Immaculate Conception column makes its way back into Prague's Old Square
The capital of the Czech Republic will replace the monument to the Immaculate Conception on the Old Square, where it stood since 1650 until its collapse by uncontrolled persons in 1918.
A misunderstood secularism has led many countries of Christian tradition in Western Europe to remove religious symbols from schools, streets and even the name of their festivals, as is the case of the monument to the Immaculate Conception in Prague, where it stood since 1650 until its collapse by uncontrolled in 1918; While in Eastern Europe, out of their communist dictatorships twenty-five years ago, these symbols return to public spaces.
The eastern lung of Europe, as referred to as the St. John Paul II to the countries that fell under Moscow's Soviet orbit, now turns its gaze to the elements of the common Judeo-Christian culture.
In the Czech Republic, the restitution of property seized from the Catholic Church and other religious denominations during the communist regime (1948-1989) has also entered its final stretch.
The latest restitution law, passed in 2012, thus resolves the desired economic independence of dioceses and religious entities so that they can run their affairs without interference, unlike what had been happening until now, with a financing system inherited from the totalitarian past.
This does not detract from the fact that the State continues today to devote many resources to the conservation of heritage, which is largely of a religious nature and provides the public coffers with substantial income from tourism.
But there are also curious situations, such as citizen initiatives that lack institutional support from the Church or the State, and are sustained only on the basis of popular zeal, trying to return to their original place religious monuments that were displaced or destroyed by sectarian hatred.
The idea is that, with the return of these monuments to the site for which they were conceived, public spaces will recover their original flavor, meeting architectural, aesthetic, historical and cultural criteria.
Column of the Immaculate Conception
Among these initiatives is the return of the Immaculate Conception column to the Prague Old Town SquareIt had been there since 1650, shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia, which put an end to the Thirty Years' War.
According to Jan Royt, art historian and rector of Charles University in Prague, the column was a symbol of this European peace, and the part of the city on the right bank of the river wanted to show its gratitude to the Virgin for having emerged unscathed from the war.
The image, made by J.J. Bendl, was at the time the first baroque sculpture in sandstone, and "paved the way for a great development of sculptural art."explains Jan Bradna, academic sculptor and restorer.
The statue was demolished on November 3, 1918, a few days after the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic. Since then there have been four attempts to replace it, and the last one, championed by the Society for the Renewal of the Marian Column created in 1990, is on the verge of achieving its goal. Although after the Velvet Revolution, which opened the door to democracy in Czechoslovakia, this seemed impossible, it has become a reality.
The countdown for the return of that statue to the memorable square, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, has only just begun. And it is doing so without any state contribution, since the Society for the Renewal of the Marian Column has raised sufficient donations.
Prague is specific
With the return of freedoms in the Central European country, Immaculate Conception columns have already returned to their place in major cities such as Ostrava and Česke Budejovice, and in smaller ones such as Kykhov, Turnov, Sokolov and Chodov.
Prague is a specific case, since the toppling of the column by an uncontrolled group in 1918 came to be considered a symbol of Czechoslovak emancipation from the Habsburg monarchy, which was closely associated with the Catholic Church.
For this reason, the Roman Church was not well regarded by the architects of the new state, led by the politician and philosopher T.G. Masaryk, who encouraged the creation of a Protestant-oriented Czechoslovak national church.
Almost a century has passed since the dramatic incident and, after many vicissitudes, everything seems to indicate that an exact replica of the statue will return to give balance to the square.
At one end an architectural ensemble was erected in 1915 in honor of the reformer Jan Hus (1369-1415), very devoted - by the way - to the Virgin, and there is a consensus among experts that the original counterpoint at the other end is missing.
"I prefer to express restraint, to avoid a counterattack, but 'D' day is just around the corner. There is no political factor that can prevent it and it is now an administrative matter that concerns the Construction Office."Jan Wolf, city councilor responsible for Culture, Heritage Preservation and Tourism, told PALABRA.
Wolf expressed this opinion after the results of the last archaeological survey, carried out in December, which concluded that the site is suitable to support the weight of the sculptural ensemble.
This clears the last hurdle raised by the Historic Heritage Office, and the file now goes to the Construction Office of the City Council of District 1 of the city.
If his words come true, the shadow of the column will coincide at noon - with a delay of five minutes - with the Prague meridian: this was, since the days of its installation in 1650, the system for measuring time in Prague.
Reasons
In addition to architectural and aesthetic reasons, there are other more profound reasons that can serve as a reminder of the identity of the people.
"The Immaculate Conception column is a moral reference from which Europe was born."said Wolf, for whom the monument refers to the Judeo-Christian roots of a civilization.
The column has a Jewish woman, Mary, at the center of the scene, surrounded by a cohort of angels reflecting scenes from the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible in which God reveals Himself to man and which constitutes one of the deposits of the Christian faith, together with the Apostolic Tradition.
For Wolf, in the days of its construction the column reflected also "the unity of Europe"for Prague was "an international crossroads" with people coming from many corners to rebuild a country devastated after the Thirty Years' War.
From a more current perspective, the Prague councilor stressed that the column serves as a counterpoint to the Muslim world, in a current context of violence and terrorism led by the Islamic State. "Something we can be proud of."concludes the Christian Democrat politician, referring to the maternal and welcoming model represented by the Virgin Mary.
He added that it can serve as "a resistance against atheism and something to help convert to the good, on which Europe was based.".
This has not always been understood by the opponents of the project, who consider it, in Wolf's words, to be "a confirmation of Catholic supremacy, as another show of mere pride.".
This stumbling block seems to have been overcome recently following an agreement between the Archbishop of Prague, Dominik Duka, and Hussite and Evangelical representatives, within the framework of the 6th centenary of the death of the reformer Jan Hus.
Advances in robotics: a new version of the Tower of Babel?
Robotic systems integrated into the human nervous system, extreme enhancements of the body or computers capable of making autonomous decisions... are today's humans not succumbing to the temptation of a new Babel? Are these technological advances inhuman, or are they part of the divine mandate to dominate the earth? A new science, technoethics, is now answering these questions.
José María Galván-February 9, 2016-Reading time: 10minutes
If until now technology had been kept in a certain way as something external to man, nowadays it is no longer so; we have it inside us. Nano and biotechnologies, robotic systems are integrated into the nervous system by neural interface, have been introduced into the most intimate mechanisms of the person and are profoundly changing our way of living in the world and of being with others and with ourselves.
Even if the machine remains external to the human being, its current development is capable of determining human life more profoundly than ever before: just think of the presence of machines that are similar to us, whether in terms of their appearance (humanoid robotics), their ability to make decisions autonomously, or the socio-economic changes that will be brought about, for example, by the massive introduction of 3D printing (in three dimensions). And the key question is: is all this something negative, anti-human, or can we live the age of technology in the key of hope?
In this global environment that is increasingly conditioned by machines, it seems logical that many new questions are being raised that are not easy to answer, and that we are beginning to speak of "technoethics" as a way to reach an answer in the key of hope. In fact, various bodies in the world of technology, culture and politics are increasingly pushing for a rediscovery of the ethical dimension of technology.
A new science is born
The term "technoethics" was born a long time ago, in December 1974, during the "International Symposium on Ethics in an Age of Pervasive Technology", which took place in the prestigious Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) of Haifa. At that meeting Mario Bunge, an Argentinean philosopher who taught at the McGill University of Montreal (Canada), first used the term in an address entitled "Toward a Technoethics".which was subsequently published in "The Monist" in 1977.
The word was born, therefore, just four years after the word "bioethics"The new project was not as successful; it practically disappeared from the cultural map until it re-emerged at the beginning of the 21st century.
Perhaps the author himself was to blame for this. In that conference, Bunge made statements that at that time represented great advances, such as declaring that the engineer or technologist has the obligation to face the ethical questions that his actions entail, without pretending to transfer them to managers or politicians. At that time, the engineer was seen as a kind of "specialized worker", capable of doing what the company or the politician asked him to do, but without being the one to decide what to do or what not to do, or whether it was a good thing to do.
But the formula that Bunge found to give this ethical value to the technical act spoiled everything. As a thinker imbued with modernity, with materialistic tendencies and a good connoisseur of the emerging technology, he probably thought that from an ethical point of view one could trust much more the machine, guided by science and computer algorithms, than the human person (for a modern person, from a functional point of view, the person is disappointing). That is why Bunge concluded his intervention by stressing that an upright and efficient conduct requires a revision, an overhaul of ethics, because it has to depend on technique and not on an unreliable human freedom.
Bunge's position is reminiscent of that of the pre-Hippocratic Asclepiadian physicians: their science depended only on the sacred books; what was written in them was what they followed; the ethical consequences of their acts did not fall on the physicians, but on the gods, who alone were responsible for the life or death of the patient. In the technoethics of modernity, the ancient gods have been replaced by science, which guides all consciences. The only problem is that today the guide of all sciences is, in turn, the economy; therefore, if something is good for the economy, it is good morally, and vice versa. Obviously, we are dealing here with an economy centered on the production of wealth, not on the person, as the semantic origin of the word actually suggests and Francis recalled in the Laudato si.
At the service of the individual
Hippocrates breaks with tradition asclepiadea and makes medicine a true science: he destroys the sacred books and begins to study the symptoms and to experiment the efficacy of drugs. Since Hippocrates, to cure or to kill depends on the science and the technical capacity of the physician who, therefore, is ethically involved in the first person: that is why the physician swears that he will use his science only for the good of humanity. Hippocrates' science and technique are at the service of the person.
I believe that to have hope in the current technological civilization is to rediscover the true meaning of science and its orientation towards the global good of the person, and not only of its functions. In this sense, technoethics must be conceived in the opposite key to that of Bunge: technoethics must be an area of interdisciplinary dialogue between technologists and ethicists, leading to a body of knowledge and an ethical system of reference that allows the achievements of technology to become a central element in achieving the teleological perfection of the human being. This presupposes not only affirming the positive anthropological character of technology, but also placing the end of the person in something that goes beyond technology itself.
Babel versus Pentecost
The most classic example of the immanent finalism of technology is the biblical Tower of Babel. In that episode, men think that to reach heaven is to build a very high tower, without realizing that their attempt would lead them to be laying bricks one on top of the other for eternity: a sort of Sisyphus myth in a masonry version. Babel is the symbol of the technique of modernity: it is no coincidence that in the film MetropolisFritz Lang's "New Babel" (1927), the city of technical happiness revolves around a tower called "New Babel".
The man of Babel loses his symbolic capacity: self-reduced to an immanent purpose, he is able to communicate very well, but he loses human language, he is incapable of dialogue. His punishment, the confusion of languages, is not arbitrary: it is what is due to him for what he has done. Only when the Spirit of the Logos is given to him again (Pentecost) will he be capable of a true dialogue with all men, over and above the diversity of tongues. The opposite parallelism between Babel and Pentecost is the key to the hope of contemporary technology.
Modern man, who is the man of Neo-Babel, or the happy Sisyphus of Camus, or the indefatigable ant of Leonardo Polo..., cannot attain happiness. Modernity has died, giving way to postmodernity, among other things because it is already a common certainty - and not only the prediction of the great prophets of the crisis of modernity: Dostojevsky, Nietzsche, Musil... - that techno-scientific development will never succeed in answering the great mysteries of the human being: pain, guilt, death... A full human existence will never be achieved by adding more time. Let us remember that, for St. Thomas, hell is not true eternity, but only more time, indefinite time, a tick-tock that never ends (cf. Summa TheologiaeI q. 10, a. 4 ad 2um).
Technique won the battle
That is why the end of modernity has coincided with an enormous distrust of technology, which is seen as an enemy. A great cultural war has been fought against it: philosophers such as Heidegger and Husserl, the hippythe New AgeMuch of the art (unbelievable!: "art" is Greek for "art", "art" for "art", "art" for "art".tekné"; technique in Latin is said "ars") and literature have fought against technique..., and have lost.
Curiously, technology has won the cultural battle. As was said at the beginning, it now occupies a central place not only in society, but within the person himself. And it has won not only because it has imposed itself with its achievements, but for another more radical reason: the reduction of human reason to experimental scientific rationality has limited access to reality to knowledge of its laws of physical, chemical, biological and psychic behavior....
In the end, the fundamental model is given by physics, which is the modern "measure of all things", as was the Vitruvian man in the Florentine Renaissance: then everything was understood from anthropology, and in modernity everything is understood from physics (how not to think of the a priori Kantians of pure reason?).
The problem is that all this tends towards a paradigm of domination: to know the laws of reality in order to be able to subdue it. Modernity has thus originated an ecological crisis: the destruction of so many resources, the increase in the number of people living in the world, and the gap between rich and poor countries...
Basically, the problem is that modernity, as Scheffczcyk said, has replaced God with science and religion with technology. In the modern paradigm, technique ends up being the instrument of science, inverting a relationship that had always been the opposite. And postmodern man has rebelled against this. Who knows more about a rose: a botanist or a poet? That is why technology has won the battle, and even those who continue to attack technology do so by employing an infinity of technological artifices, and spread their ideas through the most sophisticated achievement of the technique of communication: the Internet.
Identification with the machine
What to do in the face of this paradox: is the technique that has won the cultural battle the subdued and violent technique of modernity, or is it the man-centered technique of classical culture and the Italian Renaissance?
The answer to this question cannot be given by the technique itself, because it alone does not determine itself to any end, it is always progress towards new achievements. The ordering to the end is given by the person. In a certain sense, the modern person has preferred to renounce the end (which is like renouncing freedom), in order to identify himself with the machine and thus participate in its many functional advantages. Faced with the crisis of modernity, those who do not want to renounce this way of seeing things have no other way out than to flee forward, further reducing the person to the machine: this is the path of the transhumanists or posthumanists, who are not postmodern but "tardomodern" (this is the terminology used by Pierpaolo Donati, very aptly). For them, the key to the human being lies in the recovery of the radical Cartesian dichotomy between res cogitans (mind, intelligence) and res extensa (bodies, matter), so that the res cogitans can subsist in any res extensaboth biological and artificial.
Posthumanists view the human body as something that, if necessary or convenient, can be dispensed with or subjected to extreme and arbitrary modifications. This position is not very different from that found in many aspects of late-modern culture, which sees the body as a mere instrument that we can modify to improve its performance: prostheses and modifications that make it more sexually attractive, or more suitable for achieving certain professional or sporting performances, or that could make the human body a branded body, a "branded" body.branded body" (Campbell). It is curious that in the same year that Pistorius got permission to compete in the "normal" Olympics, one of the best known international bioethics journals published an article stating that there are no moral reasons to prevent voluntary mutilations or extreme body modifications (Scharmme in Bioethics2008); if a robotic prosthetic leg can lead me to sporting glory better than my natural one, why not replace it? Then, only amputees would participate in the finals of the 2022 Olympics.
Main technoethical principles
One might think that progress that allows such things is not worthwhile. On the other hand, we should affirm that we cannot renounce this technological progress, which is a true conquest of the human spirit.
It is clear, however, that something has to change. The proposal of the new technoethics is that we must change the modern paradigm that affirms the primacy of science over technology and disassociates it from freedom for a new model in which technology once again becomes a spiritual activity, an eminent product of the spirit in its relationship with matter. Basically, it is a matter of rediscovering the anthropological value of the body that we are.
The key to the true meaning of technology lies in discovering its role in the relational being of the person, already described by Aristotle as the teleological element of human happiness ("no one would want to live without friends"). This is highlighted in our postmodern days by the need to overcome the paradigm of dominion with a new relational paradigm. The person, who realizes himself in the interpersonal relationship by sharing the intentional ends of intellect and will, knows that the substantial unity of soul and body cannot carry out this task without accepting its material dimension. Interacting with matter (human labor) in order to insert it fully into the interpersonal dialogue is the ultimate reason for technique.
It is necessary to replace the objectifying and dominating technoscience, which subordinates technology to a secondary role, with a new concept of science open to the authentic truth of man and conscious of not being able to reach that truth, but capable of putting itself at his service through technology. Therefore, it can be said, as the first theorem of technoethics, that technology has as its own object the increase of the relational capacity of the person. From this we can deduce the second theorem: experimental science is humanized or spiritualized when it becomes technique, because it reaches the person. And if these two theorems are fulfilled, it is possible to postulate a third: the authentic development of technology leads to the exaltation of the person, so that the technological artifice, the machine, which when it is born usually has a bulky presence, ends up being integrated and taken for granted. The more perfect a machine is, the more the human person is hidden behind it, behind its task and its true purpose.
Naturally artificial
The crisis of modern culture has led us to establish a kind of axiom whereby what is natural is good, and what is artificial is bad. The truth is exactly the opposite. There is no opposition in human nature between natural and artificial: we are "naturally artificial". Who dares to say that a myopic person is less natural with glasses than without them? A proper view of technique should lead one to see the artificial element as the product of the free interaction of the person with material reality and, therefore, as something that creates dialogue. On the one hand there would be the artifices (machines) that are mere utensils, or evolved mechanisms of assistance to human life (robotic prostheses, neuroprostheses...), and, on the other hand, the artifices that increase the symbolic capacity of the person (communication and information technologies).
These general principles that I have enunciated, but not sufficiently developed due to the logical lack of space, can serve as a guide to judge from an ethical point of view when a new technology serves the person or not. The most evolved robotic systems can already be connected to the nervous system of living beings, creating a synergy between machine and person that can lead not only to repair lost functions, but also to increase others to unthinkable limits. The same can be said of neuroprostheses.
Humanoid robotics can enable symbolic manifestations that art until recently could not dream of. New technologies serve freedom. This means that they can also go against humanity: a robotic system can condition the physical action of a person against his will, a neuroprosthesis can enslave a personal being. Hence the importance of returning to the ethical key of technical creation, which will always make it possible to discover the person behind the machine. When we contemplate the Sistine Chapel, the matter of the fresco puts us in dialogue with Michelangelo; when we come into contact with a humanoid, we will be in dialogue with the engineer who created it.
The authorJosé María Galván
Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and an expert in technoethics.
Mauro Piacenza: "Being available to hear confessions is a priority".
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Mauro Piacenza (Genoa, 1944) Major Penitentiary of the Holy See in 2013. He was previously undersecretary, secretary and prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He is, therefore, the right person to speak about how to enhance the practice of sacramental confession in this Year of Mercy.
Pope Francis recalled it in his recent book-interview The name of God is mercyThe most important experience that a believer must live in this world is the Jubilee Year of Mercy is "allow Jesus to meet you, approaching the confessional with confidence". We spoke with the current Major Penitentiary of the Holy See about how priests and laity can contribute to the practice of confession.
In the Year of Mercy, it will be central for the faithful to have recourse to the specific sacrament of God's mercy, confession. But should we not deepen the idea of forgiveness, the reality of sin and the necessary reconciliation with our brothers and sisters?
-Certainly, the fundamental issue in a Jubilee is always "conversion" and, therefore, the protagonist is sacramental confession. For us, pilgrims in this world and sinners, the discourse on mercy would be in vain if it did not lead to confession, through which the fresh and regenerating waters of divine mercy flow.
All of us pastors must show pastoral charity eminently by our generous availability to hear confessions, by welcoming the faithful and by being assiduous penitents ourselves. Education for a good confession begins with the formation of children's consciences in preparation for their first Holy Communion.
Wherever there is a crisis in the frequency of this fundamental sacrament, it must be said that the crisis is "in capite", in the head; it is a crisis of faith. To go to confession it is necessary to have a sense of sin, because the first way to resist evil is to know how to recognize it, and to call it by its name: "sin".
Looking at the crucifix we can perceive what sin is and what love is. But such a gaze requires inner silence, sincerity with oneself, eliminating preconceived schemes and prejudices, commonplaces that, by breathing them in the air, by osmosis have progressively become embedded in us.
Crossing the Holy Door, the end of a journey or pilgrimage, has its "logical" end in reconciliation. And this is a condition for gaining the Jubilee indulgence.
-Normally we arrive at the threshold of the Holy Door after a pilgrimage, long or short. It disposes one's spirit during the journey, during which one is reminded of the pilgrim nature of the Church in time, and makes us understand the meaning of our own life. During the pilgrimage we meditate, pray, dialogue with the Lord of mercy, make an examination of conscience, ask for the grace of conversion. Among other things, in this way we also become aware of the inescapable communitarian dimension and understand that reconciliation with God also implies reconciliation with our brothers and sisters, which is the consequence of the first.
