CNA Daily News - Vatican

Vatican Bank boss fired over alleged mismanagement

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:17:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 25, 2012 / 10:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The President of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been fired from his post following a vote of no-confidence by the bank's supervisory board.

“Over time this area had generated increasing worries among the members of the board and, despite repeated efforts to communicate these concerns to Professor Gotti Tedeschi, President of the Works of Religion, the situation deteriorated further,” read a communiqué issued by the Vatican May 25.

“Following discussion of the issues, the board members voted unanimously in favor of a motion expressing no confidence in the president for not having carried out various responsibilities of primary importance regarding his office.”

The exact nature of the alleged failures was not detailed in the communiqué.

“I am torn between the anxiety to explain the truth and not wanting to disturb the Holy Father,” Gotti Tedeschi told Italian news agency ANSA on May 25 following his departure.

“My love for the Pope also prevails above the defense of my reputation so cravenly called into question.”

Gotti Tedeschi, 67, had been head of the Vatican Bank, also known as the Institute for Works of Religion, since 2009. His appointment was widely seen as attempt by the Vatican to become more transparent in its financial dealings.

In July, the Council of Europe is expected to decide on the bid by the Vatican to be placed on the organization’s “White List” of countries adhering to their strict code of financial ethics.

Those efforts seemed to take a setback in 2010 when the Italian authorities temporarily seized $30 million from the Vatican Bank. It was alleged the bank had not complied with Italian laws requiring the disclosure of information about account holders and beneficiaries.

In response the Vatican created a Financial Information Authority in 2011 to scrutinize and police the financial and commercial dealings of all Vatican agencies, including the Vatican Bank.

In recent months, however, the Vatican has again been dogged by allegations of fraud following the leak of sensitive internal documents to the Italian press.

Gotti Tedeschi has had a long career in finance, having previously served as the head of Italian operations for Banco Santander, the largest private bank in Europe. He is also a former professor of financial ethics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Following his departure the board of the Vatican Bank said it is now “now looking ahead to the search for a new and distinguished president” who can help the bank “regain effective and wider relations between the institute and the financial community based on the shared respect of accepted international banking standards.”

That search will begin today with a meeting of the Commission of Cardinals. In the interim, the presidency will be assumed by the bank’s vice-president Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz.

Police arrest suspect in 'Vatileaks' case

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:22:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 25, 2012 / 09:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A person suspected of leaking sensitive internal Vatican documents has been arrested and is currently being detained “in a secure room” by the Vatican police.

“The investigation initiated by the Gendarmerie under instructions received by the Commission of Cardinals and under the direction of the Promoter of Justice, has identified a person in possession of confidential documents,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told the media May 25.

The arrest follows several months of so-called “Vatileaks” in which numerous documents about the internal workings of the Vatican were passed on to the Italian media.

Last week, Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi released a new book entitled “Sua Santita” (His Holiness), which contained a series of leaked letters addressed personally to Pope Benedict.

In it he gives his mole the codename “Maria,” although he also claims to have more than one source of information inside the Vatican.

Earlier this year the same journalist also revealed confidential correspondence sent to Pope Benedict by the current Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

In those letters, Archbishop Vigano pleaded to remain in his previous post as Secretary of the Vatican City’s government. He also claimed to be the victim of a smear campaign by those aggrieved at his reforms of the Vatican’s purchasing procedures.

In response to the spate of leaks, Pope Benedict established in April a special commission of three cardinals, chaired by the Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, to investigate their source.

Cardinal Herranz told CNA on the evening of May 24 that the leaks were “confusing souls and also giving the Church and the Holy See a completely unfair image.”

The case of the suspect arrested today is being dealt with by the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, Nicola Picardi, who is the chief prosecutor for the Vatican City State.

It is unclear at present whether any potential prosecution would be dealt with by Vatican or Italian courts. The 1929 Lateran Treaty between the two states does make provision for crimes within the Vatican City State to be dealt with through the Italian legal system, with the Vatican picking up the cost for any trial or imprisonment.

