Dominican Sister Lucía Caram on the television program “Cuentos Chinos” (“Tall Tales”) in Spain. / Credit: Mediaset

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Yesterday Pope Francis received the controversial nun Sister Lucía Caram and team members of the Spanish-language news portal Religión Digital, which regularly publishes content contrary to Catholic doctrine.

The pope’s March 13 audience with Caram and the Religión Digital journalists went unmentioned in the Vatican Press Office’s daily news brief.

In an article, Religión Digital, now in its 25th year, stated that the Holy Father met with its members for half an hour and reportedly encouraged the team: “Do not lose hope. Continue fighting for this living Church and making it known.”

The article noted that the pontiff met with the visitors in “the back room of the Paul VI Hall, (la auletta),” which is “the same office where he received [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Nicolás] Maduro, and Raúl Castro,” presidents of Ukraine, Venezuela, and Cuba, respectively.

Participating in the audience with the pope were Caram, a Dominican nun; the director of Religión Digital, former priest José Manuel Vidal; journalists José Lorenzo and Jesús Bastante; and Father Ángel García Rodríguez, president of the nongovernmental organization Messengers of Peace.

Topics such as “the Church in Spain, future challenges, his health, extreme critics, the question of seminaries, future trips, and the validation of Vatican II” were discussed.

“Vatican II was a midfield goal for the Church, which has done us a lot of good, and which was necessary, although not everything has yet been put into effect,” the pope reportedly commented.

According to Religión Digital, the group gave Pope Francis on the 11th anniversary of his pontificate “a special gift: the tens of thousands of messages of support received in the RDconelPapa campaign [‘Religión Digital [Is] with the Pope’] that came from all corners of the world,” for which the Holy Father expressed his great appreciation.

Caram commented on Facebook that “we saw a serene pope, he looked very well. We were able to talk, listen, and share. I gave him a gift that moved him: a case with the book of the Gospels and psalms that a soldier had on him when he died on the front” in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Who is Sister Lucia Caram?

Caram, 57, is a Dominican nun from Argentina who lives in Spain. She is known for various controversial positions, such as her support for Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

In 2023 she spoke out in favor of homosexual couples being able to “marry in the Church.”

In 2017, in an interview with porn actor Nacho Vidal, the nun criticized that “for a long time the Church has dedicated itself to stoning those who weren’t living according to the norm.”

In 2014, she told La Opinión de Málaga online news that “those who freely make the decision [to abort] have to be the people [involved]. The Church cannot meddle in there. Not even God, who made us free for a reason.”

In 2013, interviewed by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the nun defended the use of contraceptive methods and claimed that “hell does not exist.”

It should be noted that an audience with the pope is not a papal endorsement by association with the person or persons visiting him or their views and that the Vatican Press Office does not confirm or deny statements allegedly made by the pope in such private audiences or nonpublic interviews.

What is Religión Digital?

Religión Digital is a website that regularly publishes content contrary to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. One of its most controversial articles, written by the Jesuit priest Juan Masiá, denied the virginity of Mary. On the same portal, on another occasion Masiá defended euthanasia.

Caram has also been a contributor to the portal.

In 2016, the well-known Spanish priest and demonology expert Father José Antonio Fortea told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that Religión Digital was “a website that continually promoted all authors who attacked dogma and the ecclesiastical hierarchy.”

Fortea questioned that some Catholics finance Religión Digital and warned that the portal is a “source of waters poisoned by heterodoxy.”

After Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation from the pontificate in February 2013, a month before the election of Pope Francis, Religión Digital published on its front page: “The problem is not the pope... the problem is the papacy.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cardinal Mario Grech and Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 28, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Church experts will meet in study groups to examine the question of women deacons and other key topics through June 2025 — well beyond the Oct. 27 conclusion of the final assembly of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis revealed in a new letter to the synod’s general secretary released Thursday.

Writing to Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, the pope noted that the 42-page Synthesis Report produced after the first session of the synod assembly held last October “enumerates many important theological issues,” which “by their very nature, require in-depth study.”

Because it won’t be possible to complete this study before the start of the next synod assembly on Oct. 2, the pope explained, “I am arranging for them to be assigned to specific study groups, so that they may be properly examined.”

In his letter Pope Francis listed 10 themes he wants the study groups to examine. They are:

1. Some aspects of the relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church.

2. Listening to the cry of the poor.

3. The mission in the digital environment.

4. The revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a missionary synodal perspective.

5. Some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms.

6. The revision, in a synodal missionary perspective, of the documents touching on the relationship between bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations.

7. Some aspects of the person and ministry of the bishop (criteria for selecting candidates to episcopacy, judicial function of the bishops, nature and course of ad limina apostolorum visits) from a missionary synodal perspective.

8. The role of papal representatives in a missionary synodal perspective.

9. Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.

10. The reception of the fruits of the ecumenical journey in ecclesial practices.

These selected themes were among a more extensive list of topics deemed “matters of great relevance” that came up during the synod’s first session in October 2023 that required consideration “at the level of the whole Church and in collaboration with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” according to the Dec. 12, 2023, document from the synod’s general secretariat titled “Towards October 2024.”

Observing that these issues require extensive review, Pope Francis noted that there is inadequate time to fully address them ahead of the synod in October. Therefore, he said, “the study groups will offer an initial account of their activity on the occasion of the second session and, if possible, will conclude their mandate by the month of June 2025.”

The pope said “it is the task of the General Secretariat of the Synod, by joint agreement with the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia, to constitute these groups, calling pastors and experts from all continents to take part in them, and taking into consideration not only existing studies but also the most relevant current experiences in the people of God gathered in the local Churches.”

“It is important that the aforementioned study groups work according to an authentically synodal method, of which I ask you to be the guarantor,” the pope continued in his letter to Grech.

At a press briefing at the Vatican on Thursday, officials of the Secretariat of the Synod discussed the pope’s letter as well as two new documents the secretariat released in conjunction with the letter.

The first document, titled “Five Perspectives for Theological Exploration in View of the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” reflects on the guiding theme of the synod: “How to Be a Synodal Church on Mission?”

It highlights that the next session will serve to deepen “the dynamic connection between the participation of all and the authority of some, in the horizon of communion and mission … in its theological meaning, in the practical ways of setting it in motion, and in the reality of canonical structures.”

The document also outlined the intermediary steps that are to be taken in the upcoming months in preparation for the synod, noting that this process will be built upon a “new consultation process,” articulating this will unfold on three distinct levels: the local Church, the groupings of Churches (i.e. national, regional, continental), and on the universal level.

The second document is titled “Study Groups on Questions Arising in the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to Deepen in Collaboration with the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.”

It is the second document that specifies that theme No. 5 — regarding matters related to ministerial forms — “is the context in which the question on the possible access of women to the diaconate can be appropriately posed.”

The study group formed to examine this question will be under the direction of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the document notes. This group “is entrusted with the task of continuing “theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate, taking advantage of the results of the commissions specially established by the Holy Father.”

The group’s work “will also aim to respond to the desire expressed by the Synodal Assembly for ‘a greater recognition and appreciation of the contribution of women and a growth in the pastoral responsibilities entrusted to them in all areas of the life and mission of the Church.”

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has no plans to resign from office — though he says some in the Church wish he would. 

The pontiff addresses the topic in “Life: My Story Through History,” his forthcoming autobiography. Excerpts from the book, which explores in detail the most significant moments of the 87-year-old’s life up until the present day, were published March 14 by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. 

In the book, Pope Francis says that despite the criticism and medical issues he has faced during his 11-year pontificate, he considers the Petrine ministry to be “for life” and sees no conditions for resignation, barring serious physical impairment.

“Over the years, perhaps some people have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after hospitalization, I would make an announcement like this, but there is no such risk: Thanks to the Lord, I enjoy good health, and God willing, there are many projects still to realize.” 

The pope says that some are already focusing on who might succeed him, which he says was “only human,” but he also warns that this kind of speculation can be motivated by personal gain or “for profit in the newspapers.” 

Addressing criticism leveled against him during his more than 10 years as pontiff, the Argentinian pope acknowledges that he was hurt by those who claim that he is “destroying the papacy.” But he says that he would have to go to the psychologist once a week if he paid attention to all of the criticism, which he suggests is motivated by opposition to his desire to make the Church more pastoral and less monarchical. 

The pope also writes that it has “pained” him to see Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and lived in the Vatican as pope emeritus before passing away on Dec. 31, 2022, used against him for “ideological and political purposes” by “unscrupulous people who, not having accepted his resignation, have thought of their own gain and their own little garden to cultivate, underestimating the dramatic possibility of a fracture within the Church.” 