And one crosses the Gate that symbolizes the Savior Himself, which is the true gate through which one enters the holy fold of God. For it is not simply a matter of fulfilling a rite, a ceremony; it requires contrition of heart, turning away from sin, even venial sin, profession of faith, prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, and then access to sacramental confession and Eucharistic communion.
What are the main reasons that the practice of confession has declined in recent decades?
Above all, we must consider the general context of society and the so-called "challenges" to which we have not always been able to give the right and timely response.
Other relevant causes are rooted, in my opinion, in a crisis of faith which, in turn, is due in large part to theologically weak pastoral action. Hence the progressive loss of the sense of sin and of the horizon of eternal life. Perhaps too much pastoral work has been done on the basis of slogans and intellectualism, and this has distanced confessors and penitents from the confessional.
How could the practice of confession be recovered?
-It is a question of the general framework of pastoral care. It should be remembered that pastoral care is the noblest of the attentions that the Church seeks, but if it is to be realistic and effective, it must leave its hands free to the Holy Spirit, through whom the practical translation of authentic doctrine must be carried out. This is the only way to guarantee that the actions of the Good Shepherd will be carried out.
When there is this guarantee, then the most fruitful and healthy creativity can take place, taking into account places, environments, cultures, ages, categories, possibilities, etc., but always on the basis of the unity of faith.
From Rome, you will have a very enriching overview. Do you think that the time dedicated by priests to the confessional is sufficient?
-In general, the time spent is certainly scarce. There is too much tendency to do thousands of things, thousands of activities. What is important, however, is to reconcile people with God and with their neighbor; to promote peace of conscience and, therefore, family and social peace; to combat corruption; to encourage the frequent reception of Holy Communion with the proper - and therefore fruitful - dispositions.
In many places priests are numerically scarce in relation to the needs of evangelization, but, for this very reason, it is necessary to choose priorities well; and among these, availability to hear confessions occupies a privileged place.
How can priests be better confessors? What effort and disposition are asked of them in this Year?
-In this regard, I would like to point out that the spiritual and pastoral life of the priest, like that of his lay and religious brothers and sisters, depends for its quality and fervor on the assiduous and conscientious personal practice of the sacrament of penance. In a priest who rarely or badly goes to confession, his being a priest and his being a priest would soon suffer, as would the community of which he is pastor.
In allowing oneself to be forgiven, one also learns to forgive others. This Year of Mercy can also be providential in leading seminarians to become good confessors, and in promoting pastoral programs: putting into practice in the dioceses wise initiatives such as making known the schedules of confessions; collaborating in every pastoral zone; promoting, especially during Lent and Advent, community penitential celebrations with personal confession and absolution; paying attention so that there are schedules more adapted to the different categories of people.
During this Year, the Pope has granted all priests the faculty to absolve the censure of excommunication for the sin of abortion. How should the priest act in these special cases?
-On this point, it is important to clarify ideas, because there is great confusion in public opinion.
Absolution for the sin of abortion is not reserved to the Pope, but to the bishop (cf. canon 134 § 1), who can delegate it to other subjects and to the diocesan penitentiary (cf. canon 508 § 1), to chaplains in the places he serves, in prisons and on sea voyages (cf. canon 566 § 2). Priests belonging to mendicant Orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.) also enjoy this faculty. All priests are also empowered to do so, indistinctly in cases of danger of death (cf. can. 976). In many dioceses this faculty is conferred on all parish priests; in others, on all priests during the seasons of Advent and Lent; and in others, on all priests if they see a grave discomfort in the confessor, in case he is not absolved.
In any case, it is also good to know that the penitent is not subject to excommunication if the crime of abortion was committed before the age of 18, if he did not know that a penalty was attached to such a sin, if his mind was not fully lucid or if his will was not fully free (think of a serious fear or a poor use of reason).
In any case, it is clear that the confessor will know how to welcome with kindness, will know how to listen, will know how to console, will know how to direct towards respect for life, will know how to open horizons of repentance, of resolutions for the future and of joy in tasting forgiveness, the mercy of God. On this horizon will spontaneously emerge the desire for reparation, and then the priest himself will know how to complete, with his prayer and penance, the response of love to the God of mercy.
When people come to confession who live in an irregular marriage situation, how should they be treated? In some cases they will not be able to absolve them....
-I always emphasize that in welcoming and listening, the utmost gentleness and attention should be given. The very fact that these people come to the confessional is revealed as something positive.
It is not possible in these few lines to give an exhaustive answer. It would be necessary to distinguish between those who are in an "irregular" marital situation (divorced and remarried, those who live together without being married, or those who are married only civilly) and those who are in a "difficult" marital situation (separated and divorced). The difference is essential, in that those in difficult marital situations are only in danger of falling into a state objectively contrary to the law of the Church.
Certainly, when the confessor is unable to give absolution, he should offer understanding, act in such a way that bridges are not broken, guarantee his prayer to these persons, make himself always available to listen, encourage prayer, make them understand the preciousness of participating in the festive Holy Mass, make them understand the wonder of reading the Word of God, as well as of the visit to the Blessed Sacrament for a heart-to-heart dialogue with Jesus; open the possibility of participating in prayer groups or groups dedicated to works of mercy.
He must then be clear in saying that they should not feel outside the Church; they have never been excommunicated. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding about this, which it is good to clarify, and it is also good to make clear the reason for their exclusion from the reception of the Eucharist. From my experience as a confessor - and I confess assiduously - it has never happened to me that persons belonging to the above-mentioned categories have not thanked me and asked to be allowed to return.
Regarding the way of living today the particular liturgical aspects of this sacrament, which ones could be more cared for, known or valued?
-There is a Ritual for this sacrament, the use of which has become obligatory since April 21, 1974, which should be respected, appreciated and a way should be found to illustrate it to the faithful. In using it and making it the object of catechesis, both the individual and communitarian aspects should be kept in mind.
Since it is not a rigid ceremonial, one must act in a sacred manner, knowing that one is administering the most precious Blood of the Redeemer, that here the protagonist is not the priest who confesses, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and that the priest, therefore, must be only the reflection of the Good Shepherd, the channel of transmission of the fresh and regenerating waters of merciful Love. Also the dress of the confessor should be in keeping with the one who administers a sacrament. Normally, the confessional, located in the church and equipped with a grille that ensures maximum respect for the faithful, should be used. All this is regulated by canon 964 of the Code of Canon Law.
Of course, there can be other particular cases, for example, on the occasion of a youth camp, etc. It happened to me recently that I had to confess during a flight and also at an airport; both are excellent occasions that I would not have had if I did not always wear ecclesiastical dress, which places me in a permanent condition of service.
How will the Pope's initiative "24 hours for the Lord" be experienced in Rome from March 4 to 5? What will it consist of? How can we prepare for this appointment with God's mercy throughout the world?
-In Rome, it will begin in St. Peter's Basilica with a communal penitential celebration (Liturgy of the Word, homily, silence for meditation and examination of conscience, individual confession of those present in various confessionals, and common thanksgiving to the Father of mercy). Afterwards, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed in all the churches chosen. Confessors will be available at any time of the day during these 24 hours.
The initiative is being very well accepted, especially by young people. The fact that all the dioceses are responding to such an invitation also educates in a deep sense of ecclesiality. It will also be a privileged occasion to illustrate the beauty of the communion of saints.
A frequent problem for confessors is the lack of preparation of penitents, which causes some confessions to drag on unnecessarily. What would you recommend to the confessor to welcome the faithful, but without going on too long and discouraging others who are waiting their turn?
-The faithful should be led to a good confession from the moment of their first Communion; then the difference between a conversation, spiritual direction and sacramental confession should be explained. It is useful to have pamphlets or printed material with outlines of the examination of conscience, if possible differentiated by age, etc., available in advance.
The confessor himself should strive not to chatter, but to speak with sobriety, clarity and gentleness, and to go to the essentials and help the penitent to go to the essentials, without making him feel uncomfortable. It is good to seek balance and prudence, and if a queue has formed, to tell the penitent that later or even after the queue is over, he will be able to listen to him at greater length.
What is the role of moral theology in the Church and in the world today? In these pages I am not going to give a complete picture to answer this question. I would like to focus only on a few more fundamental questions, taking into account the concerns expressed by Pope Francis. What are the most urgent tasks?
To answer this question, perhaps we must first ask ourselves what state our world is in. Without needing to review the different diagnoses that have been proposed, it can be affirmed that an attitude of indifference or disinterest towards truth is widespread. Behind the pretense of truth there has been a struggle for power (Foucault), and the search for good, truth and beauty has been replaced by spontaneous acting. Some authors have described our society as a liquid society (Bauman); others prefer to call it a performance society (Byung-Chul Han). All these diagnoses point to the end of the disciplinary society, based on the existence of an authority. Now, on the other hand, acting has priority, and there is no good or evil other than that which each one - or the majority - decides. Thus Nietzsche's maxim is fulfilled, for whom salvation is not to be found in knowledge, but in creation. Creation of a language and, from it, of a morality: terms such as "interruption of pregnancy", "dignified death" or "couple relationships" configure the contours of the new morality, in which it is man's will that decides what is good for him and what is not.
Against this backdrop, when the very foundations of a rational discourse on the good have disappeared, what can moral theology do? What can we expect?
First of all, it is urgent to remember that God exists and is an active and engaged God in the world. There is an affirmation of Romano GuardiniThe merely profane world does not exist; however, when a stubborn will manages to elaborate something to some extent similar to this type of world, this construction does not work"; what happens then: "Without the religious element, life becomes something like an engine without lubricant: it heats up. At every instant something burns" (III.5). The Burnout Society is precisely the title of one of the best-selling books of thought in the last year. In short, a society contrary to the truth of man and his freedom is not satisfactory. Nor can a situation of blindness be satisfactory for the human being. Pope Francis recently reminded us: "There are no systems that completely annul openness to goodness, truth and beauty, nor the capacity for reaction that God continues to encourage from the depths of human hearts. I ask every person in this world not to forget that dignity which no one has the right to take away" (Laudato Si', 205). One of the tasks open to moral theology, then, is to remind each person of his or her dignity. This requires that he or she find his or her place in the life of the Church - and in the life of the faithful.
The mission of moral theology
In the minds of many, the idea of morality as an authoritative instance - often perceived as authoritarian - that points out what is permitted and what is not, what is sinful and what is not, is still present. This conception tends to contrast authority and freedom, or law and freedom, and to place morality in the first member of these binomials. Its task would consist only in pointing out the (negative) limits of human action.
Now, is this an adequate conception of moral theology? Perhaps a critique of this style could - and should - be launched against certain moral theologies that had fallen into the extreme of a meticulous and dispersed casuistry, and did not offer an organic and positive vision of human action. However, it seems to me totally unfair to make the same criticism now, after the renewal that has taken place. In recent decades, numerous treatises have come to light that present the moral message of Christ as an eminently positive and organic proposal. The attempts have been varied, as varied have been the approaches in which the Christian life has been understood: as a filial life, as the following of Christ, as a walk in the light of Love, as a response to the call to be saints, etc. In all these cases, morality is no longer presented as a list of prohibitions, but as an invitation: a proposal of life that aims at human happiness, on earth and in Heaven. Thus understood, the task of moral theology is to remind the women and men of today that God has a plan for each one of us. That God has loved us and has called us uniquely-since before the creation of the world (cf. Eph 1:4)-to be happy by living in fullness our own human condition redeemed by Christ. Such a presentation encounters challenges, of which I will point out a few below.
Rediscovering the beauty of Christ
Pope Francis has echoed an old accusation by reminding Christians that they cannot habitually have a "funeral face," that it would not be right to live a Christianity "of Lent without Easter" (Evangelii Gaudium, 6, 10). It is the old temptation of the elder son in the parable, which consists in living a sad, dull faith, and which deep down looks with envy at the immoral behavior of those who lead a life far from God - or, at least, far from the Church. A faith that sees in God a master for whom one must work as a servant, hoping for a just reward in the end. A faith that sees in God's will a limitation of one's freedom (cf. Lk 15:25ff.).
In the face of this temptation, one of the most certain truths of Christianity stands out: that we are not servants, but children, "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ" (Rom 8:17). The Pope constantly reminds us that "with Jesus Christ joy is always born and reborn" (Evangelii Gaudium, 1), because in him we recognize a God who loves us unconditionally, who never tires of forgiving us and welcoming us into his paternal embrace, and who "feels responsible, that is, he desires our good and wants to see us happy, filled with joy and serene" (Misericordiae vultus, 9). It is the task of moral theology to present in an organic way this invitation of God, which touches every aspect of human life. St. John Paul II loved to recall that teaching of the Council: "The mystery of man is only clarified in the mystery of the Word Incarnate," to the point that Christ "fully reveals man to man himself and reveals to him the sublimity of his vocation" (Gaudium et Spes, 22). Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, who illumines the problems and concerns of mankind. His mystery is for us both a call and a response, and in this way he is the Way to the Father. It is a way that is as demanding as it is attractive. On it man discovers the splendor of the truth about himself and about what matters most to him: life and death, marriage and friendship, work and suffering.
Awakening consciences
With all that has been said, a fundamental question remains to be asked: how to awaken a sense of God in a world that seems indifferent to the suffering of others? The witness of Christians is undoubtedly an important part of the answer: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35). Along with this, it is necessary to awaken the ignored presence of God that is found in the heart of every woman and every man. There is a desire for God-which we must help to recognize-in the search for happiness, fulfillment and lasting love, as the encyclical Spe Salvi recalled.
And there is also a real presence of God in the moral conscience. It is well known what the Blessed wrote John Henry Newman in his Letter to the Duke of Norfolk: "Conscience is the messenger of him who, both in the world of nature and in the world of grace, through a veil speaks to us, instructs us and governs us. Conscience is the first of Christ's vicars" (n. 5). Conscience is the light, the spark that God has placed in man to attain happiness on the path of truth and goodness. In a world centered on the individual, but at the same time thirsty for happiness and with a certain nostalgia for the absolute, the path of conscience is another that moral theology is called to explore.
Pope Francis has recently done so on the basis of ecological awareness. The problem of the environment is morally relevant for the contemporary world, it is on everyone's mind, and in it we do recognize a space for truth and goodness. From the concern for the environment, and the unpostponable need for a real care of Creation, the Pope points out a fundamental complement to environmental ecology: human ecology. This implies "something very deep: the necessary relationship of the life of human beings with the moral law written in their own nature, which is necessary to create a more dignified environment. Benedict XVI said that there is an 'ecology of man' because 'man also possesses a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will'" (Laudato si', 155).
Conscience is precisely the place where this truth about oneself and about the world, about what is good to do and how to behave in relation to one's environment and to others, is made manifest to each person. "In the depths of his conscience, man discovers a law which he does not give himself, but which he must obey and whose voice resounds, when necessary, in the ears of his heart" (Gaudium et Spes, 16).
The cry of conscience can be capable of awakening a sleeping and indifferent world, as long as we do not want to neutralize it by conceiving it as the redoubt of subjectivity, which in reality it is not, because conscience also stirs. Indeed, "the dignity of conscience always derives from truth: in the case of right conscience, it is a matter of objective truth, accepted by man; in the case of erroneous conscience, it is a matter of what man, erring, considers subjectively true" (Veritatis splendor, 63).
The path of Mercy
At this point, it is possible to return to what we saw before. In fact, the real answer to this cry of conscience is Jesus Christ. The evil that a man has committed can be great, the evil in the world can become unbearable: the twentieth century has witnessed this. However, we Christians know that this is not the last word. God has spoken. As St. John Paul II wrote in his last book: "The limit imposed on evil, whose cause and victim happens to be man, is ultimately Divine Mercy" (Memory and Identity, 73).
Pope Francis now reminds us of this with particular urgency, encouraging us to rediscover God's unconditional love for man in order to place it at the forefront of the Church's mission. Mercy is the principal manifestation of God's omnipotence, and it must also be the first message of the Bride of Christ, to such an extent that, as he writes in the Bull of Convocation of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy: "The credibility of the Church passes through the path of merciful and compassionate love" (n. 10).
But what does mercy consist in, how is it lived and what is its relationship to truth and justice? These are questions that cannot be put off, because they have practical consequences for the ordinary pastoral care of the Church. In any case, it is worth noting that, even though we human beings can pose conflicts between Mercy and Truth, between Mercy and Justice, we cannot forget that in God they are identified. It would be a mistake to fall into the banal anthropomorphism that assumes contradictions that cannot exist in God. Nevertheless, the question remains open: in the life of the Church, what does it mean concretely to walk this "path of merciful and compassionate love"? To this question, as to the previous ones, moral theology must give an answer.
Certainly, part of it is already to be found in the call to reject indifference, and in the attitudes of com-passion, openness and welcome that Pope Francis has so often pointed out - in words and in countless gestures. However, the one who welcomes the repentant sinner is not at the goal, but at the beginning of the journey. The divine model, as revealed in the history of salvation, is different. It is enough to think of the story of the Exodus, which the Church rereads every year during Lent: welcome and forgiveness continue in a journey of accompaniment. Again and again the Lord forgives his people, welcomes their desire for renewal and reminds them of their deepest vocation and of the path that leads them to live as his beloved children. It is the story of the faithful, compassionate and merciful God. Precisely one of the names for mercy in the Old Testament, hesed, has much to do with divine faithfulness.
The same idea is found in the New Testament. Jesus welcomes sinners and the sick, forgives their sins, cares for their ailments, and then allows them, like Bartimaeus, to follow him on the way (cf. Mk 10:52). "Go and sin no more," he says to the adulteress after forgiving her (Jn 8:11). Thus, mercy is to welcome, and mercy is also to accompany, that is, to give more and more space to the light of Christ in souls, to help souls to "walk in the truth" (cf. 2 and 3Jn). It could be said that forgiveness is the gateway to the renewed life that Christ offers to each one; the beginning, so often repeated in the existence of a person, of the life according to the Spirit that Christ gave.
From sentiment to virtuous attitude
To understand that there is no contradiction between mercy and truth, it would be necessary to distinguish mercy as a mere sentiment from mercy as a virtuous attitude of charity. In my pastoral experience, it has always happened to me that, when I was confronted with someone who expressed to me his or her state of inner suffering, a spontaneous feeling of compassion and an intense desire to say or do something to alleviate the pain of others would arise in me. But when you want to move from that initial feeling to action that helps and tries to solve the problem, it becomes necessary to apply intelligence, and then you have to ask yourself: what are the causes of that sad situation, what could be the remedies? My experience of 40 years as a priest is that I have never managed to fix anything by relying on false data or by hiding the reality. It is as if we were to say to a person who presents himself with a deep and very bad-looking wound: "Don't worry, it is nothing, it is not necessary to proceed to a painful disinfection, it will heal by itself". This kindly lightness is usually paid for dearly.
Disinfection is sometimes annoying. That is why sometimes the message of Christ is also costly. It means making difficult decisions, and coping with painful situations. We must not forget that the life of Jesus passes through the tree of the Cross, which, as the Fathers pointed out, is the counterpart of the tree that witnessed the first sin. Thus, mercy, which has in Christ's sacrifice its highest manifestation, is also an open door to humility. It requires learning to let oneself be loved by God, and to recognize that one's existence is not only a task to be carried out, but above all a gift to be received.
Perhaps this is precisely the most difficult part for today's world, so marked by superficial conceit and childish self-sufficiency. It is something that Pope Francis seems to keep very much in mind: "It is not easy to develop this healthy humility and happy sobriety if we become autonomous, if we exclude God from our life and our self takes his place, if we believe that it is our own subjectivity that determines what is right or what is wrong" (Laudato si', 224). To encounter mercy is also to let ourselves be encountered by it; to let ourselves be surprised and led by the same One who says to us, "Come and follow me." This requires an attitude of humility and openness, which means no longer wanting to determine what is right and what is wrong, but rather to let Good, Truth and Beauty determine our actions.
