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Month: August 2022

Jesus asks us, ‘can I count on you?’ — Pope Francis creates 20 cardinals for the Catholic Church

Posted by | Aug 27, 2022 | , |


Pope Francis with Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery of Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, at the consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica, Aug. 27, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

Rome Newsroom, Aug 27, 2022 / 08:31 am (CNA).

Pope Francis created 20 new cardinals for the Catholic Church during a liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday.

“Jesus calls us by name; he looks us in the eye and he asks: Can I count on you?” Pope Francis said in a homily addressed to the College of Cardinals and its new members on Aug. 27.

“The Lord,” he said, “wants to bestow on us his own apostolic courage, his zeal for the salvation of every human being, without exception. He wants to share with us his magnanimity, his boundless and unconditional love, for his heart is afire with the mercy of the Father.”

The pope’s reflection followed a reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verses 49-50: “In that time, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!’”

“The words of Jesus, in the very middle of the Gospel of Luke, pierce us like an arrow,” Francis said.

“The Lord calls us once more to follow him along the path of his mission,” he said. “A fiery mission – like that of Elijah – not only for what he came to accomplish but also for how he accomplished it. And to us who in the Church have been chosen from among the people for a ministry of particular service, it is as if Jesus is handing us a lighted torch and telling us: ‘Take this; as the Father has sent me so I now send you.’”

The pope ended his homily mentioning that one cardinal-elect, Richard Kuuia Baawobr of Wa (Ghana), was not present. Francis asked for prayers for the African prelate, explaining Baawobr had been taken ill. 

At the beginning of the consistory, Pope Francis pronounced the opening prayer of the ceremony in Latin.

During the ceremony, the new cardinals made a profession of faith by reciting the Creed. They then pronounced an oath of fidelity and obedience to the pope and his successors.

Each cardinal then approached Pope Francis, kneeling before him to receive the red birretta, the cardinal’s ring, and a document naming the titular church he has been assigned.

Pope Francis embraced each new cardinal, saying to him: “Pax Domini sit semper tecum,” which is Latin for “the peace of the Lord be with you always.” Each cardinal responded: “Amen.”

The new cardinals also exchanged a sign of peace with a number of the members of the College of Cardinals, representative of the whole college.

While placing the red biretta on the head of each cardinal, the pope recited these words: “To the glory of almighty God and the honor of the Apostolic See, receive the scarlet biretta as a sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, signifying your readiness to act with courage, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God and for the freedom and growth of the Holy Roman Church.”

As he gave each new cardinal the ring, Francis said: “Receive this ring from the hand of Peter and know that, with the love of the Prince of the Apostles, your love for the Church is strengthened.”

In his homily, the pope said: “The Lord wants to bestow on us his own apostolic courage, his zeal for the salvation of every human being, without exception. He wants to share with us his magnanimity, his boundless and unconditional love, for his heart is afire with the mercy of the Father.”

He also recalled another kind of fire, that of charcoal. “This fire,” he said, “burns in a particular way in the prayer of adoration, when we silently stand before the Eucharist and bask in the humble, discreet and hidden presence of the Lord. Like that charcoal fire, his presence becomes warmth and nourishment for our daily life.”

“A Cardinal loves the Church, always with that same spiritual fire, whether dealing with great questions or handling everyday problems, with the powerful of this world or those ordinary people who are great in God’s eyes,” he said.

The pope named three men as examples for the cardinals to follow: Saint Charles de Foucauld, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, and Cardinal Van Thuân.

The consistory to create cardinals also included a greeting and thank you to Pope Francis, expressed by Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the liturgy dicastery, on behalf of all the new cardinals.

Cardinal Arthur Roche speaking on behalf of the new cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica, Aug. 27. 2022. Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Cardinal Arthur Roche speaking on behalf of the new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica, Aug. 27. 2022. Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

“All of us, coming from different parts of the world, with our personal stories and different life situations, carry out our ministry in the vineyard of the Lord. As diocesan and religious priests, we are at the service of preaching the Gospel in many different ways and in different cultures, but always united in the one faith and the one Church,” Roche said.

“Now, in manifesting your trust in us, you call us to this new service, in an even closer collaboration with your ministry, within the broad horizon of the universal Church,” he continued. “God knows the dust of which we are all made, and we know well that without Him we are capable of falling short.”

Roche quoted Saint Gregory the Great, who once wrote to a bishop: “We are all weak, but he is weakest of all who ignores his own weakness.”