In the new book, Pope Francis also defends arguably the most divisive move of his papacy: the Vatican’s recent controversial approval of blessings for same-sex couples. The pope said that the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans confirms that “God loves everyone, especially sinners,” and that if some decide not to implement the guidance, as many bishops and some entire episcopal conferences have, “it does not mean that this is the antechamber of a schism, because the doctrine of the Church is not called into question.” 

While the pope says that marriage between people of the same sex is not a possibility, he reiterates his approval of civil unions, stating that “it is right that these people who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.” 

Twists, turns, and a ‘small crush’ 

The forthcoming autobiography reveals many details of the pope’s family history, upbringing, and ordained ministry — including several twists and turns and “near misses” along the way. 

For instance, the pope shares how his paternal grandparents and father were almost aboard an Italian ship that sank in 1927 en route to Argentina, resulting in the death of 300 emigrants. But the Bergoglio family didn’t have enough money to buy tickets and were providentially spared from the doomed voyage. 

Pope Francis also recounts how as a seminarian he developed a “small crush” on a young woman he met at his uncle’s wedding, whom he was “dazzled by.” 

“For a week I always had the image of her in my mind and it was difficult for me to pray! Then luckily [thoughts of her] passed, and I dedicated body and soul to my vocation.” 

Another near redirection occurred after World War II when the young Jesuit asked to go to Japan as a missionary. But his request was denied due to health concerns.

“If they had sent me to that mission land, my life would have taken a different path; and maybe someone in the Vatican would have been better off now,” the pope quips, referring to his detractors in the Curia. 

Francis also recounts some of the highlights of his ordained ministry, such as the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, but also the more difficult stretches, such as his experience during the Argentinian dictatorship of 1976–1983 and his “exile” into rural Argentina by his Jesuit superiors. 

“It was a period of purification,” the pope says of his years in Cordoba in the 1990s, which came about after mistakes he committed “due to my authoritarian attitude.” 

“I was very closed in on myself, a little depressed.” 

Important formative figures also factor into Pope Francis’ autobiography, including his paternal grandparents, Giovanni and Rosa, but also his boss while a student in a laboratory: a woman named Esther whom the pope describes as “a true communist.”

Abortion, surrogacy, and defacing art 

In “Life: My Story Through History,” Pope Francis also states his views on some of the most pressing issues facing the Church and society. 

He reiterates his description of abortion as “a criminal act” akin to hiring “hitmen.”  

“No more abortions, please! It is essential to always defend and promote conscientious objection.” 

The pope also condemns surrogacy as “inhuman,” as it “threatens the dignity of men and women, with children treated as commodities.” 

On the topic of the protection of creation, Pope Francis writes that “time is running out” to save the planet but urges activists to not resort to violence or “defacing works of art” in their efforts to push for change. 

The pope also emphasizes the need for the Church to follow Christ’s example of going to people on the margins in its care for same-sex-attracted and trans-identifying people, “who are often marginalized within the Church.” 

“Make them feel at home, especially those who have received baptism and are to all intents and purposes part of the people of God.”

Pope Francis co-wrote “Life: My Story Through History” with Fabio Marchese Ragona, a Vatican journalist and personal friend. The highly anticipated autobiography, which is being published in the United States and Europe by HarperCollins, is expected to be released in full on March 19. 

Pope Francis presides greets pilgrims at a penitential service at St. Pius V Parish in Rome on March 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).

The international community on Wednesday sent congratulatory messages to Pope Francis to mark the 11th anniversary of his election to the pontificate, praising him for his leadership and peace initiatives over his nearly-dozen years at the Vatican. 

“Today, I join millions of Americans in congratulating the Holy Father on this anniversary as he continues his work of leading the Catholic Church and inspiring people around the globe to seek peace, charity, and compassion,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a March 13 statement. 

Blinken in his statement noted that the U.S. and the Vatican are “united by common values such as respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.” 

“We continue to work together to address the challenges of climate change, human trafficking, food security, and the humanitarian effects of conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere,” Blinken concluded. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Francis on his anniversary in an official correspondence on Wednesday, remarking that the pope is a “a true and honest defender of peace and one of the few leaders with an honest strategic vision of world problems.” 

The Russian Embassy to the Holy See also wrote a congratulatory message on X, calling the pope “a true and sincere advocate of humanism, peace and traditional values,” and “one of the few political leaders with a truly strategic viewpoint on world problems.” 

Other world leaders such as Tsai Ing-wen, the president of the Republic of China, expressed “profound respect” for the pope’s leadership over the last 11 years, lauding him for having “promot[ed] peace and goodwill, particularly in Ukraine and Palestine.”

Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, likewise reflected on the pope’s anniversary, noting his country’s “genuine dialogue and mutual understanding” with the Holy See, which has contributed “to preserving universal values and fostering solidarity among representatives of various religions and cultures.” 

Pope Francis — born Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was elected as the 265th successor to St. Peter on March 13, 2013, following the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He previously served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires in his native Argentina. 

Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, has centered his pontificate on the care of migrants, environmental protection, and building a Church that reaches out to the poor and the peripheries.

Confucius statue in Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China. / Credit: aphotostory/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Vatican sponsored a dialogue in Taiwan this week as the Catholic Church prepares to release official guidelines for engagement with Confucianism, one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China.

Father Paulin Kubuya, the undersecretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, traveled to New Taipei City for the meeting at Fu Jen Catholic University. He told CNA in an interview on March 12 upon his return to Rome that the guidelines could help Catholics in East Asia to navigate living out the faith amid their cultural traditions.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Kubuya is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is fluent in Chinese after serving as a Xaverian missionary in Taiwan. During his time as a missionary, he saw how converts to Catholicism wrestled with what to do with the traditions and rituals that they grew up with, such as veneration of one’s ancestors.

“Confucianism, until the 19th century, provided Chinese, Korean, Japanese [societies] with guidelines on how to conduct themselves,” the priest explained, adding that “The Analects of Confucius” still informs basic formation and education in Taiwan.

“For Asian Christians … this dialogue, these guidelines will be helpful, because it will enable them to dialogue with themselves,” he said.

The Vatican is drafting the guidelines with the goal of providing a valuable resource for individuals, organizations, and communities both within and beyond the Catholic Church that seek to engage in dialogue with followers of Confucianism, according to the dicastery.

The workshop in Taiwan was the fruit of more than two years of preparation. The Vatican’s interreligious dialogue office invited experts in Confucianism from around the world to share their insights in a series of online meetings leading up to the in-person meeting in Taiwan.

More work and study are required, according to Kubuya, who expects the guidelines to be finalized and published sometime next year.

“Hopefully by engaging Confucianism in a dialogue … a Christian coming from Asia and who is coming from that background, he will know the position of the Church, he will know how he can put together his cultural tradition and the faith that he has received and live in peace with it,” Kubuya said.

The Vatican’s current dialogue with Confucianism builds upon the work of pioneering Catholic missionaries in Asia in centuries past, like Venerable Matteo Ricci, the 17th-century Jesuit known for introducing Christianity to China’s imperial Ming Dynasty.

Ricci saw in Confucianism “a high culture” and engaged with the literati in the heart of the Imperial City of Beijing.

Later missionaries in China took issue with Confucian practices, particularly in what they saw as ancestor worship, giving rise to the Chinese Rites Controversy, explained Kubuya, who is the author of the book “Meaning and Controversy Within Chinese Ancestor Religion.”

The Vatican intervened in the matter on numerous occasions in the 17th and 18th centuries with Clement XI and Benedict XIV both banning Chinese rites. Two centuries later, Pius XII issued a decree in 1939 allowing Chinese Catholics to observe ancestral rites.

“In Taiwan, the Catholic community is tiny. It’s a minority community, but I always say that they are few, but very ripe because they are well determined and their Christian identity is very strong,” Kubuya said.

African priests witnessing to the Gospel in Asia

As a Xaverian missionary priest, Kubuya is aware that he is part of the continuation of the Church’s missionary legacy in Asia. 

The Xaverian order was founded by St. Guido Maria Conforti, a 19th-century Italian missionary who was inspired to carry on the missionary work of St. Francis Xavier, the 16th-Jesuit missionary in Asia who died before realizing his dream of evangelizing China.

