Pope Francis on Monday issued a new motu proprio, a change to canon law impacting the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Catholic communion.
The change puts an age limit on the Eastern Catholic bishops who participate in the synods of bishops of Eastern Catholic Churches — restricting the “active voice” of retired Eastern bishops over the age of 80.
The Eastern Catholic Churches headed by patriarchs — six in total — and those headed by major archbishops — another four — each have a leadership and governance institution called the “synod of bishops.”
That institution, the synod of bishops, is composed of all the bishops who belong to the particular Eastern Church — or nearly all of them.
The synod of bishops has deliberative governing authority in the Eastern Catholic Churches in which it exists — it elects a patriarch, is involved directly in the appointment of bishops and the creation of new dioceses (called eparchies), and is required to be either consulted by the patriarch, or to give consent, on a number of important financial, administrative, or personnel decisions for the Eastern Catholic Church in question.
The Holy See at the side of Middle Eastern Christians
As representatives of the Ca-tholic Churches in the Middle East gather in Cyprus, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches apologises for the role the western Church has histori-cally played in undermining Chri-stians in the region, and pledges the Holy See’s support.
“We Westerners bear a heavy responsibility for destabilising the Middle East, with our tendency to export our culture and ask its peoples to conform their lives to it”.
This were the words with which Archbishop Claudio Guge-rotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, greeted more than 250 representatives of the Middle Eastern Catholic Churches.
They had gathered in Nicosia for the opening of the symposium “Rooted in Hope”, organised to mark the tenth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s post-syno-dal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente.
“As Western Catholics,” the Prefect said, “we apologise for supporting this myopic approach. We pay tribute to your heroic efforts to be witnesses to our common faith despite difficulties of all kinds.”
Gugerotti expressed his concern for “the diaspora of Middle Eastern Christians, which is caused by the current tragic situation, deeply affecting their daily lives.”
Synod: Laymen and laywomen eligible to vote at General Assembly
Neither the nature nor the name is changing—which remains the Synod of Bishops—but the composition of the participants in the October 2023 General Assembly in the Vatican on the theme of synodality is set to change, since a sizeable group of “non-bishop” members will also take part.These 70 individuals will include lay people appointed directly by the Pope, 50 percent of whom shall be women and among whom shall be included several young people. All 70 will enjoy voting rights at the Assembly, which will consist of around 370 voting members out of more than 400 total participants.
These represent the main changes introduced by Pope Francis for the Synod Assembly, which will seal the synodal path he himself launched in the Autumn of 2021.
The changes were presented by Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Secretariat for the Synod, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the Synod’s General Relator.
“This is not a revolution but an important change,” they specified at a press conference at the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday.
The new arrangements were communicated on the same day in a letter to the heads of the Continental Assemblies held recently in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania.
The letter states that no current regulations have been repealed, and that the 2018 Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio already provided for the presence of “non-bishops” at the Synod.
The 70 non-bishop members will be chosen by the Pope from a list of 140 prepared by the 7 International Reunions of Bishops’ Conferences and the Assembly of Patriarchs of Eastern Catholic Churches.
“We are talking about 21 percent of the Assembly remaining a plenary assembly of bishops, with a sizable participation of non-bishops,” Cardinal Hollerich reiterated further. “Their presence ensures the dialogue between the prophecy of the people of God and the discernment of the pastors.”
The choice of the 140 candidates, they added, shall take into account each person’s general culture, prudence, and knowledge and participation in the synodal process. As members, they have the right to vote.
Where does Bishop Chow’s China trip lead?
The visit to China by Bishop Stephen Chow of Hong Kong may have been a mistake, but it is also an indicator of Beijing’s continuing war on faith.
Bishop Chow, wittingly or unwittingly, may have made himself a pawn in Beijing’s co-option strategy. Time will tell what his reasons are, how much in control of his plans he actually is, and to what extent he was coerced into complicity. That his visit was distressing, disturbing and disappointing is not in doubt, especially for those of us – like me – who greeted his appointment last year with relief and some hope.
Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime desires ultimately to eradicate religion and, in the short to medium term, to restrict, repress, control and co-opt religion. The bishop’s visit, and his remarks, are a sign of just how much pressure is to come on religious freedom in Hong Kong.
Until now, religious freedom appeared to be the last remaining freedom: Christians and other religious communities have been free to go to places of worship and practice their faith freely. To an untrained eye, even though all other freedoms have been stripped from Hong Kong, religious adherents are still able to worship. Yet that has always been a fallacy, for several reasons.
First, as soon as freedom itself – and its component parts – is trampled upon, inevitably freedom of religion or belief will be impacted. As soon as freedom of association, expression and assembly are undermined, freedom of religion or belief is eroded.
Philippines bestows special status on centuries-old church
A 435-year-old Baroque-style church in the Philippines was declared an “important cultural property” by the government on April 22. Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Our Lady of the Remedies), more popularly known as “Malate Catholic Church” in the capital Manila, was recognized by the National Museum of the Philippines for its historical and cultural role. “A panel of experts was convened on Dec. 5, 2018, by the director-general of the National Museum of the Philippines.”
