Select Page

Month: October 2022

Opinion: Catholics must keep fighting Biden’s “single-minded extremism” on abortion

Posted by | Oct 31, 2022 | , , , , , , , , , , , |

There is a common misconception – among the secular community, but also among some Christians – that the Church should not speak on politics, and should not try to “impose” its views on anyone. To […]

Read More

President of Portugal registers for World Youth Day 2023: Here’s how you can participate

Posted by | Oct 31, 2022 | , |


Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa takes a selfie with volunteers from WYD Lisbon 2023. / Photo credit: WYD Lisbon 2023

Denver Newsroom, Oct 31, 2022 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, registered as a pilgrim for World Youth Day (WYD), to be held in Lisbon Aug. 1-6, 2023. According to the president, the event “will be the largest collective meeting ever in Portugal.”

The Portuguese president visited the headquarters of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) on Oct. 26 to register on the official platform and then invited all Catholics to this international event.

“Mark this week on your calendar and move forward,” he said.

Registration for WYD Lisbon 2023 is now open for pilgrims, volunteers, priests, and bishops through the official registration platform. Registration is also active to participate in the Youth Festival and the Vocational Fair.

The LOC offers package options for pilgrims to access a set of services such as accommodations, food, transportation, security, and a pilgrim’s kit.

Registration is done online by completing a form available in Portuguese, English, Italian, French, and Spanish. Registration instructions will also be available for downloading from the registration platform. The English form is available here.

The official site of WYD Lisbon 2023 explains that the system allows individual or group registration.

“However, very small groups and individual pilgrims are strongly encouraged not to sign up alone but to join larger groups organized by parishes, dioceses, or other communities,” it says.

The LOC notes that the registration system doesn’t require entering the personal data of all pilgrims; only more detailed information is requested on the person in charge and the No. 2 person in charge of the group, priests, disabled people, and people who need a visa to enter Portugal.

“Information is also requested on the number of minors and those over 30 years of age that are part of the group, as well as the date and means of transport for arrival in Lisbon and departure after the end of WYD Lisbon 2023,” the LOC explains.

World Youth Day is a gathering of young people from all over the world with the pope. It was instituted by St. John Paul II in 1985 and since then has represented a time of encounter and exchange for millions of people.

The first event took place in 1986 in Rome, and since then WYD has had several venues: Buenos Aires, Argentina (1987); Santiago de Compostela (1989); Częstochowa (1991); and Denver (1993).

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

Read More

Pelosi speaks of heartbreak after husband’s attack; bishops offer prayers

Posted by | Oct 31, 2022 | , , , , , , , , |

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her family is “heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack” on her husband, Paul, whom police said was “violently assaulted” at home early Oct. 28 by a man with a hammer.

Read More

Analysis: The significance of Cardinal Zuppi celebrating with Summorum Pontificum pilgrims

Posted by | Oct 31, 2022 | , |


President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi (center) attends the consistory for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica on Aug. 27, 2022, in Vatican City. / Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Oct 31, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The head of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, presided over Vespers on Friday for an annual Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) pilgrimage to Rome.

The pilgrimage is named after Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which acknowledged the right of all priests to offer Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, which is in Latin.

The Traditional Latin Mass pilgrimage, organized by the People of Summorum Pontificum, is in its 11th year. 

In other words, it predates the recent restrictions and changes decreed by Pope Francis, and Zuppi made it clear: There are no special “signs” to be interpreted by his attendance. 

Zuppi, 67, said he had received an invitation to participate before he was appointed president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. He agreed to it, “not thinking there was anything wrong.” 

Nonetheless, Zuppi’s participation in the pilgrimage, which brings to Rome thousands of pilgrims who favor the Traditional Latin Mass, had a particular, if not surprising, impact.

The pilgrimage over the years has seen several cardinals and archbishops celebrate for the numerous pilgrims. 

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera celebrated with the pilgrims in 2012 in St. Peter’s Basilica when he was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Yet, Cañizares — who recently retired as archbishop of Valencia, Spain — was among those who practically applied Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes to the letter, suspending the celebration of the TLM in his archdiocese.

Traditionis custodes is the July 16, 2021, motu proprio in which Pope Francis placed sweeping restrictions on the celebration of Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal, known variously as the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the Tridentine Mass, and the Traditional Latin Mass. (You can read a further explanation of the document here.)

While some bishops, such as Cañizares, applied the restrictions to the letter, Zuppi, in his archdiocese of Bologna, found a pragmatic solution. 

The cleric, who has a reputation as the “bicycling cardinal,” also took into account the particular sensitivity of the faithful of the diocese.

In a decree, Zuppi noted that a traditional community had immediately started in Bologna after Summorum Pontificum and that this celebration had already met the requirements of Traditionis Custodes. 

So the cardinal decided to keep everything as it was — except to find another non-parish church — allowing the faithful to attend the Traditional Latin Mass.

Indeed, Zuppi emphasized that “the liturgical tradition has given an unmistakable mark to our local Church. It is a garden to be cultivated with renewed love and passion without ever resigning ourselves to weariness and laziness, which — even when they do not degenerate into abuses — end up weakening the formidable strength of the liturgy from which the Church is born and always is built.”

Zuppi’s decision should not come as a surprise, considering that as a bishop, he also accepted invitations to celebrate the TLM.

His participation in this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage was to be expected.

Recently, Zuppi also visited the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) in Gricigliano, near Florence. 

The ICKSP also celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass, and Zuppi was reportedly impressed by the many seminarians.

While an experienced pastor and much-respected bishop, Zuppi is not considered a “traditionalist” or “conservative” and is known for his active support of the Community of Sant’Egidio.

His tendency to act as a builder of bridges is also noticeable in a fragmented College of Cardinals. 

Pope Francis appointed Zuppi as a member of the Dicastery of the Eastern Churches. He is already a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The archbishop of Bologna, therefore, increases his duties in the Curia, becoming a member of a very important dicastery.

Do all these moves make Zuppi a candidate for the succession of Pope Francis? That is idle speculation. How the cardinal-electors might decide in a possible conclave remains to be seen.

The only tangible fact is that Zuppi does not want to be divisive. Instead, he is building bridges — which might yet prove to be an essential role in a Church marred by tensions and divisions.

Read More

Recent Comments

    Categories