Kubuya recalls that he was one of 12 Congolese priests serving as missionaries in Taiwan before he was called upon to serve in the Roman Curia.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

In Taiwan, “the idea that many Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians have is they think that Christian priests, missionaries are all foreigners, meaning Westerners, Americans, or Europeans, so by seeing us from Africa, they started understanding that actually the Church is very complex, is rich, and does not exclude. This was my experience,” he said.

“I think that our presence [in Asia] displays the catholicity of the Church, that the Church will work beyond colors, beyond languages,” he said. “That the Catholic Church is universal because we are coming from everywhere.”

Vatican’s ongoing dialogue with Taoism

The dialogue on Confucianism in New Taipei City, titled “Christians Fostering Dialogue with Confucians: Guidelines and Prospects,” was one of two workshops in Asia sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue this week. 

A second event on dialogue with Taoism is taking place in Hong Kong March 11–13, organized by the Vatican dicastery and titled “Cultivating a Harmonious Society through Interreligious Dialogue.”

Taoism is different from Confucianism in that it involves the worship of deities. The Vatican’s Taoism colloquium in Hong Kong focused on the themes of “Christian and Taoist Scriptural Foundations for Cultivating a Harmonious Society,” “Cultivating Harmony Through Worship and Liturgy,” “Tao/the Way and De/Virtue in Dialogue and Practice,” “Holiness in Taoism and Christianity,” and “Transmitting Religious Beliefs and Values in a Globalized World.”

Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, told Vatican News that he hopes the recognition of a shared spirit of service between Christianity and Taoism will help “the value and meaning of religion [to be] better appreciated in China.”

“The vision of the Taoist religion is to foster a movement of the world toward peace and unity, where humanity and the Way — we would say the ‘Logos’ — are connected,” the Jesuit cardinal said.

Christianity and Taoism “share the values of mercy, simplicity, and not striving for worldly achievements,” Chow said.

The College of Cardinals celebrates Mass on March 12, 2013, before entering the Sistine Chapel for the papal conclave. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/CNA

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The most recent change in the College of Cardinals took place on Feb. 24, when Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán turned 80 and was thus removed from the ranks of cardinal-electors. A few weeks earlier, on Feb. 12, Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno also turned 80 and, therefore, is no longer eligible to cast a vote in a conclave.

There are currently 129 cardinals who could vote in a conclave, nine more than the maximum of 120 set by Paul VI and confirmed by all of his successors since.

During the 11 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has convened nine consistories to create new cardinals. In the process, he has created 142 cardinals, including 113 electors and 29 non-electors, from 70 nations. Of these nations, 22 had never had a cardinal before.

This level of activity stands in contrast with St. John Paul II, who convened nine consistories during a 27-year-long pontificate, as well as Pope Benedict XVI, who convened five in eight years. Nonetheless, the record for new red hats belongs to John Paul II, who created 231 new cardinals during his pontificate.

Were a conclave to begin today, there would be 94 cardinal-electors created by Pope Francis, 27 created by Benedict XVI, and eight made by John Paul II. To elect the pope, a block of 86 votes would be needed (two-thirds of the assembly), and the cardinals created by Pope Francis are more than two-thirds.

What the College of Cardinals will look like at the end of 2024

However, by the end of 2024, 10 more cardinals will lose the right to vote in the conclave. Therefore, if Pope Francis were not to convene a new consistory by the end of the year, the number would return below the maximum of 120 cardinal-electors.

Among the 10 cardinals who will turn 80 in the next few months, there is Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, considered influential but who has long wanted to leave public office, having asked the pope to also be dispensed from participating in the Synod on Synodality. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, will also turn 80.

For the other four cardinals who will turn 80 over the next 10 months, the pope must find a successor for their respective roles, as they are all still in active service. These are the archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley (June 29); the major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza (Sept. 15); the archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (Oct. 10); and the archbishop of Bombay, India, Cardinal Oswald Gracias (Dec. 24).

O’Malley and Gracias are also members of the Council of Cardinals established by the pope for the reform and government of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Vientiane, Laos, will also turn 80 in 2024, as will Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop emeritus of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop emeritus of Bordeaux, France; and Cardinal John Njue, archbishop emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya.

In light of the above, by the end of 2024, the cardinal-electors created by Pope Francis will number 91, while those made by previous popes will have been drastically reduced. In fact, by that time at a future conclave, there will only be 22 cardinals created by Benedict XVI and six by John Paul II.

A Francis-like conclave?

These numbers suggest that the election of a successor to Pope Francis could very quickly be oriented toward a papal profile similar to that of Pope Francis. In reality, however, the outcome of the conclave could be very different.

For the most part, popes have convened consistories to discuss and consult the cardinals on major issues for the life of the Church.

During his pontificate, however, Pope Francis has only convened a consistory three times to discuss issues at hand. This first occurred in 2014, when another consistory accompanied the consistory for the creation of new cardinals to discuss family issues, with a report by Cardinal Walter Kasper.

In 2015, the reform of the Curia was discussed with various reports and in 2022, the pope asked the cardinals to take into account the reform of the Curia he had just established with the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

The last consistory’s discussion structure also differed from the usual pattern. The cardinals were gathered in small linguistic groups; not all of them could speak before the assembly and several left written documents on what their speech would have been without presenting it before the other members of the College of Cardinals. While presented as an effort to make the discussion more efficient, this structure took away traditionally important moments of interaction and mutual understanding.

These are not just minor details. The discussions that take place during consistories allow the cardinals to get to know each other and the personalities involved to define themselves more precisely.

For example, the papal candidacy of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla emerged from some of these discussions, along with the fact that Paul VI had called upon him to preach the spiritual exercises of Lent at the Curia in 1976. Although Wojtyla was an authoritative and well-known figure, it would not have been easy to obtain the support of his fellow cardinals if he had not had the opportunity to make himself known in these circumstances.

The next conclave, therefore, will get underway with somewhat of a handicap inasmuch as the cardinals will not know each other as well. This could be a boon, on the one hand, to the formation of pressure groups that could steer the conclave in one direction or another. But, on the other hand, it will also likely make the outcome more unpredictable. For this reason, although Pope Francis has created more than two-thirds of the cardinal-electors, it is by no means a sure thing that the pope who is chosen in a future conclave will have the same profile as Pope Francis.

A reform of conclave rules in the offing?

As things stand, the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, promulgated by John Paul II in 1996, will regulate the conclave. That constitution provided, among other things, that starting from the 34th ballot (or from the 35th, if the vote was also taken on the opening day of the conclave), an absolute majority is enough to elect a pope.

That provision was modified by Benedict XVI in 2007 with the motu proprio De Aliquibus Mutationibus in Normis de Electione Romani Pontificis. The new rule provides that at the 34th or 35th ballot, in the event of a “deadlock,” a runoff will be held between the two cardinals with the most votes, who, however, will not be able to participate in the ballot. However, the election will take place only if one of the two receives two-thirds of the votes, as expected in all other ballots.

These rules aim to obtain a broad consensus on the elected pope, who can thus count on the support of the entire College of Cardinals.

For some time now, there has been talk of a project by Pope Francis to reform the rules of the conclave. Among the reforms that could be under discussion: the lowering of the quorum for the election of the pope starting from the 15th ballot; the exclusion of cardinals over 80 from the general congregations, i.e. the pre-conclave meetings, in which both voting and nonvoting cardinals participate; and a new structuring of the general congregations themselves, on the model of the last consistory — that is, with the division of the cardinals into working groups and reports entrusted to a moderator.

However, no study for changing the rules of the conclave has been officially announced. Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, who has become the pope’s trusted canon lawyer in recent years, is said to have proposed some draft reforms, but there is no confirmation of this either.

It remains to be seen, therefore, if these rumors about a reform of the conclave’s rules are the result of honest discussions or simply agitation and speculation in the face of the well-known unpredictability of Pope Francis.

Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

March 13 marks the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 265th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:

2013

March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”

March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.

July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.

Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 2, 2013. Elise Harris/CNA.

July 23-28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.

July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.

Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.

2014

Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.

March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.

Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”

2015

Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.

March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.

May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato Si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.

Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.

Sept. 19-22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”

Sept. 22-27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.

Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. . L'Osservatore Romano.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.

Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.

Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.

2016

March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.

April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.

Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

July 26-31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.

Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.

Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.

2017

May 12-13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.

July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.

Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L'Osservatore Romano.

Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.

Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.

2018

Jan. 15-21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.

Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”

Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.

Aug. 25-26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”

Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Oct. 3-28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.

2019

Jan. 22-27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.

Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.

Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.

Feb. 21-24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.

Oct. 6-27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.

Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.

2020

March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.

March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary “urbi et orbi” blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter's Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.2021

March 5-8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.

July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.

July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.

