Francis as admonisher and encourager

adminonNovember 19, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Trapped but not inactive – the pope fell to a new role as the moral voice of the world in the pandemic. Slowed in many activities, he sketched visions that endure beyond the crisis.

The first two months were only foreplay. Trips and conferences were planned, the Pope published his letter on the Amazon Synod and prayed for the victims of the "Wuhan virus" in faraway China. The plague reached the Vatican in early March. Francis switched his weekly pilgrimage meetings to video. Since then, 2020 was also for the Holy See what it was for the rest of the world: the Corona Year.

The height of the crisis coincided with the end of Lent. The pope as he walks along the deserted Via del Corso in central Rome on a Sunday in March to pray before an ancient plague cross in the church of San Marcello. The Pope raising the Blessed Sacrament on a rainy evening in St. Peter's Square to implore protection and comfort for the city and the world in the pandemic – these are images that will stay with us.

Pope sees world community at crossroads

Francis, who loves so much the closeness to people, preaches lonely compassionateness. In video addresses, at the Easter feast without the faithful, in his encyclical "Fratelli tutti" published in the fall and the book "Dare to Dream!", which emerged during the summer months, he urgently calls for solidarity – between states, religions, social classes: There can only be one global solution to the global crisis. No one should be left behind. It will be his basic message of the year. Pope sees world community at a crossroads.

For the first time since 1979, a church leader did not make any foreign visits. Trips to Malta, Hungary and the Asia-Pacific were canceled, plans for South Sudan and Iraq put on hold. Such pastoral visits are an important instrument for strengthening local churches and relations with governments and other religious communities.

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the foreign envoy, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, took over some appointments, of course with far less public visibility.

China agreement and curia reform

The biggest and most controversial diplomatic event was the renewal of an agreement with China governing bishop appointments. Hong Kong's aged Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who sees the 2018 deal as a surrender of the Catholic Church to the communist government, traveled to Rome specifically to diade Francis; he was not even received. On ies that could anger Beijing, such as the democracy movement in Hong Kong or the oppression of the Uighurs, Francis remained steadfastly silent. Instead, a report of a spying attack by Chinese hackers on Vatican computers made headlines in July.

Slowed down by the Corona crisis, the reform of the Curia went ahead. The new Curia's "Praedicate evangelium," already expected in 2019, entered a final editing phase in late fall. The relevant council of cardinals, which includes Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx, has since grown again to seven members with the addition of Congolese Fridolin Besungu.

Vatican and finances

Reform efforts were most visible in the area of finance. A leadership crisis at the Vatican's financial watchdog, which temporarily led to its exclusion from Egmont Group's international information platform, appears to have ended. The pope ied stricter rules for internal contracting and use of funds. The Secretariat of State experienced a severe cutback: It had to relinquish control over its considerable assets. Investment management now handled centrally by papal asset management agency Apsa.

The background is the affair about a real estate investment in London, which has been going on for more than a year and is now being dealt with by the courts, and which has taken on some scintillating features in the news coverage. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, former chief of staff at the Secretariat of State, lost his post as canonization prefect over it.

The fact that the new CFO Juan Guerrero presented balance sheet figures for the first time since 2016 can therefore be seen as a vote of confidence. The Spanish Jesuit succeeded Cardinal George Pell – who has since been rehabilitated from sexual assault allegations – as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in January, resuming his vigorous reform course.

Encyclical "Fratelli tutti"

The past few months put the Vatican under even more financial prere. Revenues from museums and rentals of Roman properties plummeted, Vatican State governorate called for rigorous hiring and spending freeze. Secretly, some curates were relieved the papal trips were off: Money saved.

For example, Francis' last trip for now was to Assisi, when he left on 3. October signed its doctrinal letter "Fratelli tutti". In it, he sketches a utopia for a post-Corona world community. It will endure beyond this year and beyond the pandemic.

Paul VI. and Archbishop Oscar Romero are saints of the Catholic Church since Sunday. Instead of remembering past heroes of the faith, the pope is looking forward to the future.

As late as the canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero is, it comes at the right time for Mercedes Miranda. She made a special pilgrimage from Nicaragua to Rome for Sunday's ceremony at the Vatican, holding up her national flag in St. Peter's Square.

"Back when Romero was killed, all of Salvador suffered, people were murdered. Today, Nicaragua is like this."In the Salvadoran Romero, Miranda now finds an advocate for her own country. She calls the day of canonization "a joy for Latin America".

El Salvador celebrates

It was early morning in Romero's native El Salvador when the ceremony from the Vatican took place. In the square of San Salvador's cathedral, Catholic faithful had gathered in front of large screens. At the moment when Pope Francis declared Rome a saint, white balloons rose into the still dark Salvadoran sky – each for one of those murdered during the civil war.

