Two books on poverty and vulnerability for today's world

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Two books on poverty and vulnerability for today's world

Two books by the Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini and San Pedro Poveda Chairs of the Pontifical University of Salamanca delve into the themes of poverty and vulnerability.

Maria José Atienza-June 30, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

The chairs Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini and St. Pedro Poveda of the Pontifical University of Salamanca have brought together in two volumes the reflections and considerations of various experts on poverty and Christian life on the one hand, and vulnerability and care on the other.

The option of the poor

The first of them The option of the poorThe book, The Option for the Poor in the Pastoral Ministry of Cardinal Ruffini, brings together the conferences of a series of conferences held in 2022 under the title The Option for the Poor in the Pastoral Ministry of Cardinal Ruffini. The conference was attended, among others, by the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Bishop Matteo Maria Zuppi.

The book focuses on the magisterium of Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini and his ministry in favor of the poor. In this regard, the director of the Ruffini Chair, José Antonio Calvo, recalled that Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini "tirelessly sowed the word of God in the hearts of many men and women who lacked almost everything".

Vulnerability. Perspectives from theology, spirituality and education.

On the other hand, the other volume, Vulnerability. Perspectives from theology, spirituality and education. The book gathers the reflections of several professors from philosophical, theological, spiritual and pedagogical perspectives. It also includes the last lecture of the French theologian Joseph Caillot, who said goodbye to his faculty, ill with ALS.

A book, coordinated by the Chair of St. Pedro Poveda, which shows that "all Theology must have a pastoral character, that is, be born and live in the space of contact between the revelation of God and the concrete life of men to reflect on the salvific history of God with men that takes place at every moment, as the Dean of the Faculty of Theology pointed out in the presentation of both books, which "are situated in this space, specifically, "in the space that defines the poverty that weighs on certain sectors of humanity and on the vulnerability of the men and women who make it up".

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"Open doors", Pope's wish on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

On the eve of the Jubilee Year 2025, on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis called on "the Lord to open the doors of our hearts - sometimes blocked by fear, closed by selfishness, sealed in indifference or resignation - to open us to an encounter with Him". And also to "build a Church and a society with open doors," as he imposed the pallium on 42 new metropolitan archbishops.

Francisco Otamendi-June 29, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

The Holy Father Francis today, on the Solemnity of the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, encouraged holy apostles Peter and PaulWe should allow ourselves to be "inspired by their stories, by the apostolic zeal that marked the path of their lives. In their encounter with the Lord, they had a true paschal experience: they were liberated and the doors of a new life opened before them".

And he described them in this way: St. Peter, "the fisherman of Galilee whom Jesus made a fisher of men. St. Paul, "the Pharisee persecutor of the Church transformed by grace into an evangelizer of the Gentiles".

At the solemn Eucharistic celebration in the Vatican Basilica with the cardinals, the new metropolitan archbishops, to whom he presented the pallium, with the bishops, priests and faithful, and with a delegation from the Patriarchate of Constantinople present at the Holy Mass, the Pope referred in his homily to Peter's release from prison, and to the next Jubilee, which will begin in the Church on December 24.

God opens the doors

"The first reading describes the episode of Peter's release from captivity (...). What is narrated to us, then, is a new exodus; God frees his Church, his people, who are in chains, and shows himself once again as the God of mercy who sustains their journey. On that night of liberation it happened that, first of all, the prison doors were miraculously opened. Then of Peter and the angel accompanying him it is said that 'they came to the iron gate leading into the city. The gate opened by itself before them'. It was not they who opened the gate, but it opened by itself."

"It is God who opens the doors," the Pontiff stressed. "It is He who frees and clears the way. To Peter - as we hear in the Gospel - Jesus had entrusted the keys of the Kingdom. But Peter experiences that it is the Lord who opens the doors first, because he always precedes us.

The itinerary of the Apostle Paul is also, first of all, a paschal experience, the Pope pointed out. "He, in fact, was first transformed by the Risen One on the road to Damascus and then, in the unceasing contemplation of Christ crucified, he discovered the grace of weakness; when we are weak, he said, in reality, just then, we are strong because we no longer cling to ourselves, but to Christ. Clinging to the Lord and crucified with him, Paul wrote, 'I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The Jubilee and the doors of evangelization

"Let us pause to consider precisely the image of the door. The JubileeIndeed, it will be a time of grace during which we will open the Holy Doorso that all may have the opportunity to cross the threshold of the living sanctuary that is Jesus and, in him, experience the love of God that strengthens hope and renews joy. In the story of Peter and Paul, too, there are doors that open. Let us meditate on this.

"Brothers and sisters, the two Apostles Peter and Paul had this experience of grace," he continued. "They, in the first person, experienced the work of God, who opened to them the doors of their inner prison and also of the royal prisons, where they were imprisoned because of the Gospel. He also opened before them the doors of evangelization, so that they could experience the joy of meeting with the brothers and sisters of the newborn communities and bring the hope of the Gospel to all.

"Therefore, as we prepare to open the Holy Door, this message is also for us. We too need the Lord to open the doors of our hearts - sometimes blocked by fear, closed by selfishness, sealed in indifference or resignation - so that we can open ourselves to an encounter with him," the Pope said. "We too need a gaze capable of recognizing which doors the Lord opens for the proclamation of the Gospel, to rediscover the joy of evangelizing and to overcome the feelings of defeat and pessimism that contaminate pastoral action."

Message when imposing the pallium

In conclusion, Francis referred to the imposition of the pallium "on the metropolitan archbishops appointed during the past year. In communion with Peter and following the example of Christ, the door of the sheep, they are called to be diligent shepherds who open the doors of the Gospel and who, through their ministry, help to build a Church and a society with open doors".

The Pontiff also greeted "with fraternal affection the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: thank you for having come to express the common desire for full communion between our Churches. May Saints Peter and Paul help us to open the door of our lives to the Lord Jesus; may they intercede for us, for the city of Rome and for the whole world. Amen.

Angelus: authority is service, release of prisoners

At noon, the Pope leaned out of the window of the Apostolic Palace and prayed the Angelus with the faithful. In his brief meditation, Francis recalled some ideas from his morning homily and emphasized, in considering Jesus' promise to give Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, that "authority is a service. Otherwise, it is a dictatorship".

He also pointed out that his mission was not to close the doors of the house, but to help everyone find the way in, "everyone, everyone", and that he did not entrust him with the keys because he was not a sinner, but "because he was humble and honest".

Finally, he remembered the families, the elderly alone, the sick, and asked for prayers for those who suffer from wars, for peace in the world, and for the release of all prisoners, while rejoicing in the release of two Greek Catholic priests.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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German "Synodal Council" must change its name

This emerged from a working session between a delegation of the German Bishops' Conference and various dicasteries of the Curia held on Friday in Rome.

José M. García Pelegrín-June 29, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

The main outcome of the meeting held on June 28 at the Vatican, which continued the talks initiated at the Vatican's General Assembly, was that visit ad limina of the German bishops in November 2022 and to be continued on March 22, 2024, as highlighted in a "new" report.Joint press release of the Holy See and the German Bishops' Conference (DBK)" is that, for the representatives of the Roman Curia, there are two "important aspects".

The first is that the name of the "Synodal Council" should be modified, and "several aspects of the proposal previously formulated for a possible national synodal body" should be changed.

Secondly, both the Curia and the DBK are "in agreement that it is neither above nor on the same level as the Bishops' Conference".

This is of particular relevance, since until now, the final "synodal body" being prepared in the "Synodal Committee" was intended to be a joint governing body between the bishops and the laity of the "Central Committee of German Catholics" ZdK that would ultimately oversee the work of the DBK at the national level and of the bishop in each diocese.

According to the communiqué, the German bishops reported on the last meeting of the "Synodal Committee," referred to in the communiqué as a "temporary working body."

Meeting participants

Participating in the meeting from the Roman Curia were Cardinals Victor Manuel Fernandéz, Kurt Koch, Pietro Parolin, Robert F. Prevost OSA and Arthur Roche, as well as Archbishop Filippo Iannone O.Carm.

On behalf of the German bishops were Msgr. Georg BätzingStephan Ackermann, Msgr. Bertram Meier and Msgr. Franz-Josef Overbeck, in the presence of DBK Secretary General Beate Gilles and DBK press spokesman Matthias Kopp.

The main theme of the meeting was the relationship between the exercise of episcopal ministry and the promotion of the co-responsibility of all believers.

According to the press release, "special emphasis was placed on the aspects of canon law for the establishment of a concrete form of synodality in the Church in Germany."

As can be deduced from the above, the Roman Curia once again stops a "Synodal Council". which sought the creation of a joint governing body between the bishops and the laity of the ZdK, which has been repeatedly forbidden by the Vatican: in two letters January 16, 2023 and of the February 16, 2024sent by the principal cardinals of the Holy See with the explicit approval of the Pope, recalled that a Synodal Council "is not foreseen by current canon law and, therefore, a resolution in this sense by the DBK would be invalid, with the corresponding juridical consequences".

By taking up at Friday's meeting the "aspects of canon law" in relation to the "concrete form of synodality" of the Church in Germany, it is clear that the Roman Curia expects the DBK to move forward in this area in agreement with the Vatican.

According to the communiqué, a commission of the "Synodal Committee", which will deal with "the structure of a synodal body" will do so "in close contact with the corresponding commission, made up of representatives of the dicasteries concerned"; the "project" of such a body will therefore be drawn up only in agreement with the Vatican.

Discussions between the Curia and the DBK will continue "after the conclusion of the World Synod, to deal with other topics of an anthropological, ecclesiological and liturgical nature."

Now, the bishops will have to convey to the lay members of the "Synodal Committee" these two fundamental points discussed in Rome: the change of name and the fact that the "synodal body at the national level" that they intend to prepare cannot be neither above nor at the same level as the DBK. The next meeting of this Committee is scheduled for December 13 and 14.

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Scientists as well as believers. Reasons for their position of faith

This interesting volume brings together the contributions of 26 university authors who dismantle the idea, so widespread today, that science professionals cannot - or should not - have religious beliefs.

Manuel Alfonseca-June 29, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

In 2014, when this book was published, the idea that science and faith are compatible, that science, reason and faith should collaborate to broaden the scope of our knowledge, was quite new in the Spanish bibliophile market. Upon receiving a proposal from Editorial Stella Maris, Francisco José Soler Gil and I (Manuel Alfonseca) decided to tackle the enterprise of constructing a book that would bring together the contributions of a considerable number (26) of university authors who, through their participation, would disprove the idea, so widespread today, that science professionals cannot - or should not - have religious beliefs.

Throughout the twentieth century and so far in the twenty-first, the unstoppable rise of atheism has come to a halt. The nineteenth century predictions of the death of God and the imminent end of religion have not been fulfilled.

60 questions on science and faith answered by 26 university professors

Authors: Manuel Alfonseca (Coord)

EditorialStella Maris

Pages: 414

Year: 2016

The latest discoveries of science, especially in cosmology, have disproved the positivist prediction that religious thought would die at the hands of science. That prediction has not come true, because it was wrong.

Mainstream scientism starts from the assertion that only science can lead to valid knowledge. It is curious that those who think this way do not realize that this assertion must be false. Where does it come from? Has it been demonstrated by any science? Clearly it has not. Then, if it were true, it would have to be false, since that is precisely what it affirms, and we would arrive at a contradiction.

Therefore, the aim of this book is to contribute to the cleansing and rehabilitation of the part of thought on the borderline between science and faith, which has been devastated by scientism.

The sixty questions contained in the book are grouped thematically into ten subdivisions:

Key issuesThey take the form of ten questions that ask whether science has limits; what science owes to Christian culture; whether there is proof of the existence of God, or whether, on the contrary, as atheists claim, God is an unnecessary hypothesis; whether science is a more advanced stage that has surpassed the "infantile" stage of religious faith; whether there can be scientific knowledge of God.
The clash between science and faith throughout the history of the history: main arguments of materialism: In these seven questions we review whether science can give answers to all of man's questions, marginalizing God; whether it is true that the Catholic Church has systematically opposed science; whether the debate is correctly raised in the media; whether everything is matter, as materialists claim; whether the notion of the soul has become obsolete; and the problem of evil, as approached by contemporary science.
Evolution: Nine more questions, on the compatibility of concepts such as creation and evolution, chance and design; is Darwinism necessarily atheistic; what is Darwinism? intelligent designWhat is known about the origin of life and the origin of man? Is nature amoral?
Neuroscience: Seven questions that raise the problems of mind and consciousness, human freedom, religious experience, moral judgments, without forgetting to review Libet's experiments on freedom.
Quantum physics: Three questions address this difficult issue to ask whether quantum mechanics is relevant to the scientific understanding of the mind; whether we can still talk about reality; and whether this branch of physics can contribute something in the discussions between science and religion.
Cosmology: These six questions raise the issue of the origin of the universe (the Big Bang), whether it really had a beginning, whether it could have created itself, and how multiverse theories affect the idea of creation.
Fine adjustment: This section is sufficiently important to merit an independent study. In the four corresponding questions, this problem is approached from different points of view, one of the most thorny that atheists encounter today, and which in essence is a modern version of the fifth way of St. Thomas Aquinas.
The mathematics and religionFour questions that raise the age-old problem of whether mathematics is a construct of the human mind or a reflection of an essential dimension of reality, as well as whether there is any relationship between statistics and game theory and the problem of freedom.
Ethical aspects of science: Six increasingly topical questions: whether science should be subject to ethical controls; whether everything that is technically feasible should be ethically admissible; what are the ethical limits of embryo research, cloning, stem cell research, genetic manipulation, gene therapy and other interventions on incipient human life; and what are the ethical consequences of environmental pollution.
Final considerations: The che last four questions ask how the scientific method is applied and what knowledge of reality it provides; is there any room for finality in a world described by science; can a Christian be a scientist; can a scientist be a Christian; can a scientist be a Christian; can a scientist be a scientist; can a scientist be a Christian; can a scientist be a Christian?

