News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 17 January.
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• Pope Francis names 19 new Cardinals;
• Holy See Ambassadors gather for New Year meeting with Pope Francis
• 6 Catholic priests are ordained in China
• a new diocese for Australia, and;
• the Australian Christian Lobby responds to calls to remove the Our Father from Parliament.
TRANSCRIPT
BOBBIE: Pope Francis has this week named 19 new Cardinals from 12 countries across the globe including Philippines, Haiti and the Ivory Coast.
Following his Sunday Angelus, the Holy Father announced that he would create 16 new Cardinals on 22 February, the Feast of the Chair of Peter. An additional three Archbishops Emeriti will join the College of Cardinals in recognition of their service to the Holy See and the Church.
Pope Francis said the diverse group of men “represent the deep ecclesial relationship between the Church of Rome and the other Churches throughout the world.”
In a letter addressed to the 19 new Cardinals, Pope Francis emphasised that their elevation was not to be considered a promotion or an honour.
Pope Francis said “it is simply a service” that calls us to “widen our gaze and enlarge the heart.”
“This ability to see farther into the distance and love more universally with greater intensity can only be achieved by following the same way of the Lord: the way of bowing down and of humility, in the manner of a servant,” he said.
More details via news.va
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International Ambassadors to the Holy See gathered in the Vatican this week for a New Year’s greeting from Pope Francis.
Religious freedom, human trafficking and care of the environment were three key issues, which were the focus of Pope Francis’ address.
Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See John McCarthy shared his impressions with Vatican Radio.
JOHN MCCARTHY: The overall message is one of hope and of rededication to the fundamentls of Christian civilisation, with references to the family, references to refugees, the environment, to religious freedom and peace. I talk about rededication as being rededication to peaceful solutions to almost intractable world problems such as Syria and Palestine. That’s a part of what the Pope sees and puts, not in an optimistic sense, but in the sense of providing a basis on which there can be a way forward.
BOBBIE: And you can hear the full interview on the Vatican Radio website.
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Six new priests have been ordained in China recently, sparking hope at the beginning of the year in mission territories that have lacked priestly vocations.
According to a report from Fides News Agency, four men were ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Kai Feng by Bishop Lian Jian Sen. Fifty priests, forty seminarians and 1000 faithful were in attendance, making it the diocese’ largest ordination in recent years.
It was also reported that on the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, the neighbouring Diocese of Zhu Ma Dian saw two men ordained – the first ordinations in that diocese since 1933.
Both dioceses are located in the Henan province of China, 700km south of the capital, Beijing.
Details at Fides News Agency
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Pope Francis has announced the formation of a new diocese in Australia. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Melbourne is being established to serve the growing number of Syro-Malabar Catholics in Australia.
The Eparchy of Melbourne is only the second Syro-Malabar diocese outside of India – where the Church was founded by St Thomas the Apostle in the first century.
Bishop Bosco Puthur has been appointed as bishop of the new Eparchy. Bishop Puthur was previously a lecturer, seminary rector and vicar general in India.
President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Archbishop Denis Hart has warmly received the new bishop, stating: “I welcome Bishop Bosco Puthur as the first Bishop of the St Thomas Catholics in Australia, and I look forward to working with him as a colleague in Melbourne, while he has care of his brothers and sisters through the whole country.”
The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the 22 Eastern Churches in communion with Rome. There are currently 4.2 million Syro-Malabar Catholics throughout the world, with several thousand residing in Australia.
That story via ACBC Media Blog
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Greens senator and acting leader Richard Di Natale is calling for the Federal Parliament to stop reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the opening of Parliament each day.
Senator Di Natale said he will move to end the reading of prayers at the start of each sitting day as Australia is made up of different religions and parliament should represent all faith traditions.
The Australian Christian Lobby has said that they believe the move will fail, as the Coalition and Labor have consistently told ACL through it’s election questionnaires that they support retaining the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.
ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said “It is disappointing the acting Greens leader wants to take away something of Australia’s cultural heritage.”
“The Christian ethos underpinning western civilisation has fostered free and prosperous societies, including our liberal democracy,” he said.
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