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Showing posts with the label Vatican

Archbishop Piacenza to head Congregation for Clergy

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There is a significant announcement in today's Vatican Bollettino
Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha accolto la rinunzia presentata, per raggiunti limiti d’età, dall’Em.mo Card. Cláudio Hummes all’incarico di Prefetto della Congregazione per il Clero ed ha chiamato a succedergli nel medesimo incarico S.E. Mons. Mauro Piacenza, Arcivescovo titolare di Vittoriana, finora Segretario dello stesso Dicastero.

[my translation] The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation, on grounds of age, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, from the post of Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and has called to succeed him in the same office His Excellency Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Titular Archbishop of Vittoriana, until now Secretary of the same Dicastery.Readers may remember Archbishop Piacenza's gracious letter to Bishop O'Donoghue on the occasion of the publication of "Fit for Mission? Church" and his commendation of the Handbook for Parish Voc…
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Catholicism "you can kind of pick and choose" - or not

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On the feast of the Assumption, Mark Dowd came to Blackfen with producer, Helen Grady to record our Mass at Blackfen and talk to some parishioners in the Social Club afterwards. I had a session with them some days later, talking particularly about the Mass and about Pope Benedict.

This was all in preparation for the programme "The Pope's British Divisions" which was broadcast on Radio 4 this morning (it is available on iPlayer for a few days). I was at the seminary at Wonersh for a "Staff Review and Planning Day" and, unusually, found myself listening to the radio after breakfast.

Naturally, only a small portion of the recorded material was actually used in the programme; it is part of the art of producing such a piece that a judicious selection is made. As any producer would expect, I would have one or two quibbles but from a media point of view, it is fascinating to see how much work is put into such projects. There were pieces from Pluscarden, Aberdeen, a sc…
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Vatican Briefing next Friday on UK Papal Visit

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In the Vatican Bollettino today there is an announcement that next Friday 10 September, Fr Lomardi will give a briefing:
"to illustrate the programme of the Apostolic Journey of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom no the occasion of the Beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman (16-19 September 2010)"The briefing will take place at 11.30am (10.30am UK time.)
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Attacco a Ratzinger

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Two respected Vaticanisti, Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli, have written a book analysing the various occasions during Pope Benedict's papacy when he has been subjected to fierce attack in the media: Attacco a Ratzinger: Accuse e scandali, profezie e complotti ("Attack on Ratzinger: Accusations and Scandals, Prophecies and Plots").

There is a lengthy review (in Italian) by Massimo Introvigne: I tre nemici del Papa (The three enemies of the Pope). I was reading this when a tweet came up with a link to an even longer review by John Allen: 'Attack on Ratzinger': Italian book assesses Benedict's papacy.

In addition to the main lines of the various stories which most Catholic blog readers will be familiar with, Attacco a Ratzinger has much material that has hitherto not been published. This is a valuable contribution since, as we know, the Italian Vaticanisti have proved time and again that they do have access to reliable inside information. John Allen quotes a …
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Video: "Pope Benedict XVI - My Vatican"

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A correspondent sent me the link to this video by Journeyman Pictures calle Pope Benedict XVI - My Vatican. There is a (very) irritating advert at the beginning and a few statements with which we would take issue, but on the whole it is a well produced and sympathetic documentary with some fascinating comments by Cardinal Ratzinger when he was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Embedding is disabled (why would anyone want to choose that option?) so here is the link.
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Archbishop Burke and Summorum Pontificum Study

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The Italian news service Androkronos has just reported Archbishop Raymond Burke as saying that at the older form of the Roman Rite, altar girls (or women) are not permitted to serve at the altar, nor is it allowed for lay people to distribute Holy Communion. Archbishop Burke said this in an introduction to a German Canonical Commentary by Fr Gero P. Weishaupt on Summorum Pontificum.

H/T Raffaella at Il blog degli amici di Papa Ratzinger

(In an earlier version of this post, I mistook the import of the Italian article. I thought it was referring to the clarification that we are expecting to be issued from the Holy See and/or any information or guidance resulting from the three yearly review of Summorum Pontificum. Nevertheless, Archbishop Burke's comments are significant. My apologies for the error.)