Pope blesses world-traveling cross honoring Christ's resurrection

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:28:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 24, 2012 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Before his Wednesday General Audience this week, Pope Benedict blessed a large wooden cross that will travel to the capitals of the world marking the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s Resurrection in 2033.

The cross measures 13 feet tall and serves as a “sign of gratitude to God,” Vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano reported on May 23.

The cross has already visited the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Island, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The initiative was started by a group of Ukrainian faithful from the city of Leopoli.

In Rome, the cross visited the Basilicas of St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.

L'Osservatore Romano also pointed out that the initiative is of “great ecumenical value,” like that of Father Vladimiro Timoshenko, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Russia, who presented the Pope with an icon of St. Olaf for his blessing. The image will be placed in the church to replace an ancient icon that was destroyed.

In addition to other initiatives related to sports that were presented to the Pope, a group of pilgrims also presented him with relics of Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo and Blessed Clemente Vismara.

Vatican publishes guidelines on apparitions, private revelations

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:13:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 24, 2012 / 12:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has published guidelines to help the Church worldwide handle claims of private revelations and apparitions.

In his preface to the new publication, prefect Cardinal William J. Levada voiced his “firm hope” that the norms will aid Church leaders “in their difficult task” of discerning apparitions, revelations and “extraordinary phenomena of presumed supernatural origin.”

The norms were drawn-up for internal use in 1978 under Pope Paul VI, and, until now, have never been officially published or translated from Latin.

Yet with many unofficial versions in circulation, however, Cardinal Levada said he believed that “now opportune to publish these Norms, providing translations in the principle languages.”

The decision to publish the guidelines comes as a special commission established by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith moves into its third year investigating alleged apparitions by Our Lady in the town of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Since 1981, it has become a popular site of pilgrimage due to reports of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local Catholics.

The committee of bishops, theologians and other experts was convened in March 2010 at the request of Medjugorje’s local bishop and under the chairmanship of the former Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini.

The newly published guidelines set out a three-stage process by which a legitimate church authority can come to a decision regarding claims of apparitions or revelations.

First, the claim should be initially judged “according to positive and negative criteria.” This investigation can include an assessment of the “personal qualities” of any alleged seers as to their “psychological equilibrium, honesty and rectitude of moral life, sincerity and habitual docility towards ecclesiastical authority, the capacity to return to a normal regimen of a life of faith, etc.”

Any potentially authentic revelation must also be of “true theological and spiritual doctrine and immune from error,” and should be producing a “healthy devotion and abundant and constant spiritual fruit” such as a “spirit of prayer, conversion, testimonies of charity, etc.”

Second, if the local church authorities come to a favorable initial conclusion they can permit some form of public devotion while continuing “overseeing this with great prudence.”

Third, a final judgment can then be passed “in light of time passed and of experience” with special regard to “the fecundity of spiritual fruit generated from this new devotion.”

Cardinal Levada made clear in his preface to the guidelines that, unlike public revelation, Catholics are not bound to accept the veracity or content of any private revelation, not even those officially approved by church authorities.

Ecclesiastical approval “essentially means that its message contains nothing contrary to faith and morals.” He added, however, that private revelations can have a “certain prophetic character” and can also “introduce new emphases, give rise to new forms of piety, or deepen older ones.”

Absentee dads hinder children’s understanding of God, Pope says

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:42:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 23, 2012 / 11:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Dads who are absent from their family make it more difficult for their children to understand God as a loving father, Pope Benedict XVI said on May 23.

“Perhaps modern man does not perceive the beauty, grandeur and profound consolation contained in the word ‘father’ with which we can turn to God in prayer, because the father figure is often not sufficiently present in today’s world, and is often not a sufficiently positive presence in everyday life,” the Pope said in his weekly general audience address.

He underscored that the “the problem of a father not present in the life of the child is a big problem of our time” because it can become difficult for those children “to understand in its depth what it means to us that God is Father.”

In the U.S., over one-third of all children live apart from their biological father.

The Pope delivered his remarks to over 20,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. His reflections, which today focused on two passages from St. Paul on the Holy Spirit enabling people to call upon God with the intimate term ‘Abba,’ continued his series on the role of prayer in the story of salvation.