“However, we draw strength from you, Holy Father,” he said, “from your witness, your spirit of service and your call to the entire Church to follow the Lord with greater fidelity; living the joy of the Gospel with discernment, courage and, above all, with an openness of heart that manifests itself in welcoming everyone, especially those who suffer the injustice of poverty that marginalizes, the suffering of pain that seeks a response of meaning, the violence of wars that turn brothers into enemies. We share with you the desire and commitment for communion in the Church.” 

At the end of the consistory to create cardinals, Pope Francis convened a consistory for the cardinals to give their approval to the canonizations of Blessed Artemide Zatti and Giovanni Battista Scalabrini.

The new cardinals are:

— Cardinal Arthur Roche, 72, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and former Bishop of Leeds (England);

— Lazarus You Heung-sik, 70, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy and former Bishop of Daejeon (South Korea);

— Jean-Marc Noël Aveline, 63, Archbishop of Marseille, the first French diocesan bishop to get the honor during Pope Francis’ pontificate;

— Peter Ebere Okpaleke, 59, Bishop of Ekwulobia in the central region of Nigeria, who was created bishop in 2012 by Benedict XVI;

— Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, 77, Archbishop of Manaus, in Brazil’s Amazon region, a Franciscan who played a leading role during the Amazon Synod and as Vice President of the recently created Amazonian Bishops’ Conference;

— Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, 69, Archbishop of Goa (India), appointed bishop by St. John Paul II in 1993;

— Robert McElroy, 68, Bishop of San Diego (United States), whose diocese is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, led by the President of the USCCB, Archbishop José Gomez;

— Virgilio do Carmo Da Silva, 68, a Salesian, since 2019 the Archbishop of Dili (East Timor);

— Oscar Cantoni, 71, Bishop of Como (Italy), appointed in January 2005 by St. John Paul II, who is suffragan to Milan;

— Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C., 77, president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State and of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State; the Spaniard is the first Legionary of Christ to become a cardinal;

— Anthony Poola, 60, Archbishop of Hyderabad (India), a bishop since 2008 and the first dalit to become a cardinal;

–Paulo Cezar Costa, 54, Archbishop of Brasilia (Brazil), the fourth archbishop of the Brazilian capital to become a cardinal;

— Richard Kuuia Baawobr, 62, Bishop of Wa (Ghana), former Superior General of the White Fathers, and bishop since 2016;

— William Goh Seng Chye, 65, Archbishop of Singapore since 2013;

— Adalberto Martinez Flores, 71, Archbishop of Asunción (Paraguay) and the first Paraguayan cardinal;

— Giorgio Marengo, 47, Italian Missionary of the Consolata and Apostolic Prefect of Ulan Bator in Mongolia, the youngest cardinal in recent history, along with Karol Wojtyla, who also was created a cardinal at 47, during the consistory of June 26, 1967.

Furthermore, Pope Francis appointed the following prelates over the age of 80, who are therefore excluded from attending a future conclave. 

Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, 80, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena (Colombia); Arrigo Miglio, 80, Archbishop Emeritus of Cagliari (Italy); Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a Jesuit and former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, who extensively collaborated in the drafting of the  Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium; and Fortunato Frezza, 80, (Italy) currently a Canon at the Basilica of St. Peter, who collaborated for several years at the Secretariat General for the Synod of the Bishops. 

Pope Francis had originally also nominated Ghent Bishop Luc Van Looy, 80, who later declined to accept the post because of criticism of his response to clergy abuse cases.

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Cardinals, Consistories and Conclaves

Posted by | Aug 27, 2022 | , |

Pope Francis is holding an extraordinary consistory of cardinals this weekend, when all the 206 cardinals of the world are called together, sixteen new cardinals will be created, and they will all get to meet, talk, interact, and just get to know each other, in preparation for the next conclave. This latter is, of course,[…]

The post Cardinals, Consistories and Conclaves appeared first on Catholic Insight.

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St. John Paul II’s ‘dark night’ in Nicaragua

Posted by | Aug 27, 2022 | , |


Pope John Paul II prays in Managua’s cathedral before ending his visit to Nicaragua on Feb. 7, 1996. / Photo by RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP via Getty Images

Denver Newsroom, Aug 27, 2022 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Feb. 7, 1996, during his second trip to Nicaragua, then Pope John Paul II referred to the visit he made in 1983 as a “great dark night.”

“I remember the celebration of 13 years ago; it took place in darkness, on a great dark night,” said the pilgrim pope at the Mass he celebrated in Managua with the country’s families.