At NLM, Gregor Kollmorgen has posted various links and an English translation of a key passage from Archbishop Burke's introduction. Preface of Msgr. Burke to Canonical Commentary o…
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A little less "stupido" would be good

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Elizabeth Scalia, "The Anchoress", over at First Things is planning a trip to Rome to do some loud pounding on desks while yelling "Stupido! STUPIDO!" This is in view of the obvious public relations disaster that was the announcement of new norms for dealing with priests who commit crimes against minors, and various other delicts such as, well, the attempted ordination of women. (See: The Vatican’s Epic Fail – UPDATE) This is much along the same lines as Damian Thompson's post of last week.

For an alternative view of the announcement, read Fr John Boyle's expert analysis and for a solidly neutral assessment, there is John Allen.

For what it is worth, my own position would be nearer to that of Elizabeth Scalia and Damian Thompson. (The Catholic Herald also has a good article on the matter this week.)

The Holy See should consider the public impact of its statements, taking into account the fact that many journalists, and not only those hard-wired to seize on…
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A lawyer analyses Doe v Holy See

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Neil Addison at the Religion Law blog, has taken a look at the Supremem Court's refusal to review a decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the possibility of prosecuting the Holy See in the US courts. He concludes that it is not as important as it appears. I give his summary of the court's decision below, but the article contains further details.
The Holy See is a Sovereign State under US LawThe Holy See can only be sued in the US on the same basis as any Sovereign State and enjoys exactly the same immunity from suit as any other Sovereign StateCatholic Diocese and Organisations in the US are not “Agents or Instrumentalities” of the Holy See and the Holy See cannot be held liable for their actionsThe Holy See can only be sued with respect to the Acts of its “employees” and not for the acts of Catholic Priests etc generally(Thanks to Karen for correcting my earlier version of this post.)
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Significant appointments

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Today's Rinunce e Nomine section of the Bollettino is quite full, with some significant appointments. There is a new Bishop for Spokane (Mgr Blase Cupich), new auxiliaries for Boston (Frs Arthur Kennedy and Peter Uglietto), a new Rector for the Lateran University (Rev Enrico dal Covolo SDB), and a new member of the team of Pontifical MCs (Fr John Richard Cihak)

Archbishop Celestino Migliore has been appointed as Apostolic Nuncio for Poland. Up to now, he has been the Permanent Observer for the Holy See at the United Nations. Mgr Ignacio Carrasco de Paula has been appointed as President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. I know that some will be very pleased to hear of these moves.

As widely expected, and now officially announced, Archbishop Fisichella has been appointed as President of the newly formed Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet (above) has been made Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
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If the Vatican curia were a football team

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On his Italian blog for L'Espresso, Sandro Magister writes about the reporting in various papers of remarks made by Cardinal Ratzinger on football. These were confined to one page of a book that he published in 1985. In fact, Ratzinger was not a great fan of sport. In Milestones, he describes his disappointment when Hitler changed the curriculum, cutting down on Latin and Greek to make more time for sport in school. (In the quotations that follow, you have my rough translation.)

Magister quotes the summary in L'Osservatore Romano of the future Pope's thoughts:
"Football requires one to order that which is one's own to the needs of the team; it unites by means of the common objective. The success and failure of each one is based on the success and failure of the team; freedom is maintained through the order and discipline in which we learn to act together." Magister allows himself a rare moment of wry humour:
"As coach of the curia, Papa Ratzinger has little…
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Mgr Marini - print edition in "The Priest"

MARINIthe Priest March 2010

Back in January, the English translation of the lecture given by Mgr Guido Marini at the Rome Conference of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy was published widely on the internet. Fr McGavin, editor of "The Priest", the Journal of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy sent me the above file with Mgr Marini's lecture printed in the journal. You can read all the articles in the special March 2010 edition of "The Priest".

[The issue is copyright to Fr McGavin as the publisher for ACCC.]
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Authentic growth without cutting the roots

Rome reports has this interview with Mgr Guido Marini, the papal Master of Ceremonies.



There is a full transcription of the interview at Rome Reports. In this short piece, Mgr Marini highlights the importance of the hermeneutic of continuity as applied to the Sacred Liturgy so that there is authentic growth without cutting the roots so that development includes the richness of the Church's history and tradition.

Rome Reports has come up on the radar a few times recently. Taking a more careful look, I must say that it is very impressive and have added it to the blogroll.
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Documentary on the Vatican

A correspondent sent me a link to this video on Gloria TV which looks at the life of Pope Benedict and gives an inside look at the Vatican. I haven't time to watch the whole 40 minutes but as it is produced by EWTN, I'm happy to recommend it to you if you would like something good to watch in place of the offerings of the MSM.