All this demands of moral theology an effort to propose ever anew the path of forgiveness and discipleship, so that the light of Christ shines ever more brightly in the conscience and life of Christians. Thus, what began as a perhaps unexpected encounter with the Father's embrace will culminate in the life of a child who is moved only by love.
The authorÁngel Rodríguez Luño
Professor of Fundamental Moral Theology Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome)
The drama of migration represents a major challenge for the West. On this occasion, Andrea Tornielli dedicates his monthly column in our magazine to highlight Pope Francis' approach during his audience with the Diplomatic Corps.
February 9, 2016-Reading time: 2minutes
Everyone (especially Western political-media circles) tells us daily that the biggest global emergency right now is ISIS, the Muslim caliphate with its load of fundamentalist terror that threatens and kills other Muslims and religious minorities in the region. Of course yes, this is a real emergency. But Pope Francis tells us that in reality the greater emergency is another: that of migration and refugees.
This is how the Pontiff expressed himself last January 11 before the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, that is, the ambassadors of the countries of the world that have diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
This year's speech focused on the theme of migration. The Pope stressed the need to establish medium and long term plans for migration that do not remain a simple response to an emergency, and that serve for real integration in the host countries, in addition to promoting the development of the countries of origin with policies of solidarity that do not subject aid to ideological strategies and practices that are foreign or contrary to the cultures of the peoples to whom they are directed.
Francis also underlined the European effort to help refugees, and asked that the values of welcome not be lost, although he acknowledged that these sometimes become "a difficult burden to bear".
This is the issue: Europe must not forget its values, which are also integrated by its Christian heritage. In the face of migrants, it cannot simply close its borders. It is striking that there is still a lack of awareness on this issue among all the Churches of the continent.
"Much of the causes that lead to emigration."said the Pope, "could have been dealt with long ago. This could have prevented or at least mitigated their cruelest consequences. Even now, and before it is too late, much can be done to stop the tragedies and build peace. To do so, it would be necessary to question established customs and practices, starting with the problems related to the arms trade, the supply of raw materials and energy, investment, financial policy and development aid, and even the serious scourge of corruption"..
Welcomed by the applause, he mingled among the pews to shake hands with those present. The third visit of a pontiff to the synagogue in Rome - after the historic first visit of St. John Paul II in 1986 and that of Benedict XVI in 2010 - was marked by no less enthusiasm.
The Pope arrived at the Templo Mayor on Sunday evening, January 17, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Nostra Aetatethe statement of the Vatican Council II which paved the way for the consolidation of relations between the Catholic Church and the Hebrews. Precisely in mid-December, the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism issued a document in which it took stock of the results achieved in these fifty years. The text stressed the importance of deepening "reciprocal knowledge", as well as the common commitment "to justice, peace, the safeguarding of creation and reconciliation throughout the world" and the fight against all racial discrimination. A large part of the document was obviously reserved for the "theological dimension" of the dialogue, which still needs to be studied further.
The visit of Pope Francis to the Great Temple in Rome is part of this positive "tradition" and was welcomed by those who welcomed and hosted him: Roman Jews, representatives of Italian Judaism, Italian rabbis and rabbinical delegations from Israel and Europe. The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo di Segni, spoke of "an event whose scope radiates a beneficial message to the whole world".
In her greeting to the Holy Father, Ruth Dureghello, President of the Hebrew Community of Romesolemnly declared that "today we are writing history once again". A Pope who as Archbishop of Buenos Aires cultivated solid relations with Judaism - he himself recalled that he used to "go to the synagogues to meet with the communities gathered there, closely follow the Hebrew feasts and commemorations and give thanks to the Lord" - and who has "reaffirmed them from the first acts of his pontificate", above all condemning anti-Semitism on various occasions. Indeed, Dureghello pointed out, "hatred that is born of racism and finds its foundation in prejudice or, worse, uses the words and name of God to kill, always deserves our rejection". From this awareness is born "a new message" in the face of contemporary tragedies: "Faith does not generate hatred, faith does not shed blood, faith calls for dialogue".
In this line, Chief Rabbi Di Segni was categorical: "We welcome the Pope to remind us that religious differences, which must be maintained and respected, must not serve as a justification for hatred and violence, but that there must be friendship and collaboration, and that the experiences, values, traditions and great ideas that identify us must be placed at the service of the community".
"In interreligious dialogue it is fundamental that we meet as brothers and sisters before our Creator and praise Him, that we respect and appreciate each other and try to collaborate," Pope Francis urged in his greeting.
"We all belong to a single family, the family of God, who accompanies us and protects us as his people. Together, as Jews and Catholics, we are called to assume our responsibilities towards this city, making our contribution, above all spiritual, and helping to resolve the various problems of today," the pontiff continued. Francis then alluded to the theological question of the relationship between Christians and Jews, repeating that there is an inseparable bond that unites these two communities of faith: "Christians, in order to understand themselves, cannot fail to refer to their Hebrew roots, and the Church, while professing salvation through faith in Christ, recognizes the irrevocability of the Old Covenant and the constant and faithful love of God for Israel".
Turning his gaze to contemporary tragedies, the Pope recalled that "where life is in danger, we are called all the more to protect it. Neither violence nor death will ever have the last word before God, who is the God of love and life. The last words of greeting were to recall the Shoah and the sixty million victims: "The past must serve as a lesson for the present and for the future".
World Day of Migrants: "Ensure assistance and welcome".
Migrants: this word has resounded in the Vatican on many occasions at the beginning of the new year. In St. Peter's Basilica, 6,000 migrants and refugees have participated in a Mass in their jubilee.
It is not only that the second Sunday of January was the World Day for Migrants and Refugees, which has taken on a very special meaning in this year's World Day for Migrants and Refugees. Jubilee dedicated to Mercy. To migrants - and to mercy - for example, Pope Francis dedicated some passages of his address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, which he received at the Vatican precisely on the occasion of the New Year. It is an appointment in which the Pontiffs usually refer to the situation in different areas of the world, also recalling the apostolic journeys he has made to various countries in the preceding months.
Serious emergency
Referring specifically to the phenomenon of migration, the Holy Father wished to reflect with the ambassadors on the "grave emergency" we attended, especially in an attempt to try and "discern its causes, propose solutions, and overcome inevitable fear." that accompanies it. A massive and imposing emergence, which in addition to Europe is also present in various Asian regions and the north and center of America.
The Pope has made his own "the cry of all those who are forced to flee to avoid the indescribable barbarities committed against defenseless people, such as children and the disabled, or martyrdom for the simple fact of their religious faith.". And, in addition, you can hear "the voice of those who escape from extreme misery, not being able to feed their families or have access to health care and education, from degradation, because they have no prospect of progress, or from climate change and extreme weather conditions.".
Faced with such a scenario, so sad and "fruit of a 'throwaway culture' that endangers the human person, sacrificing men and women to the idols of profit and consumerism."Francis encouraged not to "get used to" and has raised "a common commitment that ends decisively". with that culture. Starting with all the efforts to stop that traffic which "turns human beings into merchandise, especially the weakest and most defenseless.". We must be aware, in fact, that many of those people who have "they would never have left their own homeland if they had not been forced to do so.". Among them there are also "multitude of Christians who, more and more en masse, have had to leave in recent years their own land, where they have lived even since the origins of Christianity.".
"Many of the causes of emigration could have been addressed long ago."The Holy Father explained unequivocally. Consequently, "before it's too late"you have to put in place "medium and long-term plans that do not remain a simple response to an emergency".The aim is to help migrants integrate in the host countries, while at the same time promoting the development of the countries of origin through social policies that are respectful of the cultures to which they are addressed.
Francis then referred to that "humanistic spirit" that has always characterized the European continent, and that today is faltering in the face of the migratory wave: "We cannot allow them to lose the values and principles of humanity, of respect for the dignity of every person, of subsidiarity and reciprocal solidarity, even though they may be, at certain moments in history, a difficult burden to bear.". In short, the Pope said he was convinced that Europe, also by drawing on its cultural and religious heritage, has the ability to "to find the right balance between the moral duty to protect the rights of its citizens, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to ensure the assistance and reception of migrants.". You only need to want it.
Jubilee Day of the Migrant
As we were saying, on January 17, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees was celebrated all over the world, in the context of the Holy Year of Mercywas also lived as the Jubilee of Migrants. On this occasion, more than 6,000 migrants and refugees coming from regions of Italy, in particular Lazio, and belonging to at least 30 different nationalities and cultures, participated in the Angelus in St. Peter's Square with Pope Francis.
The Holy Father addressed them with these words: "Dear migrants and refugees, each of you carries within you a history, a culture of precious values; and often, unfortunately, also experiences of misery, oppression, fear. Your presence in this square is a sign of hope in God".. Then he exhorted them: "Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope and joy of life, which are born from the experience of divine mercy, also thanks to the people who welcome you and help you.".
The migrants then crossed the border through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and participated in the Holy Mass presided by Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.
At the foot of the altar was erected the so-called "Lampedusa cross", made by a local carpenter from the remains of the barges that have transported refugees to this Italian island south of Sicily: a true "gateway to Europe" that for many years has been welcoming those fleeing wars across the sea. The cross is a reminder of the many shipwrecked people, many of them children, who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean in recent years, and for some months now it has been on a kind of "pilgrimage" through the parishes of Italy. Another gesture that characterized the celebration centered on the Holy Forms distributed during Communion, donated by detainees, many of them foreigners, from the Opera prison (Milan).
"The Church has always contemplated in migrants the image of Christ. Moreover, in the Year of Mercy, we are challenged to rediscover the works of mercy and, among the corporal ones, there is the call to welcome."Cardinal Vegliò recalled in his homily during the Mass.
Then, referring to the phenomenon of migration, he recalled that "this real exodus of peoples is not an evil, but the symptom of an evil: that of an unjust world, characterized in many places by conflict, war and extreme poverty".. Therefore, "the experience of migrants and their presence remind the world of the urgency of eliminating the inequalities that break fraternity and the oppression that compels people to leave their own land.".
Referring then to the integration, Vegliò explained that the latter "implies neither artificial separation nor assimilation, but rather provides an opportunity to identify the cultural heritage of the migrant and recognize his or her gifts and talents for the common good of the Church.": "no one should feel superior to the other, but all should perceive the need to collaborate and contribute to the good of the one family of God.".
As for the other Jubilee appointments, it has already been announced that on February 22 the Jubilee dedicated to the Roman Curia, the Governorate of Vatican City and all the other institutions linked to the Holy See will be celebrated. At 10:30 a.m. the Holy Father will celebrate Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
The Jubilee of Adolescents will take place from April 23-25. It will include, among other things, a celebration at the Olympic Stadium in Rome and, on the following day, Holy Mass with Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square. This event for teenagers will serve as an introduction to the Youth Jubilee, which will take place in conjunction with World Youth Day in Krakow in July. It was not by chance that the Pope wanted to dedicate a specific Message also to young people, to whom he explained that the Holy Year "it is an occasion to discover that living as brothers is a great feast, the most beautiful we can dream of".. Addressing a thought to those who suffer in situations of war, extreme poverty and abandonment, Francis exhorted the young people not to lose hope and not to believe in "the words of hatred and terror that are often repeated; on the contrary, build new friendships.".
Mercy Fridays
At the beginning of the Jubilee it had been explained that, during some Fridays, Pope Francis would bear witness to the concrete signs of Mercy.
After having opened the Holy Door of the hostel of the Caritas located near Rome's Termini Station - which for almost thirty years has been listening, welcoming, accompanying and socially reintegrating marginalized people, offering them nightly hospitality and hot meals - in recent weeks has paid a "surprise" visit to a family home on the outskirts of Rome, where about 30 elderly people are housed. He then went to Iride HouseThe only center in Europe that welcomes seven people in a vegetative state assisted by their relatives. Signs of great value in favor of human life and the dignity of every person, regardless of his or her condition.
When everything moves. Joseph Ratzinger in the "Report on Faith".
The history of the Second Vatican Council is quite well done, with an enormous accumulation of materials. The history of the post-Vatican II Council is still unfinished and very difficult, with an incomprehensible complexity.
The Second Vatican Council brought about a profound renewal for the Church, but it also unleashed an unexpected crisis. Joseph Ratzingerin Report on faithanalyzed how the initial enthusiasm gave way to confusion and tensions. This article serenely examines that process, its lights and shadows, and the need for a discernment faithful to the true conciliar intention.
Time is still needed for the gaze to calm down and also for the representative material to surface. Moreover, a certain historical distance is necessary to acquire objectivity and not to turn history into a judgment. It is only a matter of learning.
The complication is due to the fact that two things happened at the same time and with universal dimensions. They were years of authentic renewal and, at the same time, of authentic crisis. Of profound renewal and of profound crisis as well. The ferments of the Council should have raised a wave of authenticity, of fidelity to the spirit and of evangelization. And they did. But, surprisingly, they also provoked a wave of confusion, of identity crisis and of literally merciless criticism. It seems incredible that the two things could happen at the same time; and yet that is exactly what happened.
Drifting
Therefore, two metaphors are needed to describe the process, one happy and one unhappy. For the happy part, any metaphor of renewal will do. For the unhappy part, it is more difficult to find a suitable image.
For collecting the famous title of von BalthasarIn the last few years, the Church made a genuine effort to break down its strongholds. It completely changed its apologetic attitude, opened itself more to the world in order to evangelize it, and then something unexpected happened. It turned out that the bastions were like dykes. And, as they opened breaches, much more water came in than expected and everything began to move. The image of floating seems appropriate, because things did not move with order and direction, but simply drifted with the enormous inertias of such a gigantic institution as the Catholic Church. And to that same extent they became ungovernable.
With a certain naivety, it was thought that good will and a few basic inspirations were enough for things to arrive naturally at the planned port. For this reason, at the beginning and from the highest levels, a certain amount of haste was introduced. Creativity and spontaneity were also encouraged. And, very soon, the intermediate authorities were inhibited or overwhelmed by the initiative of the younger or more sensitized sectors.
All aspects of the Church's life, called for by the post-conciliar update, began to move: catechesis, theology teaching, liturgical celebrations, the discipline of the clergy, seminaries and religious orders and congregations. At first they moved slowly, as if loosening their moorings and joyfully letting go of old obstacles. Soon the processes accelerated and overflowed the planned channels.
A serious pastoral issue
The climate experienced at the heart of the Council, which was one of ecclesial communion, did not manage to spread serenely throughout the Church. Nor did the Council's message spread with the accents and emphasis that the Council Fathers had indicated. That enormous conciliar assembly, with its inevitably slow pace of discussion and decision-making, was quickly overtaken by the initiative of minorities, generally young people, who insisted on immediately implementing the supposed wishes of the Council according to the idea they had made of them.
How did they get that idea? That question is the key to the issue. Undoubtedly, the media had a great influence, reporting live on the Council and transmitting an image and priorities according to their own way of understanding things and their own expectations. Also influential were some experts who managed to appear as the authentic depositaries of the spirit of the Council, sometimes independently and above the letter of the documents and the spirit of those who actually made it.
Paradoxically, the Council, which wanted to be pastoral, had this enormous and unexpected pastoral problem. The message was not transmitted through the rather slow channels of Church government, but through the rapid channels of general communication and ecclesiastical magazines. And, in that way, it arrived completely transformed, even before the documents were approved and, of course, long before the official regulations to implement them were generated. What the Council was supposed to want was immediately put into practice and the utopia was immediately realized.
Report on faith
The effects of the drift are well known and need not be insisted upon: there were soon numerous personal crises among priests and religious. Catholic universities, colleges and hospitals were secularized or closed. In the apostolic movements a kind of disbanding took place. And religious practice declined markedly in all the countries of Europe, beginning with Holland.
In 1985, in a famous interview with the Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, titled Report on faithJoseph Cardinal Ratzinger said: "It is indisputable that the last twenty years have been decisively unfavorable for the Catholic Church. The results that have followed the Council seem cruelly opposed to the hopes of all, beginning with those of Pope John XXIII and, later, those of Paul VI. Christians are once again in a minority, more so than at any time since the end of antiquity.".
The great hopes and horizons opened up by the Second Vatican Council gave way to acute dissatisfaction and bitter criticism, both from those sectors that expected much more and from those who complained about the changes; and this led to much disunity.
Cardinal Ratzinger follows: "The Popes and the Council Fathers hoped for a new Catholic unity, and a division has ensued which, in the words of Paul VI, has gone from self-criticism to self-destruction. We expected a new enthusiasm, and all too often it ended in weariness and discouragement. We expected a leap forward, and we have found ourselves faced with a progressive process of decadence which has developed to a great extent under the sign of an alleged 'spirit of the Council', thus bringing it into disrepute.".
In that interview, conducted during his brief summer break at the Bressanone seminary, Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made one of the sharpest insights into the crisis, which is still read with profit. In its day it caused some discomfort, but it will remain a representative book of an era.
Need for discernment
Where was the harm? Why had the expected fruits not been produced? It is difficult to assess. And it is also difficult to know if the crisis would have occurred anyway, with the enormous sociological changes of economic development and, especially, with the irruption of television in every home, an authentic cultural and customary revolution, a challenge before which the evangelization of the Church was not and to a large extent is still not prepared.
Perhaps it would have been preferable to tempus slower and more gradual implementation. The institutions that imposed themselves calmly weathered the storm better, as did the dioceses and countries where, for various reasons, implementation slowed down. Especially the countries of the East, which were not in the mood for experiments, and many countries of Africa and Latin America, where the daily pastoral imperatives and the shortage of clergy demanded a great deal of realism.
But we must be clear. As Cardinal Ratzinger said: "In its official expressions, in its authentic documents, Vatican II cannot be held responsible for a development which - quite to the contrary - radically contradicts both the letter and the spirit of the Council Fathers.".
The examination of conscience of Tertio millennio adveniente
John Paul II wanted to make an initial assessment on the twentieth anniversary of the closing of the Council and convened an extraordinary Synod (1985). As the end of the millennium approached, he wanted to emphasize the importance of the Second Vatican Council for the Church and, at the same time, what was still pending. The Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente summarized the contributions of the Council.
"In the Conciliar Assembly, the Church, wishing to be fully faithful to her Master, questioned her own identity, discovering the depth of her mystery as Body and Bride of Christ. In her docile listening to the Word of God, she confirmed the universal vocation to holiness; she made provision for the reform of the liturgy, the 'source and summit' of her life; she encouraged the renewal of many aspects of her existence both at the universal level and at the level of the local Churches; she committed herself to the promotion of the various Christian vocations, both that of the laity and that of the local Churches; and she committed herself to the promotion of the different Christian vocations: that of the laity and that of religious, the ministry of deacons, that of priests and that of Bishops; he rediscovered, in particular, episcopal collegiality, a privileged expression of the pastoral service carried out by the Bishops in communion with the Successor of Peter. On the basis of this profound renewal, it opened itself to Christians of other Confessions, to the followers of other religions, to all the people of our time. At no other Council did the Council speak with such clarity of Christian unity, of dialogue with non-Christian religions, of the specific meaning of the Old Covenant and of Israel, of the dignity of the personal conscience, of the principle of religious freedom, of the diverse cultural traditions within which the Church carries out her missionary mandate, of the means of social communication." (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 19).
Four questions for discernment
Among the topics that seemed to him to merit examination, he noted: "The examination of conscience must also look at the reception of the councilThis great gift of the Spirit to the Church at the end of the second millennium". (n. 36). And he asked four more specific questions, which run through the great conciliar encyclicals and point out the most significant points, according to the mind of Pope John Paul II.
-To what extent has the Word of God become fully the soul of theology and the inspiration of the whole of Christian existence, as called for by the Dei Verbum?";
–"Is the liturgy lived as the 'source and summit' of ecclesial life, according to the teachings of the Sacrosanctum Concilium?";
–"In the universal Church and in the particular Churches, is the ecclesiology of communion of the Lumen gentiumgiving space to the charisms, the ministries, the various forms of participation of the People of God, while not admitting a democraticism and sociologism that do not reflect the Catholic vision of the Church and the authentic spirit of Vatican II?";
–"A fundamental question must also be asked about the style of relations between the Church and the world. The conciliar directives - present in the Gaudium et spes and in other documents - of an open, respectful and cordial dialogue, accompanied by careful discernment and courageous witness to the truth, are still valid and call us to a further commitment". (n. 36).