The 60 questions included in the book do not cover all the controversial points of the relationship between science and faith, but their reading may clarify some doubts to the reader and train him in the kind of reflections necessary to unravel the philosophical and scientific aspects of the controversies on the relationship between science and faith.

We believe that a work with these characteristics does more than bear witness to the role of the Christian faith as a driving force of philosophical and scientific thought and as a generator of reflection and culture.

The mere existence of a collective book of this magnitude, in which 26 physicists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, physicians, biologists, philosophers, etc., from various Spanish and Latin American universities cooperate to clarify the relationship between science and faith, is something out of the ordinary.

In an era like ours, in which particular knowledge tends to be disconnected from each other and the overall vision is being lost, it is not easy for a large group of specialists in different areas of knowledge to make an effort to articulate a common perspective.

Therefore, this work is an exercise of the most genuine university spirit. A spirit that, as one might suspect at the end of the reading, has something to do with the Christian perspective.

List of authors: Miguel Acosta, Manuel Alcalde, Manuel Alfonseca, Juan Arana, Emilio Chuvieco, Santiago Collado, Ignacio García Jurado, Julio Gonzalo, David Jou, Nicolás Jouve, Javier Leach, Agustina Lombardi, Alfredo Marcos, Carlos Marmelada, Juan Carlos Nieto, Javier Pérez Castells, Miguel Pérez de Laborda, Aquilino Polaino, Francisco Rodríguez Valls, Javier Sánchez Cañizares, Francisco José Soler Gil, Fernando Sols, Ignacio Sols, Pedro Jesús Teruel, Claudia Vanney and Héctor Velázquez.

The authors are from ten Spanish universities, one from Argentina, one from Mexico and one from Rome.

Since Editorial Stella Maris, which published this book, no longer exists, the book has been republished by Editorial Schedas with a similar title: Science and faith questions answered by university professors. The reason for the differences is that this new version does not include the same questions as the first one (one of the authors, Javier Leach, has died, and his answers were withdrawn).

The authorManuel Alfonseca

Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain

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St. Peter and St. Paul still "cross paths" in Rome

The celebration of St. Peter and St. Paul commemorates two of the great pillars of the faith. In Rome, the place of the martyrdom of both apostles, this date is celebrated with several special initiatives.

Andrea Acali-June 29, 2024-Reading time: 5 minutes

Anyone who decides to visit St. Peter's Basilica at this time of year will come across the imposing scaffolding erected for the restoration of Bernini's baldachin.

Down there, perpendicular to the altar, is the tomb of the apostle to whom Jesus gave the mandate to confirm his brothers in the faith.

June 29 is the solemnity commemorating the two princes of the Church, Peter, the humble fisherman from Galilee who became the vicar of Christ, and Paul, the learned Pharisee, originally from Cilicia, who grew up in the school of Gamaliel and transformed himself from a fierce persecutor of the nascent Church into a tireless apostle of the Gentiles.

The two patron saints of the eternal city are remembered together and this year they will be celebrated with a series of initiatives promoted by the Vicariates of the dioceses of Rome and Vatican City, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Rome and Panathlon International.

In particular, on Saturday 29 is scheduled "Quo Vadis", a walk-event that touches on the historical stages of the presence of the two apostles in the capital of the empire; on Sunday, June 30, instead, is scheduled "Peter and Paul in Rome", a theatrical show by and with Michele La Ginestra.

The Quo Vadis walk

Particularly noteworthy is the Quo Vadis walk, which, according to the organizers' intentions, should become a fixed date every year. According to tradition, when Peter was leaving Rome fleeing the persecutions of Nero, Jesus appeared to him on the Appian Way. The apostle asked him where he was going ("Quo vadis Domine?") and Christ replied: "I am going to Rome, to be crucified again". At that point Peter returned, to be martyred in Nero's circus, crucified upside down and then buried in the nearby necropolis of the Ager Vaticanus.

The tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage, even before the construction of the primitive Constantinian basilica. But it was not until the twentieth century that the tomb of Peter was identified with certainty, with the excavations ordered by Pius XII between 1939 and 1958 and the research of the well-known archaeologist Margherita Guarducci.

If the tomb has been identified with certainty where the famous trophy of Gaius and the red wall with graffiti, including the famous "Petros eni" (presumably "Peter is here", in Greek), some doubts remain as to the exact location of the bones. However, faith can amply compensate for the uncertainties of science.

The crossroads between Peter and Paul

Today, on the Via Appia - the 'Regina Viarum' of the ancient Romans - near the catacombs of St. Callistus, there is a small church commemorating the 'Quo vadis Domine?'The same road 'crosses' the path of Peter and Paul, who came from here to Rome, were imprisoned and then found martyrdom there, according to tradition. And that same road 'crosses' the path of Peter and Paul, who from here came to Rome, were imprisoned and then found martyrdom there, according to tradition, where today stands the abbey of Tre Fontane.

Church of Santa Maria in Palmis or Church of the Quo Vadis on the Appian Way

Friar Agnello Stoia, pastor of St. Peter's, explains that the basic idea of the initiatives is "to give back to Rome the permanence of its patrons, who give a character of universality to this city".

St. Peter's house arrest

The human stories of Peter and Paul in Rome intersect, cross, separate and unite, in the streets of Rome and as the streets of Rome". The urban walk will touch on all the places linked to the two apostles.

Among others - in addition to the basilicas of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Peter in the Vatican - St. Sebastian Outside the Walls, where the relics of Peter and Paul were supposedly transferred in 258 before returning to the Vatican, and in the Ostiense, as well as one of the Seven Churches traditionally visited by pilgrims on the occasion of the Jubilee; Santa Prisca, the splendid basilica on the Aventine, dedicated to the martyred daughter of Aquila and Priscilla, Paul's friends who lived here; the Carcere Mamertino, where the two apostles were imprisoned; and again Santa Maria in Via Lata, where Paul is said to have spent the two years of "house arrest."

The route includes two paths, one longer and one shorter, at the end of which you will receive a "pietruzza", a small stone that symbolizes the road traveled. It is precisely the "sanpietrino", evoked in the logo "Quo Vadis", which links Peter, Rome and its streets.

This is an opportunity for citizens, tourists, families and the faithful to rediscover or visit for the first time many places - including the Colosseum Archaeological Park, which is free to visit exclusively for participants - churches, art treasures and fascinating history. The program is available at https://sanpietroquovadis.it/

As far as St. Peter's is concerned, it is interesting to recall an ancient custom. In the central nave of the Vatican Basilica, on the right, before the transept, there is a large bronze statue of the first Pope. St. Peter at the Chair" is a work attributed to the 13th century sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio (although some scholars date it to the 5th century, commissioned by St. Leo the Great, who had a statue of Jupiter cast).

It was Paul V Borghese, pontiff between 1605 and 1621, who ordered the statue to be placed in the basilica, after having been in the cloister of St. Martin for a long time. The statue stands on a marble throne of the Renaissance period, while in 1871 Pius IX ordered the construction of the baldachin that covers it.

The statue represents St. Peter on the episcopal chair. His right hand blesses in the Greek manner, that is, with two fingers, while in his left hand he holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The vestments are classic: a tunic down to the feet and, over the shoulder, the manly mantle. The particularity of the feast is that, on June 29, the statue is dressed with the tiara and the pontifical vestments, a long red and golden cloak, which also serves to underline the universal power of the Vicar of Christ.

The right foot of the statue is visibly worn by centuries of popular devotion. With the construction of the Constantinian basilica, in fact, the tomb of Peter had become inaccessible, so it is still a tradition for the faithful to kiss or caress the foot of the statue as an act of veneration.

Some curiosity

In 2020, during the pandemic, the celebrations in the Vatican Basilica on the occasion of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul were held behind closed doors, but Pope Francis went to venerate in person the statue of the first Pontiff.

Another peculiarity, perhaps little known but that can be "discovered" through the "Quo Vadis" walk, is linked to the basilica of Santa Maria in via Lata. It stands on what is now the central Via del Corso and was once the first stretch of the Via Flaminia. In the crypt of the church, according to tradition, St. Paul would have lived during his imprisonment in Rome.

The house would have been that of St. Luke the Evangelist, who would have written the Acts of the Apostles here, and would also have housed Peter. Above the entrance to the crypt, a marble plaque bears the inscription, in Latin, "Oratory of St. Paul the Apostle, St. Luke the Evangelist and Martial Martyr, where the rediscovered image of the Blessed Virgin Mary was found, one of the seven painted by Blessed Luke," in memory of the presence in that place of some of the first and most important witnesses of the Christian faith.

The authorAndrea Acali

-Rome

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What are the consistories of cardinals?

Rome Reports-June 28, 2024-Reading time: < 1 minute

The Pope can convoke two kinds of consistories: ordinary and extraordinary.

The former are normally attended by cardinals residing in Rome, while the extraordinary ones are convened to deal with matters of special importance.

In some cases, consistories may be public; that is, some persons other than cardinals are allowed to enter.

Now you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.

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Photo Gallery

Eucharistic procession along the river

Eucharistic procession on the Ohio River as part of the Seton Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. From the boat, Bishop Mark E. Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, offers the Eucharistic blessing to the faithful gathered at the Wellsburg dock.

Maria José Atienza-June 28, 2024-Reading time: < 1 minute

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Artificial intelligence challenges Catholic universities

Integral ecology

Artificial Intelligence, master of humanity

Artificial Intelligence not only raises questions in the ethical realm, but also opens before us profound questions about human beings and their innermost desires.

Javier Sánchez Cañizares-June 28, 2024-Reading time: 9 minutes

The challenge of Artificial Intelligence Related News

The title of this contribution may come as a surprise. The enormous advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years have made its presence a reality in almost all areas of human activity. From image recognition to text generation and the ability to identify hidden patterns in a multitude of data, AI is now an unavoidable tool for society. Its ability to find novel problem-solving strategies through deep learning and its increasing speed in information processing make it a safe companion for the humans of today and tomorrow.

However, despite its occasional successes, it does not seem that Artificial Intelligence can develop a general intelligence similar to the natural intelligence that we humans enjoy. At present, Artificial Intelligence is rather a set of "Artificial Intelligences" in plural: several algorithms supported by different artificial neural networks, each of them specialized in solving similar but specific problems.

Humanizing Artificial Intelligence

So, beyond finding ingenious solutions for certain tasks, does Artificial Intelligence have anything to say about what it means to be human? Can it be a teacher of humanity? At this point, the problems generated by an immoral use of this technology will surely come to mind. Shouldn't we rather focus on those human values that should be included, as far as possible, in the different artificial intelligences?

Certainly, the use of Artificial Intelligence must be humanized. Welcome are the directives and initiatives that, at a personal, social and political level, can be carried out to limit the consequences derived from the misuse of this powerful tool. We protect our personal data, we fight against piracy and we put filters on the Internet to prevent the most vulnerable from accessing harmful content. There is a growing sensitivity in this regard in practically all sectors and steps are being taken in the right direction. At the same time, establishing legal frameworks to address the potential risks of Artificial Intelligence, although necessary and essential, should not make us lose sight of what is at stake. However well-intentioned it may be, legality alone cannot prevent the misuse of Artificial Intelligence at any cost.

However, this is not directly the focus of the reflections. By affirming that Artificial Intelligence is a teacher of humanity, the considerations go into a deeper level: what does Artificial Intelligence teach us about our innermost human core? Can contemplating technological advances help us to rethink and revaluate what it means to be human? I think so, even if the practical consequences of all this are not immediately visible.

Artificial and natural

Artificial Intelligence is a product of human intelligence. Is there a frontal opposition between the natural and the artificial that allows us to better understand ourselves as opposed to machines? It is doubtful, because in a certain way it is natural for human beings to produce artifacts. The artificial is in many cases a development and completion of the natural. Moreover, the boundary between the two fields is not always clear: is a living being artificially conceived, genetically modified, cured or improved by prostheses or artificial products artificial? The boundaries can be blurred. However, the myth of Frankenstein's monster should remind us that biology does not seem to be accidental in human beings.

Moreover, and more radically, that man comes from a natural evolution that has been going on for millions of years may suggest why it is not so easy to "produce" people. The necessity of evolution for the appearance of intelligent beings on Earth (and we do not know if on other planets) is an evident sign that the biological character of human beings is not a mere support, as some radical transhumanists would like to think, but a necessary and defining condition.

To see if a produced Artificial Intelligence can aspire to come close to the human being, it would be necessary to "let it evolve" without hindrances or restrictions of any kind. But that does not seem to be what we want with Artificial Intelligence. The artificial is always something that is subtracted from the evolutionary flow of nature to carry out specific purposes. We ask them of our toaster and our smartphone, each at its own level. In this sense, the artificial is never natural.

