Around the world, Pope Francis’s Synod on Synodality is moving full steam ahead as bishops gather at the continental level to discuss the concerns and priorities of their local churches, ahead of a major gathering in Rome later this year.
Formally opened by Pope Francis in October 2021, the Synod of Bishops on Synodality is officially titled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” and is a multi-stage process that will culminate in two Rome-based gatherings in October 2023 and October 2024.
After an initial consultation with laypeople at the diocesan level, reports summarizing the conclusions were sent to national bishops’ conferences, and bishops are now discussing the contents of those reports in a continental synod phase that is set to close in March.
From Oct. 4-29, bishops and select delegates, including laypeople, will gather in Rome for the first of a two-part discussion, which will close with a similar gathering in October 2024. According to organizers, the exercise is aimed at making the church a more open and welcoming place, driven less by a clerical power-structure and more on collaborative leadership.
Daily Archives: February 25, 2023
Egyptian Christians in Libya face ‘toxic mix of racism and religious hostility’
After the release of a group of Egyptian Christians abducted in Libya, a leading human rights organization said that “Christians from sub-Saharan Africa face a toxic mix of racism and religious hostility” in the North African country.
The six men, all from the village of Alharja South in the southern Egyptian region of Suhag, had travelled to Libya for work. They were illegally taken at a checkpoint on Feb. 6 and transported to an unknown destination. They were released on Feb. 18.
Reports say they were tortured and were treated even worse once their abductors discovered they were Christians.
In a report, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said they were held in a small, crowded room with an exposed toilet, and were only released after a ransom $15,000 was paid.
CSW has welcomed the release but insists that it has nothing to do with a willingness on the part of the Libyan government to show tolerance towards Christians, or foreign nationals.
“It’s important to note that the men were released following the payment of a ransom. However, we consider raising awareness of the case, an important part of our advocacy, alongside calling for the action that would prevent this from happening again to anyone else,” said Kiri Kankhwende, CSW’s press officer.
She noted that Libya has become “a divided and lawless failed state which remains unsafe for its own citizens, and even more unsafe for foreign nationals, who are viewed by criminal elements as a source of illicit income.
Kankhwende said the security situation in the country has led some western governments like the U.S. and the UK to advise their citizens against travelling to Libya “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”
Pope Francis reaffirms bishops must get Vatican approval to allow Latin Mass
Pope Francis has unequivocally confirmed that bishops must obtain authorization from the Holy See before granting permission to celebrate the pre-Vatican II Mass in parish churches and before allowing priests ordained after July 16, 2021, to use the 1962 Roman Missal. The latest instruction also makes clear that bishops cannot take the law into their own hands and interpret in a different way the restrictions on the Latin Mass issued by the pope in 2021.
The rescript was publish-ed today, Feb. 21, following an audience that Pope Francis granted on Feb. 20 to Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who signed the rescript.
In July 2021, Pope Francis promulgated his apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes” (“Guardians of the Tradition”), declaring only the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council to be “the unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ (law of worship) of the Roman Rite,” restoring the obligation of priests to have their bishops’ permission to celebrate according to the “ex-traordinary” or pre-Vatican II Mass and ordering bishops not to establish any new groups or parishes in their dioceses devoted to the former liturgy.
Ukraine’s Catholic leader says Biden visit generated new hope
Ukraine’s top Catholic prelate says the surprise visit of US President Joe Biden on Monday has given the country’s people new hope on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Speaking via Zoom with a handful of Italian journalists, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said “the Russian army has literally sentenced us to death,” but that the many visits of heads of state to Kyiv in the past year, including that of Joe Biden, “gives us hope that this sentence will not be carried out.”
The solidarity shown by these visits, Shevchuk said, gives the Ukrainian people hope “that we will be able not only to survive but also to defend ourselves and build a free and democratic society.”
“A year ago, at this very moment, all diplomatic representatives were leaving Kyiv. The Americans themselves called on their fellow citizens to leave Ukrainian territory,” Shevchuk said, noting that when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, only two diplomatic representatives remained in Kyiv: The Vatican’s envoy, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, and the ambassador of Poland.
“All the others fled. A year later, not only has everyone returned, but the president of the United States has even arrived,” Shevchuk said, issuing a plea to the international community: “Don’t leave us alone, don’t abandon us.”