Oscar Romero died on 24. March 1980, shot at the altar on the orders of the politically powerful. His assassination was a beacon in the emerging civil war between security forces, right-wing death squads and left-wing guerrilla groups. By 1992, around 75.000 people killed.

As vibrant as Romero's devotion is – the process for his beatification, which took place in 2015, was slow to get underway. Partly theological concerns are cited as a possible reason, especially the archbishop's proximity to "leftist" liberation theology. The current Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez, auxiliary bishop in San Salvador, however, also points to a lack of interest on the part of the right-wing conservative governments in office until 2009 and their diplomatic representatives at the Holy See.

It was not until the reign of Pope Francis that the cause gained new momentum. Because Romero, according to Rosa Chavez, is the epitome of "the church as Francis envisions it: a poor church for the poor".

Connection in biographies

Nevertheless, the pope refrained on Sunday from praising Romero in high tones. Together with the Salvadoran archbishop, Francis also addressed Paul VI. and canonized Maria Katharina Kasper, the founder of the order from the Westerwald, as well as two Italian priests, a woman religious from Spain who works in Bolivia, and a 19-year-old from southern Italy. People who, on the face of it, have little to do with each other.

Francis found the unifying factor in their biographies in the "passion to risk something," without lukewarmness, without calculation. Of Romero, he emphasized that he "renounced worldly security, indeed his own security". Just as Romero was "close to the poor and his people," Francis believes Paul VI was too.: "Prophet of a church that goes forth" he praised him.

Francis touched on the opposition to the sexual ethics encyclical "Humanae vitae" (1968), saying his predecessor also experienced hardships and lack of understanding. In any case, the Pope sees his significance for the present in the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), whose "wise helmsman," Paul VI. had been.

Church on the move

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, had in advance Paul VI. and Romero as martyrs each in their own way – one "bloodless," the other classic. One detail, unnoticed by tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, made clear how closely Francis feels connected to both: at the service, he wore Romero's liturgical belt from his last Mass, still stained with blood, with a chasuble of Paul VI over it.

Francis also wished the daring of the new saints on today's church: it must let go of retarding baggage, wealth, "longing for status and power," say goodbye to structures that are "no longer appropriate" to the proclamation of the Gospel.

A church on the move, bold, ready for reform: There it was again, Francis' basic motif, amid the crises currently plaguing the Vatican. Latin American pilgrims at the canonization also wanted a politically engaged church: "A prophet can be killed, but not the voice of justice," read one poster.

Why interpreting the figures is so difficult

On Tuesday, the German bishops plan to present the results of their study on sexual abuse of minors by clergymen. Many details were disclosed in advance. It is already apparent how difficult an evaluation is.

The Catholic News Agency (KNA) describes what the study can tell us – and what it can't. This first analysis refers exclusively to the data that have become known so far.

What did the scientists study?

On behalf of the bishops, they have collected data from 38.156 personnel and hand files from all 27 German dioceses evaluated. The files cover allegations from 1946 to 2014, more than 70 years ago. In addition, there are interviews with affected persons as well as accused and non-accused clerics, comparative analyses as well as an anonymized survey of affected persons. In addition, criminal files were analyzed and prevention concepts were scrutinized.

Why were no original files evaluated?

The researchers did not have direct access to the original files – to protect even those church employees who have nothing to do with abuse allegations. Employees from the dioceses or commissioned lawyers have looked through the files and transferred the information anonymously onto capture sheets according to the scientists' instructions.

Are the files complete?

According to researchers, there is evidence that "relevant personnel files or other documents were destroyed or tampered with" at earlier times. The exact number of these files can no longer be determined. Also, the overall personnel file management on the subject of abuse is "heterogeneous and without uniform standards".

Is the exact number of perpetrators and victims known?

Because the individual cases were not legally evaluated, the study speaks only of "accused" and "affected" people. Among the "accused" are convicted one-time offenders and multiple offenders as well as wrongly accused clergy and such cases where nothing can be clarified anymore. Analogously, the "victims" include all victims of abuse, but also victims for whom the allegations proved to be false, and those for whom the incidents could no longer be clarified.

What the study says about celibacy and homosexuality?

The researchers emphasize that all findings are merely descriptive. Because of the methodology, "statistical proof of causal relationships between individual phenomena or variables is not possible". At best, conjectures could be made on the basis of existing findings. Thus, the scientists write that "neither homosexuality nor celibacy are eo ipso causes of sexual abuse of minors".

However, "specific structures and rules of the Catholic Church could have a high attraction potential for persons with an immature homosexual inclination". In addition, some findings suggested "addressing the way in which celibacy may be a possible risk factor for sexual abuse acts for certain groups of people in specific constellations".

What is the significance of the study?

According to the scientists, the research approach is unique worldwide because criminological, psychological, sociological and forensic-psychiatric aspects were included. In this respect, it is more multi-layered than the similarly comprehensive but purely criminological abuse study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2004.

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