The question of purpose

The above considerations lead us to a second point, often forgotten by the staunch supporters of an AI that can surpass the human being: the question of ends. What is an end? What does it mean to have ends? Although modern science has put the question of purpose in nature in parentheses, paradoxically, purposes reappear when we try to understand the behavior of living beings, who almost always act with a view to something.

In living beings, purposes arise naturally: they are inscribed in their nature, we could say. AI, on the other hand, always operates on the basis of an external purpose imposed by the programmers. Regardless of the fact that, through deep learning, new "ends" may apparently emerge in the different Artificial Intelligences, no product carries in itself the inclination towards any purpose.

In the case of the human being, the question of ends appears with greater clarity in relation to the capacity to channel the yearning that each one has to be completed. The person has natural desires that aim at ends that complete and complement him. Now, what is the ultimate end of man? The generic answer to that question is happiness (classical ethics perspective), holiness or communion with God (believing view) or generic help to others (philanthropic perspective). The key point here is that such an end is not predetermined in a concrete way. Rather, depending on the stages of life and the contexts in which a person lives, the way of conceiving the general end is interpreted and developed in different ways. There is therefore no teleological determinism.

Artificial intelligence, determinism and freedom

Someone might object that, in the future, if we have a quantum version of AI, perhaps such determinism will not be present in them either. But that would be to misunderstand the argument, which has to do not so much with the processes of determination as with life. Living means being able to establish new ends in new contexts, given by the environment, and to concatenate the new ends with the previous ends, in the singular and unrepeatable history of each living being.

This process occurs in a special way in the human being, because it entails the use of freedom as self-determination: the capacity to want in a way that is coherent with one's personal history what intelligence presents as good.

The teleological process in humans is maximally creative, because each person is capable of recognizing and desiring as a human good that which underlies and is hidden in each vital situation. It is the creative freedom of a spiritual being who, living in the "here and now", is capable of transcending it: he is capable of putting the "here and now" in relation to the whole of life, even if imperfectly. That is living humanly and that, ultimately, is growing as an individual of the human species. It does not appear that AI, regardless of its physical support, functions in this way. No AI lives, because to dedicate oneself to solving concrete problems, imposed from outside, is not the same as living and posing problems.

artificial intelligence — Robot equipped with Artificial Intelligence (OSV News photo/Yves Herman, Reuters)

The limits of knowledge

The question of ends and life is closely related to knowledge. In fact, many authors have defended a basic continuity in nature, a direct proportionality between life and knowledge. The way of perceiving the world is specific and particular to each living being, because it is an essential part of its way of living, of being in the world.

In the case of the human being, his being in the world reaches a practically unlimited extension. Although the external senses function within a certain range of stimuli, human beings are capable of going beyond this, thanks to their intelligence, and of knowing that there are more things than those immediately perceived. For example: we are able to "see" beyond the visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, or to "hear" beyond the spectrum of frequencies audible to a human being. Moreover, without possessing any sense of gravity, we can detect the ripples of space produced by interactions between black holes in the night of time.

Although every experiment must end up offering something sensible to the experimenter, the human being is capable of following the trail of physical correlations that occur in nature to unsuspected limits. A good part of this capacity is manifested in the advances provided by science, one of the most spiritual achievements of our species.

However, an essential component of human knowledge is our awareness of being limited. What may seem like a contradiction is not. Our desire to know is potentially unlimited, but we are aware of this because we usually experience knowledge as limited. A decisive consequence of this is what it entails to be a person of integrity: someone who does not confuse his or her knowledge of reality with reality itself.

Artificial Intelligence and mental illness

Knowledge refers to reality, but does not exhaust it. Along with other capacities, human knowledge is called to extend in an unlimited way, but it is never unlimited in the present. What you know, feel or experience is not reality, many psychologists tell their interlocutors. Not only to make them recognize their finitude, but to remind them that they are not the creators of truth, not even the truth about their own lives. This is the core of much of mental illness.

Can an Artificial Intelligence get sick like this? No. For the simple reason that no AI distinguishes between its "knowledge" and reality itself. Someone might object that there are Artificial Intelligences that "sense": they have sensors that receive information about reality and even "choose" which information to process and which not to process. But that is not the problem. The problem is that the "input-processing-output" scheme of an AI is always closed in itself. Even if the content of this scheme is made flexible so that it can change in successive iterations, at any given time only this triad exists for the AI (or for the hardware that carries out the algorithm, if you prefer to look at it that way).

Representation and reality

At no time can there be a differentiation between knowledge and reality, specific to human beings, for the simple reason that every human being is born with an interest in the whole of reality while AI is produced with a particularized purpose, even if it is to simulate a certain "concern" for unprocessed data, which ends up becoming a new entry in the iterations of algorithms.

To a large extent, the success of contemporary Artificial Intelligence comes from overcoming the limitations of an early AI that rigidly identified logical symbols and rules with physical hardware processes. It has been necessary to relax this identification for AI to improve dramatically. But Artificial Intelligences will never be able to be "sane", to have what Brian Cantwell Smith calls "good judgement" ("The Promise of Artificial Intelligence: Reckoning and Judgment"The systems that in themselves are not capable of understanding what their representations are about do not authentically relate to the world in the way their representations represent it. Systems that in themselves are not capable of understanding what their representations are about do not authentically relate to the world in the way their representations represent it. The latter is something that can occur only at the personal level.

The religious dimension

Finally, it is interesting to analyze the question of the limits of a potentially unlimited knowledge in the religious sphere. Classical thinkers considered that there is a natural desire in human beings to see God. This paradox caused many problems for the theology of the two orders: natural and supernatural. How to combine the two orders? How could there be a natural desire for a supernatural reality?

A theology more centered on the dynamics of personal relationships than on the conceptualization of orders has been shedding light on this classic problem. This problem reveals the curious combination of finitude and infinity that is present in the created person and, incidentally, reminds us that the religious dimension is an intrinsic component of human nature. The desire for infinity does not seem to be completely extinguished in man, of infinite dignity, despite the attempts of nihilistic philosophies.

Does Artificial Intelligence teach us something about our human religiosity? Today, Artificial Intelligences specialized in language processing can make great summaries on the content of religions, build magnificent homilies or search almost instantaneously for the passages of the Bible that best suit our state of mind. But they have no answer about their "own" religiosity beyond what is allowed, directly or indirectly, by their programmers.

In search of a full life

Although Artificial Intelligences do not directly instruct us on the relationship with God, human projections that aim to walk the path that would lead to the humanization of machines often pass through religion. How can we forget here the final scenes of the first Blade Runner, when the replicant Roy Batty begins to become aware of himself and seeks out his creator to ask for more life? Roy is understandably disappointed when he interrogates his programmer and finds that the human creator is not that powerful, he does not go that far. So he decides to put him to death.

Why does Roy seek immortality? Because he has lived and seen "things we wouldn't even believe": a life, his personal history, full of memories that stay with him. But if he has an expiration date, all those memories will not only "be lost like tears in the rain," but will become indistinguishable from any other natural processes. Roy seeks that full, abundant life in which all that he has lived is not lost, is not indifferent, and can acquire its ultimate meaning. It is no small teaching about what it means to live humanly.

The authorJavier Sánchez Cañizares

Researcher of the 'Mind-Brain' group of the Culture and Society Institute, University of Navarra.

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What ecology owes Pope Benedict XVI

Pope links man's salvation to care for creation

In his message for the Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis emphasized the relationship between the virtue of charity and respect for nature and all God's creatures.

Paloma López Campos-June 27, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

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On September 1, 2024, the Church celebrates the Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This year, the theme chosen by Pope Francis is "Wait and act with creation". As the Pontiff explains in the message published for this occasion, the main motif "refers to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 8:19-25, where the apostle clarifies what it means to live according to the Spirit and focuses on the certain hope of salvation through faith, which is new life in Christ".

Taking these verses from the BibleThe Pope says, we can start "from a simple question": "How is it that we have faith? And he himself answers that "it is not so much because 'we believe' in something transcendent that our reason cannot understand", but "it is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us".

Francis further explains this statement by saying that "the Spirit is now truly 'the foretaste of our inheritance,' as a pro-vocation to live always oriented toward eternal goods." It is precisely for this reason that "the Spirit makes believers creative, proactive in charity". And, with this charity, Christians are introduced "on a great path of spiritual freedom" that makes them realize that "they are children of God and can address Him by calling Him 'Abba, that is, Father'".

This, says the Holy Father, should fill us with hope, because "the love of God has conquered, conquers and will always continue to conquer. Despite the prospect of physical death, for the new man who lives in the Spirit, the destiny of glory is already certain".

Faith as a task

Accordingly, the Pope affirms, "the Christian's existence is a life of faith, diligent in charity, and overflowing with hope". However, this is no reason for the disciple of Christ to become complacent. "Faith is a gift," the Pontiff explains, "but it is also a task, to be carried out in freedom, in obedience to Jesus' commandment of love."

This is realized "in the dramas of suffering human flesh," notes the Bishop of Rome. "Christian salvation enters into the depths of the world's pain, which affects not only human beings, but the whole universe."

Therefore, Francis continues, "the whole of creation is involved in this process of a new birth". In this way, the charity of the Christian "must also extend to creation, in a 'situated anthropocentrism', in the responsibility for a human and integral ecology, the path of salvation of our common home and of us who live in it".

Liberation of man, care for creation

The Holy Father emphasizes in his message that "the liberation of man also entails the liberation of all other creatures who, in solidarity with the human condition, have been subjected to the yoke of slavery". In this sense, "in Christ's redemption it is possible to contemplate with hope the bond of solidarity between human beings and all other creatures".

For this reason, continues the Pope, "the Holy Spirit keeps the believing community alert and continually instructs it, calling it to conversion of lifestyles, so that it may oppose human degradation of the environment".

It is important, therefore, that man be docile to the Holy Spirit, since obedience to him "radically changes man's attitude: from 'predator' to 'cultivator' of the garden". In this way, the human being manages to avoid that "form of idolatry" which consists in "pretending to possess and dominate nature, manipulating it at will".

"Therefore," says Francis, "the care of creation is not only an ethical question, but also an eminently theological one, since it concerns the intertwining of the mystery of man with the mystery of God." Likewise, "there is a transcendent (theological-ethical) motivation that commits the Christian to promote justice and peace in the world, also through the universal destination of goods: it is a question of the revelation of the children of God that creation awaits, groaning as if in labor pains".

With and for creation

The Pope concludes his message by clearly summarizing the motto of the Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. "To hope and act with creation means, then, to live an incarnate faith, which knows how to enter into the suffering and hopeful flesh of people, sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord."

Catholics, the Holy Father concludes, must aspire to "a holy life", "a life that becomes a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation, and which finds its fullness in holiness".

Pope Francis

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Jesus in the New Testament, in the light of the Old Testament.

The whole of Sacred Scripture looks to Christ and prepares the people for his coming and recognition. Therefore, knowing the books of the Old Testament is, for every Christian, a fundamental exercise to fully understand the life and message of Jesus.

Francisco Varo-June 27, 2024-Reading time: 8 minutes

Old and New Testaments complement each other. They are not two blocks of books in conflict, but a joint testimony of a single salvific plan that God has progressively unveiled.

These are not two successive and exclusive stages in which, once the goal is reached, the first steps would lose their interest. They are, instead, two moments of the same plan, where the first prepares the way for the second and definitive one.

Even after the goal is achieved, preparation is still essential for the end result to work properly. The books of the Old Testament are not like cranes and scaffolding, which are necessary to construct a building but are removed once the work is completed.

They are rather like medical studies for a doctor: a moment prior in time to the practice of his profession, but once the degree is obtained, the medical practice is based on the knowledge acquired. Continuing education is always required, going back to study. Something similar happens with the relationship between the Old and New Testament.

The Old Testament is a preparation for the New, but once the fullness of revelation is reached in the New, its accurate understanding will require a thorough knowledge of the Old. At the same time, the Old Testament will continue to offer permanent references to which it will be convenient to return again and again, especially when it is necessary to face new challenges in the interpretation of the New Testament.

St. Augustine, in his commentary on Exodus 20:19 (PL 34, 623), expressed the relationship between the two with a concise phrase: "The New Testament is latent in the Old and the Old is patent in the New."

With his usual rhetorical brilliance, he expresses the conviction that the reading of the books of the Old Testament alone, although comprehensible, does not allow us to grasp their full meaning. This is only fully achieved when it is integrated with the reading of the New Testament.

At the same time, it indicates that the New Testament is not alien to the Old Testament, since it is latent in it, within the wise plan of God in his revelation.

To explain in detail the quotations, allusions or echoes of the Old Testament that permeate the passages of the New Testament would require many pages, which would exceed the limited framework of this essay. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to pointing out some simple examples taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew that will help us understand the importance of knowing in depth the stories and expressions of the Old Testament. These show us the way to recognize Christ in the reading of the Gospels.

The genealogy of Jesus

The Gospel according to Matthew begins by showing that Jesus is fully integrated into the history of his people: "Genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." (Mt 1:1). From there, three groups of fourteen generations are listed, in which numerous points of contact with characters and texts from the history of Israel can be seen.