Francis says Popes, Jesuit generals normally should reign ‘for life’
Pope Francis revealed a slightly wary take on papal resignations in a candid conversation with his fellow Jesuits during a recent trip to Africa, saying he believes the papacy is for life and that stepping down should not become a habit in Catholicism.
The pope was in Africa Jan. 31-Feb. 5, visiting both the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. He was originally supposed to make the trip last summer but was unable to do so due to his ongoing knee troubles.
During the trip, he met privately with Jesuits serving in both the DRC and South Sudan. In each meeting, he was asked about his thoughts on papal resignation and whether he was considering it himself, and in each meeting, he said no.
Speaking to 82 Jesuits gathered for his Feb. 2 meeting in Kinshasa, Francis said, as he has in past interviews, that he wrote a letter of resignation two months after his March 2013 election and gave it to his then-secretary of state, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in case his health ever prevented him from exercising his office and he wasn’t fully conscious to resign in that moment.
“However, this does not at all mean that resigning popes should become, let’s say, a ‘fashion,’ a normal thing,” he said.
Pointing to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who made history in 2013 when he became the first pope to resign the papacy in 600 years, Pope Francis said Benedict “had the courage to do it because he did not feel up to continuing due to his health.”
“I for the moment do not have that on my agenda,” he said, voicing his belief that “the pope’s ministry is ad vitam (for life). I see no reason why it should not be so.”
“Historical tradition is important. If, on the other hand, we are listening to the ‘chatter,’ well, then we should change popes every six months!” he said.
Francis said he also believes the appointment of the head of the Jesuit order, the Father General, should be for life. Traditonally a lifelong appointment, this has changed in recent years, with the past two Jesuit Father Generals stepping down voluntarily.
“On this I am ‘conservative.’ It has to be for life,” he said.
He reiterated the point on papal resignation to the Jesuits in South Sudan, saying the thought of resigning “has not crossed my mind,” despite previous statements that he would resign if he ever felt that it was the right decision.
Indonesian minister against closing church under harsh fiat
Indonesia’s minister of religious affairs has joined Church groups in condemning the disruption of Christian worship in Lampung province on Sumatra Island by citing a controversial government decree.
A local mob on Feb. 19 forcibly stopped congregational worship at the David Tabernacle Christian Church in Rajabasa saying the place of worship did not meet the criteria prescribed under the 2006 Joint Decree of the Minister of Religion and the Minister of Home Affairs.
A minimum of 90 people need to attend the services before establishing a place of worship under the decree. However, the Church reportedly has only 70 members.
The signatures of 60 members of other religious communities are also needed before setting up a church along with a recommendation from the local Religious Harmony Forum.
Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said in an official statement on Feb. 21 that “there is no need for dissolution or banning” worship at the church.
“All parties are responsible for creating harmony” and any problems “must be resolved by deliberation,” Qoumas added.
According to advocacy groups, the decree only adds to the long list of obstacles being laid for minority communities and their faith practices in the world’s largest Muslim nation.
Muslim, Catholic pilgrimages share commonalities in Java
Indonesian Jesuit Father Bagus Laksana teaches theology and cultural studies at Sanata Dharma University in Yogyaka-rta. His research revolves around Christian-Muslim relations in the context of Javanese culture. In 2004 he published a book titled, Muslim and Catholic Pilgrimage Practices: Explorations through Java.
It presents Muslim and Catholic pilgrimages around Java island and shows an underlining rich ethnography and how Javanese culture is shaping those pilgrimages. His work suggests that Christian-Muslim relations should not be seen as an abstract dialogue, or even as a binary reality, but it must be seen in the backdrop of the particular social-cultural context, which shapes their encounter and interactions. Capuchin Bishop Paul Hinder, former Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia speaks about a thriving Church in the conflict-torn region, and also recalls the kidnapping of Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil and the murder of four Missionaries of Charity nuns while he headed the vicariate
“What I see here is also a distinctive way of communing with God. With the sacred past, with the local holy figures, but also with others, including the non-Muslims here. So, it’s a very rich, very hybrid religiosity and it has some value for our world today.
“But here for Muslims and Catholics alike, these saintly figures are considered to a certain degree as ancestors, part of the community’s past that continues to be respected today.” Jesuit Father Bagus Laksana said.
