Charity in truth or truth in charity? This is the conundrum the more 300 delegates of the 133 associations under the Caritas Internationalis (CI) umbrella who voted May 14 for their new president. In the first general assembly that took place after the reform of the CI statutes, the delegates had to choose [...]
Since becoming pope, Francis has asked the Church repeatedly to reach outward toward the peripheries, and he immediately began to show his preference for them. His first papal trip was to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a periphery of the Mediterranean and an asylum for refugees. His first European trip outside Italy [...]
Bishop Marcello Semeraro, coordinator of the Council of Cardinals, should be the man who will communicate today to the chiefs of Vatican dicasteries the decisions the Council has made for Curia reform. At the presence of Pope Francis, following a schedule that has much of definitive and little to discuss, the chief of dicasteries [...]
The guidelines for the management of the religious institutes have been outlined in a circular letter signed Aug. 2 by Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The letter did not grab media headlines, since the focus was rightly on [...]
Pope Francis gave himself a «birthday gift». On December 17 the Pope received Cardinal Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Pope listened to the report that he asked Amato to write about Peter Faber, the first companion of St. Ignatius and “a model of virtue,” according to [...]
The most recent proposal floating is that of creating a Congregation for the Laity. After all – Cardinal Oscar Andrés Maradiaga has maintained – there is a Congregation for the Clergy and one for Bishops, but there is not one for the lay people, who are the biggest part of the Church. [...]
Those who expected Pope Francis to devolve the structure of both Vatican City State and the Holy See were probably disappointed. Yes, Pope Francis underlined repeatedly that «structures are important, but up to a certain point. » On the other hand, Pope Francis is also keenly aware that Vatican City State is «that [...]
Those who know Pope Francis very well note that we are yet to see him at his best. They maintain that Pope Francis is a skilled «politician,» a man of great culture, even if up until now he has only shown the pastoral and – some would concede – populist aspects of his personality. [...]
«In the concrete history of the Church, however, a contrary tendency is also manifested, namely that the Church becomes self-satisfied, settles down in this world, becomes self-sufficient and adapts herself to the standards of the world.» Moreover: «Not infrequently, she gives greater weight to organization and institutionalization than to her vocation to openness towards [...]
In 2008, Benedict XVI spoke to participants in the Study Congress organized by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law. In that occasion, he quoted Antonio Rosmini: «The human person is the essence of law». And he said: «The ius ecclesiae is [...]