Especially significant are his relationships with the two characters mentioned in the heading: David and Abraham. The fact that they are listed fourteen generations three times is significant since, in Hebrew, fourteen is the numerical value of the consonants of the word David (DaWiD: D is 4, W is 6 and the other D is 4 more). This indicates that Jesus is the Messiah, the expected descendant of David.

The Announcement to Joseph

At the end of the genealogy, an angel of the Lord explains to Joseph the virginal conception of Jesus and gives him precise instructions: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is the work of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Mt 1:20-21).

The angel uses the same words that were used to announce to Abraham that Sarah "she shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac." (Gen 17:19). In this way, the evangelist delineates the figure of Jesus with allusions to literary traits typical of the biblical literature on Isaac.

Bethlehem, the Magi, Herod, Egypt

As for David, it is important to note that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of David: "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the time of King Herod, Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, asking: -Where is the King of the Jews who has been born? For we saw his star in the East and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And he called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. -In Bethlehem of Judah," they told him, "for so it is written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are certainly not the least among the chief cities of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a leader who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod, calling secretly for the Magi, was carefully informed by them of the time when the star had appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying to them, "Go and inquire well about the child; and when you have found him, let me know, that I also may come and worship him." (Mt 2:1-8).

The text is very expressive, since, on the occasion of the Magi's question, a quotation from Scripture is used to show that Jesus is the awaited Messiah, the descendant that the Lord had promised to David, and for this purpose the prophecy of Micah (Micah 5:1) is mentioned.

Shortly thereafter, after the magi had worshipped the child, Joseph is said to have been warned in a dream of Herod's plans to kill him. Joseph immediately obeyedHe arose and took the child and his mother by night and fled to Egypt. There he remained until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord said through the Prophet might be fulfilled: From Egypt I called my son" (Mt 2:14-15).

Again, it is noted that what happened was already anticipated in the Old Testament, even if its readers had not noticed it before. Indeed, the phrase "out of Egypt I called my son" is in Hosea 11:1, although in the prophet's book this "son" is the people of Israel whom God brought out of Egypt to take them to the promised land.

This play of quotations and allusions, which can only be perceived by those who know the Old Testament in detail, is full of meaning.

It is significant that Matthew presents Jesus persecuted at his birth by a king, Herod, who wants to put him to death, and that, once saved from that persecution after Herod's death, he goes to the land of Israel from Egypt.

In this way, Jesus is being presented as a new Moses. In Herod's order to put to death all children under two years of age (Mt 2:16), the persecution that Pharaoh dictated against all Israelite children (Ex 1:16) is being made real again, and just as Moses prodigiously escaped certain death, Jesus also managed to escape Herod's sword.

Afterwards, he would go to the Promised Land from Egypt.

The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan

The idea of Jesus as the new Moses resonates in several aspects at the beginning of his public life. Jesus goes to the Jordan, near Jericho, where John the Baptist is, to be baptized by him. He begins his public life after coming out of the waters of the river (Mt 3:13-17).

According to the book of Deuteronomy, Moses led the people of Israel from Egypt to the Jordan near Jericho (Deut 34:3) and, before crossing the river, he died after contemplating the promised land from Mount Nebo.

Jesus, as the new Joshua, successor of Moses, begins his preaching from the banks of the Jordan in the same place where Moses had arrived, in front of Jericho. It is Jesus who truly brings to fulfillment what Moses had begun.

In narrating the baptism of Jesus, it is said that "And after he was baptized, Jesus came up out of the water; and then the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove and coming upon him. And a voice from the heavens said, "Jesus came out of the water. This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased." (Mt 3:16-17). This phrase "my son, the beloved", which is also heard in the transfiguration of Jesus (Mt 17:5), is an echo of the one in which God addresses Abraham to ask him to sacrifice his son Isaac to him: take "your son, the beloved" (Gen 22:2).

The parallel between Jesus and Isaac, which had already been delineated in the angel's announcement to Joseph (Mt 1:20-21; Gen 17:19), once again takes on a very expressive prominence. This way of presenting Jesus points out the parallel between the dramatic scene in Genesis in which Abraham is ready to sacrifice Isaac, who accompanies him without resistance, and the drama that was consummated on Calvary where God the Father offered his Son in sacrifice, voluntarily assumed for the redemption of the human race.

The Preaching of Jesus

Matthew also speaks of Jesus' preaching, presenting him as the new Moses, who goes on detailing the precepts of the Law in a long discourse from a mountain (Mt 5:1), alluding to Sinai.

There he mentions some of the Commandments transmitted by Moses, and makes some clarifications about their fulfillment, assuming an authority that did not leave those who listened to him indifferent.

Jesus does not raise a conflict with respect to the acceptance of Moi's Law.On the contrary, he ratifies their value: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to give them their fullness. Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is fulfilled." (Mt 5:17-18). But he explains in detail the meaning and the ways to put into practice the main commandments of the Torah.

The "fullness" of which we speak is not that of a simple fulfillment of what is commanded, but a deepening of the teaching of the Law that goes far beyond the rigorous observance of what it expresses in its purest literalism.

The outline of Jesus' words (Mt 5:43-45) corresponds to an explanation of the commandments according to the ordinary procedures among the teachers of Israel at that time. First the text of the Law to be commented on is mentioned, and then the way to fulfill it according to the spirit of these divine commands is indicated. Jesus' listeners would thus hear a discourse structured in a way that is familiar to them.

In this case, the explanations are introduced in a peculiar, almost provocative way by the master of Nazareth. It is not just an ordinary contrast of opinions. He begins by saying: "You have heard that it was said...." and quotes words from the Law to which they all acknowledge a divine origin and authority, to add: "but I say unto you..."Who is this teacher who dares to correct with his interpretation what the Law of Moses says?

This way of presenting the explanation of the commandments is typical of Jesus' style. He claims for himself an authority by which he places himself beside Moses, and even rises above him.

On the one hand, Jesus accepts the Law of Israel, recognizes its authority and teaches that it has a perennial value. But at the same time, this perenniality goes hand in hand with the attainment of a fullness that he himself has come to give it, not by abrogating it in order to replace it with another, but by bringing to its culmination the teaching about God and man that it contains. He has not added new precepts to it, nor has he devalued its moral demands, but he has extracted from it all its hidden potentialities and has brought to light new demands of divine and human truth that were latent in it.

To ignore the Scriptures is to ignore Christ.

An attentive review of the pages of the Gospel, paying attention to the details that a good knowledge of the Old Testament contributes to its understanding, is a fascinating exercise, but one that would require time and space beyond the limits of a simple essay such as this one. However, the examples mentioned above can serve to discover what a reading of the New Testament in the light of the Hebrew Bible can contribute to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The conviction expressed in the apostolic preaching that the Old Testament is only fully understood in the light of the mystery of Christ, and, in turn, that the light of that Old Testament makes the words of the New Testament shine with all their splendor, remained unchanged in patristic theology.

St. Jerome's annotation in the prologue to his Commentary on Isaiah is well known: "if, as the apostle Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and he who does not know the Scriptures does not know the power of God or his wisdom, it follows that to ignore the Scriptures is to ignore Christ."

A good knowledge of the Old Testament is necessary to know Christ in depth, since it is indispensable to grasp all the details that the New Testament points out about the person and mission of the Son of God made man.

The authorFrancisco Varo

Professor of Sacred Scripture, University of Navarra, Spain

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Doing good at God's pace. Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings for Sunday 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Luis Herrera offers a short video homily.

Joseph Evans-June 27, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Our Lord shows a remarkable blend of determination, flexibility and patience in his mission. This is especially evident in today's Gospel, in which we constantly see Jesus willing to go where he is asked, adapting his plans, without the slightest haste, but all inspired by a clear sense of following the Father's will.

Jesus knows what he wants to do and he does it calmly, never fidgeting. And yet, the crowds are buzzing around him, people are demanding his attention or touching him, the disciples are responding nervously to him, people are weeping and wailing aloud, or laughing at him.

Jesus has just cast thousands of demons out of a single person: a hard and exhausting battle. As he crosses by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathers around him. In the midst of that crowd, with Jesus no doubt ready to teach them, a certain Jairus begs him to come and cure his daughter. Jesus follows him without complaint.

On the way, another interruption occurs. A woman who had been suffering from a painful hemorrhage for twelve years touches him. Feeling his strength ebbing away, Jesus stops: healing the woman is not enough, he wants to help her grow in faith. That is why he tests her before healing her; there is even time for a discussion with his disciples. We can imagine Jairus' impatience while all this was going on. And then his worst fears are confirmed. He is told that his daughter is dead.

Jesus says to him: "Fear not; it is enough that you have faith.". He delays even longer, preventing all the others from accompanying him and allowing only Peter, James and John to do so. After having expelled from the house all those who were weeping (he takes more time), Jesus finally heals the child with great patience and gentleness: "I'm talking to you, girl, get up.". She does so, and we are even told that it occurs to Jesus to tell them to give him something to eat.

This is a great lesson for us. To be determined to do good and not let anything deter us, but with calm, patience and flexibility.

One of the reasons we lack mercy-and this may be a particular shortcoming of hard-working, motivated people-is that we have all kinds of things we want to do, perhaps very good things for the service of God, and we don't like to be interrupted.

What we should learn is that those interruptions could be Our Lord telling us what He wants us to do.

Homily on the readings of Sunday 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.

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Caritas supports 2.5 million people and social exclusion is on the rise

"The economic and social crises are leading 26% of citizens to increasingly complex situations of social exclusion," Caritas reported today, which last year served more than 2.5 million people inside and outside Spain, requiring an investment of 486.5 million euros, 6.4% more than the previous year. Half of them came to Caritas despite being employed.

Francisco Otamendi-June 26, 2024-Reading time: 5 minutes

The succession of economic and social crises is leading citizens "to increasingly complex situations of social exclusion". The loss of the protective function of work, the rising cost of housing or the administrative irregularity suffered by many migrants prevents a large part of the population from achieving decent living conditions.

This is confirmed in the Confederal Report of CaritasThe official confederation of charitable and social action entities of the Catholic Church, which was presented this Wednesday in Madrid by its president, Manuel Bretón, and the secretary general, Natalia Peirowho reported on the work carried out by Caritas in 2023.

Last year, Caritas invested a record 486.5 million euros - 29.3 million euros (6.4 %) more than the previous year - in its various resources and projects within Spain and in international cooperation actions in third countries.

Return to pre-pandemic levels and applicant exhaustion

Thanks to these available resources, Caritas managed to support 2,567,680 people inside and outside our borders. Of these, 1,327,298 within Spain and 1,240,382 in International Cooperation. The data in the Report reflect that the number of people assisted in our country returned to similar levels of 2019, the year before the pandemic (1,403,299).

"In 2023 we have found in our shelter services and other resources that the people who come to us have increasing difficulties in accessing their rights. They are people with an accumulation of needs, with a feeling of exhaustion and wear and tear due to the continuous effort in the search for how to resolve these basic needs," explained Natalia Peiro during the presentation of the balance of activities.

80 percent of the aid, for basic needs

Over the past year, one out of every three people served was in an irregular administrative situation, while 50 % were working poor or had serious difficulties in accessing or maintaining their housing.

In the Shelter and Assistance programs, 80 percent of the aid requested by families was related to payments for supplies, rent, i.e. basic needs. "The improvement in the activity rate and the decrease in unemployment throughout 2023 has not translated into an increase in the quality of employment, especially for people in a situation of social exclusion. With a rate of 11.9%, Spain continues to be one of the EU countries with the highest in-work poverty rate due to partiality, low wages and temporality," said Natalia Peiro.

The reality of exclusion and poverty experienced by the people who come to Caritas, according to those responsible, is not cyclical or, therefore, associated with a specific crisis, "but structural and generated by social and economic developments, as well as by policies over decades". The complex situation of people requires longer periods of accompaniment. In the case of people in an irregular administrative situation, this process can last on average between one and two years. "These data show that we need more complex, longer and more expensive accompaniment processes," Peiro stressed.

More funds for employment

As employment is one of the main factors of integration, Caritas once again increased the funds invested in Solidarity Economy programs. With a total allocation of 136.8 million euros (21.3 million more than the previous year), the financial effort made on social and labor insertion itineraries and insertion companies once again exceeded the programs of Shelter and Assistance (96.7 million euros). With these resources, 4.9 % more job seekers were served than in 2022.

"In our day-to-day lives we come across many people making great efforts to better themselves, to learn, to acquire new skills, to overcome the digital divide and to face their fears and the multitude of obstacles they encounter along the way. However, on many occasions, this is not enough to achieve a decent job. This is because our socioeconomic system, based on economic profitability, accumulation, individualism, competition and excessive consumption, continues to lead us to growing inequality, increasing job insecurity and environmental degradation, incompatible with social justice and equal access to rights," said Natalia Peiro.

The other programs that used the most resources last year were those for the elderly (42.9 million), the homeless (41.3 million), and family, children and youth (28.5 million), to name the most relevant.

Humanitarian emergencies outside Spain

Responding to the humanitarian needs of thousands of people outside our borders has also been one of the main tasks of Caritas throughout 2023. The different International Cooperation projects had a total investment of 25.2 million euros and assisted 1,240,382 people.

Within humanitarian action, the work carried out in Morocco, Turkey and Syria following the emergency caused by the earthquakes that affected the three countries, the support in the Holy Land, as well as the continuity of the work carried out in Ukraine, stand out above all. All this without forgetting the situation in other countries with forgotten crises such as Mozambique, Ethiopia or Lebanon.