With the letter and the spirit of the Council
For its part, in Report on the Cardinal Ratzinger advised: "The reading of the letter of the documents will allow us to rediscover its true meaning. spirit. If they are discovered in their truth, these great documents will allow us to understand what has happened and to react with new vigor. I repeat: the Catholic who, with lucidity and therefore with suffering, sees the problems produced in his Church by the deformations of Vatican II, must find in this same Vatican II the possibility of a new beginning. The Council is yoursnot of those who -not by chance- they no longer know what to do with Vatican II"..
The times of acute crisis have happily passed and have become times of New Evangelization, desired by the Council, proposed in those terms by St. John Paul II, encouraged by Benedict XVI and channeled today by Pope Francis. Much is due to the action of Pope John Paul II; and also to the discernment made by his successor, Benedict XVI. In the meantime, Report on faith is part of history.
An ecumenical assessment of the 50th anniversary of Unitatis redintegratio
At the end of the week of prayer for Christian unity, an assessment of the current ecumenical moment shows the growth of Evangelicals and Pentecostals, and the occasion that the 500th anniversary of Luther's breakup will provide in 2017 for dialogue with Protestants.
February 9, 2016-Reading time: 3minutes
The 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's decree on ecumenism has just been celebrated. Unitatis redintegratioIt is perhaps a good opportunity to take stock of the current situation, as Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Council for Promoting Christian Unity, did in the spring at the Father Congar Ecumenical Center in Valencia.
The recent history is long. After the approaches to Christians of other confessions by the Popes of the 19th century, the ecumenical movement that arose especially among Protestants bore fruit: the Council described it as a consequence of the "action of the Holy Spirit". John XXIII wanted a council to promote the reform and unity of the Church, Paul VI continued in this direction and the decree on ecumenism established the "Catholic principles". That is, the unity between ecumenism and ecclesiology: Unitatis redintegratio is linked to the Constitution Lumen gentium and to the decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum. In this way, the parameters of ecumenical dialogue are clearly laid out.
Vatican II taught that there are "elements of ecclesiality" in other non-Catholic Christians, but at the same time that the Church of Christ is a "Church of Christ". "subsists" in the Catholic Church (LG 8; UR 4.5). Unitatis redintegratio masterfully describes the ecclesiological situation of the various Christians who are not united to Rome. On the one hand, he considers the Eastern Churches that do not recognize the primacy of the Pope as true (particular) Churches, and admires their spiritual and liturgical tradition. On the other hand, he appreciates the Protestants' love of Scripture, but warns that they have lost apostolic succession and, with it, most of the sacraments (UR 22). That is why they are called "ecclesial communities". In this case, they would have to resolve not only what refers to the primacy, but also to the episcopate. At the same time, it proposes the search for communion in social collaboration and cooperation, in theological dialogue and in prayer and conversion, true motors of ecumenical dialogue. These are the three dimensions in which all ecumenism must develop.
John Paul II reaffirmed these principles in the encyclical Ut unum sint (1995) and showed the closeness to Rome of the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. The Joint declaration on the doctrine of justification (1999) was a milestone and a starting point for theological dialogue not only with Lutherans and Methodists (who have subscribed to it), but also with the Reformed. Benedict XVI promoted theological dialogue with the Orthodox in the Ravenna Document (2007), which studied the way of exercising the primacy as it was lived in the first millennium of Christianity, when all Christians were still united. The defense of creation and the environment has also been a good point of encounter between different Christians, although it must also reach moral and bioethical questions. With the motu proprio Anglicanorum coetibus (2009), the current Pope emeritus pointed out a possible solution to the question of the defectus ordinis for ecclesial communities that, for various reasons, may have lost apostolic succession. At the same time, the need for communion in the faith was established as a prior step to visible unity.
With the advent of the new millennium and globalization, the ecumenical map is changing. The Church has shifted from being predominantly Eurocentric to "worldcentric". In addition, the rapid growth of Evangelicals and Pentecostals has forced the Catholic Church to enter into conversations with them as well. On the other hand, the "ecumenism of blood" - as Pope Francis has called it - has raised certain urgencies and questions different from those raised previously. The three dimensions of dialogue are still necessary: the so-called ecumenism of the hands, of the head and of the heart, that is, in matters of cooperation and social justice, in theological dialogue, and in the promotion of prayer and conversion itself. In recent times, and in preparation for the 500th anniversary of Luther's break with the Catholic Church in 2017, there has been talk of the need for a Joint Declaration around the above-mentioned themes of Eucharist, ministry and ecclesiology.
As opposed to an ecumenism practiced in the past, where ecclesiological indifferentism took precedence over other principles (as in the Leuenberg Concord of 1973), a "reconciled diversity" is now being proposed, where each one knows where he stands with respect to the others, while promoting dialogue in love and truth. Gestures and declarations of closeness between different Christian confessions are becoming a happy routine. Like his predecessors, Pope Francis is demonstrating that ecumenism constitutes one of the priorities of his pontificate. After the road travelled together, with the clarity of ideas brought by the council, the missionary ardor of the current pontificate, the witness of the martyrs of all confessions and - above all - with the action of the Spirit, perhaps interesting ecumenical developments could come in the coming years. A true ecumenical moment.
A group of pilgrims travel the roads of Osma-Soria carrying a banner of mercy, to make present to all the goodness of God in this Jubilee year. A unique initiative, which encourages people to be open to divine mercy and to allow themselves to be changed by it.
P. Rubén Tejedor Montón-February 7, 2016-Reading time: 5minutes
A group of pilgrims travel the roads of Osma - Soria carrying a banner of mercy, to make present to all the goodness of God in this Jubilee year. A unique initiative, which encourages people to be open to divine mercy and to let themselves be changed by it.
For forty years, the people of Israel, wrested from Pharaoh's slavery, made their way towards the land promised by God. In the midst of their lights and shadows, their sins and heroic deeds, the Israelites felt as no other people ever did. "the tender mercy of our God." (Lk 1:78). From the beginning, Christians were aware of being the new people announced by the prophets. Thus, what was said of Israel in the past is now said of the Church: People of God (Tt 2:14; cf. Dt 7:6), chosen breed, holy nation, acquired people (1 Pet 2:9; cf. Ex 19:5; Is 43:20-21), wife of the Lord (Eph 5:25; Rev 19:7; 21:2).
A new people who experience, now forever by virtue of the Blood of the Lamb shed on the Cross, that Jesus Christ, "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." (Jn 13:1). "God's love became visible and tangible in the life of Jesus Christ. His Person is nothing other than love. A love that is freely given. In Him everything speaks of mercy. Nothing in Him is lacking in compassion."the Pope has written in his message for the Holy Year of Mercy (Misericordiae Vultus 8).
It is against this background that the beautiful initiative that, from our Diocese of Osma-Soriawe have set up for this year Holy Year of Mercy. Our bishop, Bishop Gerardo Melgar Viciosa, has asked us to go to "to meet every person, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God". for "to all, believers and those far away, must come the balm of mercy as a sign of the Kingdom of God that is already present in our midst". (MV 5). Thus was born the diocesan pilgrimage of the banner of mercy which, throughout the Jubilee, will travel through the lands of Soria carrying the message of this particular Church which, in the course of the Jubilee, will be the first of its kind in the world. "she wants to show herself to be a kind mother to all, benign, patient, full of mercy and kindness to the children separated from her." (MV 3).
600 kilometers in 45 stages
It is a processional shawl with the image of the Divine Mercy and the phrase "Jesus, in You I trust." which will travel on foot throughout the entire diocese of Oxomense-Soriana until November 2016. In total there will be more than 600 kilometers of travel in 45 stages, through which the Church on pilgrimage in these Castilian lands wants to remind everyone "the infinite mercy of God who never tires of forgiving."as stated by Ángel Hernández Ayllón, Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral Ministry, who is coordinating this initiative. During these months, in the localities where it is possible, young people in particular are being invited to go on pilgrimage with the banner. Thus, fifty parishes and some diocesan shrines will receive the pilgrims who will culminate their pilgrimage in the Episcopal Villa of El Burgo de Osma after having traveled through all the archpriestships of the diocese.
Throughout the Year, like the pilgrimage of the people of Israel through the desert, guided by the pillar of cloud and fire (cf. Ex 13:21), we want to offer the whole diocese the extraordinary guidance of divine mercy that allows us to enter the new Red Sea, the ocean of mercy that springs from the Heart of Christ, where we are reborn every day.
Remembering that God showers mercy
The parish of Ágreda, on the eve of the inauguration of the Holy Year, received in the Conceptionist Mothers' Monastery the mercy banner that remained in the town until December 12. On that day, the first day of the pilgrimage, it was taken to the neighboring town of Ólvega. The group departed from the parish church after 10 a.m., after a prayer of blessing and sending forth. Fifty children, teenagers and adults, with one of the parish priests of Ágreda at the head, the young priest Pedro L. Andaluz Andrés, walked praying the Holy Rosary the almost 11 kilometers that separate Ágreda from Ólvega; "It was moving to offer each mystery, to unravel the Hail Marys and litanies to Our Lady thanking God for His merciful love.". At the door of the Olvegueña parish they were welcomed by the parish priest, Jesús F. Hernández Peña, and many of the faithful. In the words of those present, the experience was "precious, very moving, and it prepared our hearts to welcome God's love." the approaching Christmas holidays.
The outline of each stage of the pilgrimage is similar: prayer to prepare the hearts, marking the direction of the stage before starting to walk; a stop halfway to rest, share impressions and have a simple snack; followed by the prayer of the Holy Rosary that prepares the arrival at the destination where, always with the respective priests at the head, the faithful of the parish welcome the pilgrims and unite in prayer of thanksgiving to God. "for his mercy endures forever." (Ps 136).
In our diocese we have felt in the depths of our hearts the words of Pope Francis who reminds us how "mercy is the main beam that supports the life of the Church." and urges us to "Everything in her pastoral action must be clothed with the tenderness with which she addresses believers; nothing in her proclamation and witness to the world can be devoid of mercy. The credibility of the Church passes through the path of merciful and compassionate love. The Church lives an inexhaustible desire to offer mercy". (MV 10).
This pilgrimage was born out of this desire to remind our people of the real presence of God in our midst, of that God who looks at everyone with love (cf. MV 8) and who is always ready to show his mercy.
In this Holy Year we are invited to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Doors open in the Cathedral of El Burgo de Osma and in the Co-cathedral of St. Peter. But the Holy Door par excellence, that of the Heart of Christ open to all, which many do not know and have never crossed, never closes. Not even when this time of grace and blessing that God has given to his Church comes to an end. Many have never even heard of it. Many have never received the wonderful and marvelous news, the heart of the Gospel, that God goes out to seek everyone without excluding anyone.
Therefore, we want everyone, even the most distant, the most sinful, through this simple gesture of the pilgrimage of the banner to be able to hear that "This is the right time to change your life! This is the time to let your heart be touched". (MV 19). Just as the Israelites, threatened with death by the bite of serpents, were healed by looking at the banner made by Moses (cf. Num 21:4-9), so we want all our land of Soria, so often ravaged by the saltpeter of sin, to be healed by contemplating divine mercy.
"The pilgrimage is a special sign in the Holy Year because it is an image of the journey that each person makes in his or her life. Life is a pilgrimage and the human being is a 'viator', a pilgrim who travels his path until he reaches the desired goal. [...]; each one should make, according to his own strength, a pilgrimage. This will be a sign of the fact that mercy is also a goal to be achieved and that it requires commitment and sacrifice."wrote the Pope (MV 14).
The pilgrimage of the banner is meant to be a stimulus for conversion; in this way we want many to allow themselves to be embraced by the mercy of God and to commit themselves to be merciful to others as the Father is to each one of us.
The authorP. Rubén Tejedor Montón
Episcopal Delegate for Social Communications Media (Diocese of Osma-Burgos).
Faced with the apparent clash between Islam and the West, the Pope calls for fraternity between Christians and Muslims as the path to peace. He has repeated this in Africa.
January 27, 2016-Reading time: 2minutes
"Christians and Muslims are brothers." These words of Pope Francis have become one of the most important phrases of his apostolic journey to Africa which has once again succeeded in completely transforming geography and placing the periphery at the center of the world. A message with a spiritual core and also a concrete provocation on one of the most complex aspects of the change in which we are immersed: the relationship between Christians and Muslims. A relationship of kinship, of fraternity, for Francis; but one that betrays the terrorism of Islamist matrix that has bloodied Europe. It makes us wonder why even brothers kill each other when they do not recognize each other as children of the same father. The French Revolution was clothed in the fraternity as of an effective flag, but in the name of it so many brothers ended up on the guillotine.
The fraternity that leads to peace so often invoked in African lands by Pope Francis is, on the contrary, completely different. It is born of recognizing in the other, one who is good for me because he brings me something good. Exactly the opposite of the conviction that arms the jihadists, who are driven to the search for a violent utopia: they imagine a world free of all diversity, because they let live only those who are identical to their idea of how to live. It does not admit otherness. Perhaps because of it, if one is not born a brother, one could become one. This is what those who educate at various levels testify: one becomes a brother or sister, one discovers that there is something good for me in the one in front of me, through a patient and daring education, which is not synonymous with "instruction". If learning to read and do mathematics is fundamental, truly useful education is integral: it provides for the care of the person who asks to be accompanied to discover the pleasure of living in fullness, to embark on a journey with others beyond the confines of the tribe, to enter into relationships, to trust and to take risks.
Degree in Classical Literature and PhD in Sociology of Communication. Communications Director of the AVSI Foundation, based in Milan, dedicated to development cooperation and humanitarian aid worldwide. She has received several awards for her journalistic activity.
Javier Anleu wrote a series of e-mails to John Paul II in 2005. He was nine years old. His words comforted the Pope in the last days of his life.
Juan Bautista Robledillo-January 27, 2016-Reading time: 3minutes
I came across a story that contains a strong message very appropriate for the Year of Mercy. It is the testimony of a young boy, Javier Anleu, whose words, written in a series of emails sent by him and his sister to John Paul II, comforted the Pope in his last days. Javier's mother tells how John Paul II often asked if any new mail had arrived from his "little friends in Guatemala". The testimony of this child, now a young man, is a clear example of the affection that the sick need. This is the personal story of the protagonist:
"My name is Javier Anleu, and in 2005 I had one of the experiences that has marked me the most in my life: I wrote e-mails to what is now a saint, to John Paul II. I was nine years old when John Paul II was hospitalized from February 1 to 10, 2005. Like any Catholic child, I prayed a lot for the Pope's health.
We used to pray to him at home with my parents and my sister, and also at school during morning prayer. One day, with all the innocence of a child, I told my mother that I wanted to write to the Pope. My mother told this to her father (my maternal grandfather) and he, among his priest and religious friends, managed to get an e-mail and gave it to my mother. We didn't know if this mail was really from the Pope, but my older sister, who was twelve years old at the time, and I started writing to him. My sister was very formal in writing to him and referred to John Paul II as 'Your Holiness' and addressed him as 'You'. I on the other hand, being a child, treated him as a friend and addressed him as 'John Paul' and even addressed him as 'you'. Before sending the first email my mother was shocked at the way I treated him, but my father reassured her by telling her 'these emails will never reach the Holy Father. Let me write to him as if I were a friend of his'.
Over the next two weeks we wrote him about three emails telling him that we were praying for him. On February 25, John Paul II had to have a tracheotomy operation and this affected my sister and me very much.
When she was five months old, my maternal grandmother suffered two strokes and was physically very limited; she never regained her ability to swallow, so she cannot speak or eat. I have lived by my grandmother's example of struggle and watched throughout my childhood as she became happy again even though she cannot speak or eat.
I think that's why I felt so identified with John Paul II, and from February 25 onwards I wrote to him every other day. I told him the story of my grandmother and how she had overcome the frustration of being physically limited, and I told him that she was happy again. My messages to the Pope were of encouragement; I wanted to convince him that you could be happy even if you had limitations. Every time I wrote to him I told him how much I loved him.
The last time I saw John Paul II on television was on Easter Sunday, when he came out to give the blessing. Urbi et orbiwhen he tried to speak and couldn't get the words out. That moment moved me so much that I burst into tears. I wrote to him telling him that I had seen him and telling him that I understood how he felt; that I was still praying very much for him. Then, on April 2, John Paul II died and my sadness was enormous. A friend of mine had died.
Days went by and in early May my mom received an email from the Apostolic Nunciature in Guatemala asking her to contact them. When she introduced herself as my mother, the secretary of the Nunciature knew who my sister and I were. The Apostolic Nuncio in Guatemala, at that time Monsignor Bruno Musaró, wanted to see us on May 9. They gave us no explanation. We attended the appointment and the nuncio told us that John Paul II had read all our mails and referred to us as his 'little friends from Guatemala'. He also gave us a portrait of the Pope and a rosary blessed by John Paul II before his death. The portrait was dated Easter Sunday, March 27, 2005, and on it he gave us the apostolic blessing.
I never imagined that John Paul II had read all my mails. The greatest satisfaction came when the Nuncio told me that even when John Paul II could not speak or was very weak, his secretary read his mails, and that my mail of February 25 had moved him very much to feel that a Guatemalan boy of 9 years old was helping him through his difficult moments".
The Archdiocese of Madrid also offers those who initiate a nullity case the possibility of free legal assistance.
Diego Pacheco-January 27, 2016-Reading time: 2minutes
In full harmony with the wish expressed on several occasions by Pope Francis, and setting a clear precedent, the archbishopric of MadridCarlos Osoro, has decided to initiate the path of free marriage annulment proceedings - the cost of which has sometimes scandalized, somewhat unjustly, some - and has decided to abolish all court fees collected in the ecclesiastical court of Madrid to cover the costs of the canonical process that follow the causes of declaration of marriage annulment.
Osoro read at the end of the Mass celebrated in the Almudena Cathedral on the occasion of the Immaculate Conception the decree that applies in the archdiocese the "motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus".Pope Francis approved on September 8 the reform of the marriage annulment process.
The decree of the Archbishop of Madrid provides not only for the suppression of all court fees in the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Madrid, but also that those who go to court will be offered the possibility of being assisted in the process free of charge by a lawyer. That's right, "Those who, nevertheless, prefer the private assistance of another lawyer, may do so freely, abiding by the prescriptions in force in the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Madrid.These private lawyers, in order to be admitted to the process, must be included in the list of lawyers of the tribunal, be in possession of an adequate training in Canon Law, duly accredited, preferably a degree or doctorate in Canon Law, and their emoluments should not exceed €2,500 in the ordinary process and €1,000 in the shorter process".
This decision of the Archbishop of Madrid is complemented by the decision to invite those who use the services of the ecclesiastical tribunal to offer a donation to help support it. On December 11, the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Santiago also stressed the need to eliminate the obstacles that the faithful may encounter in gaining access to the Church's tribunals. And they recalled that in the Galician dioceses the total gratuity or the reduction of fees in the processes of nullity (in proportion ranging from 25 to 75 %) is granted according to the economic situation of the parties.
New solution to the dispute over the "Strip assets".
The new item is due to the fact that the execution of the sentences of the Apostolic Signatura now falls within the competence of the Congregation for Bishops.
Diego Pacheco-January 27, 2016-Reading time: 3minutes
Jorge Español, lawyer for the Alto Aragonese municipalities of Berbegal, Peralta de Alcofea and Villanueva de Sijena, has assured that, according to the latest news coming from the Holy See, it seems that "in Rome they want to leave it settled once and for all". the dispute over the return to the Aragonese parishes of the so-called "goods of the strip". These are113 pieces of art thatbelonged to the Diocese of Lérida until 1995, when the episcopal boundaries were revised and these parishes came under the jurisdiction of the Aragonese demarcations. Then, in 1999 these pieces would be deposited in the Diocesan and Regional Museum of Lérida under the tutelage of a board of trustees that includes the Generalitat de Catalunya and other Catalan institutions.
A firm sentence of the Apostolic Signatura in 2005 imposed the return of these works to the Aragonese dioceses, but as their execution has been delayed to date, the high ecclesiastical court has now opened a new canonical way to resolve the issue: that the Congregation for Bishops be the one to execute the ruling.
