Perhaps under Pope Francis the big transition of bishops started under Benedict XVI is going to be completed. In appointments for two key posts, Pope Francis has shown he is following the line traced by the now Pope emeritus: the appointment of Cardinal Reinhard Woelki as Archbishop of Cologne and that of
Cardinal Walter Kasper has called for a «Council-like solution» to the issue in his presentation during the consistory on the family. This «Council-like solution» is a reference to the approach taken by the Second Vatican Council to issues like religious freedom and ecumenism. i.e., not to change the tradition, but to create new openings. [...]
Perhaps Benedict XVI’s «silent revolution» is the main reason for the Vatileaks attacks. Step by step, one appointment after another, the Pope reorganized the «chessboard» of a Curia that – during the last years of John Paul II’s Pontificate – got all too accustomed to operate independently. And perhaps it is not [...]
«When we say: “We are Church” – well, it is true: that is what we are, we are not just anybody. But the “we” is more extensive than the group that asserts those words. The “we” is the whole community of believers, today and in all times and places. And so I always say: [...]
The crucifix exposed in Italian classrooms cannot be considered an «indoctrination». Furthermore, «a crucifix on a wall is an essentially passive symbol and this point is of importance in the Court’s view». Since every country can decide by itself «whether crucifixes should be present in State-school classrooms is, in principle, a matter falling within [...]