The significant financial effort (some 29.3 million more than in 2022) made by Caritas last year was possible thanks to the generous support of thousands of partners, donors and private collaborators, who contributed more than 327 million, 6.9% more than the previous year. "We value the commitment of more than 230,000 donors and partners who collaborate with us in the task of building a more just world," said the secretary general.

In addition, the efforts of the various public administrations, which contributed a total of 159.4 million euros to Caritas programs, are also noteworthy. Our overall balance of income this year was 67.22% from private sources and 32.78% from public administrations.

Maximum austerity with less means

Even though in the last two years all the Caritas organizations have put into play a significant increase in economic resources due to the impact of the inflationary crisis, it has been possible to maintain the austerity objective in the area of Management and Administration. It has even dropped to 5.72 %.

In other words, out of every 100 euros invested in actions to fight poverty, only 5.7 euros have been allocated to management costs. "We have been at this percentage of management expenses for 20 years," emphasized Natalia Peiro. The Report also includes data on the people behind all this confederal activity, sustained thanks to 71,437 volunteers and 5,871 contracted workers.

Adding wills

During the presentation of the balance of activities, the president of Caritas Española called on the whole of society to "join forces to turn the work in favor of the invisible and discarded into a meeting place and a space for harmony, in these times of worrying social polarization and worsening living conditions for many people, who see how their access to basic rights continues to be very precarious".

In his speech, Manuel Bretón took the opportunity to thank the "tireless support" of companies, individual donors, public administrations and thousands of volunteers "in the task of guaranteeing the dignity of all people, the protection of human rights and the commitment to social justice". "There are many hands that come together to advance this task. Therefore, I would like to thank, on my own behalf and on behalf of Caritas Española, this sum of commitments and solidarity that weave a network of support without which we would not have been able to accompany more than two and a half million people inside and outside our country in 2023."

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Pope visited drug addicts in secret

Pope urges care for those suffering from drug abuse

Pope Francis has called on all Catholics to help fight the "plague" of drug dealing and addiction, on the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Paloma López Campos-June 26, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

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During his audience Pope Francis spoke about the harm caused by drugs on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Quoting St. John Paul II, the Holy Father explained that "drug abuse impoverishes all the communities in which it occurs". However, after this affirmation one cannot forget "that each drug addict brings with him or her a different personal history, which must be listened to, understood, loved and, as far as possible, healed and purified".

In the face of the individual pain caused by the relationship with drugs, Francis said, "we cannot ignore the evil intentions and actions of drug dealers and drug traffickers".

The Pope then advised against the release of the consumption of these substances as a means to obtain "a reduction in drug dependence". For this reason, the Bishop of Rome affirmed that he is "convinced that it is morally right to put an end to the production and trafficking of these dangerous substances".

Drugs, a plague

With harsh words, Francis described those who manage the drug business as "traffickers of death", "moved by the logic of power and money at any price". He pointed to abuse and profit through toxic substances as a "plague that produces violence and sows suffering and death".

In the face of these facts, the Pope called for investment in "prevention, which is done by promoting greater justice, educating young people in the values that build personal and community life, accompanying those in need and giving hope for the future."

The Holy Father also praised the "communities of recovery inspired by the Gospel. These, he said, "are a strong and hopeful witness to the commitment of priests, consecrated and lay people to put into practice the parable of the Good Samaritan". On the other hand, he thanked "the efforts undertaken by various Episcopal Conferences to promote legislation and fair policies for the treatment of drug addicts and prevention to curb this scourge".

Action and prevention

Francis cited some examples of institutions or groups that work in an exceptional way to help drug addicts, such as "the network of the Latin American Pastoral de Acompañamiento y Prevención de Adicciones (PLAPA)" or "the bishops of Southern Africa, who in November 2023 convened a meeting on the theme 'Empowering Drug Addicts' to help drug addicts". young people as agents of peace and hope'".

In conclusion, Pope Francis exclaimed that, "in the face of the tragic situation of toxic dependence of millions of people throughout the world, in the face of the scandal of the illicit production and trafficking of these drugs, we cannot be indifferent". "We are called," the Pontiff insisted, "to act, to pause before situations of fragility and pain, to know how to listen to the cry of loneliness and anguish, to bend down to raise up and bring back to life those who fall into the slavery of drugs."

Pope Francis

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Vocations

Judita Velziene: "In Opus Dei I rediscovered my personal relationship with God".

This young supernumerary of Opus Dei explains how she discovered her vocation of sanctification in the midst of the world in her native Lithuania.

Maria José Atienza-June 26, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

Married and mother of 4 children, Judita Velziene is a psychologist and lives in Kaunas, one of the main cities in the country. Lithuania. At present, most of the members of the Opus Dei is made up of supernumeraries like Judita, all over the world.

Judita stresses that "the essence of vocation is identity, not merit". It is not about doing things but about one's personal identity and unique relationship with God. A vocation that she lives in her day to day life in her family and in her professional work as a psychotherapist.

How did you discover your vocation to Opus Dei?

-I had already started a family, had children and was working successfully in a large business corporation when I felt that my faith lacked life. I was living under a lot of pressure, juggling family and work commitments, and my faith lacked any kind of support and nourishment. Then my brother introduced me to a person from the Opus Dei who became a very good friend. Shortly thereafter, she invited me to participate in a retreat course. There, the armor that I had built throughout my life, which should have protected and strengthened me, but instead enclosed and hardened my soul, slowly began to disintegrate. All the spiritual formation of the Opus Dei It reminded me a lot of the teachings I had received from my grandmother and my parents about God and the Church.

I rediscovered how great God's love is and how beautiful and personal his relationship with me is. This helped me to turn my eyes back to my family, avoiding excessive immersion in my professional career, thus restoring balance in my life. When I began to seriously consider whether God was calling me to Opus Dei, I realized that from the beginning I felt at home.

For me it is very important to have a constant relationship with God in my day-to-day life, as he is like an axis around which my family and professional life revolves. I realize very quickly when I stray from that axis and I know where I need to go to get back to where I belong.

What does it mean to have a vocation and not just "do good things"?

-It seems to me that the essence of vocation is identity, not merit. The question is not what you do, but who you are. When you answer that question of who you are, you do good things in a very different way. It becomes your signature and not a tiring duty. Also with limitations, you try to see yourself with God's eyes, with God's mercy and God's patient teaching, to be more in line with your true identity.

How does this vocation influence your work?

-I am a psychotherapist and in my work I deal daily with the psychological difficulties, pain and suffering of people. Once, in a meditation, a priest pointed out that where there is suffering, there is always Christ. This impressed me, and since then, every day at work, I remember that when I am with human suffering, I am very close to Christ, because He is always there. This amazes me and at the same time obliges me to do my work to the best of my ability.

I pray the Rosary on my way to work and always pray a mystery for the clients of the day and their intentions. The Work has helped me a lot to cure me of perfectionism, which was a big obstacle at the beginning of my career.

I often saw things in black and white, became overwhelmed and began to reject work in general. But Opus Dei has taught me, patiently and constantly, to sanctify my work, to try to do it in the best possible way little by little. This helps me a lot.

Today, most of the members of Opus Dei are supernumeraries, but it is still a little known vocation. How do you explain your vocation to your friends?

-I feel that I have been a supernumerary for too short a time to be able to explain my vocation well. But, since I live among the people, every time this question comes up, I can learn to answer it better, and at the same time I rethink my own understanding of it. I usually say that what it is all about is to keep looking for God in your daily life, wherever you are: in the people around you, in the work you do, at home and in your professional life.

Your day-to-day life takes place in your family and in your parish. Do you collaborate in the parish community to which you belong?

-The parish to which my family and I belong is very strong and very much alive. In choosing a location for our home, among other practical things, we were also concerned about having a church nearby. When we moved, we found such a strong community that we never cease to rejoice and thank God for it. When we can, we also try to contribute to the life of the parish by helping engaged couples prepare for the sacrament of marriage.

As a supernumerary, what do you receive from Opus Dei?

-I receive many things: spiritual formation, human formation and friends. But I especially value unity in prayer.

A month ago, one of my sons had an accident and suffered a head injury, which was a shock to our entire family. Despite the stress and difficulties, everyone's prayers kept us hopeful and strong. This is truly a special bond among the faithful of Opus Dei.

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Escriva.org: St. Josemaría's works in a renewed and expanded website

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50th anniversary of St. Josemaría Escrivá's visit to Cañete

On the occasion of the feast of St. Josemaría Escrivá (June 26) and the 50th anniversary of the saint's visit, a series of activities have been organized by the Prelature of Yauyos and the civil society of Cañete.

Jesus Colquepisco-June 26, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

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The Prelature of Yauyos (Peru), an ecclesiastical jurisdiction located south of Lima and whose episcopal see is in the coastal city of San Vicente de Cañete, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the visit that St. Josemaría Escrivá made to Cañete on July 13, 1974.

As usual, there will be a Novena in the Cathedral Church of San Vicente de Cañete offered by institutions and families; and a Solemn Mass on the 26th, presided by Monsignor Ricardo Garcia, Bishop Prelate of Yauyos. Also from July 26 to 13 there will be a photographic exhibition on "St. Josemaría and Cañete" in the Plaza de Armas of San Vicente.

On July 13, 2024, the 50th anniversary of the visit, a full-length image of St. Josemaría will be installed in the Plaza de Armas for the remembrance and devotion of all the people of Cañete.

The work of art, made by the artist Fredy Luque is a full life-size piece, bathed in bronze, which will be transported from the southern city of Arequipa and will be located in front of the Cathedral Church. The sculpture, offered by the bishopric, institutions and private citizens is a recognition of the Cañete society to the holy priest who had Yauyos and Cañete in his heart.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá and Cañete

The saintly Spanish priest had a special relationship with the Prelature of Yauyos from its beginnings, since it was Pope Pius XII who in 1957 created the Prelature and asked the founder of Opus Dei that his institution take charge of one of the new ecclesiastical jurisdictions that were being created in Peru. Monsignor Escrivá received the prelature that the others did not want, the Prelature of Yauyos.

Yauyos is a city nestled in the Andes at 2874 meters above sea level and was the first prelatic seat; the Andean province of Huarochirí was also part of the Prelature.

On October 2, 1957, he was sworn in Bishop Ignacio María de OrbegozoEscrivá de Balaguer, as well as five other Spanish priests, members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. Later, in 1962, the province of Cañete was also annexed.

In July 1974, Monsignor Josemaría Escrivá was in Peru, and on the 13th he visited Cañete, where he had an unforgettable meeting with many parishioners of the Province of Cañete, which the saint "baptized" at that time with the nickname "Valle Bendito de Cañete" (Blessed Valley of Cañete), due to its fruitful land and wide coastline of profitable fishing activity; an expression that continues to be popular today to refer to the province of Cañete.

St. Josemaría lived very closely the evangelizing work in the Prelature of Yauyos, manifesting through his letters and prayer his closeness to the first priests and the Prelate of Yauyos, as well as encouraging them to form families and the search for native vocations.

In 1964 he started the Minor Seminary with the first students being the acolytes of the parishes; and in 1971 he started the Major Seminary "St. Joseph" with the first native vocations.

St. Josemaría was very fond of the people of Cañete, as a sign of this, in 1964 he gave the image of "Holy Mary, Mother of Fair Love", located in her Sanctuary in San Vicente, as a gift.

In the same way, St. Josemaría was very interested in the human, economic, social and cultural development of the Prelature of Yauyos. This was made possible through two projects in San Vicente de Cañete, the "Valle Grande" and "Condoray" institutes, run from the beginning by professional laymen of Opus Dei. Today these two institutes are referents in Cañete.

St. Josemaría continues to intercede from heaven for his many faithful devotees in the Prelature of Yauyos, some of whom still have the vivid memory of that visit on July 13, 1974.

The authorJesus Colquepisco

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The true strength of the Church. Saints Peter and Paul (B)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings proper to the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

Joseph Evans-June 26, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Saints Peter and Paul are especially united by their martyrdom in Rome. Both gave their lives for Christ in this city and the Church of Rome is considered to be founded on their blood. "O Roma felix, quae tantorum principum es purpurata pretioso sanguine", sings a liturgical hymn: "O happy Rome, reddened by the precious blood of such great chiefs."

The Church celebrates today the death of these great apostles; in human terms, their failure. In fact, the first two readings of our Mass today focus on the apostles' weakness rather than their strength.

The first reading shows Peter imprisoned, held by King Herod with the intention of beheading him. But in his imprisonment and chains, expressions of his weakness, God acts to save him, sending an angel who leads him out of captivity by passing, we are told, "two guard posts one after the other".

Then he takes him back to the city, leaving him to find his own way to a Christian community, the house of Mary, mother of St. Mark, where everyone had been praying for him.

However, a few decades later, Nero would do what Herod could not accomplish: he would not only behead the apostle, but crucify him.

What is striking is the effort with which the Gospels seem to show the weakness of St. Peter. How could they be forgeries when they deliberately show the first Pope in such a poor light? A man who often makes mistakes, who has great insight into Christ, but who is then called "Satan" by him, and who denies the Lord three times at the moment when Christ needs him. This is the Pope. And even after the Resurrection he will still need public correction by St. Paul (see Gal 2:11-14).