In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul wrote that “As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” St. Paul also wrote to the Romans, “you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”

Pope Benedict noted that the familial Aramaic word “Abba” is also used by Jesus “even at the most dramatic moment of his earthly life,” thus demonstrating that he “never lost faith in the Father and always invoked him with the intimacy of a beloved son.”

Similarly, through baptism, every Christian also becomes a beloved son or daughter of God, “sharing by adoption in the eternal sonship of Jesus.”

In the selected passages, the Pope explained, St. Paul also demonstrates that “Christian prayer is never unidirectional, from us to God.” Instead, it is “an expression of a reciprocal relationship in which it is always God who acts first.”

Therefore, whenever we address the Father in prayer, even silently or privately, we are never alone, since “we are within the great prayer of the Church, we are part of a great symphony which the Christian community in all places and times raises to God,” he said.

It is this “prayer guided by the Spirit” that causes Christians to cry out “Abba! Father!” both “with Christ and in Christ,” Pope Benedict taught.

“It makes us part of the great mosaic of the family of God, in which everyone has an important place and role, profoundly united to all things.”

The Pope concluded his address by suggesting to pilgrims that they should “learn to appreciate the beauty of being friends, or rather children, of God,” and to invoke God the Father in prayer “with the confidence and trust of a child addressing his parents who love him.”

He then led those present in the sung recitation Our Father in Latin before imparting his apostolic blessing.

Pope Benedict thanks God for 'dark nights' in his life

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:14:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 22, 2012 / 05:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI has revealed to his closest collaborators in the Sacred College of Cardinals how the “dark nights” of his life have brought him closer to Christ.

“In this moment my words can only be a word of thanks; firstly gratitude to the Lord for giving me so many years; years with many days of joy, wonderful times, but also dark nights,” he said May 21.

“But in retrospect one realizes that even the nights were necessary and good, a cause for thanksgiving.”

Pope Benedict made his unscripted remarks at a private lunch at the Vatican with several dozen cardinals. The gathering was held to mark the 7th anniversary of his pontificate and also his 85th birthday. The comments were only officially released to the media May 22.

During lunch, the Pope told the cardinals that “we see how evil wants to dominate in the world and that it is necessary to enter into the fight against evil.”

He added that although the term “the Church Militant” is deemed “a bit out of fashion” these days, it is actually the phrase that best “possesses the truth.”

This evil, he said, manifests itself in many obvious ways through “different forms of violence” but, more subtly, it can also be found “masquerading as goodness, and thus destroying the moral foundations of society.”

Pope Benedict reminded the cardinals of St. Augustine’s maxim that “all of history is a struggle between two loves.” Either we love of ourselves and have contempt for God or we love God and have contempt for ourselves in martyrdom.

“We are in this fight and in this struggle it is very important to have friends,” he told them before thanking them personally for their friendship over the past seven years.

“Thank you for the communion of joys and sorrows. Let us go forward,” said the Pope, reminding them of the Christ’s promise “Courage, I have overcome the world.”

“We are in the Lord’s team, therefore in the winning team,” he concluded before proposing a toast.

Yesterday’s remarks are in keeping with several recent comments by the Pope in which he has alluded to the difficulties he has faced during his pontificate.

Earlier this month he used a Wednesday General Audience to thank people for their prayers and support since he election as Successor of Peter in 2005.

“From the first moment of my election as the Successor of St. Peter, I have always felt supported by the prayers of you all, by the prayer of the Church, especially by your prayers at moments of greatest difficulty, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he told pilgrims in St. Peters Square May 9.

“Unanimous and constant prayer is a precious instrument in overcoming all of the trials that may arise in the path of life, because it is our being deeply united with God that allows us to also be deeply united to others,” the Pope said, before thanking everyone again.

Holy See eyes legal action over continued 'Vatileaks'

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:42:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 21, 2012 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican says it considers the continued leaking of confidential documents, including private correspondence belonging to Pope Benedict XVI, a “criminal act” that it will seek to bring to justice.