July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis Custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Dec. 2-6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.

Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media2022

Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.

March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.

May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.

Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

July 24-30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.

2023

Jan. 31-Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.

Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023. Vatican Media

March 29-April 1 — Pope Francis is hospitalized for a respiratory infection. During his stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he visits the pediatric cancer ward and baptizes a newborn baby.  

April 5 — The pope appears in the Disney documentary “The Pope: Answers,” which is in Spanish, answering six “hot-button” issues from members of Gen Z from various backgrounds. The group discusses immigration, depression, abortion, clergy sexual and psychological abuse, transgenderism, pornography, and loss of faith.

April 28-30 — Pope Francis visits Hungary to meet with government officials, civil society members, bishops, priests, seminarians, Jesuits, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers. He celebrates Mass on the final day of the trip in Kossuth Lajos Square.

Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos' Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media

June 7 — The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will undergo abdominal surgery that afternoon under general anesthesia due to a hernia that is causing painful, recurring, and worsening symptoms. In his general audience that morning before the surgery, Francis says he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.

June 15 — After successful surgery and a week of recovery, Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital.

Aug. 2-6 — Pope Francis travels to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day 2023, taking place from Aug. 1-6. He meets with Church and civil leaders ahead of presiding at the welcoming Mass and Stations of the Cross. He also hears the confessions of several pilgrims. On Aug. 5, he visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, where he prays the rosary with young people with disabilities. That evening he presides over the vigil and on Sunday, Aug. 6, he celebrates the closing Mass, where he urges the 1.5 million young people present to “be not afraid,” echoing the words of the founder of World Youth Days, St. John Paul II.

Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. Vatican Media.

Aug. 31-Sept. 4 — Pope Francis travels to Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. The trip makes Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.

Pope Francis meets with local priests and religious of Mongolia, which includes only 25 priests (19 religious and six diocesan), 33 women religious, and one bishop — Cardinal Giorgio Marengo — in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

Sept. 22-23 — On a two-day trip to Marseille, France, Pope Francis meets with local civil and religious leaders and participates in the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries.

Pope Francis asks for a moment of silence at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea on the first of a two-day visit to Marseille, France, Sept. 22, 2023. A Camargue cross, which comes from the Camargue area of France, represents the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The three tridents represent faith, the anchor represents hope, and the heart represents charity. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Oct. 4-29 — The Vatican hosts the first of two monthlong global assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the synod at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29. The second and final global assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2024.

Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. Vatican Media

Nov. 25 — Pope Francis visits the hospital briefly for precautionary testing after coming down with the flu earlier in the day. Although he still participates in scheduled activities, other officials read his prepared remarks. The Vatican on Nov. 28 cancels the pope’s planned Dec. 1–3 trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, due to his illness.

Dec. 18 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorizes nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular situations.” Various bishops from around the world voice both support for and criticism of the document.

2024

Jan. 4 — Amid widespread backlash to Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, publishes a five-page press release that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”

Jan. 14 — Pope Francis for the first time responds publicly to questions about Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on an Italian television show. The pope underlines that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”

Feb. 11 — In a ceremony attended by Argentine president Javier Milei, Pope Francis canonizes María Antonia of St. Joseph — known affectionately in the pope’s home country as “Mama Antula” — in a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The president and the former archbishop of Buenos Aires embrace after the ceremony. Pope Francis, who has not returned to his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he wants to visit Argentina in the second half of this year.

Pope Francis meets with Argentina President Javier Milei in a private audience on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Feb. 28 — After canceling audiences the previous Saturday and having an aide read his prepared remarks at his Wednesday audience due to a “mild flu,” Pope Francis visits the hospital for diagnostic tests but returns to the Vatican afterward.

March 2 — Despite having an aide read his speech “because of bronchitis,” the pope presides over the inauguration of the 95th Judicial Year of the Vatican City State and maintains a full schedule.

March 13 — Pope Francis celebrates 11 years as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

This story was last updated on March 13, 2024.

Speaking in his Angelus address on March 3, 2024, about the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis made an emotional plea for negotiations to reach a deal that both frees the hostages immediately and grants civilians access to humanitarian aid. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 12, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Ukrainian officials and religious leaders have leveled criticism at Pope Francis in the days since the Holy Father suggested that it would be courageous for Ukraine to negotiate an end to its war with Russia.

In an excerpt of an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI, which will be released in full on March 20, Pope Francis suggested that “the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates.”

“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” the pope continued. 

“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in a post on X on March 10 in response to the pope’s comments. 

Kuleba disputed the pope’s comments that it would be “courageous” to negotiate with Russia, writing: “The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations.’”

Kuleba further criticized the Holy See. “When it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the 20th century,” he said. 

“I urge to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives,” he said. 

Ukrainian Ambassador to the Holy See Andrii Yurash issued his own rebuke to the pope in a March 11 interview with NBC, saying: “Nobody at the time of World War II was proposing to the people enslaved by Hitler or those who were suffering or fighting him to start peace negotiations.” 

The ambassador suggested that just as a truce with Hitler would have meant “suicide and death,” a truce with Russian President Vladimir Putin would also constitute “suicide and death.”

The pope’s remarks also generated responses from ecclesial communities in Ukraine, including the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, the latter an interreligious association aimed at fostering dialogue and collaborating in church-state relations in the predominantly Orthodox country. 

“Ukrainians cannot surrender because surrender means death,” the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church wrote in a statement released on Monday. 

“Notwithstanding the suggestions for need for negotiations coming from representatives of different countries, including the Holy Father himself, Ukrainians will continue to defend freedom and dignity to achieve a peace that is just,” the statement continued.

Arguing that “the intentions of Putin and Russia are clear and explicit,” the synod also suggested that the war is not just a unilateral action waged by the Russian government but is supported by “70% of the Russian population” as well as by “Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church.”

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations on Sunday also issued a statement, “categorically declar[ing] that no one will ever force our people to capitulate.” 

“To capitulate to the triumphant evil is tantamount to the collapse of the universal idea of justice, a betrayal of the fundamental guidelines bequeathed to us in great spiritual traditions,” their statement continued.

The Holy See Press Office quickly qualified the pope’s statements late on Saturday night, suggesting that the 87-year-old pontiff “intended to call for a cease-fire and to relaunch the courage of negotiation,” adding that “the pope uses the term white flag, and responds by picking up the image proposed by the interviewer, to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation.” 

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, also issued clarifying remarks in a Monday, March 11, interview with Corriere della Sera, saying that it is incumbent upon Russia “as the aggressor” to “put an end to the aggression."

“The war unleashed against Ukraine is not the effect of an uncontrollable natural disaster but of human freedom alone, and the same human will that caused this tragedy also has the possibility and responsibility to take steps to put an end to it and pave the way to a diplomatic solution,” the Vatican’s top diplomat said.

But Parolin reiterated the pope’s concerns that a protracted conflict could escalate into a larger conflict and exacerbate an already-large humanitarian crisis, saying that it would bring “new suffering, new deaths, new victims, new destruction.”

Injured parishioners receive Communion on the third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 17, 2023, at Holy Family Parish in Gaza. The Pontifical Collection for the Holy Land provides community aid and assistance for parochial activities for Holy Family Parish, the only Roman Catholic parish in Gaza. / Credit: Father Gabriel Romanelli/Facebook

Rome Newsroom, Mar 12, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

This year’s Vatican financial appeal for the Holy Land highlights the urgent humanitarian crisis facing the beleaguered population in Gaza and the pope’s plea for peace. 

“The outbreak of the war in Gaza, after the events of Oct. 7, paralyzed the Holy Land. The lack of pilgrims and tourists has put thousands of families in difficulty,” Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, said in a letter released March 8.

The Vatican has overseen the “Pro Terra Sancta” fund, or the Pontifical Collection for the Holy Land, since 1974, when Pope Paul VI, in his apostolic exhortation Nobis in Animo, designated Good Friday as the day for the collection to be taken up by parishes around the world. This year Good Friday falls on March 29. U.S. Catholics can donate online or at their parishes. 

Typically, 65% of the funds collected are earmarked for the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which has maintained the holy places of Christianity in the region for more than 800 years. The Franciscan Custody also uses the funds for humanitarian and social activities, including help in defraying “the health costs of families and for their basic necessities” as well as providing housing for needy people and young families who “pay symbolic rents.” 

The remaining 35% is given to the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to support seminarians and priests as well as educational and cultural activities.

