Pope Francis lamented the “sacrilegious war” in Ukraine as he prayed the Angelus in Malta on April 3. Speaking immediately after celebrating an outdoor Mass in the Maltese capital, Valletta, on April 3, the Pope urged Catholics to pray for people aiding the suffering following the full-scale Russian invasion.
“May the Lord accompany you, and Our Lady keep you,” he said. “Let us now pray to her for peace, as we think of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in war-torn Ukraine, still under the bombardment of this sacrilegious war. May we be tireless in praying and in offering assistance to those who suffer.”
The Pope has referred to the war throughout his two-day trip to the archipelago in the central Mediterranean Sea. Before leaving Rome, he met with a group of Ukrainian refugees. On the flight to Malta, he said that a papal visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv was “on the table.” In a speech to Malta’s civil authorities on the first day of his visit, the Pope alluded to the war in Ukraine, saying: “Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a future that will either be shared, or not be at all.”
In his brief address before reciting the Angelus prayer, the Pope thanked the Maltese authorities and people for their warm welcome.
Cardinal Marx: ‘The Catechism is not set in stone. One is also allowed to doubt what it says’
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said in an interview published on March 31 that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is “not set in stone” and “one is also allowed to doubt what it says.” The cardinal made the comments in a seven-page spread in the March 31 edition of the weekly current affairs magazine Stern, reported.
Marx, the archbishop of Munich and Freising, is one of the most influential Catholic leaders in Europe, serving as a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisers and president of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy. He spoke about the Catechism in response to a question about “how homosexual, queer, or trans people are to be accommodated in Catholic teaching.”
He said: “An inclusive ethic that we envision is not about being lax — as some claim. It is about something else: encounter at eye level, respect for the other. The value of love is shown in the relationship; in not making the other person an object, in not using or humiliating the other person, in being faithful and dependable to each other. The Catechism is not set in stone. One may also doubt what it says.”
He went on: “We discussed these questions during the family synod, but there was reluctance to set something down. Even then I said: there are people living in an intimate love relationship that is expressed sexually. Are we really going to say that this is worthless?”
Catholic author of Black Lives Matter book sees hope amid ongoing struggles
When journalist Olga M. Segura initially set out to write a book on Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church, she intended it to be more of an overview that might prompt white Catholics to get more involved in the work of racial justice.
That was back in early 2020, when she first started writing. Then, the pandemic hit, followed soon after by nationwide protests after George Floyd died while in Minneapolis police custody.
Her book, published last April, essentially took on a new life. As she puts it: “I thought, ‘OK, it’s not about gentle accompaniment anymore.’” Instead, she said the book’s emphasis became about helping Catholics understand how the church is suffering and how Catholics of colour are “struggling in ways that people might not even be thinking about.”
It also ended up becoming more personal because Segura, a Black Catholic who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic, wanted to share some of her own experience.
The freelance writer and opinion editor at the National Catholic Reporter said she realized that what she was going through at the time was not an anomaly. “This is everyone in my community,” she said, adding that the book also revealed her faith struggles, particularly her feeling that her church was no longer providing a safe space for her or other non-white Catholics.
Archdiocese begins informal documentation on India’s “apostle of Eucharist”
A Catholic archdiocese in the southern Indian state of Kerala has informally begun the documentation on Ajna George, who many now view as an apostle of Eucharist.
Ajna, a member of the Jesus Youth movement and an assistant professor, died January 21 in Kochi, the commercial capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. She was 27 when she died fighting cancer.
Catholic nun dies in road accident in West Bengal
Sister Paul Vincent, a member of the Daughters of St Anne of Calcutta died in road accident in a remote area in West Bengal state.
Sister Vincent’s funeral Mass was held at 3 pm on March 28 in St. Paul the Apostle Church in Kamarchowki followed by the burial in nearby St. Anne’s Convent compound.
Indian Missionary Society’s new leader sets priorities
The newly elected leader of northern India’s first Catholic religious congregation for men says his priorities include fostering unity and missionary zeal among his people and bringing a movement of indigenized Catholicism to mainstream society.
“Our community life is not perfect. Some members are indifferent. So, my first priority is to bring all the members together under one umbrella through dialogue,” says Father Francis Prasanna Raj, who on February 28 was elected as the superior general of the Indian Missionary Society.
Jesuit theologian’s death saddens Indian Catholics
Father Poulose Mangai, a renow-ned professor of theology who worked among rickshaw pullers of Old Delhi area, died on March 26 after a brief hospitalization.
Father Mangai was a prolific writer and editor of Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflections, Asia’s top theological publication. He was 64.
Revoke Pondicherry archbishop’s appointment, Dalit Christians ask nuncio
Dalit Christians on March 29 urged the apostolic nuncio to revoke the appoint-ment of Bishop Francis Kalist of Meerut as the new archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore.
Led by the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement, hundreds of people protested in Chennai, capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, against the a non-Dalit’s appointment as the archbishop of Pondicherry-Cuddalore.
They want the nuncio to appoint a Dalit archbishop. “Otherwise Dalit Chri-stians will stop the consecration of Bishop Kalist scheduled for April 29 in Pondiche-rry,” M Mary John, president of Dalit movement, told Matters India March 29.
He said the Dalit Christians plan to hold similar protest demonstrations in other parts of Tamil Nadu and in Pondi-cherry with this demand in coming days.
India MattersIndia Archbishop – elect Francis Kalist. The demonstrators conde-mned the continuing caste domination, caste oppression, and caste atrocity in the Catholic Church.
It noted that no Dalit archbishop has been appointed so far in the Pondicherry-Cuddalore archdiocese. Dalit Christians have protested to end the injustice by demanding the appointment of a Dalit Archbishop. However, the Church has appointed a caste archbishop again, John regretted.
Dalits form 64 percent of the Indian Catholic Church. In Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry they form 75 percent.
“But out of 180 Catholic bishops in India, only 11 are Dalits, and only 2 out of 31 Archbishops are Dalits. Only one of the 17 bishops in Tamil Nadu-Pondicherry is a Dalit,” John explained.
Host desecration in Kerala, Satanic cult’s involvement suspected
A diocese in the southern Indian state of Kerala is out-raged after some miscreants broke into a chapel and dese-crated sacred Hosts kept inside a tabernacle.
While the diocese of Co-chin views the incident as part of hate activities spreading in Kerala, a senior Catholic journalist suspects the involvement of the satanic cult growing in the southern Indian state.
Father Johney Xavier Puthukkattu, the diocesan public relations officer, says the sacristan of St Jacob chapel in Arookutty found the tabernacle broke open on the morning of March 29 and informed the priest, who lives a nearby house.
After a search, they found the Hosts scattered in a marshy land, some 200 meters away. The chapel’s donation box was also found abandoned there.
The chapel is a substation of St Anthony’s Church Padu-vapura at Arookutty, 13 km southeast of Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala.
North East Catholics join Pope to consecrate Ukraine and Russia
The Catholic bishops of northeastern India on March 25 responded to the appeal of Pope Francis and spiritually joined him in consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In the wake of the ongoing war between Russia and Uk-raine, the Pope had requested Christians and bishops across the world to join him spiritually in the penitential celebration ’24 Hours for the Lord’ where he consecrated the warring neighboring countries to Mother Mary.
Inviting the people in his archdiocese to pray along with the rest of the world, Arch-bishop John Moolachira of Guwahati said, “We need peace. We are pained by the suffering of people in both these countries. The leaders of these two countries need our prayers that they may have the gift of wisdom and courage to take steps towards peace.”
The archbishop also noted that the prayer of consecration prepared by the Pope has been translated into many tribal languages and made available to the public.