News from around the Catholic world for the week ending 28 February.
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• Cardinal George Pell’s new Rome appointment
• Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI makes an appearance for the creation of nineteen Cardinals
• Pope Francis issues a letter to families
• Ukrainian Archbishop pleads for support from European nations
• Annual 40 Days for Life campaign set to kick off around the world.
TRANSCRIPT
BOBBIE: The news of Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell’s appointment as the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy has been warmly welcomed around the world this week by bishops and commentators.
The announcement was made in Rome on Tuesday local time. Cardinal Pell is expected to relocate to Rome in late March, with Bishop Peter Comensoli serving as Apostolic Administrator in the Archdiocese of Sydney.
As Prefect, Cardinal Pell will have the most senior position ever held by an Australian in the Church.
The Secretariat of the Economy is a new high-level department which is tasked with managing the economic and administrative affairs of the Holy See in Rome.Key tasks for the new Secretariat include the implementation of new approaches to management, financial planning and auditing in the Vatican. It represents part of the major reform of the Roman Curia initiated by Pope Francis and the Council of Eight Cardinals.
In a statement, Cardinal Pell said that he is “deeply honoured” to take on the role, which will provide the opportunity to “enhance the Holy See’s capacity to support the good works of the Church, especially those which help the poor and disadvantaged”.
Positive reactions to the appointment have come from around the globe, with veteran correspondent John Allen Jr commenting that Pope Francis’ decision shows “a new day is dawning” in “transparency and accountability” at the Vatican. Allen said of Cardinal Pell, “he’s like a linebacker in a cassock – a tough, no-nonsense guy not likely to be cowed by Vatican mandarins who resent the intrusion on their prerogatives.”
Statements of support have also come from Cardinal Pell’s brother bishops, including Bishop Anthony Fisher of Parramatta who said “he is a man with great ideas who also knows how to get them to happen…”, and Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne who said “[he]has for twelve years been a true leader for the people of the Archdiocese of Sydney and he will be missed by [his fellow bishops].”
Hobart’s Archbishop Julian Porteous has also released a statement saying that this appointment by the Holy Father is a great honour for the Church in Australia and the Australian community in general.
“The appointment by Pope Francis is a recognition of the high esteem in which the Holy Father holds the Cardinal and a recognition of how highly he values his contribution to the universal Church,” he said.
Cardinal Pell leaves the Archdiocese of Sydney after 13 years as Archbishop. Highlights of his leadership in Sydney have included an elevation to the College of Cardinals in 2003, hosting World Youth Day in 2008, and a longstanding defence of orthodoxy in the Archdiocese.
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Pope Francis has created nineteen new cardinals in a consistory on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter, urging them to understand what the office of cardinal means in service for the Church. Vatican Radio reports:
VATICAN RADIO: In his allocution, Pope Francis encouraged the whole College of Cardinals to recognize their office as one of service and readiness for sacrifice. “The Church needs your courage, to proclaim the Gospel at all times,” said Pope Francis, “both in season and out of season, and to bear witness to the truth.” The Holy Father went on to say, “The Church needs your prayer for the progress of Christ’s flock,” reminding the Cardinals that prayer, along with the proclamation of the Word, is the primary task of the Bishop.
In attendance at the consistory was Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who surprised the new cardinals in one of few public appearances since resigning as pope one year ago. The pope emeritus declined a special seat alongside Pope Francis to sit with the new cardinals, and warmly embraced the current pope both before and after the ceremony.
The youngest of the newly created cardinals was 55-year-old Cardinal Chibly Langlois, Archbishop of Les Ceyes in Haiti. In an interview with Fides News Agency, Cardinal Langlois expressed his gratitude to the Holy Father for appointing a representative from the poorest country in Latin America.
Cardinal Langlois said “Our local Church is grateful to the Pope for appointing a Cardinal for Haiti, a most significant act: it gives our small country a presence in the eyes of the world .
“The Church in Haiti lives in a constant spirit of evangelisation… [this]include[s]living and sharing the concerns of the poorest of our people, as Pope Francis has so often said,” Cardinal Langlois said.
Details via news.va
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Pope Francis has this week issued a letter to families, asking for their prayers in the lead up to the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October this year.
