Pope Francis’s new doctrine chief has said he believes a revised structure for his department is working well, and now includes a “democratic system” for handling whatever queries or complaints might arrive that prohibits him from making unilateral decisions.
New Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a close papal friend and ghostwriter who recently became prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), spoke to journalists Saturday after getting his red hat from Pope Francis alongside 20 other prelates from around the world.
Asked about his past use of social media and how he plans to engage any direct queries he receives, including those from “reactionaries” who take issue with his theology, Fernández acknowledged that in the past, “I was used to responding directly through Facebook, but now I have to take a little more care of how I move.”
“If queries arrive to me or questions…I cannot respond to them directly. I have to ask that they send them formally to the dicastery so that they follow their course,” he said, saying, “I am going to say that, it can call the attention of some people, but there is a very democratic system for dealing with those issues.”
When queries of any kind arrive – whether they be theological questions, doctrinal matters, or even dubia, or doubts, like those presented to the pope ahead of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on Synodality – “there is a series of steps; it passes by the team, it pass through the (weekly) meetings, then it passes by the team of member-bishops, and after it goes to the pope,” Fernández said.
“Then the pope can sometimes ask us to study it better. So, it’s not that a prefect can just make his own decisions,” he said.
Fernández, who recently met with both the disciplinary and doctrinal sections of the DDF, said he believes the department’s new structure, established as part of Francis’s recent reform of the Roman Curia, is working well, and allows more time to deal with matters that come up.

Pope Francis and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem called for peace after Israel declared “war” following a major attack by Hamas fighters over the weekend.
The pope said at the end of a public address on Sunday he is following the violence “with apprehension and sorrow,” and issued an appeal to “please stop weapons attacks!”
The head of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called for a de-escalation of the situation in a statement Oct. 7.
“The continuing bloodshed and declarations of war remind us once again of the urgent need to find a lasting and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in this land,” he said.
A series of rocket attacks and incursions on Israel from Hamas militants had reportedly killed hundreds and wounded many between Saturday and Sunday morning.
The surprise attacks began early on the morning of Oct. 7, the start of the observance of the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah.
Israel reacted to the attacks by fighting back in southern Israel and launching airstrikes in Gaza. Israeli military official Daniel Hagari told reporters Sunday morning that “hundreds of terrorists” had been killed during fighting in Gaza and southern Israel, the Associated Press reported.

Following a two-year period of preparation, the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops opened on October 4 with Mass in St. Peter’s Square, an Italian-language greeting by Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Sedrak, an address by Pope Francis, and an Italian-language report by Cardinal Mario Grech, before the longer introductory talk delivered by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ.
The official theme of the Synod, which will continue with a second session in October 2024, is “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”
“Let the centrality of Christ be the guiding thread of this Synod,” said Patriarch Sedrak, one of the Synod’s presidents-delegate, who preside over the deliberations in the place of Pope Francis. “May He be the Alpha and Omega of our discussions, may He be the light that enlightens us our debates, may He be the final goal of all our efforts. Only in this way the Synod will be able to achieve his own goals.”

On October 9, participants in the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops turned their attention to a new discussion topic: “How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?” An Eastern Orthodox prelate also told participants that the Synod he was witnessing in Rome “differs greatly” from the Eastern practice of synodality.
The first phase of the Synod (October 4-7) was devoted to a discussion of the Synod’s first module (For a synodal Church: An integral experience). The Synod’s second module (“Communion, participation, mission: Three priority issues for the synodal Church”) is divided into three topics:
· B1. A communion that radiates: How can we be more fully a sign and instrument of union with God and of the unity of all humanity?
· B2. Co-responsibility in Mission: How can we better share gifts and tasks in the service of the Gospel?
· B3. Participation, governance and authority: What processes, structures and institutions in a missionary synodal Church
The first session of the Synod concludes on October 29; the results of the Synod’s first session will form the agenda of the Synod’s second session in October 2024.
In the morning, participants gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy according to the Byzantine rite (CWN coverage). Patriarch Youssef Absi, the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, presided at the liturgy, and Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, preached the homily.
Reflecting on the Lord’s words that “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few,” the Maronite Patriarch preached:
“We read in the Instrumentum laboris [working document] that in a synodal assembly Christ makes himself present and acts, transforms history and daily events, grants the Spirit that guides the Church to find a consensus on how to walk together toward the Kingdom and how to help humanity move forward in the direction of unity,” Cardinal Patriarch al-Rahi continued.

Most Americans don’t place a high priority on marriage and children compared with their careers and friends, a new Pew Research Center survey says, and a large minority of Americans are pessimistic about the future of marriage and family.
Patrick T. Brown, a family policy expert and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA that the increasing number of people uninterested in having children or getting married “should help us recognize that we are entering a new era.”
“The Pew survey shows what I think a lot of [people] already feel: that the family, as an institution, is under threat, not least from a shifting cultural attitude that treats family and marriage as incidental to long-term well-being,” Brown said.
The Pew Research Center survey of 5,073 U.S. adults took place from April 10–16. Respondents were part of the Pew Center’s American Trends Panel.
“There’s baseline support for a variety of family arrangements, but the public still favors some types of families over others,” the Pew Research Center said Sept. 14.