“The latest publication of documents of the Holy See and private documents of the Holy Father can no longer be considered a questionable – and objectively defamatory – journalistic initiative, but clearly assumes the character of a criminal act,” said Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, in a statement issued to the media May 19.

“The Holy Father, but also several of his collaborators and the senders of messages directed to him, have seen their rights to personal privacy and freedom of correspondence violated,” he stated.

The Vatican statement follows the publication of a new book containing a series of leaked letter addressed personally to Pope Benedict XVI. “Sua Santita” (His Holiness) is the work of the Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

Last month, Pope Benedict established a special commission of three cardinals, chaired by the Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, to investigate the source of the internal leaks.

“The Holy See will continue to explore the different implications of these acts of violation of the privacy and dignity of the Holy Father -- as a person and as the supreme authority of the Church and Vatican City State,” Fr. Lombardi said.

He promised that the Vatican will “take appropriate steps so that the authors of the theft, those who received stolen property and those who disclosed confidential information ... answer for their acts before the law.” If necessary, the Vatican said it will request "international collaboration."

The Vatican scored a victory in the courts last week when the Italian clothing firm Benetton backed down and apologized for using an image of Pope Benedict XVI in a 2011 advertising campaign. The company had doctored a photograph to depict the Pope kissing a Muslim imam.

Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi is no stranger to run-ins with the Vatican.

Earlier this year he also revealed confidential correspondence sent to Pope Benedict by the current Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. In those letters, Archbishop Vigano pleaded to remain in his previous post as Secretary of the Vatican City’s government. He also claimed to be the victim of a smear campaign by those aggrieved at his reforms of the Vatican’s purchasing procedures.

Other recent Vatican leaks have centered on the Holy See’s financial body, the Institute of Works of Religion, which is currently attempting to reform its procedures to comply with international regulatory norms.

Pope says Jesus' Ascension confirmed promise of heaven

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:50:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 20, 2012 / 11:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Ascension of Jesus should remind Christians of the promise of Heaven and the power of earthly prayer, Pope Benedict XVI said at the Regina Coeli prayer on Sunday.

When he ascended into heaven, Jesus “did not separate himself from our condition, in fact, in his humanity, he took mankind with him in the intimacy of the Father, and so has revealed the final destination of our earthly pilgrimage,” the Pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on May 20.

“Just as he came down from heaven for us, and for us suffered and died on the cross, so for us he rose again and ascended to God, who therefore is no longer distant, but ‘Our God,’ ‘Our Father.’”

The Pope spoke to several thousand people who gathered to hear his midday Sunday address, followed by recitation of the Regina Coeli prayer.

He noted that in many countries the feast of the Ascension – which occurs 40 days after the Resurrection – is celebrated today, rather than on Thursday.

“The Ascension of Our Lord marks the fulfillment of salvation which began with the Incarnation,” the Pope explained. It is “the ultimate act of our deliverance from the yoke of sin.”

“Not only is the immortality of the soul proclaimed, but also that of the flesh,” he said, quoting Pope St. Leo the Great. “Today, in fact, not only are we confirmed possessors of paradise, but in Christ we also penetrated the heights of heaven.”

The Ascension also tells us that when we pray, “our humanity is brought to the heights of God, so every time we pray, the earth joins with Heaven.”

“And like burning incense, its fragrant smoke reaches on high,” the Pope said of prayer, adding that “when we raise our fervent and trusting prayer in Christ to the Lord, it crosses the heavens and reaches the Throne of God, it is heard by Him and answered.

“Let us beseech the Virgin Mary to help us contemplate the heavenly things, which the Lord promises us, and become more credible witnesses of divine life.”

After the Marian prayer, Pope Benedict issued a series of greetings and appeals.

The Pope asked people to pray for the Church in China, “that they may announce with humility and joy the Risen Christ, be faithful to his Church and the Successor of Peter and live their daily life in a manner consistent with the faith we profess.”

Also on the pontiff’s mind was a bomb attack that hit at a high school in the southern Italian town of Brindisi on Saturday. The blast seriously injured several students and took the life of a 16-year-old girl named Melissa. Pope Benedict described the attack as “cowardly” and asked everyone to pray for the victims of the “brutal violence,” especially for Melissa and her family.