During the 1996 Mass, the Polish pope elevated the church of the Immaculate Conception of El Viejo to the rank of basilica, where Nicaraguans venerate “the Most Pure Immaculate Conception” so that “she may always be Mary of Nicaragua.”

In the Central American country — and as was heard recently in Managua — the phrase “Mary is from Nicaragua and Nicaragua belongs to Mary” is common, due to the great love Catholics there have for the Mother of God, an affection that does not bow down to the persecution of the dictatorship.

The dark night

The Alitalia plane that took John Paul II to Nicaragua landed at 9:15 a.m. local time on March 4, 1983.

In Managua, the authorities of the Sandinista Governing Junta were waiting for the pope, including the junta coordinator, Daniel Ortega, who with his wife, Rosario Murillo, now lead the current Nicaraguan dictatorship.

The Polish pope arrived in a country that was on the verge of a civil war.

According to Nicaragua Investiga online news, there was a banner at the airport that said “Welcome to free Nicaragua thanks to God and the revolution.” In this setting, Ortega delivered a speech in support of the Sandinista regime.

John Paul II greeted the other authorities who were waiting for him, as well as Ernesto Cardenal, a priest and Marxist liberation theology activist who was holding public office as the regime’s minister of culture, something incompatible with the ministry of Catholic priests.

“When he came over to where I was, I did what I had planned to do in this case: take off my beret and kneel down to kiss his ring. He didn’t let me kiss it, and waving his finger as if it were a cane, he told me in a reproachful tone: You must regularize your situation. Since I didn’t answer anything, he repeated it again,” Cardenal recounted in his book “The Lost Revolution.”

In his opening address, John Paul II said that he was arriving in Nicaragua “in the name of the One who gave his life for love for the liberation and redemption of all men. I would like to make my contribution so that the suffering of innocent peoples of this area of the world ceases; so that the bloody conflicts, hatred, and sterile accusations end, leaving space for genuine dialogue.”

In addition to Cardenal, other priests were also part of the government: his brother Fernando worked with the Sandinista Youth, Miguel d’Escoto was the foreign minister, and Edgar Parrales was a diplomat.

Hugo Torres, then head of the political leadership of the Nicaraguan Army in those years, recalled that there was heavy security to protect the pope, also because one day before the pope’s arrival, 17 young Sandinistas were killed by the “Contras,” the counterrevolutionary group financed by the United States that engaged in a civil war with the Sandinistas for a decade.

John Paul II then went by helicopter to León, where he said a few brief words to the faithful present before returning to Managua.

Disruptions at Mass and the pope’s response

At the beginning of the Mass and before hundreds of thousands of people present, the then archbishop of Managua, Miguel Obando Bravo, greeted John Paul II and compared his visit to one made by Pope John XXIII to a prison in Rome.

During John Paul II’s homily, in addition to the faithful cheering the pope and Obando — who would later become a cardinal — groups of Sandinistas also shouted slogans in favor of their revolution.

“Between Christianity and revolution there is no contradiction,” “Power to the people,” “The people united will never be defeated,” “The people’s Church,” and “We want peace” were some of the slogans they shouted.

The shouting angered the pope, who asked for silence more than once and finally told them: “Silence. The Church is the first to want peace.”

According to the Spanish newspaper El País, John Paul II also went off script and said: “Beware of false prophets. They present themselves in sheep’s clothing, but inside they are ferocious wolves.”

At the end of the Mass, the Sandinistas played their anthem, after which the pope was taken to the airport, where he was again received by the current dictator Ortega, who reproached him for leaving without praying for the 17 youths killed by the Contras and justified the shouting by the Sandinistas during the Mass.

“The pope didn’t do it (pray for the dead) because I think he thought that any word he said in that regard could be interpreted as a word of support for the revolution,” Hugo Torres recalled.

In his farewell speech, John Paul II did not respond to Ortega’s attacks but rather expressed his thanks for the welcome he received and encouraged the Christians.

“In fidelity to your faith and to the Church, I bless you from my heart — especially the elderly, children, the sick, and those who suffer — and I assure you of my enduring prayer to the Lord, so that he may help you at all times,” the pilgrim pope said.

“God bless this Church. God assist and protect Nicaragua! So be it,” he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Memorial of Saint Monica

Posted by | Aug 27, 2022 | |

Readings for the Memorial of Saint MonicaReading 1 1 Cor 1:26-31

Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.Not many of you were wise by human standards,not many were powerful,not many were of noble birth.Rather, God chose the foolish of …

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