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Cardinal Hummes supports priests

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Cardinal Hummes, the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Clergy, has written a letter to priests in anticipation of the closing of the Year for Priests in June. In writing to priests at this time, he quite rightly addresses the scandals that have been the focus of the world's media. His concise summary is a model of how to address the matter in a balanced and just way:
It is true that, albeit proportionately small in number, some priests have committed horrible and most serious crimes of sexual abuse upon minors, deeds that we must condemn and rebuke in an absolute and uncompromising manner. Those individuals must answer for their actions before God and before tribunals, including the civil courts. Nevertheless, we also pray that they might achieve spiritual conversion and receive pardon from God. The Church, for her part, is determined neither to hide nor to minimize such crimes. Above all we are on the side of the victims and want to support their recovery and their offended r…
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Vatican website: documents related to abuse

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The website of the Holy See now has a page of links to pontifical and other documents related to the abuse of minors. An interesting inclusion is a pdf of a lengthy article by Mgr Beal in Studia Canonica of 2007 concerning the document Crimen Sollicitationis.

H/T Luke Coppen
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Acta redacta

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Thanks to Fr Z for the news that the Acta Sanctae Sedis and the Acta Apostolicae Sedis have now been put online at the Vatican website.

The Acta Sanctae Sedis ran from 1865 to 1908, carrying the documents of the Holy See. In 1904, its contents were designated as "authentic and official". It was replaced in 1908 by the Acta Apostolicae Sedis which was given a more specific authority in that teh legal documents published are considered to be promulgated when published, and effective three months from the date of publication, unless a shorter or longer time is specified in the law itself.

These Acta are essential for those wishing to give authentic references to official documents of the Holy See and have hitherto only been available to those with access to a Catholic library that carries them. Providing them online is an important and significant service. The picture above is page 481 from the 1968 volume: the first page of the encyclical Humanae Vitae.
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Vatican Twitter feeds

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After the false alarm in January, it seems that the Vatican is indeed now putting out Twitter feeds in various languages. See: the article New Vatican Internet Services at the Vatican Radio website.

The English language feed for you to follow is: @news_va_en. Next challenge is to get in a bit quicker and snap up something better like @Vatican (not an official feed.) Or they could speak nicely to the owner, Pablo Arratia, offer him some financial compensation, and persuade him it is the right thing to do. Heck he might even waive the compensation. Has anyone looked into this?

Anyway - it is good to see official Vatican feeds on Twitter.
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Sistine Chapel virtual tour

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Thanks to John Thavis of CNS for new of an addition to the Vatican website: a Virtual Tour of the Sistine Chapel. this is a joint project of the Vatican and Villanova University.

There is a copyright notice photoshopped into the pavement. However, I am reliably informed by the last surviving Knight Commander of the Noble Equestrian Order of Pope Zephyrinus that Michaelangelo in fact painted in a small notice under Adam's big toenail saying that he released the lot under a Creative Commons licence :-)

Apologies for the frivolity. It really is a splendid project.
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Medjugorje commission announced

From the Vatican Bollettino today confirms the widespread rumour of a new commission on Medjugorje:
COMUNICATO DELLA SALA STAMPA DELLA SANTA SEDE: COMMISSIONE INTERNAZIONALE DI INCHIESTA SU MEDJUGORJE
È stata costituita presso la Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, sotto la presidenza del Cardinale Camillo Ruini, una Commissione internazionale di inchiesta su Medjugorje. Detta Commissione, composta da Cardinali, Vescovi, periti ed esperti, lavorerà in maniera riservata, sottoponendo l’esito del proprio studio alle istanze del Dicastero.My translation:
Communiqué of the Press Office of the Holy See: International Commission of Enquiry on Medjugorje

An international Commission of Enquiry on Medjugorje has been set up at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the presidency of Cardinal Camillo Ruini. The Commission, composed of Cardinals, Bishops, experts and those with experience, will work in a a confidential manner, placing the outcome of their study at the disposal …
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More roman malaria