The Synod has been called to discuss the theme of “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelisation” and will involve bishops, priests, consecrated men and women and the lay faithful.
In his letter, the Holy Father stresses the significance of the Synod, and exhorts families to contribute through their prayers, saying: “Such support on your part, dear families, is especially significant and more necessary than ever.
“This Synodal Assembly is dedicated in a special way to you, to your vocation and mission in the Church and in society; to the challenges of marriage, of family life, of the education of children; and the role of the family in the life of the Church. I ask you, therefore, to pray intensely to the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit may illumine the Synodal Fathers and guide them in their important task.”
The Holy Father also wrote that the Extraordinary Synodal Assembly is to be followed by an Ordinary Assembly and the World Meeting of Families in September 2015.
“May we all, then, pray together so that through these events the Church will undertake a true journey of discernment and adopt the necessary pastoral means to help families face their present challenges with the light and strength that comes from the Gospel,” the Holy Father said.
You can read the full letter on the Vatican News website.
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The Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has this week held a press conference appealing for support for Ukraine from the European Nations. Vatican Radio has that report.
VATICAN RADIO: Speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday at Vatican Radio, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk denounced the fact that the cry of the Maidan protesters went largely unheard and ignored until the explosion of violence last week that left some 100 people dead, and thousands more injured.
He said that Ukraine is now living through a dark time because nobody knows how the situation is going to evolve… But he also said it also a moment of great hope because Maidan has become a yeast that has caused the whole Ukrainian population to ferment.
After recounting at length and in detail the chain of events set off on November 29th when the President refused to sign a pact with the EU, Archbishop Shevchuk made an appeal for solidarity.
“I would like to ask Europeans to wake up because what is happening in Ukraine, sooner or later, will touch all of you. Because Ukraine is part of Europe. And if people continue to pretend that nothing is happening, not only will things worsen in Eastern Europe, but this will cause great lack of faith in European values in the Western nations”.
Shevchuk also appealed for solidarity and help for the many thousands who have been wounded during the Maidan uprising. He says many countries including Poland, Lithuania, the Czech republic and Slovakia have already offered to receive the wounded. And he makes an appeal to Italy to do the same.
Shevchuk expresses his gratitude to Germany, Poland and France for having sent their foreign ministers to Ukraine to act as peace mediators in the most difficult moment of the standoff. But he warns “this kind of solidarity must continue because the danger that one of our neighbours will provoke a civil war has not blown over”.
The full story via news.va
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BOBBIE: The International 40 Days for Life Campaign of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion kicks off around the world next Wednesday, 5th March.
Sydney will be one of hundreds of cities worldwide to take part in the 2014 campaign, with vigilers gathering outside of abortion clinics around the clock to give peaceful witness and pray for all those affected by abortion.
Sydney’s event, coordinated by Family Life International Australia, will launch on Tuesday night at St Peter’s Surry Hills. In a 2013 interview with Cradio FLI Australia Executive Director Paul Hanrahan encouraged those who have never attended before to consider going along.
PAUL HANRAHAN: I understand that people have a lot of trepidation about it, and there may be some fears about it because of what they’ve heard or what they might perceive goes on. Once they’ve been there once they’re quite relaxed and they feel it was a very prayerful and spiritual event and they feel, rightly, that they’ve done something that’s effective; they’ve come along and they’ve prayed while people die. That’s what goes on across the road, we can’t ever forget that, it’s a place where people die, unborn children, in that place. As Cardinal George some years ago said about praying in the streets outside abortion clinics, he said the Church has always accompanied the dying with prayer. That we do, and we pray for the conversion of all those involved in that business, and of course there’s also significantly quite often a lot of turnarounds, a lot of people who change their minds when they see people prepared to come and commit to that level of prayer, and they’ve decided to keep their children. I’ve been blessed enough to have held a lot of those babies in my arms.
BOBBIE: The Sydney launch will begin with Mass at 6pm celebrated by Bishop Terrance Brady and will be followed by a candlelit procession to the local abortion clinic and back to the church for exposition.
The night concludes at 10pm with the traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. Other cities taking part in the campaign include Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Tweed Heads.
The prayer vigil will run throughout Lent, concluding on 17th April. For more details visit 40daysforlife.com or fli.org.au.
Music Credit: Waking Up Instrumental – Dexter Britain