According to last year’s summary report, the Pontifical Collection raised the equivalent of just over $7 million, of which about $3.7 million was used to support the formation of seminarians and religious brothers and sisters. Another roughly $2.5 million was allocated for educational activities, which include the academic formation of “almost 3,300 young people, mostly Palestinian Muslims,” at Bethlehem University in the West Bank, run by the De La Salle Brothers. 

This year’s appeal comes against the backdrop of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has had a devastating effect on the civilian population. 

“With the breaking out of the way the aid has been intensified in order to support the basic and primary needs of the population exhausted by the bombardments and overcrowded within the compound of the buildings of the parish,” the summary report stated. 

“Pope Francis has never ceased to express his closeness to all those affected by the conflict in the Holy Land,” Cardinal Gugerotti wrote. “The Holy Father intends to carry out a project with humanitarian purposes in Gaza or the West Bank, which can help the population resume a more dignified life and create job opportunities once the war is over.” 

The Pontifical Collection provides community aid and assistance for parochial activities for Holy Family Parish, the only Roman Catholic parish in Gaza. 

According to the summary report, beneficiaries included 135 persons who are part of the Holy Family Parish community, as well as “600 persons who became homeless within the parish at the beginning of the war.” 

The Pontifical Collection, in collaboration with Caritas and the Latin Patriarchate, also has provided aid for 33 children suffering epidermolysis bullosa — a group of rare inherited diseases that causes the skin to blister — in the Gaza Strip through the “Butterfly Program.”

Gaza is one of the poorest and most densely populated areas of Palestine. Since the outbreak of the war more than 30,000 civilians have been killed in the enclave, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

In a speech during a meeting with Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, and other Coptic Orthodox representatives on May 11, 2023, Pope Francis announced that the Coptic Orthodox martyrs killed by ISIS in 2015 will be added to the Catholic Church’s official list of saints. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 12, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

The Coptic Orthodox Church has confirmed that its decision last week to suspend dialogue with the Catholic Church was due to Rome’s “change of position” on homosexuality.

In a video released on Friday, Coptic Orthodox spokesman Father Moussa Ibrahim said “the most notable” of nine decrees emanating from the church’s annual Holy Synod, which took place last week in Wadi El-Natrun in Egypt, was “to suspend theological dialogue with the Catholic Church after its change of position on the issue of homosexuality.”

The video message followed the conclusion of the Holy Synod the day before and an accompanying statement in which Coptic Orthodox leaders had said they were suspending dialogue with Rome. 

“After consulting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family,” they wrote, “it was decided to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, reevaluate the results achieved by the dialogue from its beginning 20 years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in the future."

The leaders also reaffirmed their rejection of same-sex relations, stating their “firm position of rejecting all forms of homosexual relationships, because they violate the holy Bible and the law by which God created man as male and female, and the Church considers any blessing of such relations, whatever its type, to be a blessing for sin, and this is unacceptable.”

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, headed by Pope Tawadros II, is one of the world’s oldest Christian denominations whose founding dates back to St. Mark the Apostle. The principal Christian church in Egypt (the word “Copt” is derived from the Greek word “Aigyptos,” meaning Egypt), the precise number of its members is unknown but estimated to be between 10 million and 20 million people out of a total Orthodox population of 260 million.

Although it describes itself as Orthodox, it is not in full communion with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Eastern Orthodoxy but remains united with the Ethiopian, Armenian, Eritrean, Malankara, and Syriac Orthodox churches, collectively known as the Oriental Orthodox churches. None of these churches accept the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and its definition of the “two natures” of Christ. Since the late 20th century, the Oriental Orthodox churches have sought to dialogue with Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy, which for centuries had considered them heretical.

Last year, dialogue appeared to have progressed to such an extent that the Vatican allowed the Coptic Orthodox to celebrate their own Divine Liturgy in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. The following month, in an unusual move, Pope Francis included 21 Coptic Orthodox faithful martyred by Islamic State in Libya in 2015 in the Roman Martyrology — an official list of martyrs, saints, and blesseds.

Ibrahim’s video statement came after some observers had said on social media that the statement made no specific reference to the Vatican’s Dec. 18, 2023, declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed a “nonliturgical” and “spontaneous” blessing of same-sex couples. They also said it did not state that the decision to suspend the dialogue was related to the document.

The Coptic Orthodox leaders’ statement did not make any explicit reference to Fiducia Supplicans, but their reassertion in the text of their church’s teaching on homosexuality, firmly based on sacred Scripture, coupled with Ibrahim’s video message, made the cause of their suspension of dialogue incontrovertible.

They noted in their statement that God created man both male and female, that all persons are called to holiness, and that all are to live according to his will and “divine design for marriage between a man and a woman.”

They stressed that anyone who struggles with same-sex attraction but “controls this desire is praised for their efforts and is left subject to the same temptations as heterosexual individuals.” Similarly, they said it is “essential” that they “seek true repentance” as an adulterous heterosexual person would.

“If someone chooses to embrace their homosexual tendency, however, and refuses to seek spiritual and emotional help but continues to break God’s commandments, in that case, their situation becomes the same as someone who is living in adultery,” the statement continued. “In such cases, they must be warned and advised to abstain from communion, seeking repentance.”

One of the main criticisms of the document is that it makes no mention of repentance or pledge of an amendment of life before receiving such a blessing.

Quoting the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, with further references to his first letter to the Corinthians and passages from Leviticus, the Coptic Orthodox also underlined the Church’s condemnation of same-sex acts. “Accordingly,” they added, they “strongly” oppose “all forms of sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage,” adding that they see it as “sexual distortion.” They also “firmly” rejected that cultural contexts could be used to “justify same-sex relationships,” as the Copts believe it is “damaging to humanity” as a whole.

They said their church believes in human rights and freedoms but that these freedoms “are not absolute” and must not be used to “violate the laws of the Creator.”

“The church affirms its commitment to fulfilling its pastoral role in aiding individuals who have homosexual tendencies,” they said in closing. “It also emphasizes that it does not reject them but instead provides support and assistance to help them achieve an emotional and spiritual solution.”

“The church places its trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,” they said. 

The Register contacted for comment Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, but he had not responded by press time.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

Pope Francis washes the feet of 12 young men and women, inmates at Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts, during a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday, April 6, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 11, 2024 / 11:18 am (CNA).

Visiting prisoners is one of the Catholic Church’s corporal works of mercy originating with Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Matthew: “I was in prison and you visited me.”

All visitors to the 2024 Venice Biennale’s Vatican pavilion will take part in this Catholic tradition by entering an active women’s prison on Venice’s Giudecca island, where the inmates will play an active role in the exhibition of works by nine professional artists.

Upon arrival, visitors to the Vatican pavilion titled “With My Eyes” will be forced to leave their cellphones and IDs at the door, following the typical security protocols for family members visiting inmates.

Chiara Parisi, one of the curators of the Vatican pavilion, explained that an added benefit of making the visitors relinquish their cellphones is that people will be forced “to let go of this instrument through which they are accustomed to looking at reality around them” and to behold the art “with their own eyes.”

For Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education who is overseeing the pavilion, the idea to host an art exhibition at a prison was in part inspired by the many Catholic volunteers who are already serving in prison ministry.

It was also inspired by Pope Francis’ message to artists last year, which encouraged artists to take up themes such as “the defense of human life, social justice, [and] concern for the poor” as they consider the social responsibility of art.

“It is no coincidence that the title of the pavilion, ‘With My Eyes,’ wants to focus our attention on the importance of how we responsibly conceive, express, and build our social, cultural, and spiritual coexistence,” the cardinal said at a Vatican press conference on March 11.

“We live in an era marked by the predominance of digital and the triumph of remote communication technologies, which propose an increasingly deferred and indirect human gaze, running the risk of it remaining detached from reality itself,” he said.

Pope Francis will make history in April when he becomes the first pope to visit the prestigious Venice Biennale art exhibition on Sunday, April 28.

The cardinal recalled how when he first invited Pope Francis to visit the Vatican’s pavilion at the women’s prison, the pope replied with his usual sense of humor that this was something that he needed to go see “with my eyes,” making a joke about the title of the pavilion.

The 2024 Art Biennale and its Holy See Pavilion will be open to the public from April 20 to Nov. 24. Anyone wishing to visit the Vatican pavilion will need to register online for a guided tour of the prison.

Pope Francis will also visit a women’s prison in Rome during Holy Week this year. The pope has made it a nearly annual tradition since his election in 2013 to preside over Holy Thursday Mass inside a prison and to wash the inmates’ feet.