Two-thirds of Catholics believe Jesus is present in the Eucharist, but only 17% attend Mass weekly, according to survey
Almost two-thirds of Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but only 17% of adult Catholics physically attend Mass at least once per week, according to a newly published survey from Georgetown University’s Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The survey also revealed a high correlation between belief in the Eucharist and weekly or even monthly Mass attendance.
The 2022 survey of self-identified Catholics published Sept. 26 and titled “Eucharist Beliefs: A National Survey of Adult Catholics” found 64% of respondents provided responses that indicate they believe in the Real Presence, that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist.
That conclusion was drawn from both open-ended and closed-ended questions respondents were asked about their under-standing of church teaching about the Eucharist and additional questions to clarify their beliefs
According to the CARA stu-dy, 49% of respondents correctly identified that the church teaches that “Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearance of bread and wine.” The other 51% inco-rrectly identified the church’s teaching as “Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper, meaning that Jesus is only symbolically present in the consecrated bread and wine.”
“Results of this question indicate that there is substantial confusion about what the church teaches about the Eucharist with slightly more adult Catholics not knowing this correctly than those correctly identifying the teach-ings,” the report stated.

Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow said on Sept. 28 that evangelization in China today should focus on communicating the love of God “without the agenda of turning them into Catholics.”
In an interview in Rome with CNA on Sept. 28, the bishop of Hong Kong, who will be made a cardinal in the consistory this weekend, spoke about his vision for evangelization in mainland China.
“I think it is important that we say that Pope Francis made a distinction. Evangelization is really to help people to understand the love of God — and the love of God without the agenda of turning them into Catholics — because that shouldn’t be the focus, as that focus would be very restrictive,” Chow said.
The cardinal-elect underlined that evangelization should help “them to come to understand our God means love, means goodwill and a better life.”
“Evangelization should be really coming to know God, who is love,” he said.
In Pope Francis’ travels to countries where Catholics are in the minority, the pope has made a distinction between “proselytism” and “evangelization.”
“Evangelization is essentially witness,” Francis told the Jesuits in Mozambique in 2019. “Proselytizing is convincing, but it is all about membership and takes your freedom away.”
During a Jan. 11. 2023, general audience, Pope Francis emphasized that evangelization and proselytism are not the same.

On Saturday, Oct. 7, the date on which the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the fourth edition of the worldwide Men’s Rosary will take place with more than 40 countries uniting in prayer.
The initiative originated in Poland and Ireland in 2018 and in just a few years has spread to other nations on different dates.
In Argentina, a pioneering country in this global crusade, the purpose is for all cities to pray on the same date. A major location will be the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires.
The first worldwide Men’s Rosary was held on May 28, 2022, and the second on Oct. 8 of the same year, with the participation of more than 150 cities on all five continents. In Buenos Aires about 2,000 people attended.
On May 6, the third time the prayer event was held, men from more than 40 countries prayed for the role of men in society to be valued once again and for the conversion of the entire world.
Segundo Carafí, one of the organizers of the initiative in Buenos Aires, said on that occasion that “the importance of this rosary lies in the fact that it is precisely men who want to bring back faith to the public sphere, praying to recover their own essence in a world that criticizes and attacks them.”
The purpose is to demonstrate that “faith is not just a woman’s thing and that the man, as a male parent of the family, the priest as such, is ready to fight in the defense of his most absolute essence as a man.”
Carafí shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the prayer intentions of this new edition of the Men’s Rosary

An expert on anti-Christian persecution says that escalating jihadist violence in the African nation of Burkina Faso is producing the paradoxical effect of inducing lapsed Christians to return to religious practice.
Maria Lozano of the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) described the phenomenon as “a beautiful message of faith.”
In a conversation with Crux, Lozano said she has had conversations with clerics in Burkina Faso who tell her that the people know that “their lives are in danger” and are therefore more motivated to revert to Christianity as a preparation for eternal life should the worst happen.
“They face terrorism, so they believe the best way out is to become Christians,” Lozano told Crux.
“It is through faith that they have their consolation, and through faith, they know they could have eternal life,” she said.
“It tells me a lot about the faith that these people have, and it says a lot about the fact that this life on earth isn’t the last. There is life after death, but sometimes we forget that. It’s a beautiful message of faith,” Lozano told Crux.
The same paradox of a Church that has continued to grow despite the persistence of those trying to annihilate it also has been underlined by Father Pierre Rouamba, the Prior General of the Missionary Brothers of the Countryside.
“It is truly striking to note that Christians, who had to some extent abandoned religious practice before the crisis, are returning to the faith at a time when the terrorists are doing what they can to extinguish Christianity,” Rouamba said in an interview with ACN.
“While the terrorists prevent Christians from gathering in churches, families get together in their homes to rekindle the flame of faith through catechism classes and joint celebrations when there are no priests,” he said.

The German Bishops’ Conference convenes its plenary assembly on September 25, setting the stage for what promises to be a pivotal gathering amid a period of unprecedented tension within the Church in Germany – and with the wider Catholic Church.
On the official agenda for the gathering from Sept. 25–28 in the town of Wiesbaden are topics ranging from handling spiritual abuse to preparations for the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome.
However, overshadowing discussions are the profoundly divisive issues brought to the surface by the controversial German Synodal Way, particularly the blessing of same-sex unions – an issue that has seen acts of open defiance across Germany against clarifications from the Vatican.
At the centre of this maelstrom is Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, archbishop of Cologne, who faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts, including local media – and some clergy: In open defiance, several priests conducted an event blessing same-sex couples outside the iconic Cologne Cathedral September 21.