The second reading shows St. Paul in his weakness: "For I am about to be poured out in libation and the time of my departure is imminent.". He is no longer the dynamic and energetic apostle, but an old man in chains awaiting death. In both Peter and Paul we see weakness turned into strength.

St. Paul was right when he wrote: "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).

The "strength" of the Church is not based on human power. Rather, it is strong when its members realize their weakness and let God act through them. As today's Gospel teaches us, Peter was right about Christ's divine status not because of "flesh and blood," that is, not because of his own powers of observation, but because the heavenly Father revealed it to him.

The feast of Saints Peter and Paul teaches us where to find strength: not in ourselves or in visible structures, but in God, who acts through the weak when they are humble.

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Marcela Duque: "Poetry is a way of being attentive".

Marcela Duque made a name for herself in 2018 with. Beautiful is the riska collection of poems that won him the prestigious Adonáis Prize, with which he stood out as one of the most emotionally intense young voices in the Spanish language. Six years later he published his second work, An enigma before your eyeswhich reaffirms its literary quality.

Carmelo Guillén-June 25, 2024-Reading time: 5 minutes

As Arnord Bennett wrote about William Butler Yeats: "He is one of the great poets of our age because half a dozen readers know he is.". From that lineage is Marcela Duque, a woman to whom the gift of poetry has not been denied.

Unlike our most famous Spanish author, Cervantes, poetic creation is for this Colombian the grace given to her by heaven, as can be seen in the two collections of poems she has published to date: Beautiful is the risk y An enigma before your eyes, both of them book-based.

The first one, resolved as a tribute to Socrates, master of existence, whose last days are reflected in the Platonic dialogue PhaedoThe first one, where the poet is inspired to give the title to her book and to sing the joy and encouragement of knowing she is alive; the second, motivated by the Confessions of St. Augustine, a well-deserved tribute to the African writer and theologian, in whom he recreates himself to refer to specific autobiographical episodes.

Learning to love

In her brief poetic trajectory, Marcela Duque is very clear about what drives her to philosophy and poetry: "I am a poet.In both activities, by different paths, I wish nothing more than to sharpen my gaze and welcome the joy and beauty -which are not alien to the pain- of ordinary life and encounters with circumstances and people. Poetry is a way of being attentive, of knowing how to look and, to this extent, of learning to love: 'Ubi amor, ibi oculus', wrote a medieval philosopher and mystic centuries ago: 'Where there is love, there is vision'. It is not only the expression of a true fact, but a program for life: learning to see and learning to love, with poetry as a radiant companion on the way.".

As a result of this way of understanding literary creation, the reader notices that her lyrical work is dazzlingly moving, at times with cultural and classical roots, linked to philosophical readings and to some contemporary poets for whom she feels a certain preference, but, above all, of great intimist power, which gives her that fresh air, of clear, sweeping line, very prone to music. It is marked by a search for meaning, hence it is full of concerns, the desire for beauty, lyricism and, as she herself expresses, attention to reality, both external and internal.

Beautiful is the risk

The jury of the Adonáis in its 72nd edition unanimously awarded him the prize for his first collection of poems, Beautiful is the risk, "for the apparent ease of converting a solid classical philosophical training into exciting and fresh poetry, thanks to a constant instinct for language and an unerring poetic ear."This makes it very clear that his is a poetry where tradition and personal voice come together, giving rise, in the first of the three sections of the book, to various considerations on the amazement and enjoyment of nature, marked by the passage of time, and to relationships, full of gratitude, with the grandmother, parents or teachers; in the second, as a link between the other two sections, to God, giver of meaning to existence and creation; and in the third, to movements or longings of the soul, such as the discovery of love, poetry, or the joy of being able to remember the paradise of childhood. In this thematic intertwining, the poet is aware that her poetic activity is a "in the meantime"It is also a search, that is, a way of facing existence until the longed-for and crucial passage to their definitive homeland, whatever it may be, takes place.

His poem And also (poetic) poetry excellently expresses this reasoning, very much in the orbit of Plato's allegorical myth of the cave, where the interweaving between the sensible world, grasped through the senses, and that of ideas, experienced through knowledge, reality and the meaning of life, is perceived: "And I find myself in a strange land, again, / It's not home anywhere, it's always a search, / I don't know what home is, but it's not this, / But I know it's true because I miss it, / And that it's not here yet, because it still hurts, / I want to go home someday, / That's why - in the meantime - poetry."

An enigma before your eyes

As I pointed out above, his second collection of poems has the Confessions of St. Augustine as a backdrop. In fact, Marcela Duque has stated in an interview: "Augustine is something of a first love and a Master. Even my approach to Plato is very Augustinian, and my 'home' in the history of philosophy is the Augustinian tradition of the restless heart: Plato, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Simone Weil.". That said, it is easy to discover quite often a lively dialogue between the poet and the saint. Augustinian paragraphs such as the well-known one: "Late I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late I loved you! And behold, you were within me, and I was outside, and outside I sought you, and on those beauties that you created, I threw myself deformed." (cfr. Confessions10, 27, 38) are easily seen in the Colombian author through these white hendecasyllables: "...".I was looking for you outside and I lost you, / I couldn't find you and I couldn't find me / Empty of beauty I threw myself / To all other beauty, only an echo / Of that ancient and always new beauty / That has conquered all my senses [...]. And I have loved you late! Come, let's run!" (cf. the poem My late joy).

However, to present An enigma before your eyes from this slight consideration it would be as much as to affirm, for example, that the Waste land by T. S. Eliot is a disjointed list of quotations from various authors.

In the case of our poet, the lyrical and tensional richness of her compositions, beyond a witty approach to the different episodes of life that reveal the Confessionsare a starting point for her to give free rein to deep reflections focused, first, on the knowledge of divine Love and, from that perspective, on herself and her environment. From there on, the volume is worth discovering as a scrutinizing, inquiring poem, very much in the line of those in which the literary resource of distancing is used and in which a specific poetic character is used as a starting point on which, this time, the poet, seduced by the discovery and encounter with God - taking into account, I insist, the life of St. Augustine as a source of inspiration - pours her own experience.

Attention, the gateway to amazement

As a young author who should not be lost sight of, Marcela Duque invites, then, with her poetry to give course to transcendence, to the ultimate meaning of the human being. To this end, she reminds us that to reach "to the intimate / of the soul". (cf. the poem The port of Ostiain An enigma before your eyes), "attention is the gateway to wonder". (cf. the poem Conversation with mystery, ibidem) and that this one, the attention, encloses: "A question / to which beauty answers." (cf. the poem Conversation with mystery, ibidem), thus making it progressively clear that his poetic work, still in the starting line from which much more is expected, constitutes a fascinating introspective adventure in the face of the exciting risk involved in the enigma of beauty.

Any reader who delves into his poetry will easily verify it, while appreciating his lyrical expertise, reflected in the look of amazement that unfolds in each of his compositions, so full of liveliness and literary successes.

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ColumnistsCelso Morga

Communion and co-responsibility

Communion and the way of living it among adult Christians, which is co-responsibility, demands a constant attitude of personal conversion and ongoing formation for all.

June 24, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

Next October, the second phase of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. The work should focus primarily on ecclesial co-responsibility, which is differentiated in the Church.

This implies insisting on the Christian responsibility of each baptized person and on the ongoing formation derived from baptism and confirmation. The Synod should provide a theological basis for the need, in today's Church, for this co-responsibility and formation.

Stewardship is based on the principles of the Old and New Testaments, on Tradition, on the Magisterium, especially the Second Vatican Council and subsequent Magisterium.

The Church is born of Christ's will to evangelize. Evangelization is the fundamental task of the Church: "...".The Church received from the Apostles the solemn mandate of Christ to proclaim the truth that saves us and to carry it out to the ends of the earth." (LG, 17).

But evangelization is unthinkable without ecclesial communion. A divided community falls on its own: "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand." (Mt 12:25).

Co-responsibility is linked to communion; it is the way of living communion among adult Christians. Therefore, communion, co-responsibility and evangelization are intimately linked.

Communion and the way of living it among adult Christians, which is co-responsibility, demands a constant attitude of personal conversion and ongoing formation for all (bishops, priests, religious and laity), since we all find it difficult to share and to expose our opinions and way of seeing things to the opinions and consensus of others.

The theological and pastoral foundation of co-responsibility should insist on these two basic aspects.

Co-responsibility for evangelization entails having clear in one's mind the structure of the Church as willed by Christ and handed down by Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium.

It is not a question of turning the Church into a democracy in the manner of modern States, where the majority vote is what counts.

Christ has willed for his Church a structure of communion, of equal dignity of the baptized, but with pastors and faithful: "All Christ's disciples have received the task of spreading the faith according to their possibilities. But... it is proper to the priest to consummate the building up of the Body with the sacrifice of the Eucharist." (LG,17).

Everyone must be clear that such a structure cannot be changed, but this does not take anything away from co-responsibility. It is a different way of living an authentic and sincere co-responsibility.

Co-responsibility thus demands openness to the Holy Spirit, Who guides the Church and evangelization, as is clearly shown in the Acts of the Apostles.

It demands constant dialogue and listening, respect and consideration for all opinions, even minority ones, insofar as they do not contradict the truths of faith and morals contained in Sacred Scripture and expounded by the Magisterium, distinguishing their different degrees of certainty and their constant updating and fidelity.

Co-responsibility demands discernment, being aware at all ecclesial levels that the ultimate instance of discernment in matters that refer to the universal Church and its mission corresponds to the authentic Magisterium.

We already have co-responsibility structures. It is urgent that, at all levels, they work and work well.

The various parish, presbyteral and episcopal councils cannot be mere bodies that are on paper but at the moment of truth do not operate as intended. There we have a whole task ahead of us.

We cannot forget, even if it is more difficult, that the formation of the lay faithful must seek their involvement in all areas of civil society.

The Church in its fundamental structure is a combination of lay faithful and priests. In order for this combination to work well for sanctification and evangelization, each member of the faithful must know how to be in his or her place, without clericalizing the laity and without laicizing the priest.

The authorCelso Morga

Archbishop emeritus of the Diocese of Mérida Badajoz

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Integral ecology

Anne Schaub: "Every embryo naturally attaches itself to the mother who carries it".

"A child can never be the subject of a transaction paid to satisfy adult desires, even if medical technology makes them possible."says Belgian psychologist Anne Schaub. In this interview, she reviews some of the serious psychological and emotional consequences that surrogacy inflicts on pregnant women and, above all, on the children whose rights are violated.

Maria José Atienza-June 24, 2024-Reading time: 12 minutes

With more than 25 years of practice, the Belgian psychologist Anne Schaub-Thomas has accompanied and treated hundreds of women and couples who have not been able to fulfill their desire to have a child naturally.

For Schaub-Thomas, the debate over the surrogacy has completely forgotten the right of the "created" child and the psychological, affective and physical keys that mother and child develop in the prenatal period.

Is there a right to motherhood above all else? Are there really those who cannot live without "fulfilling themselves" as a mother or father?

-In the case of a woman, her body and heart are naturally constituted and prepared for childbirth. The call to motherhood is strong for a woman. Faced with infertility or sterility (personal or conjugal), the woman is often plunged into a feeling of essential lack that can be difficult to bear. Not being able to realize it is something to listen to, to accompany, to be able to collect all the depth of the feelings of sorrow, frustration and suffering. In the end, and without a solution to restore natural fertility, it is precious for the woman and the couple to find help to give meaning to the situation of sterility, until, if possible, to be able to move on to other modes of donation and "maternity/paternity".

Adoption remains for the woman (and the couple) a form of parental fulfillment that not only fills the "cradle of the heart" but also gives back to a child what he or she has lost through life's misfortunes: a mother and a father.

– Supernatural surrogate motherhood The possibility of conceiving the desired child, for oneself, outside oneself and without oneself, leaves the woman psychologically unscathed? What does it mean for her to resort to a surrogate mother?

First of all, the technique profoundly modifies the woman's relationship with motherhood, because the child is no longer the result of an intimate encounter between two beings who love each other, but of recourse to a medical-technical act. It is revealing, to say the least, to hear one of the first doctors to practice fertilization in vitro to call himself Amandine's "father".

In fertilization in vitro maternity for the woman does not consist simply in welcoming an embryo from the outside into her body. The prior intervention of the technique intrudes into and intensely modifies the woman's body as well as the couple's private space. The technical action induces in the woman a strong psychic resonance that is not experienced in natural motherhood. Great stress surrounds the woman who finally "succeeds" in satisfying her need for motherhood.

What is being modified, therefore, is mainly the entire intimate relational, carnal and private space. The latter disappears in favor of a "disaffected" (affectionless) medical context, in which genetic material - a human being in the making, it should be recalled - is extracted and manipulated in the aseptic hands of anonymous geneticists and laboratory technicians. The use of technology deprives the woman (and the couple) of the warmth of the living, of the intimate embrace with a view to conceiving, in the secret of their bond, the flesh of their flesh.

We go on to look extrinsically at the process: the sorting of quality gametes, the culture medium and Petri dish, the incubation tubes, the "ideal" embryo to "choose" and the surrogate mother. By taking the living (gametes) out of the body, the woman's relationship with motherhood changes profoundly. Let us make no mistake: a woman who leaves the waiting for "her" baby in the hands of another woman is depriving herself of a part of herself, and she knows it, she feels it in her whole being. But the subject remains taboo and sometimes, in the end, it is revealed in psychotherapeutic practices.

