Select Page

Month: January 2021

USCCB president prays God grants Biden ‘wisdom, courage’ to lead nation

Posted by | Jan 20, 2021 | , , , , , , |

As Joe Biden prepared to be inaugurated as the 46th U.S. president, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed hope the incoming administration “will work with the Church and others of goodwill” to “address the complicated cultural and economic factors that are driving abortion and discouraging families.”

Read More

Report: Probe can’t account for $2 million sent from Vatican to Australia

Posted by | Jan 20, 2021 | , |

CNA Staff, Jan 20, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Investigators examining transfers from the Vatican to Australia have been unable to account for around $1.9 million sent between the two countries, local media reported on Wednesday.

Another $5.4 million in Vatican-linked transfers have been identified as being for legitimate expenses, such as travel, wages, and pension payments, The Australian newspaper said on Jan. 20.

Australian authorities have been investigating suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia for several months.

Australia’s financial crime watchdog acknowledged earlier in January that it had vastly overestimated the sum of what it said had been 47,000 Vatican transfers.

The Australian newspaper said on Jan. 13 that the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), a government agency, attributed the miscalculation to a “computer coding error.”

After a “detailed review” of its initial finding, AUSTRAC informed Australia’s Senate that its initial finding of $1.8 billion was incorrect, and the real figure amounted to $7.4 million, sent in 362 transfers between 2014 and 2020.

Investigators at AUSTRAC, the Bank of Italy, and the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) — also called the “Vatican bank” — are conducting a joint investigation into the $7.4 million.

After finding that $5.4 million came from legitimate expenses, nearly $2 million still remains to be tracked.

The Australian reported last week that AUSTRAC had also concluded that over the past six years there were 237 transfers totaling $20.6 million in the other direction: from Australia to the Vatican.

The newspaper said that AUSTRAC was, however, continuing to investigate suspicious transfers from the Vatican to Australia.

It added that Australian Federal Police and the Vatican’s financial intelligence unit were investigating four transfers to Australia from the Vatican. 

It said that two of the transfers were connected to Cardinal Angelo Becciu. A total of $1.5 million was reportedly sent to a company in Melbourne between 2017 and 2018.

Reports of suspicious money transfers from the Vatican to Australia date back to October when Italian media reported that an alleged transfer was part of a dossier being compiled by Vatican investigators and prosecutors against Becciu. 

Becciu resigned from his curial position and gave up his rights as a cardinal on Sept. 24, reportedly in connection with multiple financial scandals dating back to his time as the second-ranking official at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or any attempt to influence the trial of Cardinal George Pell, the former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, which began in August 2018. 

Read More

Bishops offer prayers for Biden on Inauguration Day

Posted by | Jan 20, 2021 | , |

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2021 / 11:50 am (CNA).- As Joe Biden took office as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, individual U.S. bishops offered statements of prayer and congratulations.

 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York tweeted, “Today of all days, we’re one nation under God. In God we trust. We pray with and for President [Joe Biden] and ask that the Holy Spirit bring him wisdom and guidance.”

 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Today of all days, we're one nation under God. In God we trust. We pray with and for President <a href=”https://twitter.com/JoeBiden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@JoeBiden</a> and ask that the Holy Spirit bring him wisdom and guidance. <a href=”https://t.co/d8NBqVXvPr”>pic.twitter.com/d8NBqVXvPr</a></p>&mdash; Cardinal Dolan (@CardinalDolan) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CardinalDolan/status/1351915116749598721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago also tweeted, “Join me in prayer for President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who assume office today. May God give them and all elected officials the strength and wisdom needed to heal this nation and build up the common good.”

 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Join me in prayer for President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris who assume office today. May God give them and all elected officials the strength and wisdom needed to heal this nation and build up the common good.</p>&mdash; Cardinal Cupich (@CardinalBCupich) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CardinalBCupich/status/1351947004193234948?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark tweeted, “Let your light shine on us, Lord, as we begin a new chapter in our nation’s history. Heal our wounds. Unite us in justice, charity and peace for all.”

 

Earlier in the morning, the U.S. bishops’ conference was scheduled to release a statement by president Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, offering prayers for Biden and noting areas of agreement but also disagreement between the bishops and the incoming administration. 

 

The statement was not released until the afternoon, after Biden was sworn in to office and around the time Pope Francis published a message to the new president.

 

“At a time when the grave crises facing our human family call for farsighted and united responses, I pray that your decisions will be guided by a concern for building a society marked by authentic justice and freedom, together with unfailing respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those who have no voice,” the pope said Jan. 20.

 

As CNA reported, the text of Gomez’s statement–particularly the expression of concern about some of Biden’s public policy positions on abortion, marriage, gender, and contraception–received some opposition within the conference. 

 

“My prayers are with our new President and his family today,” Archbishop Gomez said, adding that he looks forward “to working with President Biden and his administration, and the new Congress.”

 

“As with every administration, there will be areas where we agree and work closely together and areas where we will have principled disagreement and strong opposition,” he said. 

 

Other bishops offered prayers for Biden while also stating their support for Archbishop Gomez. 

 

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois said in a statement that while, “It is true that the Catholic Church shares the President’s concern for justice in matters of the economy, health care, and immigration,” there are several of the president’s policy positions “at odds with Catholic teaching about the dignity and integrity of human life.”

 

“In this regard, given the President’s public profession of full communion with the Church, I am pleased that Archbishop Gomez has spoken on behalf of all the bishops of the United States,” Paprocki said. 

 

“I join Archbishop Gomez and my brother bishops in praying that President Biden will be an effective and virtuous leader of our great nation and that he will truly seek healing and unity, which will necessarily include respect for the God-given freedom of people of faith to practice their religion freely,” he said. 

 

Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia also tweeted that “I share the sentiments of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement via Archbishop José H. Gomez.”

 

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington said in a statement, “I ask Catholics and people of goodwill to pray for all elected leaders as they take on the task of carrying out the nation’s work.” 

 

“We pray also for peace, civility and unity in our nation. The smooth transition of power is a hallmark of our extraordinary American experience and vital to the endurance of our thriving republic,” Burbidge said. 

 

Burbidge also offered prayers for Biden’s conversion on his public position on the issue of abortion. 

 

“Please pray that our new President will uphold the truths revealed and proclaimed in the Catholic Faith he professes. May the Lord grant him the wisdom and compassion to protect the most vulnerable, especially the unborn; respect the dignity of all people; uphold the traditional family as the foundation of society; defend the principle of religious freedom upon which this nation was founded; and advocate for the rights of the poor,” he said. 

 

Bishop Robert Deeley of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, said in a statement, “Every day we should thank God for the blessings of liberty, freedom, and democracy.”

 

“These are the characteristics of the American experience on full display today in our nation’s capital with the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” Deely said. “I join with my brother bishops in congratulating him on his election and inauguration. An inauguration is a beginning. That really means that the work of all of us has just begun as together we build our nation.”

Read More

Leaders of both parties join Biden, Harris for Mass of thanksgiving

Posted by | Jan 20, 2021 | , , , , , , , , , |

Hours before his inauguration as president, Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris were joined by the spouses and congressional leaders from both political parties for what was termed a Mass of thanksgiving early Jan. 20 at St. Matthew Cathedral in Washington.

Read More

Recent Comments

    Categories