This new avenue of solution has been opened according to a letter received by Espanol on November 20 and signed by Bishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops. The letter states that the execution of the sentences and decrees of the supreme Vatican tribunal in relation to the assets of the parishes "are already within the competence of the Congregation for Bishops". Bishop Montanari also sent a list with the names and addresses of sixteen canon lawyers authorized to practice through this new canonical channel.
After receiving this letter, Jorge Español agreed with the Minister of Education and Culture of the Aragonese government, Mayte Perez, to convene a meeting with the bishops of Barbastro-Monzón and Huesca to request that they initiate this new canonical process and demand the execution of the 2005 sentence.
Montanari's letter is a response to the denunciation presented by the lawyer for the use of some of the pieces of the strip in an exhibition. In that complaint it was also said that the entry of the bishopric of Lérida in the museum consortium mentioned above occurred inappropriately.
Bishop of Barbastro-Monzón
Shortly after opening this new way to solve the conflict, the bishop of Barbastro-Monzón, Monsignor Ángel Pérez-Pueyo, has assured that he has already taken all the necessary steps for the diocese of Lérida to return the historical-artistic assets of the parishes in the eastern part of Aragón: "I have approached each and every one of the entities and people that I understood could help and make all the synergies converge so that the goods, which are the property of this diocese, can really be returned."
Salvador Giménez, in the last Plenary Assembly of the EEC, and that their relationship is cordial. "Between us there will not be any difficulty, but there will have to be a higher instance that will be the one to give the order to execute the sentence, which is already favorable to us.".
We are in this line of seeking the channels of convergence so that the sentence is executed", he commented.
Juan José Omella, now archbishop-elect of Barcelona and member of the Congregation of Bishops, was also bishop of Barbastro years ago, which allows him to contemplate this dispute from both perspectives: the Aragonese and the Catalan.
Pending their return, the goods of the strip are still in the Diocesan and Regional Museum of Lérida.
Through the new Pastoral Plan, which has been implemented in the Spanish Episcopal Conference (EEC), which is explained in a text entitled "Church in mission at the service of our people", the Spanish bishops are going to promote in the next five years (2016-2020) an authentic and permanent missionary transformation of the Church in Spain. They also want the CEE to be an instrument for the particular Churches of Spain to become the "Church in going out" proposed by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation "The Church in going out". Evangelii gaudium. For this reason, the Spanish episcopate has decided that the EEC, this organ of communion and coordination of the bishops of the Spanish ecclesiastical region, will undergo a kind of MOT or missionary review in 2016 - precisely when it celebrates 50 years of existence.
Archbishop Juan José Omella, Archbishop-elect of Barcelona, insisted in the presentation of the new Pastoral Plan that it is about "to take the Church in Spain, to give it the evangelizing impulse that the Pope wants and to put it in a permanent state of mission.". He also warned that the objective "was not to design the EEC's strategy to try to impose Catholicism on our society." but "to share with all the joy of the Gospel".
A compassionate look at reality
The first part of the Plan's presentation text describes the most widespread mentality in Spanish society today. There the bishops offer a quite realistic and crude diagnosis of the socio-cultural situation in Spain. They highlight as the most characteristic features the low social valuation of religion; the exaltation of freedom and material well-being above all else; the predominance of a secularist culture, which is reflected in the non-confessional nature of the State, understood today as secularism; the predominance of a great subjectivism and relativism that forgets God and obscures personal conscience in the face of transcendental questions; and, as a consequence, the acceptance of an "anything goes" culture, where man becomes the measure of all things, deforms moral norms and judges everything according to his interests.
"We regret these evils of society, but we are not and do not want to be prophets of calamity; that is why we call for conversion, with realism and confidence. We want change and regeneration; not only of methods, but also of attitudes", Gonzalez Montes, Bishop of Almeria, in developing this part of the text of the Pastoral Plan. He then encouraged "to turn these difficulties into opportunities for greater apostolic vigor." and, as Pope Francis suggests, to "to propose the beauty of God's saving love manifested in Christ, dead and risen".
Five stages
Msgr. Ginés García Beltrán commented on the second part of the Pastoral Plan in which concrete proposals are offered and what is going to be done in these five years through the various organizations and activities of the EEC.
The Plan, which will have five stages -one for each of the coming years-, will begin with a day of fasting and prayer on January 22. The entire Spanish episcopate has been summoned to examine its responsibility in the task of evangelization.
The entire year 2016 will be dedicated to the various organs of the EEC to reflect on the current demands of evangelization in Spain. In short, during this year the objective of the Plan will be to put the organs, services and activities of the Conference in a state of revision and apostolic conversion. On the occasion of its half-century of existence, an international congress will be held to examine in depth the theological, canonical and pastoral dimensions of the Episcopal Conferences.
The second year of the Plan, 2017, will be dedicated to the community dimension and the co-responsibility of all in the service of evangelization. The year 2018 will focus on the Word of God. The attitudes, behaviors and activities of the Church in relation to the proclamation of the Word will be reviewed in order to offer adequate proposals for evangelization and the strengthening of faith. In fact, all the stages of the Plan are aimed at offering help to those who are most dedicated to the service of the transmission of the faith, such as priests, teachers, catechists and parents.
In 2019 the Plan will focus on reflection on the liturgy, so as to promote a revitalization of the celebration of the Christian Mystery and, with it, of the whole Christian life.
Finally, the Pastoral Plan will close in 2020 with a year dedicated to the charitable dimension of the Church. It will seek to contribute to the revitalization of the exercise of charity in dioceses, parishes and communities. It will also promote knowledge of the Social Doctrine of the Church and, in a special way, of the latest encyclical of the Pope, Laudato si'.
In the last year of the Pastoral Plan, and as a culmination, a new examination of how evangelization is being carried out in Spain will take place in the course of a national pastoral congress.
Thirty years of subsidized education. A necessary asset
During this academic year, subsidized education has completed thirty years of profitable and effective complementarity with the public system of educational centers, which has meant enormous economic savings for the State. However, while in the Basque Country, Navarre and Madrid the subsidized schools enjoy great freedom of action and planning, in other communities, such as Andalusia, they are subject to excessive control.
Rafael Ruiz Morales-January 27, 2016-Reading time: 5minutes
There are more than eight million children enrolled in school in Spain. Of these, 25.4 % are enrolled in a publicly funded private school. In other words, one out of every four Spanish students is being educated in a subsidized education center. If we then add the teaching and non-teaching staff and the positive impact they have on their families, we can say that more than two million people benefit directly or indirectly from this system.
However, this resource, which has proven to be so advantageous and effective over the thirty years it has been in place, is increasingly subject to various contingencies, strongly marked by the geographical area in which it is developed. Thus, while in communities such as the Basque Country, Navarre or the Community of Madrid, subsidized schools enjoy considerable freedom of action and planning, in other latitudes, such as Andalusia, they are subject to the strict control and omnipresent vigilance of the autonomous administration.
Although different causes and motives can be analyzed, perhaps the origin of them is the concept, erroneous or correct, that the different regional governments handle, which goes deep into the social debate itself. Because not all social sectors have assimilated what it is and what is the meaning of the presence of subsidized education in our country. educational system.
The fact is that it does not fit within the right to education, which is enshrined in Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution. Not because the subsidized school does not participate and contribute to effectively carry it out, but because its ultimate foundation is none other than to comply with the constitutional recognition of freedom of education, and "to guarantee the right of parents to ensure that their children receive the religious and moral training that is in accordance with their own convictions.". Thus, subsidized education is not designed to be a subsidiary element of public initiative education, and to respond to the demand that the latter is not able to assume. The relationship between the two must always and everywhere be one of complementarity.
The public support of these centers, therefore, will ensure that all parents who want a particular education for their children enjoy their right to choose under equal conditions, beyond economic conditioning factors. Thus, to speak of the public school as an exclusive and priority model, according to the terms used by certain sectors, parties and platforms, is clearly an attack on the freedom of education, since it tacitly proposes the eradication of the basic principle of choice, that is, the pre-existence of different options to choose from.
Although this necessary complementarity is the theory or the ideal, there are places where, however, it is systematically trampled upon. In Andalusia, as a prime example, there is constant marginalization and siege around the subsidized centers, which are gradually being drowned through the elimination of lines, in favor of public centers, despite the fact that the families of the students continue to opt massively for enrolling their children in the former. In view of this fact, the subsidized education sector is requesting, time and time again, without obtaining a favorable response, that the real demand of parents be taken into account, and that their requests be attended to in a real and effective way.
The struggle to maintain its ideology
Another battlefield in which certain subsidized schools have had to fight it out has been in the field of differentiated education. In 2009, the Andalusian administration set the following condition sine qua non for the maintenance of the educational agreement of ten centers for the admission of students of both sexes. Faced with this interference, on which negotiations were attempted without reaching any agreement, the Andalusian Federation of Private Education Centers, which includes both privately and publicly funded centers, filed a contentious-administrative appeal for the annulment of the orders issued, considering them to be illegal and unfair. Although the High Court of Justice of Andalusia ruled in their favor, the situation of uncertainty generated was clearly unacceptable and inappropriate within the framework of the desirable and convenient functioning of a State governed by the rule of law.
In this regard, and working to prevent similar scenarios, the current education law, the LOMCE, is concise, stating that "the admission of male and female pupils or the organization of education on the basis of gender does not constitute discrimination". and that "in no case shall the choice of gender-differentiated education imply for families, students and corresponding centers a less favorable treatment, nor a disadvantage, when signing agreements with educational administrations or in any other aspect"..
This legislative framework, in principle, should be sufficient to contain the temptation of the Administration to impose the ideological postulates of the political groups that support it. However, for this to be effective, the basic foundation would be the correct translation of national regulations into the different autonomous community systems. This is an initial point which, in the light of daily practice, has not yet been cemented.
An ambiguous legislative situation
The LOMCE has certainly not been implemented throughout the national territory, neither at the same time, nor with the same scope. In the case of Andalusia, the corresponding Education Law, which should have adapted the LOMCE to the regional organization, has never arrived. Instead, decrees and specific instructions have been issued which not only distort the purpose of the national law, but also create a new system of education for the region.a general climate of lack of coordination and imprecision that hinders the planning of the centers.
This continued improvisation has led, in the current 2015-2016 academic year, to the paradoxical circumstance that certain subjects have begun to be taught without the corresponding textbooks, because the vagueness of the indications received is not enough, logically, to extract a coherent curriculum.
The educational sphere is thus experiencing a permanent sense of instability which, as is recognized by the vast majority of authorities, must be channeled within logic, common sense and usefulness as soon as possible.
Inadequate and unequal funding
A separate chapter would be the financing of subsidized centers which, although there are also significant differences between Autonomous Communities, in many cases do not cover real costs, in addition to presenting a notorious difference with public education. In fact, the average in Spain places the investment per student in subsidized education at around 3,000 euros, compared to 5,700 euros in public education. According to data presented at the 42nd National Congress of Private Education, this represents a difference of 48.12 % in the national total. By communities, the Community of Madrid, the Community of Valencia and Andalusia lead the difference between public and subsidized education, with a 53.31 %, 53.77 % and 26.90 % difference, respectively. The smallest difference is in the Basque Country, with 36.85 %; in Asturias, with 37.04 %, and in La Rioja and Navarra, both located around 40 %.
Thus, in many cases, the economic viability of these centers is saved by the existence of many religious teachers, whose low salaries are fully paid into the coffers of the center, and help to balance the accounts. through reinvestment.
The urgency of an educational pact
Due to all these aspects, the concerted education sector asks, as the best way to overcome all these obstacles and variables, to reach as soon as possible a necessary educational pact, which would set specific guidelines, and which would serve as an umbrella in the face of the harassing attitude they are experiencing in many parts of the national geography. It is true that the public discourse of many political parties, openly excluding, disqualifies them for the opening of a subsequent negotiation, although the hope always remains alive that, beyond the banner, the public authorities, when the time comes, will be far-sighted, have the common sense and sufficient will to tackle a problem whose solution would undoubtedly benefit the improvement of the Spanish educational system as a whole, and the collective work for the common good.
"Why a Jubilee of Mercy?". The day after the opening of the Holy Door who inaugurated the Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy, Francis dedicated his Wednesday audience catechesis to explaining why the Church needs this extraordinary moment. Together with the Bull Misericordiae vultusIn his address, the Pope offers us the most complete guide for a fruitful journey through the Holy Year that has just begun.
The Jubilee is a privileged moment for the Church to learn to choose only what pleases God the mostForgive your children, be merciful to them, so that they in turn may forgive their brothers and sisters, shining like torches of God's mercy in the world".. In an age, such as ours, of profound changes, the Church's particular contribution consists in living mercy by fulfilling a triple task: to make visible signs of God's closeness; to direct our gaze to God, the merciful Father, and to our brothers and sisters in need of mercy; and to return to the essential content of the Gospel, to place Jesus Christ at its center, "Mercy made flesh".. The Pope's teachings in the last month of 2015, the first month of the Jubilee Holy Year, can be arranged around this threefold task, helping us to orient our life under the sign of mercy.
Visible signs of God's closeness have been fulfilled by Francis on his first apostolic journey to Africa, visiting Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic. As a sign of faith and hope for countries that are trying to emerge from violent conflicts that cause much suffering to the population, the Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy was opened in Bangui a week before the beginning of the Jubilee Year. A visible sign of God's closeness was also the request for prayers for the work of the Conference on climate change held in Paris, or for the pacification of the beloved land of Syria or Libya.
The task of turning our gaze to the merciful Father and to those in need of mercy is discovered in the Rescript on the fulfillment and observance of the new law of the marriage process. The new laws that have come into force "want to show the Church's closeness to wounded families, with the desire that the healing work of Christ may reach the multitude of those who live the drama of marital failure.".
With a look of mercy, the Pope also recalled that "An important sign of the Jubilee is also Confession. To approach the Sacrament by which we are reconciled with God is to have a direct experience of his mercy. It is to encounter the Father who forgives: God forgives everything"..
The same gaze has led Francis to offer during the presentation of Christmas greetings to the members of the Roman Curia the "curial antibiotics": remedies to overcome the ills that have overshadowed the self-sacrificing and faithful work of those who offer an ecclesial service of loyal collaboration in the Holy See. The scandals will not stop a "reform that will continue to move forward with determination, lucidity and resolve.". To obtain the antidote that cures these evils it is necessary to back to basicsThis is possible by outlining a program with terms whose first letter forms the word mercy: missionarity, suitability, spirituality, exemplarity, rationality, harmlessness, charity, honesty, respectfulness, generosity, impassivity and attentiveness.
Finally, the task of placing Jesus Christ at the center can be seen in his meditations before praying the Angelus or in his addresses to the Parents' Association of Italian Catholic schools and to the young people of Catholic Action. To place Christ at the center, there is no better way than to turn to Mary, Mother of Mercy. Her Immaculate Conception reminds us that in our life everything is gift, everything is mercy.
Overcoming Indifference: A Day of Peace on the Horizon of the Jubilee Year
The Holy See has been celebrating the World Day of Peace for 49 years, and since 1968 it has been launching a message on this great aspiration.
January 27, 2016-Reading time: 2minutes
For 49 years, the Holy See has been celebrating the World Day of PeaceSince 1968, he has also published a message dealing with some aspect related to this great aspiration. After that time, the efficacy of this effort has been proven. Although the document of the Popes could hardly put a definitive end to the confrontations, it does shed light on their causes and encourages us to combat situations incompatible with peace.
The theme chosen by Francis this year, calling to overcome indifference in order to conquer peace, points to the globalization of a tendency that is the cause of injustice and violence, and contradicts man's fundamental vocation to fraternity, as the Message says. The Pope understands that the condition for overcoming indifference towards others is to overcome it in our relationship with God; for this reason he calls for conversion of heart. But he does not cease to appeal firmly to the States to carry out concrete and courageous actions in favor of the most vulnerable people, together with adequate and far-reaching policies.
The theme of the Day is fully consonant with the general framework of the Year of Mercy, which has just begun. The Jubilee is already becoming an occasion for profound changes of attitude. It invites us to do so by means of visible and effective signs of various kinds. This is the case of the Holy Doors, which throughout the world invite people to walk and complete the path that leads to an encounter with the tenderness of God; or the invitation to approach the sacrament of Confession, which is even closer at this time, since reconciliation with God presupposes a direct experience of his mercy. Events such as the announced canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta also have the character of strong signs, capable of moving us. Dressed in her simple habit, revealing her consecration to God and to the service of the poor, she exemplifies the practical meaning of mercy in one of the principal forms in which it is expressed. And it is also an invitation to discover the possible expressions in which the works of mercy are concretized today, in our conditions.
Many memories will remain in my memory the day I leave the seminary. One that stands out is an endearing and instructive one: the visits to an old people's home, where several elderly or sick priests stay. The beginning of the Year of Mercy has reminded me of these pleasant occupations.
This is my sixth year in the seminary. I have been a deacon for two months now, and my time is now divided among the seminar (from Monday to Friday) and the parish (on weekends). Every year, the rector of the seminary, when distributing the pastoral assignments to the seminarians, assigns some of them the task of going to these residences, and in particular that of taking an interest in the priests present, accompanying them, attending to the various services they need, etc.
In my second year I was sent to a nursing home run by nuns. We usually go in pairs, but that time I had to go alone. I remember that on the first day, standing up, before entering, I entrusted myself to the Blessed Virgin. I didn't know what I could do there, or how. It is always fortunate to know that the Lord is with us at all times, and all the more so if, as in this case, there is a chapel and a tabernacle. We always have, in every new situation, at least one person we know, and this, for those of us who find it difficult to take the first step, is always a source of confidence.
I would walk around the residence, observe, get to know the people and, through them, I would ask questions and I will be part of it. He prays for me and advises me wisely from his experience. Occasionally we take a trip to a Marian shrine to pray the rosary together or make a pilgrimage; at those times, I think, is when we are most strongly united. Another surprise was meeting in the residence the priest, now deceased, who celebrated my sister's wedding.
They pass through our lives pouring out the grace of Christ, showering us with his blessings, and there comes a time when, precisely because of this, because they have given themselves fully to Christ, they have been left alone... But no! God is with them, and they already foresee here the eternal happiness that awaits them in heaven, and it is reflected in their faces. We do them a great favor by approaching them, by sharing our time; but much greater is the treasure they have and can leave us, if we take advantage of it.
Some exemplary cases
There is a sick and practically blind priest who has written more than half a dozen books. Naturally he needs help, but his limitations do not diminish his interest in books and his enterprising spirit. Some other priests and seminarians help him as much as we can. And perhaps that same passion has helped him to overcome the temporary situation of decay that he had a few years ago, produced by his illnesses.
A priest with the soul of an artist also resided there for a time, until his death. In his final period he was psychically handicapped by a severe illness. As long as he was conscious we cared for him with all possible affection, and also when he ceased to recognize people. I have always felt that the whole diocese is indebted to him for his efforts to recover and restore valuable old images.
Other priests have no special distinction, apart from having left almost sixty or seventy years of their lives in the pastoral care of the faithful. How many people must have reached heaven thanks to the good shepherding efforts of these priests! It seems to me that the mercy shown by them, day after day, is no small mercy, regardless of whether it can be counted among the charitable works in favor of the poor.
It might be thought that they have already done much for the Church and that, at their age, there is no more for them to do; but that would be a mistake. I am thinking of one of them, who is still alive, and how he spends the hours of his time praying without rest. Who can say that the hours he spent in his active pastoral work were more valuable than the prayers that now go up to heaven from his lips and from his heart? And, apart from this specific case, how much they all pray! Especially for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.
A well-known priest recently underwent cancer surgery. It was a long (eleven hours) and complicated operation, which, thanks be to God, went well. After the first days of uncertainty, he gradually recovered despite his advanced age. I tell this story because, during his long convalescence, a close relative was present; it was not possible for her to take care of the priest day and night by herself. But with good will and a little sacrifice, everything can be arranged. In this case, by relying on the reality of a priestly fraternity lived with care.