The woman has to face a series of feelings of impotence and humiliation, of inability to conceive and give birth naturally, suffering restrictive and eminently invasive, risky and painful treatments; feelings of guilt, fear of no longer loving the child she so much desires but who makes her suffer so much, etc. Not to mention the partner, who rarely emerges unscathed from such an ordeal.

What happens with the attachment during the gestational period? What is the relationship between the pregnant mother and the child?

-A woman carrying a baby in her womb that she knows she will have to give to someone else at birth is very likely to develop mechanisms comparable to those that occur in situations of pregnancy denial.

The denial of the pregnancy distances the woman from the awareness that she is carrying in her womb a new being to protect and love. If the surrogate mother is perfectly aware that she is pregnant, choosing to gestate someone else's child, and destined for someone else, forces her to divide and strip herself of the most emotionally and psychically intimate part of her being.

What mother is going to join the baby that she has never wanted for herself, that she knows she is carrying in her womb with the intention of separating from it at birth? Even more so when it is a child who is not genetically related to her.

In the surrogacy the pregnant woman carries in her womb a contract to fulfill more than a baby to love. The surrogate mother exercises a "job", with the requirement to respect the contract she has to fulfill: that of delivering a baby, whole and healthy.

Rare are the surrogate mothers who decide at all costs to keep the child they are carrying. When this happens, it is always a source of legal disputes and tragic human tragedies. Nowadays, a surrogate mother cannot gestate a child for another person with her own gametes, precisely to avoid this type of reversal.

Attachment, which is a natural biological process, more easily takes hold of all mental constructs and resolutions around a remunerated contract, when the expected baby is that of the woman who gestated it, that is, when it is conceived from her ovum.

The gestations organized by the agencies are ordered to guarantee the lowest risk of mother-child attachment, despite the fact that the main psychological problem for the future development of the child is precisely that of favoring a quality attachment with the biological mother.

This is, in fact, extreme violence, on the one hand, against the woman, who is forced to work against her natural maternal instinct, and on the other hand, against the child, who is subjected from the beginning of his or her life to emotional conditions that are the antithesis of his or her primordial needs.

What are the psychological and physical consequences of a child being separated from its mother at birth?

-The human being is a relational being. The need for connection is one of the earliest and deepest human characteristics; it is an ontological, vital expectation with which every human being is "genetically" endowed.

Like the water table common to our humanity, every embryo, every fetus will naturally attach to the mother who carries it. If attachment is a physiologically programmed biological process, it is important to consider the nine months of pregnancy as much more than just the growth of organs to make a small body viable. The beginnings of relational and emotional life are already established during the prenatal period, and the emotional content of the intrauterine and birth experience will leave a lasting imprint on each person.

The fetus possesses a very fine and highly developed sensitive and affective competence. Naturally curious about relationships, it picks up on the relational impulses, desires, thoughts and psychological state of the mother carrying it. The context and atmosphere of pregnancy are far from indifferent to him. Birth, the first experience of separation of the baby from the body of the mother who has nurtured, wrapped and loved it for nine months, is the first natural test of life that projects the baby into a new environment.

The baby crosses this path from the inside to the outside of his mother's body, so it is best if he is kept close to her. It is important that the newborn baby finds at birth the sensory markers with which his memory is completely impregnated, and which link him to the one who represents life for him: the mother's voice, smell, touch, the taste of mother's milk, etc., all milestones that maintain the somatic and psychic balance of the little one, and provide him with his basic security.

Numerous demonstrations of neuroscience highlight the biopsychological importance of the prenatal period for the child. These early stages of life represent the basic soil in which the first unconscious sensory, relational and emotional experiences are sown, either with connotations of unity, tenderness, joy and serenity, or with distance and detachment, tenacious ambivalence or emotional confusion.

The extreme stress generated in the newborn in case of maternal separation leaves a lasting imprint linked to separation anxiety. The baby's need for continuity and stability of the bond with its biological mother is deeply affected.

In fact, any situation that imposes on the newborn, even involuntarily, the separation from the mother who has carried him/her for nine months, provokes, depending on the context and to varying degrees, a wound of abandonment that can go as far as the anguish of death.

It is true that the baby feels it exists from the presence in quality and quantity of its mother, whom it knows with all its senses and to whom it has been attached for several months.

Let's say that the embryo is grafted into the body and heart of the mother who carries it, in a very intimate relational mesh. This time in the womb is essential for the baby, it will have a lasting influence on their lives. Sometimes without us even realizing it.

Thus, organizing a motherhood, a split kinship from conception until after birth, burdens the child with a psycho-affective baggage marked by ruptures, losses and affective confusion, and plunges him/her into a situation of blurred filiation.

If a woman, a mother, for whatever reason, can decide not to bond with the baby she is expecting, the child cannot. The process that creates this attachment bond between the baby and the mother is a programmed survival "reflex". It is a biophysiological and psychological mechanism that cannot be ignored.

No contract between intended parents and a surrogate mother, no adult thought, even if it desires wholeheartedly the expected child, but from a distance, has the power to diminish or erase, on the one hand, this human experience of gestational attachment, fundamental for the child's future and which is woven with great subtlety in the fetus for nine months, and, on the other hand, the distressing experience of the baby's estrangement from its biological mother.

Thus, the procreative process of GPAs exposes the young child to de facto physical and psychological harm. Physical medical risks are associated with fertilization. in vitroLow birth weight and prematurity. More deeply, the child is exposed to a somato-psychic memory of imposed dissociation between the genetic, bodily and educational dimensions.

For most child psychologists and psychiatrists, it is indeed a context of origin likely to cause sensory and intrapsychic disorders in the child, with the risk of altering its future emotional life and its identity anchoring.

The deepest wound that the child born from surrogacy - and which does not exist in the adopted child - will undoubtedly have to resolve is the realization, one day, that it is his or her parents who have themselves created the situation of dissociation and rupture with the birth mother.

This intrapsychic conflict is likely to remain with the child throughout his or her life, with overwhelming identity and existential questions. All the more so since society as a whole will have allowed this to happen, will have supported and avoided recognizing at the state level the various risks and sufferings that GPA entails for the most vulnerable: the child.

In the debate surrounding surrogacy, it is urgent to put the young child back at the center of the debate. By its very nature, every embryo, fetus and newborn is vulnerable. I call it "the voiceless child". Let us bring the child out of the shadows, to denounce the potential scars that, in GPA, are imposed on it at the beginning of its life.

Indeed, "manufacturing" a child for someone else means running the risk of generating all kinds of suffering, such as emotional conflicts, relational pathology, various somatic and cognitive disorders, as well as social sequelae.

In general, the risk of an uneasy, even tortured, relationship with life for those who will be confronted with questions about filiation, with no possible answers.

How will the child manage his or her right to know his or her ancestry?

-Legally, I don't know. As a psychologist, I find that every human being needs to feel part of a family history, which is not limited to the immediate family circle. Close and extended family members, as well as ancestors who are still living or have passed away, often represent important points of reference for everyone.

The biological family "lives" in a certain way within us and allows us to forge an identity, to rely, consciously or unconsciously, on the similarities or, on the contrary, on the differences felt or observed.

Every human being has the vital need to feel linked to a family, to a double genealogy, maternal and paternal. Knowing where we come from allows us, in general, to know/understand/choose better where we are going.

The absence and anonymity of all those who make up the family and who have preceded us in the double maternal and paternal line, and who form the soil of our identity roots, can become problematic for the development of the identity of certain children, to the point of becoming the source of a series of negative behaviors.

The psychological wounds caused by the unforeseeable separations at birth or caused by the miseries and misfortunes of life are situations of suffering that are well known today.

Working on prevention to avoid them and then attending to these life situations that have caused various losses and human uprooting in early childhood, is a work of humanity that every State has the duty to implement and support in its country.

On the contrary, any state that allows wealthy and influential promoters of the human reproduction market to work tirelessly to promote and legalize the sale of children through surrogate mothers is complicit in the medical, psychological and economic violence inflicted on women and children.

There is an urgent need to enshrine in international law the GPA banThe aim is to protect future generations from a disastrous evil that is currently affecting the reproductive sector. It should not be left to the children who have grown up to ensure that their rights are respected.

The deep deficiencies that life sometimes imposes on us, the painful losses suffered and the sorrows, however great they may be, of adults should never serve as a pretext to "use" the life of a child as an object of consolation and reparation. The life of a child is received. It is not taken or artificially manufactured to satisfy the needs of adults.

A child's life is fundamentally a gift. A child can never be the subject of a paid transaction to satisfy adult desires, even if medical technology makes them possible.

The realization of adult projects, desires and fantasies now takes place without moral guidelines or ethical limits. Human common sense has also left the individual and collective scene.

The child, a vulnerable little being, malleable at will and without a voice of his own, seems to have become an easy prey at the disposal of all parental desires.

One of the arguments often used is that these children "will be more loved". Do you think that this supposed "maximum love" can be considered an argument in favor of this practice?

-This is, in fact, the "standard" argument that no one seems to be able to refute. Let's be clear: any single person, any couple, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is capable of loving a child to the fullest and raising it with heart, pedagogy and intelligence.

The child born of a GPA who ends up in the arms of his or her parent(s) will most often benefit from a quality emotional bond, in the image of the strength of the desire that allowed him or her to be born.

But what about the affective niche that every child needs during its life in the womb and that is the foundation of its basic security, of its future affective life and of its trust in others, in life?

What happens to this "gap" of loving, mother-child attachment, which is built throughout the nine months of prenatal life and needs to be prolonged in a lasting way beyond birth? What happens to the wound of separation, the trauma of abandonment felt by babies who are separated from their biological mothers?

Is it possible to intentionally create situations of filial rupture and human loss at the beginning of a child's life, to deliberately blur the bonds of filiation and thus create programmed risks of suffering of all kinds?

Who can believe that the planning of such situations of arrival in life will remain "neutral", without creating zones of vulnerability in the area of psychological, somatic and spiritual balance of these little ones? Are researchers and early childhood specialists who, for more than a century, have been examining the extreme sensitivity of the infant world not sufficiently explicit and convincing about the basic needs of human beings which, when satisfied, allow them to feel authentically loved and offer them better possibilities of fulfillment in life?

The media blinds us with sappy stories of love, smiles and laughter of children born through surrogacy.

In psychology, we know that childhood is the age of adaptation. In order to survive and, above all, to live, the child, whatever the possible misfortunes of life, difficulties or particularities that may have affected him since birth, generally displays an extraordinary strength of adaptation and resilience, especially if he is loved. However, if the waters of the unconscious remain silent during childhood adaptation, they can become psychic tsunamis at the age of awakening.

A situation of loss or bereavement, adolescence, marriage, the first sexual experience, the expectation of a baby, a major life change... all these situations can see emerge, like a geyser contained for too long, very early wounds that have remained repressed and unconscious, denied or unvisited. Psychiatric decompensations are quite rare during childhood. On the other hand, they are more frequent in adolescence and early adulthood.

The far-fetched and complex situations created by the technique of procreation herald real emotional chaos and fragmented psychological states in the lives of some of these children, even though they are loved. Society as a whole will suffer.

Although customs and culture change, the basic needs of children have not changed for thousands of years. Their extremely vulnerable situation requires special care and protection from the earliest development of their cells.

It is we, the adults, who must take care of them and remain adapted to their needs, not the other way around. Not the other way around. Isn't that what it means to truly love a child... even if it means accepting to give up having one at all costs if nature prevents it?

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Pope Francis: "Jesus 'asleep' strengthens the faith of the Apostles".

The Angelus prayer on June 23 was marked by the teaching of the Gospel passage in which Jesus "sleeps" in Peter's boat.

Maria José Atienza-June 23, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Pope Francis presided over the address prior to the Angelus prayer on this 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In a cloudy and windy Rome where summer is resisting a little, thousands of people accompanied Francis on this day.

Referring to the Gospel passage from Mark, proper to today's readings, which shows Jesus "asleep in the boat" while the Apostles fear for their lives due to a storm.

Francis explained that "it seems that Jesus wants to put them to the test. However, he does not leave them alone, he stays with them in the boat, calmly, even sleeping. And when the storm breaks, with his presence he reassures them, encourages them, incites them to have more faith and accompanies them beyond the danger".

We can ask ourselves, the Pope continued, the reason for Jesus' behavior and the answer is clear: "To strengthen the faith of the disciples and make them more courageous". They come out of this experience more aware of the power of Jesus and of his presence in their midst". An experience that will give them the basis to face, for the cause of Christ, "even to the cross and martyrdom".

The pontiff stressed that "Jesus does the same with us, particularly in the Eucharist: He gathers us around Himself, gives us His Word, feeds us with His Body and Blood, and then invites us to go out to sea, to pass on what we have heard and to share with everyone what we have received, in everyday life, even when it is difficult."

Christian life is not an easy or comfortable life, but a life of trust in Christ, explained the pontiff, who encouraged the faithful to ask themselves "in times of trial, can I remember the moments in my life in which I have experienced the presence and help of the Lord?"