Pope Francis presides over a penitential service at St. Pius V Parish in Rome on March 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 9, 2024 / 18:34 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on Saturday said Pope Francis did not mean to suggest that Ukraine ought to surrender to Russia when he referred to “the courage of the white flag” in a newly released television interview.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni clarified that Pope Francis was calling instead for a cease-fire and negotiations. Bruni explained that the pope was picking up on the interviewer’s use of the term “white flag,” an international symbol of surrender, adding that the pope remains hopeful that a diplomatic solution can be reached for a “just and lasting peace,” the New York Times reported.

The Holy Father made the remark during an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI. Portions of the interview were released on Saturday. Reuters said the interview will be broadcast March 20.

“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said, according to an English translation of the pope’s comments in Italian.

“Today, for example,” he continued, “in the war in Ukraine, there are many that want to be mediators, no? Turkey for example. Do not be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse.”

On March 8, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan offered to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war.

Francis said in the RSI interview that “the word ‘negotiate’ is a courageous word.”

“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said. “Negotiations are never a surrender.”

The pope also repeated his offer to act as a mediator between the two countries.

In recent months Russia has gained an upper hand on the ground as Ukraine runs low on ammunition and manpower and its bid to garner additional military aid from the U.S. has stalled in Congress.

Andrea Mia Ghez, recognized for her groundbreaking research on black holes, is one of only four women to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics.  / Credit: Elena Zhukova/University of California

CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed a California-based astrophysicist to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Vatican announced Friday. 

The Holy Father nominated Andrea Mia Ghez as an ordinary member of the Vatican City-based academy. 

Ghez’s website says she is “best known for her groundbreaking work on the center of our galaxy, which has led to the best evidence to date for the existence of supermassive black holes.” 

Her work contributed to the “discovery of a supermassive compact object, now generally recognized to be a black hole, in the Milky Way’s galactic center,” her website states. 

The professor’s research “on the orbits of stars at the center of the Milky Way has opened a new approach to studying black holes,” her website states, “and her group is currently focused on using this approach to understand the physics of gravity near a black hole and the role that black holes play in the formation and evolution of galaxies.”

The professor earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctoral degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology. She has “received numerous honors and awards, including the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics,” the Vatican said.

Ghez was born in New York City. In the past, she has cited the Apollo space program as an inspiration for her subsequent astrophysics career. 

“I’m definitely a product of the first moon landings,” she told an interviewer. “I think I told my mom I wanted to be the first female astronaut.”

Ghez is one of only four women to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. 

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences lists among its goals “promoting the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences, and the study of related epistemological questions and issues,” “recognizing excellence in science,” and “stimulating an interdisciplinary approach to scientific knowledge.”

Pope Francis meets with Argentine pilgrims on Feb. 9, 2024, ahead of the historic canonization of the county’s first female saint on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).

On the day before International Women’s Day, Pope Francis addressed participants of the international conference “Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity” on Thursday at the Vatican. 

The conference highlighted the witness of 10 women noted for their holiness: Sts. Josephine Bakhita, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Mary MacKillop, Laura Montoya, Kateri Tekakwitha, Teresa of Calcutta, Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, Venerable Magdeleine de Jesus, and Blessed Maria Beltrame Quattrocch.

“All these women, at different times and in different cultures, each in her own distinct way, gave proof through initiatives of charity, education, and prayer of how the ‘feminine genius’ can uniquely reflect God’s holiness in the midst of our world,” the pope said in his address. 

Francis acknowledged that throughout periods of history, women have been “largely excluded from social and ecclesial life” but that even in these times “the Holy Spirit raised up saints whose attractiveness produced new spiritual vigor and important reforms in the Church.” 

Referencing his apostolic exhortation on the call to holiness from 2018, Gaudete et Exsultate, the Holy Father paid tribute to “ordinary” women who have faithfully lived their vocations and changed the world in quiet yet powerful ways.

“I think of all those unknown or forgotten women who, each in her own way, sustained and transformed families and communities by the power of their witness,” he said. “The Church needs to keep this in mind, because the Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride, and a mother. And who better than women can reveal her face?”

Francis spoke to the theme of the conference, which referred to women as “builders of humanity,” highlighting the nature of women as builders in cooperation with the Creator “in the service of life, the common good, and peace.” In his remarks, he focused on two aspects of this mission — the first about “style,” the way in which women bear love and compassion in the world.  

“Ours is a time seared by hatred in which our human family, which needs to feel the power of love, is instead frequently scarred by violence, war, and ideologies that stifle the noblest feelings of the human heart,” Francis said. “Precisely in this context, the contribution of women is more necessary than ever. For women know how to bring people together with tenderness.”

He recalled St. Therese of Lisieux saying that she wanted to be “love in the Church.” 

“She was right,” he said, “women, in fact, with their unique capacity for compassion, their intuitiveness, and their connatural inclination to ‘care’ are able, in an outstanding way, to be for society both “intelligence and a heart that loves and unites,” to bring love where love is lacking and humanity where human beings are searching to find their true identity.”

Francis also spoke about education — about how “testimonies of female sanctity” like the ones the conference was presenting “can encourage [women] to aim higher, to broaden the horizons of their dreams and their ways of thinking, and to aim to pursue high ideals.” He called for educational settings to not only be places of study, research, and learning, but also places of “formation where minds and hearts are opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”

The pope told the participants that it is important to make the saints better known, “especially women saints, in all the depth and reality of their humanity. In this way, education will be increasingly capable of touching each person in his or her wholeness and uniqueness.”

At the end of his address, Pope Francis acknowledged the sufferings and injustices women face in many places in the world, calling on prayer and action, specifically when it comes to education. 

“In certain contexts it is a cause of fear, yet the way to the betterment of societies is through the education of girls and young women, which benefits overall human development,” Francis said. “Let us pray for this and commit ourselves to this!”

The full text of the pope's remarks can be found here.

Pope Francis delivers an address during his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 14, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Mar 7, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Economics, international relations, and other social sciences may have not existed in their contemporary form when St. Thomas Aquinas died 750 years ago. But according to Pope Francis, experts in these fields should turn to the 13th-century theologian for help in answering some of today’s most dire social challenges.

In a letter to a Vatican gathering of social scientists on March 7, the anniversary of Aquinas’ death, the pope said the Angelic Doctor’s “rigorous study” of the philosophical and theological implications of the fact that man is made “in the image of God” was not only a precursor to the development of the social sciences but also can be an invaluable aid to them today.

“While his influence in shaping the moral and legal thinking of modernity is beyond doubt, a recovery of the philosophical and theological perspective that informed his work could prove quite promising for our disciplined reflection on the pressing social issues of our own time,” said Pope Francis, adding that the social sciences “should be grounded in the irreducible reality and dignity of the human person.

The pope’s remarks were sent to participants in a two-day workshop on “Aquinas’ Social Ontology and Natural Law in Perspective: Insights for and from the Social Sciences.”

Sponsored by the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, the event is one of many being held in Rome and beyond this year to celebrate the legacy of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Italian Dominican friar and doctor of the Church who died in 1274.

In particular, Pope Francis highlighted the importance of Aquinas’ articulation of man’s social character and ability to discern the natural law through the use of reason as especially relevant to addressing contemporary social challenges.

“Today it is essential to recover an appreciation of this ‘natural inclination to seek the truth about God and live in society’ to shape social thought and policies in a way that fosters rather than impedes the authentic human flourishing of individuals and peoples,” said Pope Francis, quoting from Aquinas’ “Summa Theologiae.”

The concept of the natural law has been criticized by some in the West as effectively a religious framework used to influence society. A recent report in Politico, for instance, described it as “a core pillar of Catholicism” that is being used to advance “Christian nationalist” causes such as protecting the sanctity of life or promoting sexual ethics consistent with human nature.

But Pope Francis offered a very different perspective, emphasizing that natural law is for everyone. In fact, the pope said the Angelic Doctor’s articulation of natural law is accessible to all — regardless of whether they are Catholic or not — maybe even more important now, precisely because the world is increasingly interconnected and Western society is marked by cultural diversity and religious pluralism.

“Thomas’ confidence in a natural law written within the human heart can thus offer fresh and valid insights to our globalized world, dominated by legal positivism and casuistry, even as it continues to seek solid foundations for a just and humane social order,” Pope Francis observed.

With his “remarkable openness to every truth accessible to human reason,” St. Thomas Aquinas showed there can be “no ultimate contradiction” between faith and reason, the pope emphasized.

He added that the Dominican theologian also demonstrated how grace elevates wounded human nature, with “rich implications for an understanding of the dynamics of a sound social order grounded in reconciliation, solidarity, justice, and mutual concern.”