A group of priest friends established the necessary shifts to take care of the sick person, so that he would always be accompanied. It did not seem easy at the beginning, given the work that each one of us had to do; but with God's grace and that "plus" of sacrifice that I say, everything worked out. The nurses at the hospital were amazed at the number of priests who came to take care of the sick.
One of them told me how much interior good it did his soul to take care of this brother priest; to see his patience, his supernatural sense, even his good human humor, was an unforgettable lesson for him. And all of them experienced the same. It is always richer to give than to receive.
Mauricio Macri received representatives of the Argentine Episcopal Conference. The fight against drug trafficking was the main topic.
January 27, 2016-Reading time: < 1minute
On December 18, the new Argentine president, Mauricio Macrireceived in his office representatives of the Argentine Episcopal Conference. The fight against drug trafficking took center stage. The bishops handed him two documents: "The drama of drugs and drug trafficking".of 2013, on the negative impact of drugs on society; and "No to drug trafficking, yes to a full life".The report, published in November of this year, presents the phenomenon as a matter of the new political agenda, linked to corruption and the crisis in the security forces.
In one of its paragraphs, it warns that the advance of the drug is "incomprehensible without the complicity of power. The Church has been one of the key social agents in keeping the issue on the agenda. In the last election for the governorship of the province of Buenos Aires, the discussion on drugs was, perhaps, the determining factor in tipping the balance in favor of María Eugenia Vidal and opening the doors for the Cambiemos Front to national power".
"Although the episcopate did not postulate partisan references, the denunciation sustained with constancy since 2009 affected with greater force the now outgoing government. The Church's proposal is a comprehensive approach because "in the peripheral areas, in some neighborhoods and villas, the drug dealer has become a social referent; an independent space is created there, alien to the authentic culture".
Social issues of prime necessity put the Church close to the people and forcefully providing a public service: its participation in the pluralistic society of the 21st century moves in the fast lane when it builds these positive channels, through which the spiritual message can flow into previously reluctant fields.
Argentina entered into the change with the electoral victory of the Cambiemos Front. The country left behind twelve years of government kirchnerista which outlined a path towards an increasingly virulent "statization" that tried to impose a biased and unidirectional cultural view on the worldview of life and society.
The decision path of the Argentine people looked towards the need for a change. This manifests not only the option of a party, but the look of a people that at some point reacts as self-defense of its own nature. It confirms once again that the people can be patient but at a certain moment they react and ask for a change in the direction of things.
The relationship that this new partisan sign had with the Christian culture could already be seen in the time when they were governors of Buenos Aires. There, positive elements were seen as well as elements that marked a distance from the fundamental Christian principles. An example of the latter is that it was the first corporation to approve the civil union of people of the same sex.
For several decades, Argentina has been going through social and cultural variation in stages of ten years. Party situations set courses that generate changes and then come others that turn in the opposite direction. While it is true that alternation is positive, when it is marked by ideological lines, it does not allow for stable growth. Argentina owes itself a more stable and permanent national project.
Another challenge facing the nation is the initiation of its Bicentennial, 1816-2016 which celebrates 200 years of independence from the Spanish crown. It is a significant event and we hope that it will also be a historical space for reflection and identity for the future. Another activity that the Church is preparing is the National Eucharistic Congress to be held in the historic city of San Miguel de Tucumán. Some one hundred thousand people will gather there to celebrate the mystery of Jesus, Lord of History, alive and present in the Eucharistic bread.
2016 will be an important year but with many social, cultural and economic fluctuations. The Church is facing a very strong time with many pastoral challenges: the drama of drug trafficking has been a strong claim of the episcopate, the national identity for education as an urgent task, the experience of the Jubilee of Mercy will be like the backdrop of gestures and actions among the people, the experience of the Eucharistic Congress as an exceptional opportunity to communicate the urgent need for national reconciliation. There are new winds of change in Argentina, but they must serve to respect the poor who suffer a lot; new winds for a new era that must not forget that power is service.
Make a mess, but in order. A thorough revolution in Paraguay
The students of the National University of Asuncion have undertaken a courageous campaign to end corruption at the University. Thanks to them the rector is in jail and many deans have resigned from their posts.
We are living in a historic period in Paraguay. The protagonists: the young people! This is no small thing. They are undermining the rotten structures of corruption in education. It all started with a sit-in by high school students from a school run by the Jesuits. The request was very unspecific: a better education. This form of protest became generalized in other public and private schools and culminated in a call for a big march.
At the same time, the newspaper Last Minute published a news item reporting that the rector of the National University of Asunción (UNA), Froilán Peralta, charged twenty million guaraníes for professorships that he did not teach. The newspaper also reported a series of fraudulent appointments made by the rector. The scandal did not go unchallenged. On September 18, the president of the nation signed the law that obliges to regulate all public information. Thus, the salaries of public officials, among them the teachers of the UNA, appeared on the Internet.
On that day, there was a large protest by hundreds of students from public and private schools with the slogan Paraguay does not shut upThe slogan that would give name to the student movement. At night, the university students presented themselves in front of the rector's office of the UNA to demand the resignation of the rector. A series of demonstrations began, which at first gathered hundreds of university students, but eventually mobilized thousands of students who took over the university in a peaceful manner. The media supported this mobilization from the beginning.
In addition, other economic mismanagement in other faculties became known. The students denounced these irregularities and demanded accountability. They demanded the resignation of the deans found to have committed acts of corruption and the dismissal of the Board of Directors. A three-week vigil was held.
In the meantime, the prosecutor's office intervened, at first slowly due to political interests. The university students exerted pressure and closely monitored the steps taken by the prosecutors. At the beginning, the rector was found guilty and was prosecuted and imprisoned for breach of trust. The other authorities and officials who resigned also had their "dirty laundry". More than one hundred people in charge of various University agencies were charged.
High school students continued with their protest. The situation was complicated by the collapse of the roof of a public school. Fourteen students were injured. In addition, other irregularities were discovered, such as the non-delivery of school kits. A new protest march took place and the Minister of Education agreed to meet with the high school student leaders. However, she did not give an answer to the students' demands: school ticket, student kit, school snack, teacher training (it is found that many teachers do not have the necessary accreditations to teach). Finally, they demanded the use of 7 % of the GDP in education, as stated in the Constitution. It was believed that until then only 3.5 % had been spent, then it was found that even less had been spent, only 2.3 %. The high school students agreed to a meeting with the president, who also failed to give the expected response. Demonstrations followed until they finally got what they wanted. For their part, the university students demanded a change in the university statute, since it was so ambiguous that it allowed mismanagement of the budget.
Little by little, the students of the UNA are achieving their objectives. They succeeded in having the dean of the Polytechnic faculty, Abel Bernal Castillo, appointed interim rector. Of the fifteen deans of the university, he was the only one trusted by the students. Together with the students, the new rector has taken a series of measures in the required direction. It is something transcendental in the country: today, with transparency, it is possible to know exactly the situation of each one.
The motto is #UNA don't shut up. Someone said that this event is, for our country, almost as important as the fall of the Berlin Wall for the communist countries. We spoke with Mauricio Portillo, 5th year veterinary student and president of the Student Center.
How did it all start?
-He started with the sentata of the high school students. In Veterinaria we started to demonstrate on the same 18th, after the students' march. From there we went to demonstrate in front of the Rectorate. The one who was rector was dean of our faculty for 21 years. There was a lot of corruption, diversion of money, he had his people, and whoever opposed him was excluded. Some students who demonstrated against them could not finish their studies there and had to go to a private university. There was talk of a reign of terror (he was protected by an influential politician). The professors who were against the rector were afraid.
First we were the veterinary students and then we called those from other faculties who were involved in the cause. At the beginning we were about two hundred students, then many more joined us. From then on we called a vigil that lasted three weeks. There were representatives from each faculty. Almost all the faculties joined the cause, except for three faculties considered the most corrupt.
I stayed almost 20 days sleeping in the faculty under tents. It was necessary to keep watch to prevent the burning of documents. Then we waited for the prosecutor's office to come and take the documents (there was not much confidence in the performance of the members of the government).
Then came the domino effect
-Yes. Corruption started to break out in the different faculties. Students demanded the resignation of the dean and the entire Board of Trustees. In Veterinaria, many members of the Board of Directors resigned in addition to the dean.
Was there good coordination among the students?
-Every day, the ten representatives from each faculty met.
How were acts of violence prevented?
-We came to the conclusion that the people who were there were the civilized ones. Then there were infiltrators but they were identified and under observation. The logistics were very good, the food was distributed to all the security posts, the page #UNA don't shut up reported hourly and a digital university newspaper from the law school updated the news.
Did you expect this success?
-We were confident because we had a lot at stake. The situation in the classrooms was very tense. In the last few weeks, some students were warned not to talk to me, because I shared my ideas on social networks. I didn't know if I could talk to some classmates.
Now we have to trust the prosecution
-Yes. In any case, there is a copy of everything the prosecutors took at the National Computer Center, which is at the University. Besides, there is a group of students who are following the whole process. What we are waiting for is that the new directors are of our confidence. There are few people who are not part of the system.
So far, what have they achieved?
-There is now a person in charge of the office who is trusted. In 60 days there will be elections for the new Board of Directors. Many of them are under indictment. Other countries in South America are expectant of what is achieved, because in their countries they also have a lot of corruption at the level of education. By fighting for their rights, goals can be achieved.
Fabrizio Ayala is a high school senior at San José High School.
How did the mobilization of high school students begin?
-Secondary movement was the beginning of the movement Paraguay does not shut up. It began with the sentata of the students of the Jesuit Colegio Cristo Rey, advised by FENAES and UNEPY, two student organizations. They, the students of the national schools, were already accustomed to protest because they are the ones who suffer the most. We have a roof, housing, food, but they do not have it so easy.
In the meetings between students from different schools we decided to demand six points: the student ticket, the school kit, lunch and snack, a structure for schools, increased investment in education and improved teacher training. While the marches were taking place, school roofs were falling down, school kits were not being distributed and corruption was rampant. At one point there was some fear.
Ultimately, our motivation was the belief that the basis for development is health and education.
To begin with, I consider that this review should differ from others, in order to preserve the reader's curiosity on this occasion. It would not be appropriate to tell plot elements of the film, precisely so as not to ruin the surprise effect.
And the force awoke. For those who were awaiting the arrival of the seventh installment of the saga of Star WarsThere is only one thing to say: the wait was worth it. Director J.J. Abrams has been very clear that the key was to return to the magic of the original trilogy. He has taken the elements of Greek tragedy, Roman legends and the myths of King Arthur and has built an adventure that leaves you wanting much more.
To begin with, I consider that this review should differ from others, in order to preserve the reader's curiosity on this occasion. It would not be appropriate to tell plot elements of the film, precisely so as not to ruin the surprise effect: any detail, no matter how small, could advance some of the many novelties that await viewers throughout the 135 minutes of footage. In any case, the story is well put together.
Now, notwithstanding these restrictions, it is possible to count that Star Wars: The Force Awakens the legend almost thirty years after it left off. Return of the Jedi (1983). The peace and stability of the New Republic is again threatened by an enemy abducted by the dark side of the force, and the task of the Resistance will be to confront him to achieve a new balance in the Galaxy. And it will be in this context where a new awakening of the force appears.
These new elements are accompanied by old acquaintances. At different points in the story we meet all the characters from the original trilogy. Without fear of being nostalgic, seeing Han Solo, Leia and Luke again is worth the price of admission. However, the glorious thing about this new experience is that the plot does not rest solely on them, but takes advantage of the characteristics to exploit the new characters and clears the way for them to take the torch of the saga in the next sequels.
Sitting in the cinema before this new installment is undoubtedly a new experience, but not without countless reminiscences referring to previous moments in which our imagination has already flown to those galactic worlds.
Some viewers may see in the force an approximate supernatural explanation of things, but it is not advisable to miss the development of an excellent adventure that also has very interesting historical and political nuances.
The film brings back the magic to a saga that changed the way of making and watching movies. It is the return of cinematographic art to a revolution enjoyed decades ago by a whole generation of young people.
On December 8, the reform of the canonical process for causes of matrimonial nullity came into effect. This is a far-reaching juridical and pastoral reform, which continues to seek justice and truth.
January 9, 2016-Reading time: 3minutes
Pope Francis, already known as the Pope of mercy, has recently issued a law reforming the canonical process to be followed in causes for the nullity of marriage. This new regulation is contained, for the Latin Church, in the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesuswhich came into effect on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the beginning of the Year of Mercy.
The coincidence of dates is no coincidence; on the contrary, it is very significant that this new regulation, very dear to the Pope, was born in the context of the convocation of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy and of a Marian celebration.
It is clear to no one that the ecclesiastical Tribunal, where the causes for the declaration of canonical marriage nullity must be processed, must be a place of maternal and merciful welcome for those brothers and sisters who have suffered the pain of a failed marriage.
For this reason, the new law is undoubtedly born with a strong vocation of pastoral service in favor of the faithful who go through these difficulties and also of their families, who suffer with them. This follows from the reflection made by the bishops at the recent Extraordinary Synod on the family convened by the Pope in October 2014, where loud and clear voices were raised so that the process of declaring nullity be "faster and more accessible" for all the faithful.
In this regard, the final report of the subsequent Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod, held in October 2015, includes the obligation of pastors to inform the faithful who have had a failed marriage experience about the possibility of initiating the process for the declaration of nullity, with special concern for those who have already entered into a new union or a new cohabitation. In this way, we can say that the Synod wanted to facilitate the access of the faithful to ecclesiastical justice.
The main challenge, then, is to shorten the distance between the Church's justice and the faithful in need of it. Charity also demands a reasonable celerity, because slow justice is not justice, it is unjust, since it generates in the faithful a feeling of abandonment and hopelessness that distances them from the Church and leads them to take paths that are not always desired, much less sought after.
It is evident that not every failed marriage hides a null marriage, but in any case the faithful have the right to have the Church pronounce on its validity and give peace to their consciences. Hence the reform stresses the need for information about the possibility of initiating a cause for the declaration of the nullity of their marriage to reach all the faithful; for them to feel supported and accompanied; for the difficulty of the process to be alleviated by the simplification of the formalities and by a greater preparation of the operators of the tribunals, with more room for the laity; and finally, for the economic means of each person not to be an obstacle.
Evidently, there is a risk that the public might confuse the streamlining of the process with its haste, or the shortening of the process with favoring the nullity of marriages. This will have to be explained well. It must also be made clear that a distinction must be made between what the Church does, which is to declare a marriage null and void if the judge establishes, with moral certainty, the inexistence of the bond, and what the Church does not do, which is to annul a valid marriage.
It is evident in this sense that the declaration of nullity of a marriage can never be understood as a faculty, that is, as a decision that depends on the will of the ecclesial authority. The declaration of nullity consists, as its very name indicates, in declaring the fact of nullity, if it has occurred, and not in constituting it. Precisely in order to silence erroneous interpretations in this regard, which had already arisen during the celebration of the aforementioned Extraordinary Synod on the Family, the Pope clearly stated at the end of the assembly that no intervention of the Synod had called into question the revealed truths about marriage: indissolubility, unity, fidelity and openness to life.
The reform is certainly far-reaching, juridical and pastoral, and not to risk too much it can even be said that it is unprecedented, but it must be stated without hesitation that the purpose of the canonical process remains the same - the salvation of souls and the protection of unity in faith and discipline with regard to marriage - and that the principles that sustain it have not changed, nor has the intention of seeking justice and truth.
We hope, therefore, that one of the first fruits of this procedural reform will be that the faithful will come to know and therefore trust in the justice of the Church, and that the Church will in turn become aware that the administration of justice is a true pastoral instrument that God has placed in her hands and that, therefore, it cannot be reduced to complicated and unaffordable bureaucratic structures, but must reach and be within the reach of all the faithful.
Marie-Joseph Le Guillou is a very complete theologian. He worked in the great fields of 20th century theology: ecclesiology, ecumenism, theology of the Council and theology of mystery; and he reacted with lucidity to the post-conciliar crisis.
Marcel Le Guillou was born on December 25, 1920 in Servel, a small village in Brittany (France), now part of the municipality of Lannion. His father was a non-commissioned officer in the navy (furriel) and his mother worked as a seamstress on the surrounding farms. He was a brilliant student (except in gymnastics), and won a scholarship for high school. When the family moved to Paris, he was able to enter the famous Lycée Henri IV and prepare himself for the École Normale Supérieurecenter, center top of the French education system. It is therefore the fruit of the merit award, which is one of the best things about the French Republic.
With the war and the German occupation (1939), he began to teach at the minor seminary in Lannion, where his younger brother was studying. It was there that his vocation took shape, which he attributes above all to the piety of his mother. He decided to become a Dominican. His father wanted him to finish his studies, and he obtained a degree in Classical Literature (grammar and philology). In 1941 he began to study theology at Le Saulchoir, the famous Dominican faculty in Paris. There he obtained a degree in philosophy in 1945 and in theology in 1949, and taught moral theology.
Vocation and ecumenical work
Since the first course at Le Saulchoir, he had attended along with Yves Congar to meetings with orthodox theologians and thinkers. He was very interested in it. For this reason, without leaving Le Saulchoir, he joined (1952) an institute that had been promoted by the Dominicans since 1920, and which was then renewed under the name of "Istina Center". The center is also renewing its journal on Russia and Christianity (Russia and Christianity) and gives it the same name (1954). Probably Istina is the best known Catholic journal on Eastern (Christian) theology and spirituality. Le Guillou collaborates with enthusiasm while preparing his doctoral thesis in theology, which will be, at the same time, on ecclesiology and ecumenism.
In the first part he studies the history of the ecumenical movement in the Protestant sphere, and the orthodox positions, up to the constitution of the Ecumenical Council of Churches. He is interested in the genesis of this effort and the theological nature of the problems that arose. In the second part, he studies the history of the divisions and confessional controversies up to the beginning of the dialogue. The Catholic Church has debated in order to preserve its identity, but it is also part of its identity and mission to try to reconcile divisions. It is necessary to study how the Church has understood itself in this sense in history. In this context, the notion of communion, which will be one of the keys to conciliar ecclesiology, stands out.
After the Council, the term "communion" will be the most widely used term to define the Church and as a way of summarizing what number 1 of Lumen Gentium: "The Church is in Christ, as a sacrament, that is, a sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race.". But this was not the case at the time. This term, which has a canonical, theological and spiritual value, has come to the fore as a result of ecumenical dialogue. Le Guillou was one of those who contributed to its diffusion. He obtained his doctorate (1958) and his thesis was published in two volumes: Mission and unity. The demands of communion (1960).
From 1952, he taught oriental theology at Le Saulchoir, and in 1957 he spent several months on Mount Athos, an Orthodox monastic republic in Greece. There, he endears himself and contemplates Orthodoxy live. All this allowed him to publish a small book The Spirit of Greek and Russian Orthodoxy (1961) in an interesting collection of short essays (Encyclopedia of 20th Century Catholics), translated into Spanish by Casal i Vall (Andorra). The book, brief and accurate, pleased the orthodox theologians of Paris, who recognized themselves in it. It is still very useful (like other titles of that surprising "encyclopedia").
The theology of the mystery and the face of the Risen One
Le Guillou was struck on the one hand by the echoes of the liturgical and biblical theological renewal, and on the other by contact with Orthodoxy. This impelled him to develop a theology that better reflected the meaning of the mystery revealed in Scripture, celebrated in the Liturgy and lived by every Christian. He then undertook a great attempt at synthesis. Christ and the Church. Theology of the Mystery (1963), where, starting from St. Paul, he makes a long historical journey on the category of "mystery", to end with the mystery in St. Thomas Aquinas. True theology is not speculation, it is part of the Christian life.
These were exciting years. He follows with interest the development of the Second Vatican Council, and assists as an advisor to some bishops. He also gave numerous conferences. The work of synthesis he had just done on the Christian mystery allowed him to contemplate the theology of the Council with great unity, and he prepared an overall essay: The face of the Risen One (1968). The subtitle reflects what he thinks: Prophetic, spiritual and doctrinal, pastoral and missionary greatness of the Second Vatican Council. For Le Guillou, Christ is the face of God in the world; and the Church makes him present; making the face of Christ transparent is a challenge and a requirement for every Christian. Everything that the Council has said is inserted there.