Finally, he offered his “affectionate thoughts” and said he is “spiritually close” to the victims of a 6.0 earthquake that hit northeastern Italy at around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. The quake killed at least four people and caused millions in damage to historic buildings.

Trust Pope's judgment on SSPX deal, senior rabbi says

Fri, 18 May 2012 18:33:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, May 18, 2012 / 06:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A leading American rabbi and Holocaust refugee says people should trust Pope Benedict’s judgment when it comes to the Church possibly readmitting the Society of St. Pius X, which has a bishop who denied the scale of the Holocaust.

“Let me tell you this, I think that Pope Benedict XVI in many ways really understood the Holocaust because he was in the German Army. He deserted (the army), his family was anti-Nazi, I mean he was completely opposed to Hitler,” Rabbi Jack Bemporad told CNA May 16.

“Now, given the fact that he suffered under Hitler and that his family suffered under Hitler, how could he in any way accept or welcome someone who denies that Hitler did anything wrong?” he asked rhetorically.

The Society of St. Pius X broke with the Catholic Church in 1988 after its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II.

One of those ordained, Bishop Richard Williamson, was fined $13,500 in Germany in 2010 after denying the extent of the Holocaust during a television interview. The Society subsequently issued a statement disassociating itself from his views. The conviction was also later quashed by the German appeals court.

Rabbi Bemporad, who currently serves as Professor of Interreligious Studies at the Pontifical Angelicum University, dismissed Bishop Williamson as “one person who is really crazy” and “knows nothing.”

He also believes that Williamson does not speak for the vast majority of Society members.

“The mistake is to take a few people and make them somehow representative of everyone without realizing that that just isn’t true,” he said. “I think it is only a small part of this group that is that radical. I think the vast majority are very happy and would love to be part of the Church.”

Earlier this week the Vatican announced that negotiations with the Society about reconciling the 1988 breach will now happen “separately and singularly” with three of the Society’s four bishops, including Williamson.

For his part, Williamson has made it increasingly clear that he is opposed to reconciliation with Rome. In a letter written earlier this month to his superior, Bishop Williamson suggested that reunion would cause the Society to cease opposing “the universal apostasy of our time.” He also accused Pope Benedict of being “a subjectivist.”

“Now I don’t think that in trying to find a way of incorporating this group that they are going to accept in any way any of the extreme positions that Williamson stands for,” predicted Rabbi Bemporad.

The Catholic Church’s view of Judaism was most recently set out in the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on relations with non-Christian religions, “Nostra Aetate.” It rejected both anti-Semitism and the belief that present-day Jews are responsible for Christ’s death.

In recent negotiations with the Society, the Vatican has insisted that it accept all the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope praying for renewal of US women religious

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:45:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 18, 2012 / 04:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says he is praying that a renewal of female religious life in the United States will “recapture a sense of the sublime dignity and beauty of the consecrated life.”

“I wish to reaffirm my deep gratitude for the example of fidelity and self-sacrifice given by many consecrated women in your country, and to join them in praying that this moment of discernment will bear abundant spiritual fruit for the revitalization and strengthening of their communities in fidelity to Christ and the Church, as well as to their founding charisms,” the Pope said on May 18.

He made his comments to a delegation of U.S. bishops from the Eastern Catholic churches that is currently in Rome on a May 15-19 “ad limina” pilgrimage.

Last month the Vatican called for a reform of the Maryland-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), after concluding there was a “crisis” of belief throughout its ranks. It also appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle to lead the renewal efforts.

During his May 18 address, Pope Benedict asked the bishops to promote and pray for new religious vocations, since there is an “urgent need in our own time for credible and attractive witnesses to the redemptive and transformative power of the Gospel.”

He also called for a “strengthening of the existing channels for communication and cooperation” between dioceses and the individual religious communities within their territory.

The Vatican’s decision to reform the LCWR followed a four-year audit of the group by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Among its key findings, the assessment documented serious theological and doctrinal errors in presentations at the conference’s annual assemblies in recent years.