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A couple of weeks back, Sandro Magister reported on the controversy inside the Pontifical Academy for Life - The Pontifical Academy of Nonstop Fighting. This referred to fallout from the article written for L'Osservatore Romano by Archbishop Fisichella concerning the Recife case (see: Recife case and roman malaria). Five members of the Academy, including our own Luke Gormally and Tom Ward, called for the resignation of Archbishop Fisichella because the article (in addition to being unjust to the Bishop of Recife) seemed to compromise the Church's teaching on abortion. Therefore the authors said:There is credible information that Fisichella is widely perceived in the Curia to be an inappropriate President of Pontifical Academy for Life and there is a reasonable hope that the Holy Father will recognise the need to provide him with an occupation better suited to his abilities.The Italian blog of the great Magister (Settimo Cielo) has carried several related articles recently, inc…
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Academy of the Annunciation: a new initiative in Bournemouth

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I am very happy to pass on news of the founding of the Academy of the Annunciation in Bournemouth. The Academy plans to offer conferences and study days for lay people to equip students to evangelise effectively in the vineyard of the Lord. It is also looking to provide conferences for priests, religious, and seminarians.

The Academy will be based at the Sacred Heart, the home of the Bournemouth Oratory-in-Formation which is a beautiful setting: stunning Church and lovely environment with the beach and gardens only a few minutes' walk away. The Angel of the Annunciation logo (above) is taken from an image on the reredos of the Lady Chapel at Sacred Heart.


Bishop Philip Egan is seen here with Dr Denise Oliver (left) and Dr Christina Pal (right) who taught in Rome at the Pontifical North American College (seminary) and other places – Dr Pal at Christendom College and Dr Oliver at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas and elsewhere.

The first offering of the …
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How to make an act of perfect contrition

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How can you go from imperfect to perfect contrition? Gabriella D from Australia asked me this on Twitter today and I want to give an answer because I think that many people misunderstand what we mean when we talk about “perfect contrition.”

Perfect contrition is sorrow and detestation of sin arising out of the love of God. One way of exciting this contrition in our hearts is by considering the passion of Jesus Christ and making acts of love for Him. We can also think of the infinite love which God has for us, and express sorrow in our heart in the presence of this great love which we have offended.

Imperfect contrition is sorrow and detestation for sin arising from a consideration of the ugliness of sin or out of the fear of hell. Disgust at the ugliness of sin is more common today than fear of hell. That is because we do not preach enough, or with sufficient conviction about the four last things.

If a person commits an act of impurity, for example, perhaps by deliberately looking at a…
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Commemoration of Abbe Edgeworth

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A commenter passes on this interesting snippet from the Latin Mass Society of Ireland.

Bishop O'Reilly of Ardagh & Clonmacnois will the Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) on Sunday, 23 September 2007 at St Mary's Church, Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford as part of a commemoration of the Bicentenary of the death of Monsignor Henry Essex Edgeworth de Firmont.

Bishop O'Reilly of Ardagh & Clonmacnois to offer Latin Mass at Monsignor Edgeworth commemoration

Although born in Co. Longford, Mgr Edgeworth was the confessor of Louis XVI and Vicar General of Paris at the height of the French Revolution. There is an article summarising his extraordinarily eventful life in the Catholic Encyclopaedia: Henry Essex Edgeworth.
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Our Lady Immaculate, our model for preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ.

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Listening with respect to the message of the angel, and prudently questioning him on how it was possible for her to be the Mother of Christ, Our Lady gave her immediate, willing and whole-hearted consent. From then on, her prayerful expectation of the birth of Christ is a model for us of the devout attitude we should endeavour to adopt during the season of Advent.

From the moment of her conception in the womb of Saint Anne, Our Lady, by a singular privilege, was free from original sin and never committed a single venial sin. Educated in the Temple from childhood, she faithfully and obediently followed the law of God as it was then in force for the Jewish people. She took part in the worship of the synagogue on the sabbath and went to Jerusalem for the great feasts. She observed those feasts with devotion, aware of their meaning which pointed to the Messiah, her own child, the One who is to come.

At those feasts, the psalms formed a major part of the liturgy. She would have known them…
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Bishop Budd on Summorum Pontificum

Fr Z has text and comments on the statement issued by Bishop Christopher Budd of the Plymouth Diocese.

I agree with Fr Z's comments and would add that Bishop Budd is a fair-minded man. I liked the last part of his statement:May I urge you to celebrate the present liturgy (the ordinary rite) of all the sacraments of the Church ‘attente et devote’. The quality of the parish celebration of the renewed liturgy is an important context for the permitted use of the rite now designated `Extraordinary’.The use of the older form of the rite should help and encourage priests in the proper celebration of the newer form. In fact, as Dr Hemming pointed out at the Merton Conference, the older form provides a necessary anchor for the newer form.
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