Difficult years
However, something is not working. During the Council itself, he observes that there are those who appropriate it, invoking a "spirit of the Council" that will end up replacing the ecclesial experience and the letter of the Council itself. He also dislikes the interconfessional celebrations, where the identity of the liturgy received is not respected. He notes the strongly political and ideological tone of some. And with Olivier Clément (Orthodox theologian) and Juan Bosch (Dominican) he writes Gospel and revolution (1968).
The street and student "revolution" of '68 was followed by the ecclesiastical protest to the encyclical of Paul VI. Humanae vitaeand to the European theological dissent is added the Latin American revolutionary tendency. But the mystery of Christ is not that of a revolutionary but that of the "Suffering Servant": for this reason, with a certain poetic tone, he vindicates the figure of Christ in The innocent (Celui qui vient d'ailleurs, l'Innocent): the saving revolution of Christ is his death and resurrection. He relies on literary testimonies to show the intuitions of salvation (starting with Dostoevsky), and goes through Scripture to rescue the figure of a savior who has incarnated the enormous paradox of the beatitudes.
Theological urgencies
In 1969, Paul VI included him in the International Theological Commission that he had just created. This allowed him to converse with great friends (De Lubac), even if some of them surprised him (Rahner). It also obliged him to be aware of all the topics discussed. To him, who had reached a synthetic vision, it becomes clear that a transformation of the Christian mystery is breaking through. He sees it as a new gnosis, a profound ideological contamination.
He felt it especially when he was called to prepare the 1971 Synod of Bishops, dedicated to the priesthood. He worked tirelessly in the preparation of the documents, even to the point of health problems. He left convinced that it was necessary to counteract the new gnosis. He tried to start a magazine (Adventus) to serve as a counterweight to Conciliumto which he had also belonged, but he encountered resistance from the Germans (von Balthasar) and folded. Later, he had the generosity to join the French edition of the journal Communiopromoted among others by Von Balthasar.
Write an impassioned essay The mystery of the Father. Faith of the Apostles, Current Gnosis. (1973). There, on the one hand, he presents the Christian mystery as he had done in The InnocentOn the other hand, he discerns the ideological character of many deviations, especially those coming from Marxist contamination. In the face of hermeneutics that dissolve faith, he reaffirms the "hermeneutics of Christian witness" presented by the Fathers and Christian theologians (although he has little sympathy with the soteriology of St. Anselm). He is sure that he will scandalize, but he is rather shunned, because it is considered bad taste to mention that the situation is bad. All this is reflected in his diaries and notes, some of which are published (Flashes on the life of Father M.J. Le Guillou, 2000).
Spirituality
Without abdicating this titanic effort, he does not abandon the ordinary, which for him is preaching. Since he became a Dominican, he has been aware that his vocation is to preach. He mentions it many times in his notes. He gave numerous courses and began to minister to the Benedictine community of Sacre Coeur de Montmartre. Among other things, it is worth noting a complete cycle of preaching for the liturgical year (cycles A, B and C), which has also been translated into Spanish.
He understands that the strength of the Church is spirituality and that the situation cannot be fixed only on the doctrinal or disciplinary level. For this reason he writes The witnesses are among us. The experience of God in the Holy Spirit (1976), along the lines of the "hermeneutics of witness" of which he had spoken. He goes through Scripture to show that with the Holy Spirit the heart of the Father, his love and his truth, is opened to us: witnessed by the Apostles and martyrs and saints; experienced in the Church as a source of living water and the law of love and the impulse of charity and discernment of spirits. At times, this book is considered together with that of The Mystery of the Father y The innocent as a Trinitarian trilogy.
Last years
In 1974, when he was only 54 years old, he developed a degenerative disease (Parkinson's), less well known then than now, which gradually limited him. His relationship with the Benedictine Sisters of Sacre-Coeur, to whom he preached and wrote their constitutions, intensified. With the permission of his superiors, he finally retired to one of their houses (Prieuré of Béthanie). He is thus fortunate to have his archive and his documentation perfectly stored.
And an association of friends was created. With his help, it has been possible to publish posthumously many texts of spiritual character that he had kept. Professor Gabriel Richi, of the Faculty of Theology of San Damaso, has put this archive in order and has taken care of the recent Spanish edition of many of his works. To the prologues of those books and to others of his studies we have to thank for many of the data collected here.
- The face of the Risen One. 423 pages. Encounter, 2015. Le Guillou offers an example of the hermeneutic of renewal proposed by Benedict XVI.
- The innocent. 310 pages. Montecarmelo, 2005. Presents the mystery of Christ: his revolution is his death and resurrection.
- Your word is love. 232 pages. BAC 2015. Meditations and homilies for Circus C, taking the mystery of God as a starting point.
With the beginning of the Jubilee, the Pope opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and highlights are the low participation numbers.
January 5, 2016-Reading time: 2minutes
It has been a few weeks since Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and one of the topics that appear most often in the press are the numbers about the (supposed) low turnout. It is important to talk about the real data, and not to create legends: 50,000 people participated in the ceremony of December 8. It was not a "massive" echo, as some years ago. The feeling in the media environment is that of a "flop", because the forecasts were not fulfilled.
A first question is: who made these forecasts, and how? After the surprise announcement of Pope Francis in March, speculation about the data began: "millions of pilgrims", Rome "invaded" by faithful from all over the world, the risk of an organizational disaster due to lack of time... In other words: the great expectation has been mainly due to speculation, perhaps without foundation. A second element is what happened on November 13 in Paris, and its consequences on the daily life around the Vatican and the other basilicas: the fear of terrorist attacks has been a reason not to travel to Rome. The multiplication of security controls is now a difficulty that slows down the normal course of a religious pilgrimage.
But the most important element is the massive diffusion that the Pope wanted to be the fundamental face of this Jubilee: Holy Doors have been opened in every diocese and shrine: it is not necessary to go to Rome to fully experience the Holy Year. This is why Francis wanted to limit the number of Roman "events". The final balance of the Jubilee will not be made from the numbers of those who have passed through the Door of St. Peter's Basilica. It will be made from the hidden numbers of those who have lived this Jubilee. Year of Mercy approaching the confessional. And these, thank God, are not media data; but they are well known in Heaven.
"In economic matters, the Church must set a good example."
"In economic matters, the Church must set a good example.". On more than one occasion Pope Francis has explained why one of the priority aspects of the reform of the organization of the Roman Curia concerns the correct management of the economic and financial patrimony of the Holy See.
"In economic matters, the Church must set a good example.". On more than one occasion, Pope Francis has explained why one of the priority aspects of the reform of the organization of the Roman Curia concerns the correct management of the economic and financial patrimony of the Holy See, especially in these times characterized by a severe financial crisis and evident moral degradation. To neglect this would affect people's trust and would hinder the very mission of the Church, which cannot do without economic resources in order to proclaim the Gospel. "to the ends of the earth".
It is no coincidence that one of the first commissions set up a few months after Francis' election was precisely the one charged with analyzing the economic-administrative structure of the Holy See, known in Italian by the acronym COSEA. Composed almost entirely of lay people and experts from various countries, it has had the task - drawing also on external consultancies - of studying in depth the Vatican's economic departments and making proposals for the rationalization of their activity.
This commission later gave rise to the Secretariat for the Economy, now headed by the Cardinal George Pelland a Council for the Economy, entrusted to Cardinal Reinhard Marx. One of the most evident "reforms" that have resulted from the creation of these two bodies consists, for example, in the preparation by each of the administrative bodies of the Holy See of an annual budget and an annual financial statement, mechanisms that were not previously obligatory or at least, in most cases, were not foreseen. At the same time, the reorganization of the management system of the Holy See has also been consolidated. Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), among other things in order to obtain the recognition of international organizations regarding the reliability of the Institute itself in the financial field.
In recent weeks, further pieces have been added. The Council of nine cardinals (C-9) that is assisting the Holy Father in the reform process, at its planned quarterly meeting in early December, has given its blessing, among other issues - such as the possibility of applying the principle of synodality and a "healthy decentralization", Pope Francis spoke of when celebrating the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops in October; the creation of the new dicastery for the laity, the family and life, and the one that will deal with justice, peace and migrations - to the constitution of a new working group in charge of carrying out "a reflection on the future prospects of the economy of the Holy See and the Vatican City State"..
Cardinal Pell, in his capacity as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, illustrated its characteristics, explaining that this new body should in a certain sense oversee "the overall progress and control of outputs and inputs". Together with the Secretariat for the Economy, it is made up of representatives of the Secretariat of State, the GovernatoratoThe Congregation of the Apostolic See, the APSA (Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See), the Congregation of Propaganda Fide - which has an autonomous management and takes care of all the mission lands -, the Secretariat for Communication and the IOR.
In the same hours, Pope Francis has also given a mandate to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to institute the Pontifical Commission for the activities of the health sector of the public juridical persons of the ChurchIt has broad powers of intervention over hospitals, clinics and sanatoriums owned by the Holy See, dioceses and religious orders and congregations. The decision to institute this agency is a response to the "particular difficulties" the so-called Catholic health care system, on which the Pope has "gathered the appropriate information". In this case, too, but not only, there are economic reasons, linked to an "efficient management of the activities and conservation of the assets, maintaining and promoting the charism of the founders".. Its members will include six experts in the fields of health, real estate, management, economics, administration and finance. This intervention has become necessary both to resolve current crisis situations and to prevent them in the future. Always in the order of that "good example" that the Church and all its institutions are called to give.
World Day of Peace: overcoming the "globalization of indifference".
As has been the case for 49 years, the World Day of Peace is celebrated on January 1 on the theme of Overcome indifference and conquer peace. On the other hand, at the end of the month, the Year of Consecrated Life will come to an end and Mother Teresa will be a saint!
Starting from the guidelines indicated by the theme Overcome indifference and conquer peaceIn the Message written for the occasion, Pope Francis invited all people of good will to reflect on the phenomenon of the "globalization of indifference"which is the cause of so many situations of violence and injustice. The whole Message is a sign of request so that the world finally can, at all levels, "realizing justice and working for peace.". This one, indeed, "is God's gift, but entrusted to all men and women, who are called to put it into practice".writes Francisco.
In spite of everything, however, the Pontiff's invitation is "not to lose hope in the capacity of man". to overcome evil and not to abandon ourselves to resignation and indifference. There are many reasons for believing in this capacity, starting with attitudes of shared responsibility in solidarity that are "at the root of the fundamental vocation to fraternity and common life.". Everyone, in fact, is in a position to understand that outside of these relationships we would end up being "less human" and that it is precisely indifference that represents "a threat to the human family".
Among the various forms of globalized indifference, the Pope places indifference in the first place. "before God, from which also springs indifference before others and before creation".which are effects "of a false humanism and practical materialism, combined with relativistic and nihilistic thinking.". It goes from not feeling affected by the dramas that afflict the brothers, because we are anesthetized by an information saturation that only allows us to vaguely know their problems, to the lack of "attention to the surrounding reality, especially the most distant".. Numerous times, the Pope denouncesSome people prefer not to search, not to be informed and live their wellbeing and comfort indifferent to the cry of pain of suffering humanity".thus becoming "incapable of compassion".
All this leads to "closed-mindedness and aloofness"and causes an absence of "of peace with God, with one's neighbor and with creation."at the same time, feeding at the same time "situations of injustice and serious social imbalance, which, in turn, can lead to conflicts or, in any case, generate a climate of dissatisfaction that runs the risk of ending, sooner or later, in violence and insecurity"..
As indicated in the Evangelii gaudiumno person should be exempted from the duty to contribute "to the extent of its capabilities and the role it plays in society.". Often, however, this indifference also affects the institutional spheres, with the implementation of policies that have "as an objective to conquer or maintain power and wealth, even at the cost of trampling on the fundamental rights and demands of others."
These trends can only be reversed through a true "green revolution".conversion of the heart", writes the Pope, "a heart that beats loudly wherever human dignity is at stake.".
Certainly, there is no lack of examples of praiseworthy commitment from non-governmental organizations and charitable groups, even non-ecclesial ones, associations that help migrants, operators who report on difficult situations, people who are committed to the human rights of minorities, priests and missionaries, families that educate in healthy values and welcome those in need, many young people who are engaged in solidarity projects... all of them, Francis writes, are demonstrations of how each one can "to overcome indifference if he does not look away from his neighbor, and that they constitute good practices on the road to a more humane society"..
The Jubilee of Mercy represents a wonderful opportunity to decide to contribute to improving the reality in which we live, starting with the States, to whom the Pope in his Message expressly asks "concrete gestures" y "acts of courage" towards the most vulnerable members of society, including detainees (abolition of the death penalty and amnesty), migrants (reception and integration), the unemployed, etc. ("work, land and shelter")) and the sick (access to medical care).
The Message of Peace concludes with a threefold appeal to States to refrain from implicating "other peoples to conflicts or wars"The aim is to encourage them to work towards the cancellation of the international debt of the poorest countries, to adopt cooperation policies that respect the values of local populations and to safeguard the rights of the poorest countries. "the fundamental and inalienable right of unborn children"..
Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life
From January 28th to February 2nd will be the final week of the Year of Consecrated LifeOn that occasion, about 6,000 consecrated men and women from all over the world will gather in Rome. Among the first community meetings, a prayer vigil will be held in St. Peter's Basilica on the evening of January 28, while on February 1 there will be an audience with Pope Francis in the Paul VI Hall, with a debate on the theme: "The Church and the Church in the world". Consecrated today in the Church and in the world, provoked by the Gospel. On the last day of the week, February 2, the Solemnity of the Presentation of the Lord, consecrated men and women will experience their Jubilee of Mercy with a pilgrimage to the Basilicas of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major, and in the afternoon they will participate in the Holy Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in St. Peter's Basilica to close the Year of Consecrated Life.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has released a new document dedicated to the "Identity and mission of the religious brother in the Church."The book, centered precisely on this particular vocation to the lay religious life of men and women. As Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation, explained, the vocation of the religious brother expresses itself completely in his way of life. "the trait of the person of Christ". linked precisely to the "fraternity". "The religious brother reflects the face of Christ-Brother, simple, good, close to the people, welcoming, generous, servant..." he added. At present, religious brothers make up approximately one-fifth of the total number of male religious.
Causes of saints
In the last month, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has been authorized by the Pope to promulgate numerous decrees concerning both miracles and heroic virtues.
The most significant was undoubtedly the approval of the miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, beatified by St. John Paul II in 2003, who will be canonized during this Jubilee of Mercy. Also approved were the decrees concerning the miracles attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad, Swedish, foundress of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget; of the Servant of God Ladislav Bukowinski, Ukrainian diocesan priest, who died in Kazakhstan in 1974; and of the Servants of God Maria Celeste Crostarosa, Neapolitan foundress of the Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer, who died in 1755; Maria de Jesus (Carolina Santocanale), Italian, foundress of the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes; Itala Mela, Benedictine Oblate of the Monastery of St. Paul in Rome, who died in 1957.
The Holy Father also authorized the promulgation of decrees on the heroic virtues of the Servants of God Angelo Ramazzotti, who was Patriarch of Venice and died in 1861; Joseph Vithayathil, who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family in India; Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, a diocesan priest born in Markina, Spain; Giovanni Schiavo, professed priest of the Congregation of St. Joseph, who died in Brazil in 1967; Venanzio Maria Quadri, professed religious of the Order of the Servants of Mary; William Gagnon, professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, who died in Vietnam in 1972; Nikolaus Wolf, layman and father of a family; Tereso Olivelli, layman who died in 1945 in the concentration camp of Hersbruck (Germany); Giuseppe Ambrosoli, of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus; Leonardo Lanzuela Martinez, of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools; Heinrich Hahn, layman who died in 1882; and the Servants of God Teresa Rosa Fernanda de Saldanha Oliveira e Sousa, who founded the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, who died in 1916; Maria Emilia Riquelme Zayas, also Spanish, foundress of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate; Maria Esperanza de la Cruz, born in Monteagudo (Spain) and co-foundress of the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters; Emanuela Maria Kalb, professed sister of the Congregation of the Canonical Sisters of the Holy Spirit of Saxia, died in Krakow in 1986.
It is five years since the creation of the first personal Ordinariate for the faithful coming from Anglicanism. The Holy See has approved its new Missal, and has appointed Bishop Steven Lopes Ordinary of the Chair of St. Peter, and will confer episcopal ordination on him.
José María Chiclana-January 3, 2016-Reading time: 10minutes
On October 20, 2009, the Holy See announced the creation of a personal juridical figure to welcome into the Catholic Church the faithful coming from Anglicanism where they could preserve their liturgical, pastoral and spiritual traditions: the Anglicans. Personal ordinariates. And on January 15, 2011, the first personal Ordinariate was erected, under the name of Our Lady of Walshinghamin England.
The fifth anniversary of this event, the approval of a new Missal for the use of the personal ordinariates and the decision of the Holy See to appoint a new ordinary for the personal ordinariate of The Chair of Saint Peter in the United States, who will be ordained a bishop, once again put these ecclesial realities in the spotlight.
Origins of Personal Ordinariates
Although the first Personal Ordinariate was erected in England because of the significance that this country has in the Anglican tradition, the origin of the Personal Ordinariate is to be found in the United States.
The introduction by vote of changes in doctrine, liturgy and moral teaching opened a rift in the Anglican Communion that grew over the years. The first important step in this rupture took place at the Lambeth Conference - a meeting organized every 10 years since 1897 by the Archbishopric of Canterbury for all the bishops of the Anglican Communion - held in 1930, which introduced in Resolution 15 as morally acceptable the use of contraceptive methods in exceptional cases, which the same Conference had declared morally illicit in 1908 (Resolution 47). This caused some groups to begin to consider a rapprochement with Rome.
The approach began to take practical shape in 1976, when the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in the United States approved the admission of women to the presbyteral ministry, and as a result, two groups of Episcopalian faithful petitioned the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in April 1977 to be received into the Catholic Church in a "corporate" form, in a personal structure in which they could maintain Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions.
In 1980, with the positive opinion of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and once the possible creation of a new ritual church or a structure of personal jurisdiction had been ruled out, a Pastoral Provision which provided for the creation of personal Catholic parishes in agreement with the bishop of each diocese, which would preserve and live the Anglican traditions approved by the Holy See. It also allowed married Anglican pastors to be ordained as Catholic priests, exceptionally dispensing from the law of celibacy and after a rigorous process. Likewise, in 1986 the Book of Divine Worshipa liturgical book which contained part of the Book of Common Prayer Anglican and the four Eucharistic Prayers of the Roman Missal: it was called the Anglican UseThis name is no longer used. Between 1981 and 2012, 103 priests were ordained in accordance with the Pastoral Provisiontwelve of them celibate. In 2008, the total number of faithful belonging to parishes governed by the Pastoral Provision was about 1,960, grouped into three personal parishes and five parishes of societies o congregations.
From 1996 to 2006, various groups of Anglicans or members of the faithful who have Pastoral Provision Finally, in January 2012, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was established, into which these and other groups have been integrated. At present (according to the Pontifical Yearbook 2015) that Ordinariate has 25 pastoral centers, 40 priests and about 6,000 lay people. The smaller number of priests is due to the fact that many of those who were ordained under the Pastoral Provision are already incardinated in a diocese and carry out their pastoral work there.
Developments in England
By then, however, a Personal Ordinariate already existed in England. Indeed, when on November 11, 1992, the Synod of the Anglican Church of England also voted narrowly in favor of admitting women to the priestly ministry, some groups of Anglicans in England began to aspire to be received corporately into the Catholic Church. From December 1992 to mid-1993, several meetings between Catholics and Anglicans were held at the home of Cardinal Hume, led by Hume himself and by Graham Leonard, the Anglican bishop of London and a very prominent figure at the time. These groups requested the Catholic Church to create a juridical figure of the type of a personal prelature or a personal diocese, with Hume himself as prelate or, at least, a personal diocese. Pastoral Provision They requested to maintain Anglican pastoral, liturgical and spiritual traditions, as approved by the Holy See. They requested to maintain the Anglican pastoral, liturgical and spiritual traditions approved by the Holy See.