The pope ended his letter by encouraging participating social scientists to delve deeply into “the rich patrimony of religious, ethical, and social thought bequeathed to us by St. Thomas Aquinas.”

“I am confident that you will find inspiration and enlightenment for your own contributions to the various social sciences in full respect for their proper methods and objectives,” he observed.

White smoke rises from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on March 13, 2013, signaling that the College of Cardinals has elected a new pope. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 5, 2024 / 19:30 pm (CNA).

In March 2022, the late Cardinal George Pell published an at the time anonymous critique of Pope Francis’ pontificate under the pseudonym “Demos.”

Now another cardinal, who identifies himself as “Demos II,” has published another anonymous screed. This one, however, is more forward-looking in nature and offers seven suggested tasks for the next successor of St. Peter.

The anonymous cardinal published his text, titled “The Vatican Tomorrow,” in six languages on the Italian “Bussola Quotidiana” (“Daily Compass”) website.

“In March 2022, an anonymous text appeared — signed under the pseudonym ‘Demos’ and titled ‘The Vatican Today’ — that raised a series of serious questions and criticisms about the pontificate of Pope Francis. Conditions in the Church since that text appeared have not materially changed, much less improved,” the document begins.

Demos II observes that there are aspects of the current pontificate that are positive, such as the concern Pope Francis has for the weakest and poorest, along with environmental issues, but that “its shortcomings are equally obvious.”

Those shortcomings include “an autocratic, at times seemingly vindictive, style of governance; a carelessness in matters of law; an intolerance for even respectful disagreement; and — most seriously — a pattern of ambiguity in matters of faith and morals causing confusion among the faithful.”

Demos II recommends recovering essential truths

The anonymous author calls on the next pope to work to recover and reestablish the following truths that he says have been “obscured or lost among many Christians”:

1) No one is saved except through, and only through, Jesus Christ, as he himself made clear.

2) God is merciful but also just and is intimately concerned with every human life. He forgives but he also holds us accountable; he is both Savior and Judge. 

3) Man is God’s creature, not a self-invention, a creature not merely of emotion and appetites but also of intellect, free will, and an eternal destiny. 

4) Unchanging objective truths about the world and human nature exist and are knowable through divine revelation and the exercise of reason.

5) God’s word, recorded in Scripture, is reliable and has permanent force.

6) Sin is real and its effects are lethal.

7) His Church has both the authority and the duty to “make disciples of all nations.” 

Demos II expounds upon recommendations for next pope

1) Regarding the authority of the pope

“The pope is a successor of Peter and the guarantor of Church unity. But he is not an autocrat. He cannot change Church doctrine, and he must not invent or alter the Church’s discipline arbitrarily,” Demos II declares.

“He governs the Church collegially with his brother bishops in local dioceses. And he does so always in faithful continuity with the Word of God and Church teaching. ‘New paradigms’ and ‘unexplored new paths’ that deviate from either are not of God,” the author points out.

Demos II goes on to call on the next pope to “restore the hermeneutic of continuity in Catholic life and reassert Vatican II’s understanding of the papacy’s proper role.”

The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) is considered one of the most important events in the contemporary history of the Church. The documents that emerged from it aimed to promote the Catholic faith in the world, renew Christian life, adapt the liturgy, and encourage the action of the laity in the Church.

2) The Church is not a democracy.

“Just as the Church is not an autocracy, neither is she a democracy,” Demos II states. “The Church belongs to Jesus Christ. She is his Church. She is Christ’s mystical body, made up of many members. We have no authority to refashion her teachings to fit more comfortably with the world.”

“Moreover,” the author continues, “the Catholic ‘sensus fidelium’ is not a matter of opinion surveys nor even the view of a baptized majority.”

3) Ambiguity is neither evangelical nor welcoming. 

“Ambiguity is neither evangelical nor welcoming. Rather, it breeds doubt and feeds schismatic impulses,” Demos II writes, adding that doctrinal issues ”are vital to living a Christian life authentically, because they deal with applications of the truth, and the truth demands clarity.”

“The dismantling and repurposing of Rome’s John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family and the marginalizing of texts like Veritatis Splendor suggest an elevation of ‘compassion’ and emotion at the expense of reason, justice, and truth. For a creedal community, this is both unhealthy and profoundly dangerous,” Demos II points out.

In 2019, new statutes for the John Paul II Institute were established along with a series of changes in the academic program such as the elimination of the chair on fundamental moral theology, which have posed “a danger to maintaining the heritage” of the Polish saint on studies on marriage and the family, as a prominent priest noted at the time.

The encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) was published by St. John Paul II in 1993 and explained, among other things, that there are acts that are always “intrinsically evil,” a teaching that some try to refute.

4) Canon law

“Among the marks of the current pontificate are its excessive reliance on the motu proprio as a tool for governance and a general carelessness and distaste for canonical detail,” Demos II observes.

“Again, as with ambiguity of doctrine, disregard for canon law and proper canonical procedure undermines confidence in the purity of the Church’s mission,” the author states, noting that “Canon law orders Church life, harmonizes its institutions and procedures, and guarantees the rights of believers.”

5) Theology of the body

After noting that the Church is “mother and teacher,” the alleged cardinal author of the text stresses that “she can never be reduced to a system of flexible ethics or sociological analysis and remodeling to fit the instincts and appetites (and sexual confusions) of an age.”

“One of the key flaws in the current pontificate,” Demos II maintains, “is its retreat from a convincing ‘theology of the body’ and its lack of a compelling Christian anthropology ... precisely at a time when attacks on human nature and identity, from transgenderism to transhumanism, are mounting.”

The theology of the body is a compilation of the catechesis that St. John Paul II gave during the Wednesday general audiences from 1979 to 1984 in response to the results of the sexual revolution of the late 1960s.

6) Papal duties, travel

“Global travel served a pastor like Pope John Paul II so well,” Demos II notes, “because of his unique personal gifts and the nature of the times. But the times and circumstances have changed.”

“The Vatican itself urgently needs a renewal of its morale, a cleansing of its institutions, procedures, and personnel, and a thorough reform of its finances to prepare for a more challenging future,” the author indicates.

“These are not small things. They demand the presence, direct attention, and personal engagement of any new pope,” Demos II emphasizes.

7) College of Cardinals

“The College of Cardinals exists to provide senior counsel to the pope and to elect his successor upon his death. That service requires men of clean character, strong theological formation, mature leadership experience, and personal holiness,” the anonymous author declares.

“It also requires a pope,” he continues, “willing to seek advice and then to listen.”

“The current pontificate has placed an emphasis on diversifying the college, but it has failed to bring cardinals together in regular consistories designed to foster genuine collegiality and trust among brothers. As a result, many of the voting electors in the next conclave will not really know each other, and thus may be more vulnerable to manipulation,” the supposed cardinal warns.

Why did Demos II write anonymously?

“The answer should be evident from the tenor of today’s Roman environment: Candor is not welcome, and its consequences can be unpleasant,” the author explains.

Demos II points out that “the current pontificate’s heavy dependence on the Society of Jesus, the recent problematic work by the DDF’s [Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith] Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, and the emergence of a small oligarchy of confidants with excessive influence within the Vatican — all despite synodality’s decentralizing claims, among other things” — are real issues.

Argentine Cardinal Fernández is the current prefect of the DDF and is responsible for the December 2023 declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which has sparked controversy throughout the world for its authorization of nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and those in “irregular situations.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Paul Vinten/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Feb 1, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has centered his Lenten message for 2024 on the Book of Exodus, choosing “Through the Desert God Leads Us to Freedom” as its main theme to encourage the faithful that the season is a journey from bondage to spiritual renewal and freedom. 

The pope framed this reflection on the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, a story that not only represents the journey from bondage to emancipation but also of revelation and spiritual freedom. 

“When our God reveals himself, his message is always one of freedom,” the pope said. 

The Holy Father went on to note that this process “is a demanding one” and that “it is not answered straight away. It has to mature as part of a journey.”

“We realize how true this is at those moments when we feel hopeless, wandering through life like a desert and lacking a promised land as our destination. Lent is the season of grace in which the desert can become once more — in the words of the prophet Hosea — the place of our first love,” the pope observed. 

The Vatican published posters to promote the pope's 2024 Lenten message, “Through the desert, God leads us to freedom.”. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis also underscored the centrality of the desert in the New Testament, observing that on the first Sunday of Lent, we are reminded that Jesus “was driven into the desert by the Spirit in order to be tempted in freedom.”