Vietnamese Catholic community in Korea marks 20th anniversary
Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taek of Seoul attended the 20th-anniversary celebration of the Vietnamese Catholic Community in South Korea and urged the migrant workers and students to strive for their goals despite difficulties in the foreign land.
The community, established by the Migrant Pastoral Committee of Seoul Archdiocese, marked the celebrations at the Pastoral Hall in the national capital on April 23, Seoul Archdiocese-run Good News reported on April 24.
“Living in an unfamiliar foreign country away from your beloved family and hometown is a difficult task that requires great sacrifice,” Chung said.
“All of you here are also enduring various hardships in foreign countries because of work or study… I will pray that God blesses you so that you accomplish what you set out to do,” the prelate added.
About 550 Vietnamese Catholics joined the anniversary Mass and a Thanksgiving program sponsored by the archdiocese.
Kazakh women against proposed tax to marry foreigners
The new Member of Parliament in Kazakhstan, Karakat Abden, has put forward a proposal that has unleashed discontent in her country: that of “imposing a tax on Kazakh girls who marry foreigners”. A group of women’s rights activists immediately started collecting signatures for a petition, leading to Abden’s removal from her parliamentary seat.
In her speech on a TV programme, the MP argued that “a ‘Kazakh woman’ is a national talisman, and we cannot lose cede this abroad, which is why I call for a tax on mixed marriages”. The politician had already hinted at this project in last year’s presidential election campaign, when she was listed as a ‘front’ candidate competing against outgoing President Tokaev.
Having become a member of parliament for the social-patriotic Auyl party, Abden claims to have the support of the other deputies in her group. The country’s feminists have risen up against her, who had already marched on 8 March with the slogan ‘we are not your toys’, aimed precisely at those who, like Abden, want to manipulate the role of Kazakh women.
A woman married to a foreigner, Ajžan, who lives with her husband and family in Thailand, intervened on social media: ‘If the MP is hungry for taxes, let her take them from husbands who beat their wives’.
Christians slam Pakistan’s ‘faulty’ census
Christian leaders in Pakistan have slammed the ongoing national census saying the questionnaires were erratic and accused the enumerators of not counting many members of minority groups.
“Many parish houses [parsonages] have been skipped. Maybe they thought no one stays in churches. Since every parish has at least three priests, at least 40 people will be missing in the count [in the city],” Father Mario Rodrigues, rector of St. Patrick’s High School in Karachi, the country’s largest city, told UCA News.
The population in the port city stands at more than 16.5 million as per the seventh national population and housing census that started last month.
Christian leaders like Rodrigues in Karachi and those in other cities have issued a series of allegations against the first-ever digital census including undercounting, faulty questionaries, and delaying tactics.
Based on the latest data, the state-run Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said the current population of the country is estimated at 235 million. The agency did not reveal data on the religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim country.
The bureau initially planned to hold the census from March 1- April 1, but it was later extended to April 30, media reports say. The field activities were halted on April 20 for the Eid-ul-Fitr festival and will resume on April 26.
85 killed, over 300 injured in stampede at charity event in Yemen
At least 85 people were killed and 322 injured in a deadly stampede at a charity distribution event in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday, according to an AFP report.
The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations by merchants in the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Interior’s spokesperson said in a statement.
At least “85 were killed and more than 322 were injured” after the stampede in the Bab al-Yemen district of the capital, a Huthi security official said. The toll was also confirmed by a health official.
Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive the donations, which amounted to 5,000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 per person, two witnesses involved in the rescue effort told Reuters.
A video posted by Houthi television on Telegram messaging app showed a crowd of people jammed together, some screaming and shouting and reaching out to be pulled to safety.
A video broadcast by the Huthi rebel’s Al Masirah TV channel showed a several bodies piled up, with survivors struggling to get out of the place.
Armed fighters in military uniforms and distribution workers screamed at the crowd to turn back as they rescued people from the stampede.
The dead and injured have been moved to nearby hospitals and those responsible for the distribution were taken into custody, the Huthi’s interior ministry said in a statement carried by the rebel’s Saba news agency.
Families rushed to hospitals but many were not allowed to enter as top officials were also visiting the dead and wounded.
Derogatory remarks against Pope: Nun goes to high court
A Catholic nun has approached the Gujarat High Court for action against alleged derogatory remarks on nuns and the Pope during an event organized by a rightwing Hindu group.
Sister Manjula Tuscano, a member of the Missionary Dominican Sisters of the Rosary, on April 17 confirmed to Matters India that she had filed the petition in the Gujarat High Court four days earlier.
She, however, declined to divulge the details of the petition saying, “It is now before the court and therefore, I would not like to comment on it.” A video circulated on social media platforms shows an unidentified speaker at a function organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Kadi, a town some 45 km northwest of Ahmedabad, exhorting people to take Christians to task and to banish them from Gujarat, a western Indian state.
Sister Tuscano’s petition seeking registration of the first information report against the speaker is likely to come up next week.
The nun from Vadodara, a major city in the state, has stated in the petition signed by more than 100 that the police authorities of Mehsana district have ignored their March 28 plea for criminal action against the speaker.