisis.

"In the context of Oceania, the impending threat posed by rising sea levels to many small Pacific islands states is deeply alarming, reaching beyond mere geographical boundaries.

"Entire villages [are] on the brink of destruction, forcing local communities — particularly families — into perpetual displacement that erodes their distinct identities and cultural heritage … [and their] natural heritage."

Logging and mining devastate

Foreign mining and logging in Papua New Guinea are causing devastating ecological and social problems, the conference heard.

Sister Philomena Waira of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea said local people are paying a cost.

"In the past, people had no problem with food and water.

"[People] were able to grow crops without fertilisers.

"As the years went by the governments are allowing foreign investors into our countries.

"After the mining is done, it has affected climate change, peoples' fishing, and animals have also run away."

Source

• CNA

Vatican prosecutors said that the 18-page manuscript, which apparently contains the first known specifications for the gilding of the Baldacchino canopy, had disappeared from the basilica archives.

The statement suggested that Vatican law enforcement had essentially set a trap: They launched an investigation after the basilica first made a complaint about the manuscript, and then followed the negotiations for the purchase of it until the money actually exchanged hands on May 27 in the Vatican.

The person implicated had worked for the Fabbrica di San Pietro. This entity administers the basilica and was attempting to sell the manuscript to the Fabbrica when he was arrested on May 27, according to a statement from prosecutors released by the Holy See press office.

The Italian newspaper Domani reported on the case on Thursday, stating that there is a dispute about the origins of the manuscript and whether it had been in the basilica archives before. An art historian, who is a friend of the accused, mentioned that there is no record of the manuscript in the basilica archives catalogue since at least 1900. Read more

Just days after the Vatican issued an apology for the pontiff's use of a slur in reference to seminarians who identify as gay, Francis reportedly responded to an email from a young gay man, telling him to "go ahead" with his vocation.

The young man apparently wrote to the Pope after seeing reports that Francis allegedly used a homophobic slur in a closed-door discussion with the Italian bishops' conference.

He reportedly asked the bishop to exercise caution in admitting gay men to seminaries.

The Vatican subsequently published and apology for the reported slur.

Prospective seminarian

The prospective seminarian, 22-year old Lorenzo Michele Noè Caruso, is reported to have written a lengthy email to Francis, expressing his bitterness at being turned away from the seminary.

He was disappointed by the pope's remark, he wrote.

He also told Francis that he and many others like him "live on the margins of the Church, often forced to hide because they are excluded from the community or forced to pay the high price of rejection for their sincerity".

He also said he hopes the Synod on Synodality, which has discussed LGBTQ+ Catholics' inclusion, will result in "a turning point to walk together under the light of Christ, where no one is rejected and everyone is an expression of God's plan for our Church".

Pope's handwritten response

Francis handwrote his reply to Caruso. His letter was scanned and attached to his email response to Caruso's message.

In the letter, Francis reportedly thanked Caruso for reaching out, saying he was struck by the phrase "toxic and elective clericalism".

"It's true! You know that clericalism is a plague? It's an ugly ‘worldliness'" he said.

Francis reiterated his position that "Jesus calls everyone, everyone", telling Caruso "go forward with your vocation. I pray for you, please do it for me (I need it)".

All welcome

The Vatican has also said Francis has reiterated his long-standing view that "in the Church there is space for everyone, for everyone! No one is useless, no one is superfluous, there is space for all. Just as we are, everyone".

Source

• America Magazine
• CruxNow
• CNA

After reviewing the complaint dated back to the 1970s, the Vatican decided no further Church inquiry was required.

The Vatican's finding is similar to that of the New Zealand Police, which concluded earlier this year that Cardinal John Dew had no case to answer.

When the story broke in the media in March, Dew responded personally - "No doubt many of you have been dismayed at the many instances in which I have had to decline to participate in baptisms, weddings, funerals and Diocesan events."

He said he was acutely aware of how distressing the allegations have been - and are - for many people: survivors who have put their trust in him, the church community, his family and friends.

"Throughout my life as a priest, I have endeavoured to serve the Church and uphold the Gospels with all of my ability" Dew emphasised.

Vatican finding confirmed

The Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop, Paul Martin, confirmed the Vatican finding.

"Cardinal John Dew can now resume public activities that he stood aside from under Church protocols when the allegation was brought to the attention of the Church in May last year" Martin said.

Dew retired as Archbishop of Wellington in May last year when he turned 75 - the retirement age for Catholic Church bishops.

"The Church became aware of an allegation of abuse being made against Cardinal Dew at about the same time as his retirement" Martin said.

"Cardinal Dew immediately stood aside from all public church activities while the Police investigated the allegations.

"When the Police advised in March that no charges would be laid, Cardinal Dew continued to stand aside while a separate Vatican review proceeded, using the Church's international procedures for complaints against bishops.

"With the Church's review complete and no further action proposed, Cardinal Dew can resume public Church activities.

Pastoral support

"This has been a distressing experience and painful for everyone concerned" Martin said.

"The Church has an ongoing pastoral responsibility to offer support to all those involved and continues to do so.

"This includes the complainant to whom the Church has continued to offer support."

Source

• Supplied - NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• CathNews