Several speakers depicted a vision of religious life that is incompatible with the Catholic faith, the assessment said, with some attempting to justify dissent from Church teaching and showing “scant regard for the role of the Magisterium.”

Pope Benedict’s audience with the leaders of the Eastern Catholic churches marks the conclusion of several months of “ad limina” visits by U.S. bishops.

The Pope said he hoped that the forthcoming Year of Faith, which begins in October, will “awaken a desire on the part of the entire Catholic community in America to re-appropriate with joy and gratitude the priceless treasure of our faith.”

“With the progressive weakening of traditional Christian values, and the threat of a season in which our fidelity to the Gospel may cost us dearly,” he warned, “the truth of Christ needs not only to be understood, articulated and defended, but to be proposed joyfully and confidently as the key to authentic human fulfillment and to the welfare of society as a whole.”

Pope says immigrants could revitalize US Church

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:03:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 18, 2012 / 02:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says that Catholic immigrants to the United States could play a crucial role in the renewal of the Church and society.

“The immense promise and the vibrant energies of a new generation of Catholics are waiting to be tapped for the renewal of the Church’s life and the rebuilding of the fabric of American society,” said the Pope at a May 18 audience.

Pope Benedict made his remarks to a delegation of U.S. Eastern rite Catholic bishops who are at the Vatican for a May 15-19 “ad limina” visit – the first one specifically created for non-Roman rite bishops.

He told the bishops that the apostolic opportunities provided by immigration require more than “simply respecting linguistic diversity, promoting sound traditions, and providing much-needed social programs and services.”

Instead, there also has to be a commitment to “ongoing preaching, catechesis and pastoral activity aimed at inspiring in all the faithful a deeper sense of their communion in the apostolic faith and their responsibility for the Church’s mission in the United States.”

With many Eastern Catholics hailing from the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the Pope noted how the Church in the United States has historically “struggled to recognize and incorporate this diversity, and has succeeded, not without difficulty, in forging a communion in Christ.”

More recently, the largest waves of immigration into the United States have come from other predominantly Catholic cultures, such as the Dominican Republic and Mexico. A recent study suggested that Latinos now make up 32 percent of the U.S. Catholic population compared with only 10 percent in 1987.

Pope Benedict praised the “unremitting efforts” of Catholic institutions that are responding to the needs of new immigrants and described their endeavors as “in the best traditions of the Church in America.”

“The Catholic community in the United States continues, with great generosity, to welcome waves of new immigrants, to provide them with pastoral care and charitable assistance, and to support ways of regularizing their situation, especially with regard to the unification of families.”

Earlier this month, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York publicly criticized the attitude of some Republican politicians towards immigration. He described laws that separate immigrant families and require identification before giving charitable assistance to the needy as “not Christian” and “not American.” Instead, he urged lawmakers to “come up with a much saner, more civil, more just immigration policy.”

In his May 18 remarks, Pope Benedict expressed his “profound concern” over United State’s immigration policy being reformed and called for the “just treatment and the defense of the human dignity of immigrants.”

“In our day too, the Church in America is called to embrace, incorporate and cultivate the rich patrimony of faith and culture present in America’s many immigrant groups.”

The leaders of the Eastern Catholic churches are the last of 15 groups of U.S. bishops to visit Rome on pilgrimage in recent months.

Pope Benedict concluded his meeting with them by imparting his apostolic blessing and entrusting them, along with their flocks to “the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States.”

Pope outlines power of the Holy Spirit in prayer

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:58:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 16, 2012 / 03:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says Christians should avail themselves to the Holy Spirit in prayer – particularly when they cannot find the words or inspiration to pray.

“St. Paul teaches us that in our prayer we must open ourselves to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, who prays in us with inexpressible groanings, to bring us to adhere to God with our whole heart and with all our being,” the Pope said May 16.

“The Spirit of Christ becomes the strength of our ‘weak’ prayer, the light of our ‘dimmed’ prayer, the focus of our ‘dry’ prayer, giving us true inner freedom, teaching us to live by facing our trials, in the certainty we are not alone.”