“Then pilgrimage is also a devotion and a spiritual quest for peace and well-being. It’s not just a pious visit, but people are looking for something deeper, something that is keeping them through peace and well-being. Then the sacramentality of space, time, and things. This is very much there in the pilgrim tradition. Our encounter with God and our encounter with spirituality happen through space, time, and things. That is the specificity of the pilgrims’ tradition.”
Cambodian PM slams supporters of Church-backed news outlet
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has fired angry broadsides at diplomats, non-government organizations (NGOs), outlawed politicians and journalists while at the same time opening the door to delay a transfer of power for his oldest son Hun Manet by another three to four years.
The daily outbursts escalated amid a continued backlash over the forced closure of the Church-backed independent news outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD) in response to a disputed quote which Hun Sen said “could have led to internal conflict in the cabinet, and I cannot forgive them for that.”
It was a frank admission of a potential split in the cabinet as the prime minister prepares for elections in July, which only his long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) can win, and a widely expected handover of power to Hun Manet.
However, on that note, according to the government mouthpiece Fresh News, Hun Sen has been asked by French President Emmanuel Macron to remain in office for another three to four years in order to support Cambodian-French relations, made during a working dinner inside the Elysee Palace in December.
Hun Sen did not say whether he intended to stay on, nevertheless, his intentions of establishing a family dynasty were implicit in a separate attack on Sam Rainsy, exiled leader of the outlawed Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) .
Indonesia’s no nation for children
Violence against children in Indonesia has reached a critical stage, with new incidents of abuse continuing to occur. Ironically, it happens amid intensified campaigns by the government and civil society groups, including churches.
Cases of girls and boys being raped, kidnapped, and tortured make media headlines almost every day.
A disturbing incident happened last month in Makassar, South Sulawesi. An 11-year-old boy was kidnapped and killed by two teenage boys. Local authorities said they did so after being lured by an internet advert offering to pay a high price for human organs.
The offer vanished immediately after the murder case became public.
Sexual abuse of children is rampant in the Muslim-majority nation and almost all regions have reported a number of cases.
In Catholic-majority East Nusa Tenggara province, a former member of the local assembly was arrested last month for fondling a three-year-old girl. A would-be-Protestant minister from the same province was nabbed for sexually abusing a dozen Sunday school girls.
Such incidents give Indonesia the distinction of having one of the highest rates of child abuse in Southeast Asia.
Regrettably, child sexual abuse seems to have a knock-on effect as reports show many offenders were also abused in the past.Government data show that the number of poor people in Indonesia increased significantly from 24.7 million in 2019 to 26.3 million in 2022. Unemployment also rose from 7 million to 8.4 million.
Can Taiwan’s new Catholic PM change its future course?
Taiwan’s former vice president, Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic, who became the country’s new prime minister at the end of January, can do a lot. But his term in office will be short as the East Asian nation goes to presidential and parliamentary polls next year.
Beneath all the harsh words and military manoeuvrings, Taiwan enjoys robust ties with China, which wants to annex it, and the US, which will come to its aid in case of an attack by the communist nation.
China, which lays claim to Taiwan as its renegade province, takes in 37 percent of all Taiwanese exports, which rose by 14.2% last year. China also provides 20 percent of Taiwan’s imports, which increased by 9.5 % in 2022.
As neighbours, they face a raft of mutual risks from the depletion of marine stocks to global supply chain challenges. So, they cooperate one way or the other.
But still, Chen has to worry because there are enough strategic reasons why China won’t consider Taiwanese independence from the mainland.
Though the appellation “Taiwan” appears in brackets after the Republic of China, (the official name of Taiwan) and only 14 nations, including the Vatican, have diplomatic ties with it, Taiwan proudly occupies the United States’ eighth-largest trading partner position among the nearly 200 nations in the world.
“Chen will have to lift the fortunes of the party before presidential and parliamentary polls next year”
Though about 267 times smaller than China in size, Taiwan’s trade ties with the US are constantly strengthening.
A devout Catholic, Chen, who attended Pope Benedict’s funeral at the Vatican as the president’s envoy, took up the new assignment as part of a reshuffle by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after it suffered heavy losses during local elections four months ago.