Finally, on April 26, 1993, the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales considered it preferable that the reception of those wishing to be received into the Catholic Church be done on an individual basis through Catholic parishes; and in the case of Anglican ministers wishing to be ordained Catholic priests, the matter would be studied on a case-by-case basis, following a procedure approved in July 1995 under the name of Statutes for the Admission of Married Former Anglican Clergy men in to the Catholic Church, approved by John Paul II on June 2, 1995. In making them public, Cardinal Hume explained in a pastoral letter that the Holy Father "has asked that we be generous, that the permission to ordain married men is an exception and will be granted personally by the Holy Father and finally, that the measure does not mean a change in the law of celibacy which is more necessary than ever."
Although the sources are not precise and there are no official data, from 1992 to 2007, 580 former Anglican ministers from the Church of England have been ordained Catholic priests, of whom 120 are married. Another 150 were received as laymen, five went to the Orthodox Church and another seven went to other Anglican groups.
In the meantime, the Church of England approved in 1993 the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod, which created a unique juridical figure of a personal nature that could be used by Anglican parishes that, after a vote, refused to admit women to ministry and to remain under the jurisdiction of a bishop who participated in the ordination of a woman or accepted her into ministry in his diocese. These were the so-called Provincial Episcopal VisitorsThe parishes were given the task of attending to these parishes pastorally and sacramentally, although juridically and territorially they depended on the diocesan bishop. This structure contributed to the fact that many parishes that had seriously considered the possibility of being received into the Catholic Church opted not to do so and to accept this regime., faced with the prospect of not being able to remain united. This formula also contributed to the birth of the personal ordinariates: in fact, of the first five Anglican bishops to be ordained priests in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, three had been Provincial Episcopal Visitors, and many of the parishes that then remained in the Church of England under this figure are now part of the Personal Ordinariate.
Subsequently, due to the doctrinal changes that continued to occur in the Anglican Communion and in anticipation of the possible admission of women to the episcopate, from 2005 until 2009 there were conversations and requests to the Holy See by groups of Anglicans. The first request came in 2005 from the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), which unified Anglo-Catholic groups around the world, especially in Australia and Nigeria. There were also contacts with Forward in FaithThe first three Anglican bishops to be ordained as Catholic priests were John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, the first three Anglican bishops to be ordained as Catholic priests to implement the Personal Ordinariate in England. Conversations also took place from October 2008 through November 2009 between another group of Anglicans (consisting of bishops and ministers from England) and members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which included discussion of the concrete and final content of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the disposition with which Benedict XVI created the figure of the Personal Ordinariates in 2009.
The first result was the creation of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England on January 15, 2011.
Five Years of Our Lady of Walsingham
In the five years since its creation, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has grown little by little. The Pontifical Yearbook 2015 mentions that some 3,500 lay people and 86 priests are part of it.
The Ordinariate has 60 communities in England and four in Scotland (with 40 pastoral centers, according to the Yearbook). Some are very active; others, because of the distance, can only meet once a month, and during the week they go to the nearest diocesan parish. Ordinariate sources point out that, in general, they are well received and receive help in the diocesan parishes, and that the attention received by the faithful when they cannot go to an Ordinariate parish is proof of the harmony with the dioceses.
But numbers are not the criterion for measuring the work of the Ordinariate in these five years, since it is necessary to look rather at the work that is being developed in each parish, in each group. The number of people received into the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate could be likened to a small but constant trickle. On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize the influence on Anglicanism in general, and the weight that what is done or promoted from the Ordinariate of England has on the other Ordinariates: this is the case of the approval of the new Missal for the use of the Ordinariates, which we will deal with in a moment.
As Bishop Keith Newton, its Ordinary, points out, the mission of the Ordinariate is the new evangelization and unity of the Church, and it is a bridge through which many people can be received into the Catholic Church. On a quarterly basis, the clergy of the Ordinariate participate in formation sessions; the topics addressed so far have been very varied: from questions of Moral Theology or Patrology, to the topics discussed at the recent Synod on the Family. With a certain regularity, the so-called Ordinariate FestivalThe latter included several sessions on liturgy and the new evangelization.
On the other hand, the Ordinariate has set up several commissions to prepare for the fifth anniversary and to study how to bring about an interior conversion of the faithful on the occasion of the fifth anniversary.s Mercy, and how they can reach more people with the apostolic and witnessing work of the Ordinariate. Supported by a document entitled Growing up Growing outAs a result, each Ordinariate group studies how to grow, reviews its relationship with the diocesan bishop and plans how to reach out to more people. In recent years, the Ordinariate in England has acquired two church properties; and two Anglican religious communities have been received as part of the Ordinariate: an interesting fact, given the influence of the Anglican monastic tradition, which often looks to the Catholic Church in liturgical and spiritual dimensions.
New Missal for Ordinariates
A recent milestone has been the approval by the Holy See of the document The Divine WorshipThe liturgical provision for the celebration of Holy Mass and the other sacraments in the Personal Ordinariates. It expresses and preserves for Catholic worship the dignified Anglican liturgical patrimony; as the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter points out, the manner of celebrating Holy Mass which it indicates "is both distinctively and traditionally Anglican in its character, its linguistic register, and its structure."Jeffrey Steenson (formerly an Anglican bishop) emphasizes that he welcomes the fact that he welcomes "that part which nurtured the Catholic faith in the Anglican tradition and which fostered aspirations toward ecclesial unity.".
The name of Divine Worship and not that of Anglican use to emphasize the unity with the Roman rite, of which it is an expression; therefore, on the cover of the Missal we read "according to the Roman rite". Includes a Directory of Rubrics with instructions for those parts where it diverges from the Roman Missal.
Priests of the Ordinariate are recommended to celebrate ordinarily according to this missal, both within and outside the parishes of the Ordinariate. But not every priest may celebrate according to it, although he may concelebrate in a ceremony where the missal is used, and in cases of necessity or urgency the diocesan pastor is requested to do so for groups of the Ordinariate who request it. And any faithful Catholic may attend Mass celebrated according to this missal.
The most noticeable difference with the Roman Missal is that The Divine Worship does not include a period called "Ordinary Time". The period between the celebration of Epiphany and Ash Wednesday is called "Time after Epiphany". (Epiphanytide)There is another time called "Pre-Lent". (Pre-lent) which begins on the third Sunday before Ash Wednesday. After Easter, the Sundays in Ordinary Time are collectively called TrinitytideThe penitential rite takes place after the prayer of the faithful. Other notable characteristics are: the penitential rite takes place after the prayer of the faithful; there are two formulas for the offertory: that of the Roman Missal and the traditional one of the Anglican Missal; only two Eucharistic Prayers are included: the Roman Canon and the Eucharistic Prayer II.
For the time being, the readings used are the versions of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, taken over by many Anglican parishes after the Second Vatican Council. The Communion rite follows the same structure as in the Roman Missal, with three additions from the Anglican tradition: in the breaking of the bread, the priest sings or recites the traditional hymn Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, with the response of the people; after the fraction, the priest and the communicants recite the prayer together. Prayer of humble Access; and at the conclusion of the distribution of Communion, the priest and the people give thanksgiving with another prayer from the Anglican tradition: Almighty and everliving God.
New ordinary bishop
At the end of November, the Holy See appointed a new Ordinary in the United States for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, at the request of the Ordinariate itself. After a vote in the Governing Council and the presentation of a list of three candidates to the Holy See, the Pope chose Msgr. Steven Joseph Lopes, a 40-year-old priest and official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The appointment has attracted attention for two reasons. Firstly, he does not come from Anglicanism, although he is well acquainted with both the Anglican reality and the Personal Ordinariates, since he was a member of the Commission on Anglicanism. Anglicanae Traditiones, who oversees and coordinates the Ordinariates in liturgical and pastoral matters. And secondly, because he will be ordained bishop on February 2, 2016, which is significant. His ordination title will be the personal Ordinariate, and not an extinct diocese, as is done in other cases; thus, although the office of Ordinary already had episcopal faculties, now he will also be able to ordain priests (there are authors who understand that it is a vicar with episcopal faculties).
Ordinariates elsewhere
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is also growing, Our Lady of The Southern Cross, in Australia, which today has 14 priests and about 2,000 lay people (in 2013 there were 7 priests and 300 lay people), with eleven communities in Australia and one recently created in Japan.
Although only five years have passed since the erection of the first personal Ordinariate for the faithful coming from Anglicanism, as Bishop Steven Lopes pointed out shortly after his appointment as Ordinary, "we are about to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that 500 years from now this idea of Benedict and Francis will be seen as the beginning of the closing of the breach of division in the Church.".
The Catholic Church is no stranger to the important global challenge of reversing the effects of climate change affecting the entire planet. Pope Francis set out the moral path to be followed in his encyclical Laudato si, some of whose lessons have been reflected in the agreement reached at the recent Paris climate summit.
Pope Francis' recent encyclical Laudato si'The framework outlines a theological and moral framework for our relationship with the environment, our relationship with the environment, and our relationship with the environment. "caring for the common home"as this document is subtitled. The text aroused enormous interest in the media and among scholars from various disciplines related to the environment. Part of this controversy was a consequence of its clear position in favor of considering the adoption of substantial commitments to care for nature as a moral duty.
Green conversion
The Pope advocates for a new vision of the environment, which he calls "green conversion". (a term already coined by John Paul II). In the Christian tradition, the word conversion indicates a change of direction. In short, the Pope is asking us in the encyclical for a substantial modification in our relationship with nature, which would lead us to consider ourselves as part of it, rather than as mere users of its resources. "Ecological culture cannot be reduced to a series of urgent and partial responses to the problems that are appearing around the degradation of the environment, the depletion of natural reserves and pollution. It should be a different outlook, a way of thinking, a policy, an educational program, a lifestyle and a spirituality that form a resistance to the advance of the technocratic paradigm." (n. 111).
The attitude of many Catholics to the encyclical ranges from surprise to suspicion. They are confused because they think that environmental issues are marginal, have no relevance compared to many other issues where the future of the family and society is at stake, and do not understand why the Pope is dedicating an encyclical to them. They do not dare to criticize it openly (after all, it is a text of the Pope, and has the highest doctrinal rank of those issued by the Holy See), so they either silence it, or they interpret it by extracting from the text what they understand to be the most substantial (basically the most traditional, what they expected to read). However, a careful reading of the papal text allows us to see how care for nature is not alien to the Catholic tradition, nor is it a marginal issue, but is perfectly in line with the social doctrine of the Church, since environmental and social problems are intimately related.
Re-engineering the system
Those Catholics who have most openly criticized the encyclical do so from a wide variety of positions, but to some extent converge in their disagreement about the seriousness of the environmental situation or the causes of this deterioration. According to them, the scientific controversy has not been taken into account, particularly in the case of climate change, thus riskily endorsing a biased approach to the issue. If environmental problems are not as serious as described by the Pope, or if humans are not responsible for them, it seems that the moral implications and the theological basis for environmental care, which is the main message of the Laudato si.
However, as has been pointed out by leading researchers, the encyclical presents a fairly even-handed view of what we currently know about the state of the planet, based on the best scientific information available to us. As for the Pope's criticisms of the current economic model, it seems to identify the denunciation of the excesses of a system with its frontal opposition. The current model of progress has many problems, which the most lucid thinkers have denounced on numerous occasions. Among them, it is evident that it does not make people happier and that it is environmentally unsustainable. It is not a question of returning to the Paleolithic or endorsing communism (which, by the way, has a lamentable environmental record), but of redirecting the current capitalist system, especially as regards financial capitalism, giving priority to human needs and balance with the environment as opposed to the selfish accumulation of resources that opens the gap between countries and social classes, which discards people and other created beings alike.
Certainly, climate change is the environmental issue where the need to adopt a moral commitment that will help to drastically change the observed trends is most evident. On the one hand, it is a global problem that can only be solved with the cooperation of all countries, since it affects everyone, albeit with varying degrees of responsibility. On the other hand, it implies a clear exercise of the precautionary principle, which leads to the adoption of effective measures when the potential risk is reasonably high.
Finally, it considers the interests of the most vulnerable people, the poorest societies, who are already experiencing the effects of the changes, as well as future generations.
Strong measures
The encyclical devotes paragraphs in several sections to climate change, showing the seriousness of the problem: "Climate change is a global problem with serious environmental, social, economic, distributional and political dimensions, and poses one of today's major challenges to humanity. The worst impacts are likely to fall in the coming decades on developing countries" (n. 25). Consequently, the Pope exhorts us to adopt strong measures to mitigate it: "Humanity is called upon to become aware of the need to make changes in lifestyles, production and consumption in order to combat this warming or, at least, the human causes that produce or accentuate it" (n. 22).
The recent Paris climate summit has adopted for the first time a global agreement that involves all countries and has a clear objective: to avoid exceeding the limit of 2 degrees Celsius in the increase of the planet's temperature above pre-industrial levels. It also recognizes the different responsibilities of each country in the problem, urging the more developed countries to collaborate to generate a fund (estimated at 100 billion dollars a year) to enable the less advanced countries to advance their economies with cleaner technologies. The most debatable points of the agreement are the lack of binding commitments on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by each country, although they are required to have national reduction plans and to report to the agreement's monitoring committee on trends using a common protocol for all countries.
To better understand the importance of this agreement, it is worth recalling that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Since then, the signatories to the agreement (in practice all UN member countries) have been meeting to assess the situation and reach agreements to mitigate the foreseeable effects of climate change. Of these annual meetings (called COP, conference of the parties), the most important was the one held in Kyoto (Japan) in 1997, where the first binding agreement to reduce emissions was signed, although it only affected developed countries. The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by all the countries of the world, with the exception of the United States. Although its reduction targets were modest, it was a first step in raising awareness of the need for global agreements on this issue. At the Copenhagen summit in 2009, the aim was to extend the binding commitment to all countries, including the emerging economies, which already accounted for a significant percentage of emissions, but the agreement failed and it was agreed to continue negotiations to propose a more stable framework to replace Kyoto, which was due to expire in 2012.
Three blocks
Basically, the positions that were expressed at that time, and which were again expressed at the Paris COP, can be summarized in three blocks: on the one hand, the European Union and other developed countries, such as Japan, in favor of a more ambitious and binding agreement, particularly in the use of renewable energies; on the other hand, the United States and other developed countries, plus the oil producers, who did not want to adopt binding agreements if they did not affect the emerging countries, currently responsible for the greatest increase in emissions; and finally, this group of countries with high industrial growth, the so-called G-77, which includes China, Brazil, India, Mexico, Indonesia and other developing economies that do not yet have the technology or the economic capacity to fuel their economic growth without using their fossil fuels. They say they are not responsible for the problem and that they need to develop their economies, while the United States argues that, without a commitment from these countries, their efforts would be in vain. In reality, there is a final group, that of the poorest countries, which suffer the consequences of global warming without being responsible for its generation and which suffer from the lack of truly effective agreements.
After several COPs where progress was very modest, the Paris conference was considered key to promoting a more lasting agreement to continue the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, after tough negotiations between the aforementioned groups of countries, an agreement was reached that can be considered global, since, as mentioned above, it affects all countries for the first time, not only the economically developed ones. In this sense, it can be considered the first environmental treaty with planetary characteristics, which gives an idea of the seriousness with which climate change is currently being addressed.
Causes of heating
There are already very few voices critical of the scientific basis of the problem, since the accumulation of evidence in very diverse fields of knowledge points in a consistent direction. The global warming of the planet is evident in the loss of the arctic and Antarctic ice surface (mainly the former), in the retreat of glaciers, in the rise in sea level, in the geographical mobility of species, as well as in the temperature of air and water. The causes also point in an increasingly evident direction, since other factors of natural origin, such as variations in solar radiation or volcanic activity, which obviously played a leading role in the climatic changes that occurred in other periods of the planet's geological history, have been discarded. Consequently, it is highly probable that the main cause of warming is the reinforcement of the greenhouse effect produced by the emission of GHGs (CO2, NOx, CH4emissions), resulting from the combustion of coal, oil and gas, associated with energy generation, as well as the loss of forest masses as a consequence of agricultural expansion.
As is well known, the greenhouse effect is natural and key to life on earth (our planet would be 33º C colder in its absence). The problem is that we are reinforcing this effect in a very short time, which implies an imbalance of many other processes and can have catastrophic consequences if drastic measures are not taken to mitigate it. The earth has been warmer than now, no doubt, but it is also key to consider that these natural changes have occurred over a very long time cycle (centuries or millennia), and what we observe now is occurring very quickly, in decades or even years, which will make it very difficult for plant and animal species to adapt.
If the main cause of the problem is GHG emissions, the best remedy would be to reduce them by being more efficient in the use of energy or producing it from other sources (renewable, nuclear). As this is a key sector of economic development, it is understandable why poor countries are reluctant to impose restrictions on themselves when they have not caused the problem, and why rich countries are concerned about the impact that such an effort will have on their economies. For most scientists, it is essential to take these measures so that the situation does not reach a point of no return, endangering the future habitability of the planet. This goal is now set at a 2ºC increase over the average temperature of the industrial period. At present, an increase of 1ºC has been recorded, while the concentration of CO2 for example has risen from 280 parts per million (ppm) to over 400 ppm. The foreseeable impacts are based on our best current knowledge of how the climate works, which is still imprecise. However, the potential global effects are very serious and may drastically affect different species, animal and plant, as well as human activities: loss of glaciers, which are key resources for the water supply of many peoples; sea level rises that will mainly affect large coastal urban agglomerations; greater droughts in already semi-arid areas; more intense flooding in some places; or even, paradoxically, a cooling of the climate in northern Europe, due to the alteration of ocean currents. Regionally, there may also be positive impacts, such as improved agricultural yields in cold areas of Central Asia or North America, but the overall balance can be considered very worrying, with possible feedback effects that could become catastrophic.
Common commitment
The Paris agreement is actually a "roadmap" indicating agreement on the seriousness of the problem and the need to collaborate globally to solve it, or at least mitigate it. It represents a common commitment by all countries to take effective action towards an economic transition to less dependence on fossil fuels. More ambitious commitments will still need to be made, but at least it shows three very positive elements: 1) willingness to collaborate between developed and developing countries, 2) recognition of the different responsibilities for the problem, and 3) acceptance that individual interests need to take precedence over the common good.
These three principles are at the core of the Laudato si. Although not explicitly stated, there is no doubt, in my opinion, that Pope Francis is also part of the success of the Paris agreement. His undoubted moral leadership and the clarity with which he has spoken out on this issue have made many leaders reflect on the need to go a step further, to put aside particular interests and seek a consensus based on the honest pursuit of the common good. In this sense, he affirms in the Laudato si: "International negotiations cannot make significant progress because of the positions of countries that privilege their national interests over the global common good." (n. 169). It is a commitment, moreover, that recognizes diverse responsibilities, since contributions to the common climate fund will be proportional to the wealth of each country, as Pope Francis also recommended: "It is necessary that developed countries contribute to solving this debt by significantly limiting the consumption of non-renewable energy and providing resources to the countries most in need to support sustainable development policies and programs [...]. For this reason, it is necessary to maintain a clear awareness that there are diversified responsibilities in climate change." (n. 52). The impact on the poorest countries and future generations cannot be ignored: "We can no longer speak of sustainable development without intergenerational solidarity." (n. 159).
I am sure that Pope Francis will have rejoiced enormously at the Paris agreement, and I am also sure that he will remember in the future the importance of complying with it and of continuing to move forward along these lines in order to mitigate the threats that the impacts of climate change can bring to the most vulnerable societies. I am also sure that his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who had also spoken with great clarity and forcefulness on this issue, will have rejoiced at this news. And not just spoken, but also acted, making Vatican City in 2007 the world's first CO2by covering the entire surface of the Paul VI Hall with solar panels. The Church not only preaches but also tries to put into practice what it recommends.
The authorEmilio Chuvieco
Professor of Geography at the University of Alcalá.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting, or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The storage or technical access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The storage or technical access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
Technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.Storage or technical access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a request, voluntary compliance by your Internet service provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved solely for this purpose cannot be used to identify you.
Marketing
The storage or technical access is necessary to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or multiple websites for similar marketing purposes.