Continuing his weekly catechesis on Christian prayer, Pope Benedict XVI used this week’s General Audience to explore the theme of prayer in the Letters of St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, in the New Testament.

He told over 11,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square to take on board the advice of St. Paul to turn to the Holy Spirit when “we want to pray, but God is far away, we do not have the words, the language to talk with God, not even the thought.”

It is then, said the Pope, that “we can only open ourselves up, make time available for God” knowing that this mere desire to get in touch with God “is prayer that the Holy Spirit not only understands, but it brings, interprets before God.”

“In prayer we experience, more than in other dimensions of existence, our weakness, our poverty, our being creatures, because we are faced with the omnipotence and transcendence of God,” said Pope Benedict.

It is therefore the Holy Spirit “who helps our inability, enlightens our minds and warms our hearts, guiding our turning to God.”

The Pope concluded his observations by highlighting three consequences of allowing “the Spirit of Christ as an inner principle of all our actions.”

First of all “we are enabled to abandon and overcome every form of fear or slavery, experiencing the
true freedom of the children of God.”

This freedom is not identified by St. Paul as the possibility of choosing evil which, said the Pope, leads to “alienation of human beings” and “the destruction of our freedom.” Instead the freedom espoused by the Apostle is a “true freedom” that allows us “to really follow our desire for good” and “not be overwhelmed by the circumstances that lead us in other directions.”

This freedom manifests itself in the “fruits of the Spirit” which are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

A second consequence is that “our relationship with God becomes so deep that it is not be impacted by any reality or situation.” Therefore we are not freed from trial or suffering in our prayer but “we can live them in union with Christ, his sufferings, with a view to participating in his glory.”

This should encourage us whenever we have the impression of “not being listened to and then we risk losing heart and perseverance,” as in reality “there is no human cry that is not heard by God.”

The third and final outcome of reliance on the Holy Spirit is that “the prayer of the believer is also open to the dimensions of humanity and all of creation.” This sees prayer “open to the sharing the sufferings of our time, of others.”

The Pope then concluded his audience with the recitation of the Eastertide Marian anthem, the Regina Coeli, before imparting his Apostolic Blessing.

Vatican splits negotiations with Pius X Society

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:25:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 16, 2012 / 10:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has announced it will hold separate talks with the superior general of the breakaway traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and each of its three other bishops to try and acheive reconciliation.

“The text of the response of Bishop Bernard Fellay, received on 17 April, 2012, was examined and some observations, which will be considered in further discussions between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X, were formulated,” said a communique issued May 16.

The statement was published after a quarterly meeting of the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The 16-person committee – known as Feria Quarta – met this morning to discuss the modifications made by the Superior of the Society of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, to a “doctrinal preamble” prepared last year by the Vatican. The document establishes a framework for agreement on some key issues of Church doctrine, including acceptance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

In contrast to Bishop Fellay, the Society’s three other bishops seem hostile to the idea of reconciliation with Rome.

Today’s Vatican communiqué said the situations of the three other bishops “will have to be dealt with separately and singularly.”

Earlier this month, Bishops Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Alfonso de Galarreta and Richard Williamson sent a letter to Bishop Fellay warning that an agreement with the Vatican would see the Society “cease to oppose the universal apostasy of our time.”

They also argued that the Second Vatican Council “did not just include particular errors but represented a total perversion of the mind, a new philosophy founded on subjectivism.”

Pope Benedict XVI was dismissed by the three Pius X Society bishops as a “subjectivist.”

Prior to today’s statement, many observers thought it was possible that the committee would announce an agreement with the Society that could be presented to Pope Benedict XVI for his judgment.

Feria Quarta consists of some of the Vatican’s senior curial figures, such as Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and several bishops from key dioceses, including Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna and Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux. It is chaired by the Prefect of the Congregation, the American Cardinal William Levada.

The Society of St. Pius X was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve in 1970 as a response to what he described as errors that had crept into the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council. Its relations with the Vatican became strained in 1988 when Archbishop Lefebrve consecrated four bishops against the orders of Pope John Paul II.