“The desert is the place where our freedom can mature in a personal decision not to fall back into slavery. In Lent, we find new criteria of justice and a community with which we can press forward on a road not yet taken,” the pope added. 

Tying the season of Lent to the setting of the desert, the pope noted that the penitential season cannot be looked at just as an “abstract journey” but must, instead, be “concrete,” and this shift is predicated upon our capacity to “open our eyes to reality.” 

For the pope, this reality is centered on the quest to mitigate the suffering and various forms of social and economic oppression that are ubiquitous today, much of which, he said, is caused by “a deficit of hope.” 

“This ‘deficit of hope’ is not unlike the nostalgia for slavery that paralyzed Israel in the desert and prevented it from moving forward. An exodus can be interrupted: How else can we explain the fact that humanity has arrived at the threshold of universal fraternity and at levels of scientific, technical, cultural, and juridical development capable of guaranteeing dignity to all, yet gropes about in the darkness of inequality and conflict?” 

During Lent 2024, the pope has encouraged the faithful to undertake an interior examination by asking: “Do we hear that cry? Does it trouble us? Does it move us?”  

“Our Lenten journey will be concrete if, by listening once more to those two questions, we realize that even today we remain under the rule of Pharaoh. A rule that makes us weary and indifferent. A model of growth that divides and robs us of a future.”

“All too many things keep us apart from each other, denying the fraternity that, from the beginning, binds us to one another,” the pope continued.

The Lenten season, according to the pope, is a time that is characterized by personal struggle as we suffer from myriad temptations, but it is the recognition of this that calls us to “pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister.” 

Highlighting the three pillars of Lent — prayer, almsgiving, and fasting — the pope noted that they are not disparate acts but form a symbiotic “movement of openness and self-emptying in which we cast out the idols that weigh us down, the attachments that imprison us.” 

The pope closed his Lenten message by highlighting the communal aspect of the season, noting “the contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies.” 

“In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travelers,” he added. 

In line with this communal aspect, the pontiff related it to the Church’s “synodal form,” which the Church is “rediscovering and cultivating.”

“I invite every Christian community to do just this: to offer its members moments set aside to rethink their lifestyles, times to examine their presence in society, and the contribution they make to its betterment.” 

Pope Francis meets with members of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 29, 2024 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis suggested that the opposition to the Vatican’s approval of nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples mostly comes from “small ideological groups” with the exception of Africa, which he said is “a special case.”

“Those who vehemently protest belong to small ideological groups,” Francis said in an interview on Monday with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, according to an English translation from the Church-run Vatican News. 

Regarding the bishops in Africa, who have expressed some of the strongest criticisms of such blessings, the pontiff said they are “a special case” because “for them, homosexuality is something ‘ugly’ from a cultural point of view; they do not tolerate it.”

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), led by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, published a declaration on Dec. 18, 2023, titled Fiducia Supplicans, which prompted the backlash. The declaration permits “spontaneous” pastoral blessings for “same-sex couples” and other couples in “irregular situations” but does not allow liturgical blessings, recognition of civil unions, or any actions that would make the blessings appear like a marriage.

Bishops around the world have been divided on how to implement the document or whether to implement it at all.

The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, which represents all of the African bishops’ conferences, is refusing to bless same-sex couples. In a statement, it said such blessings could not be carried out on the continent “without exposing themselves to scandals.” 

The bishops’ conferences in Hungary and Poland similarly rejected any blessings for same-sex couples, as have various other bishops around the world.

Alternatively, the heads of the bishops’ conferences in other countries, such as Austria, Germany, and Argentina, have embraced the declaration and the opportunity to bless same-sex couples. Some other bishops’ conferences, such as the United States, have accepted the declaration but put a strong emphasis on ensuring that such blessings are not confused as a change in Church teaching.

Francis, in his interview, dismissed the idea that this division could spark a schism in the Catholic Church. 

“In the Church, there have always been small groups that manifest reflections of a schismatic nature,” the pope said. “One must let them carry on and pass away... and look ahead.”

Francis said that he trusts that “gradually, everyone will be reassured about the spirit of the declaration,” which he said “aims to include; not divide.” He added that the declaration “invites us to welcome and then entrust people, and to trust in God.”

“The Gospel is to sanctify everyone,” the pontiff said. “Of course, there must be goodwill. And it is necessary to give precise instructions on the Christian life (I emphasize that it is not the union that is blessed, but the persons). But we are all sinners: Why should we make a list of sinners who can enter the Church and a list of sinners who cannot be in the Church? This is not the Gospel.”

Earlier this month, the DDF issued a five-page news release in response to the backlash from some bishops. The news release, written by Fernández, said that the opposition “cannot be interpreted as doctrinal opposition because the document is clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality.”

“There is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the tradition of the Church, or blasphemous,” the cardinal said.

The Vatican announced the erection of the Weifang diocese on Jan. 29, 2024, the day of the consecration of the diocese’s first bishop, Bishop Anthony Sun Venjun. / Credit: Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association

Rome Newsroom, Jan 29, 2024 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis has created a “new” diocese in mainland China — a decision that tacitly recognizes diocesan borders drawn by Beijing, according to Asia News.

The pope has suppressed the former Apostolic Prefecture of Yiduxian, which had been a vacant see since 2008, and replaced it with the Diocese of Weifang, which takes its name from the prefecture-level city of more than 9 million people in China’s central Shandong province.

The Vatican announced the erection of the Weifang Diocese on Jan. 29, the day of the consecration of the diocese’s first bishop, Bishop Anthony Sun Venjun. 

The Holy See Press Office said that Pope Francis established the diocese on April 20, 2023, “in the desire to promote the pastoral care of the Lord’s flock and to attend more effectively to its spiritual good.”

Diocesan border dispute

Diocesan borders have been an area of dispute between the Vatican and China in the decades since the Chinese Communist Party came to power and started to redraw diocesan lines.

According to Asia News, the pope’s elevation of the Diocese of Weifang accepts the diocesan borders redrawn by Beijing.

The Catholic Church has 147 ecclesiastical jurisdictions in China with 20 archdioceses, 97 dioceses, 28 apostolic prefectures, and two ecclesiastical administrations. 

However, the Chinese Communist Party government has claimed that only 104 dioceses exist in mainland China and has redrawn borders in a way that combines dioceses. 

Chinese diocesan borders have been a key issue in the ongoing negotiations between the Holy See and Beijing, according to Agenzia Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

The Diocese of Weifang

The Diocese of Weifang covers an area of about 6,240 square miles stretching from Qingzhou to Gaomi encompassing the metro area of the prefecture-level city of Weifang. Its cathedral is the Cathedral Church of Christ the King located in Qingzhou to the west of Weifang city.

According to the Vatican, about 6,000 Catholics live in the new diocese, which has a total population of 9.39 million people and is served by 10 priests and six nuns. Weifang is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Jinan.

The diocese replaces the former Apostolic Prefecture of Yiduxian, which was created on June 16, 1931, by Pope Pius XI, who entrusted its administration to Franciscan missionaries from France. 

Bishop Sun

Bishop Sun was consecrated in Qingzhou on Jan. 29 by Bishop John Fang Xingyao of Linyi, the former president of the Chinese Patriotic Association, who presided over the ordination along with four other bishops from Shandong Province. 

More than 300 people attended the consecration Mass, including 44 priests, according to the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

Sun, 53, is originally from Weifang. He studied at the Sheshan Seminary from 1989 to 1994. He was ordained a priest at the age of 25 in December 1995 in the Beijing Cathedral. He spent a year in Ireland for formation between 2007 and 2008 before returning to his ministry in Weifang.

Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops

Sun is the second Chinese bishop consecrated in the mainland in the past five days. The Vatican announced on Jan. 25 that Pope Francis had appointed Father Thaddeus Wang Yuesheng as the bishop of Zhengzhou, an announcement that also came on the day of his episcopal consecration.

The Vatican signed a provisional agreement with Beijing in 2018 on the appointment of bishops, which is up for renewal in October. 

According to the Vatican, both appointments announced in the past week took place within the framework of the provisional agreement — a noteworthy step after bishops were installed in violation of the Vatican-China deal in April 2023 in Shanghai and in November 2022 in the so-called Diocese of Jiangxi, a diocese that is not recognized by the Vatican. 

The creation of the Weifang Diocese and appointment of the bishop took place about two weeks after a bishop was unilaterally installed by the Chinese government in Shanghai in April and three months before Pope Francis accepted the Shanghai bishop’s appointment in July.