Modified on May 16, 2012 at 11:30 a.m. MST. Headline and lede changed to reflect decision to split negotiations.

Fashion company makes amends for Pope-imam 'kissing' ad

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:38:00 -0600

Vatican City, May 15, 2012 / 05:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Italian fashion company has settled a legal conflict with the Vatican, which arose in 2011 after an ad campaign that featured digitally manipulated images of the Pope kissing a Muslim cleric.

In the wake of the legal challenge to its ads, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Benetton Group now recognizes “that the Pope's image must be respected.”

A recent declaration by the fashion company, acknowledged by the Holy See Press Office on May 15, reaffirmed its “regret for having offended His Holiness Benedict XVI and believers” with its “UNHATE” advertisements, which portrayed kisses between religious and political leaders.

One of these doctored images, featuring Pope Benedict and Egyptian imam Ahmed el Tayyeb, was displayed in print and other media – including a large banner near the Vatican – in November 2011. It was withdrawn from publications after an initial apology by Benetton the same month.

Tuesday's announcement from the Holy See marks the resolution of the legal conflict that continued after the withdrawal, as the Vatican sought to prevent further distribution of the image and ensure Benetton's respect for the Pope's reputation in the future.

In its communique, the Benetton Group assured the Vatican that “all photographic images of the Holy Father have been retracted from commercial distribution.”

The company also promised not to use the Pope's image without permission, and to invest resources in stopping any “further use of the image by third parties on internet sites and in other places.”

While the Vatican did not seek any financial compensation for damages, Fr. Lombardi noted that a form of “moral compensation” was requested. The Benetton Group has made an “an act of generosity, (which is) effective even if limited, toward one of the Church's charitable activities.”

Prominent Legion priest admits fathering child, issues apology

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:58:00 -0600

Rome, Italy, May 15, 2012 / 12:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Thomas Williams, one of the most high-profile American members of the Legion of Christ, is leaving public ministry after admitting he fathered a child.

“A number of years ago I had a relationship with a woman and fathered her child. I am deeply sorry for this grave transgression and have tried to make amends,” Fr. Williams said in a May 15 statement.

“My superiors and I have decided it would be best for me to take a year without active public ministry to reflect on the wrong I have done and my commitments as a priest. I am truly sorry to everyone who is hurt by this revelation, and I ask for your prayers as I seek guidance on how to make up for my errors.”

He also apologized to members of the Legion and the Church, “since this scandalous news will damage them as well, at the worst possible moment.”

The identities of the mother and child have not been revealed.

Fr. Williams also said that he is with his family in Michigan and is being treated for a form of cancer.

Fr. Williams was ordained a priest with the Legion of Christ priest in 1994. Now based in Rome, he is a professor of theology and ethics at the Legion’s Regina Apostolorum University. He is also a prolific Catholic author.

But Fr. Williams earned most of his renown for his work in broadcast television. In recent years he has served as a faith and religion analyst for CBS News, as well as a Vatican analyst for NBC News and Sky News. He was also the theological advisor for Mel Gibson’s 2004 film, “The Passion of the Christ.”

Today’s news is yet another blow to the morale of the Legion of Christ. The movement is currently being overhauled by senior Vatican officials, following revelations that its late founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, had lived a double life that included affairs with women and fathering children.

Meanwhile, the Vatican announced last week that it is also investigating seven allegations of sexual abuse made against Legion members, with all but one of the cases being “from decades ago.”

In a May 15 letter to all Legion members, Father Luis Garza, Territorial Director for North America, said that Fr. Williams’ announcement “will be shocking news to you,” especially “in the wake of all that we have been through as a Movement in the past several years.” He added that he would not be surprised if members were “disappointed, angry or feel your trust shaken once again.”

“Father Williams has enriched the faith of so many through his teaching, public speaking and writing, and has been a spiritual guide for many in the Movement,” he stated.

“That is what makes this failing such a painful reminder that we are all frail humans, in desperate need of God’s mercy.”

Fr. Garza concluded by asking for prayers for all who have been affected by Fr. Williams’ actions and also for himself “during his time of prayer, penance and renewal of his priestly ministry.”