Petition for peace and a remembrance of his confessor

As every Sunday, the Pope's remembrance and prayers were directed to the nations and places on earth where conflicts and wars are taking place. Francis has prayed for peace in Ukraine, Palestine and Israel. "Let us pray for peace! Palestine, Gaza, northern Congo... Let us pray for peace! And peace in Ukraine, which suffers so much, let there be peace! May the Holy Spirit enlighten the minds of the rulers, infuse them with wisdom and a sense of responsibility, to avoid any action or word that feeds confrontation and, instead, resolutely aim at a peaceful solution to conflicts" the Pope concluded.

Just before saying goodbye and praying the Angelus, the Pope addressed an emotional remembrance to his confessor for many years, the Franciscan Manuel Blanco, who died a few days ago. Taking the example of this priest, the Pope thanked the work of "so many Franciscan brothers, confessors, preachers, who honored and honor the Church of Rome".

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Initiatives

Javier Sánchez-Cervera, organizer of the "macroboda": "These people would not have married if we had not done something different".

A score of couples will give each other the If I want toin a sacramental way in an original macro wedding to be held on August 29 at the temple of San Sebastián de San Sebastián de los Reyes.

Maria José Atienza-June 23, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

Spring and summer are wedding seasons. Of preparations, dress shopping, payment of invitations, signs, personalized invitations and appointments at the hairdresser's..., but is all that really what a wedding has to have? Yes..., and no.

It's not a bad thing that all that is part of a wedding, but, in the parish of San Sebastian in the Madrid town of San Sebastian de los Reyes, they decided to go to the basics and ask many of the people who went to the parish the reasons why they were not married... and give them a solution.

This is how the macroboda was conceived. A celebration in which almost twenty couples, with more than 5 years of cohabitation or civil marriage, will contract sacramental marriage and will celebrate it in the festivities of the town.

"Crazy, yes," says the parish priest. Javier Sánchez-Cervera who attends Omnes, "but we must not be afraid to do new things, because if we don't change many of our dynamics, then nothing will come of it".

How did this idea of a macro wedding come about?

-The interesting point is that line that is reminding us so many times about the Pope Francis of "I prefer a Church that is bruised, wounded and stained by going out into the street, rather than a Church that is sickened by confinement and the comfort of clinging to its own securities".

When I arrived at the parish, four years ago, people said to me, "Oops, nobody gets married here. And it was true, of the parents of the children who went to catechism classes, hardly any were married. But in this situation, we can't just do nothing. We have to stainWe will have to do something so that those who "don't get married" at least consider getting married! And that is what we have done.

You take a gamble, because you change habits, manners..., or you put up a canvas that may not be the most beautiful (laughs). You get out of yourself and out of your routine. And you see that people don't get married because, sometimes, we don't know how to respond to the situations that arise.

Aren't you a little giddy about doing this "experiment"?

-The strange thing is that it has not been done before, but sometimes, even within the Church, it is difficult for us to get out of the clichés.

We are seeing that weddings are becoming a bigger and bigger business and, because we are in this dynamic, many people are not getting married and we do not respond, what are we doing? Are we going to continue the same knowing that they cannot receive communion?

It angers me that, for fear of exposure, of it going wrong, we do not take the risk. I really don't know how this is going to turn out. macro weddingBut I do know that these people would not have married if they had not done something different.

How did the couples come to the parish?

-When we started to publicize it, we didn't know what was going to happen. We hung a giant banner on the parish steeple with the slogan. "The dream can come true." with a QR code that linked to the site where we explained everything and where couples could sign up. As a result, two couples signed up.

Another was told about it by an official at City Hall because he overheard her talking while waiting for some paperwork, another was told about it at work... and so on, up to the 18 who participated in the premarital workshop on the weekend of June 16.

Did they have anything in common?

-They were all dreaming of getting married. Yes, they were. Some were still looking for a way to make the wedding happen, others had ruled it out, mainly because of the economic issue.

All of the couples getting married have children (they had to have lived together for at least five years), some are older and many come from Latin American countries.

You have just completed the pre-marriage course... How was the experience?

-When we got together for the premarital cursillo, it was very nice. It was not an "ordinary" premarital cursillo. They were people who really wanted to get married in the Church, with a very active and beautiful disposition.

From the first moment a couple came to the parish to sign up for the big wedding, they were assigned a tutor, who was essential. This tutor was in charge of helping them with the formalities, getting to know them..., and when they arrived at the pre-wedding course they were all connected to each other.

All agreed that they had felt a call. It is the Lord who puts this "mustard seed" in their hearts and they felt He had responded to them when they heard about the initiative.

What will you do on August 29th in this macro wedding?

-The date was chosen because it was in the middle of the town's festivities. We talked to the mayoress who, I don't deny it, was a bit surprised about the day. We explained it to her and she liked the idea a lot.

Thus, the couples, after the celebration of the sacrament, can go down to the village fair and celebrate there: with orchestra, with games and dances?

The parish hall will be turned into a large beauty salon in the morning: make-up artists, hairdressers...

Many people are participating to make this day go great and couples will have the wedding before God that they have been dreaming of for so long.

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The Archbishop of Burgos decrees excommunication for 10 nuns from Belorado

10 nuns from Belorado signed a burofax in which they did not recognize the episcopal authority and in which they emphasized their desire to leave the Church.

Maria José Atienza-June 22, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

The Archbishop of Burgos, in Spain, has communicated the signing of the "Decree of declaration of excommunication and the Declaration of resignation (expulsion) ipso facto from the consecrated life to each and every one of the ten sisters who have incurred in schism". They are 10 of the 15 religious sisters who, at present, live in the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado.
The five sisters who are not involved in this schism are the older sisters, who have always been outside the process and who are the central concern of both the Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Aránzazu, to which the monastery of Belorado belongs.
The note published by the archbishopric of Burgos, published after the meeting of the management committee created by indication of the Holy See, indicates that "in view of this declaration of "voluntary separation" of each and every one of them, received by burofax, on June 21, 2024, which comes to ratify what they had already exposed previously in a reliable way in different ways, on June 22 the Archbishop of Burgos, Pontifical Commissioner and Legal Representative of the Monasteries of Belorado, Orduña and Derio, has communicated the Decree of declaration of excommunication and the Declaration of resignation (expulsion) ipso facto of the consecrated life to each and every one of the ten sisters who have incurred in schism".
This decree is not "the last word" since, as stated in the document itself, "the Declaration of excommunication is a juridical action considered by the Church as a medicinal measure, which encourages reflection and personal conversion".
The note also recalls that the community of Belorado is not extinct since "there is still a monastic community formed by the sisters who have not incurred in excommunication, not having supported the schism: they are the five older sisters and three other sisters who, although at the moment they are not in the monastery, belong to the community as they are incardinated in it".
From this moment on, the 10 signatories of the burofax have incurred in excommunication and, therefore, in the expulsion of the religious life, so they cannot continue occupying the monastery of Belorado. There remains, likewise, the path of the civil lawsuit imposed by the Poor Clares of Vitoria to recover the property of the monastery of Orduña. One of the keys to this mess, with more questions than answers.

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Evangelization

Linda Ghisoni: "The Church is itself synodal and missionary".

Linda Ghisoni, undersecretary for the lay faithful of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, highlights in this interview with Omnes the success of the annual meeting with the moderators of the associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities that took place at the Vatican.

Federico Piana-June 22, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

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"A great success," is how Linda Ghisoni, undersecretary for the lay faithful of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, summarizes the meeting The annual meeting with the moderators of the associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities was held at the Vatican on June 13.

This year's meeting, attended by 200 people from all over the world, had as its theme the challenge of synodality and mission, in full harmony with the synod that the universal Church is living in a climate of fraternal dialogue and mutual listening. Linda Ghisoni talks to Omnes about the issues discussed during the day.

High participation

"We are satisfied with the success of this event not only because of the high participation, but also because we have been able to respond to numerous requests from many quarters to hold more such meetings," says Ghisoni, who believes that this need stems from the fact that each reality has a different mission, but "also has many points in common with the others. And therefore, sharing the common challenges faced by these realities can be useful for them to walk together and support each other".

Synodal experiences

The work of the meeting served to highlight some synodal experiences, already in use by associations, movements and new communities, which can be shared with the entire universal Church. And not only. Emphasis was also placed on sharing the life of faith in small realities, on the co-responsibility of the laity and ordained ministers in assuming governmental functions, on the involvement of married couples and young people in evangelization, charitable and social action.
"The introductory report of our Prefect, Cardinal Kevin Farrel, also dwelt on the dynamics we must follow to truly be a synodal Church," the undersecretary of the Dicastery added.

Sharing best practices

In the afternoon of the working day of this international meeting, the free interventions of the moderators took place: a very dynamic phase in which, Ghisoni reveals, "they shared the synodal practices that these aggregations of the faithful, composed mostly of lay people, live within themselves and in their activities. That is to say, all those aspects of their life ranging from moments of spiritual life to the various ways of living the mission, including the management of the governance of their reality. In short, practices of synodality that should be more and more shared".

Relationship between synodality and mission

The relationship that unites synodality, mission and associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities is inherent to the DNA of the Church itself. "In fact," explains the undersecretary of the Dicastery, "the Church is in itself the journey together of the people of God, therefore it is in itself synodal and missionary. The Pope also underlines this when he says that one must be a missionary disciple and not a disciple and then a missionary. The challenge is precisely to understand that the movements are called to be Church and must be called to be realities where the missionary nature is lived ad intra and ad extra with a synodal perspective".

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"Youth, Opus Dei's project for young people, launches new website

United States

"Listen, teach, and send," the pastoral framework for youth ministry in the United States.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' new document for youth ministry aims to revitalize ministry and renew intergenerational accompaniment in families.

Gonzalo Meza-June 22, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

"Young people and families need affection and special accompaniment." Related News

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The U.S. bishops approved a new pastoral framework for youth ministry during their spring 2024 meeting. The document, entitled "Listen, teach and live"(EEV), is a response to the Synod on Youth held in Rome in 2019 and its post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Christus Vivit" by Pope Francis. EEV aims to revitalize pastoral care with adolescents, youth and young adults, as well as to renew intergenerational accompaniment in families.

The text takes as its point of reference the story of the road to Emmaus (Lk, 24, 13-35) "Jesus gave us an example of how to accompany young adults on their life journeys. Like the Lord, we first listen to the stories, joys and concerns of those we meet along the way. Then we respond with dynamic teaching and finally we set the conditions to send young people out to follow God's call in their lives, so they can transform the world with love," said Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop of Winona-Rochester and chair of the Committee on the Laity, MarriageThe document was prepared by the USCCB's Family Life and Youth Program, which was responsible for drafting the document.

In addition to the preface and introduction, EEV contains three parts defined around three themes: listening, teaching and sending. In the first section, the text states that the Church is called to listen to young people, understand their stories and be attentive to their needs. In this regard, it warns of the risks that young people face today, including secularization, racial and cultural divisions, divorce, the attack on the traditional family, as well as "the rise of mobile technology, the prevalence of social networks (with their impact on health and mental well-being), the widespread culture of relativism, and the sexual abuse crises in society and in the Church itself."

Absence of young people

One of the points of alarm emphasized by the bishops is the absence of young people in the Church and the abandonment of the faith, which has implications for vocations: "In recent years we have seen a statistically significant increase in the number of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition or faith community (often called the "nones"). We are also saddened that fewer and fewer young adults are seeking marriage in the Church or the priesthood or consecrated life." Faced with this reality, the bishops stress the importance of the family and parents in counteracting this trend. They, the bishops say, are the "first catechists of their children" and therefore are of crucial importance in transmitting the faith from generation to generation. In this sense, EEV emphasizes the importance of evangelization by paying special attention to the language and style of communication, so that the new generations can understand it.

In the second chapter, dedicated to the theme of "teaching", EEV proposes the encounter or re-encounter of Christ through the sacraments, which dispel darkness and increase joys because they allow Jesus to transform their lives by provoking a conversion of heart: "open yourselves to conversion of heart, to the way of Jesus to become a missionary disciple, on fire with faith, bearing witness to Christ, accompanying others and giving your life to the Lord for others", the prelates exhort the young people. However, the bishops recognize that this can bring difficulties: "The teachings of Christ are counter-cultural and transformative because they involve seeking first and foremost the Kingdom of God, loving one's enemies, living a moral life and sacrificing for the good of others (especially those who are marginalized and forgotten)."

Young people as protagonists

Young people must be the protagonists in the task of evangelization, as indicated in the section called "sending": "The church must send young people as evangelizing witnesses to promote charity, justice and empower them to be protagonists in their communities". The North American bishops recognize that youth ministry will not always be easy, nor will things change overnight, but "with the Lord at our side, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the intercession of our Blessed Mother, we hope to walk this sacred path of pastoral accompaniment.

Although this text is published on the fifth anniversary of "Christus vivit," it is not the first time the U.S. bishops have spoken out on youth ministry. Previous documents addressing the topic include "A Vision for Youth Ministry" (1976); "Empowered by the Spirit" (1985) on ministry on college campuses; "Sons and Daughters of the Light" (1996) on ministry with young adults; and "Renewing the Vision" (1997). The USCCB has also written a section devoted to Hispanic youth ministry in the text "Missionary Disciples Moving Forward with Joy: A National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry" (2023).

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The themes of the last Council of Cardinals

Rome Reports-June 21, 2024-Reading time: < 1 minute

The 9 cardinals who make up the papal council devoted the last of their meetings to several issues.

The first day again dealt with the topic of women in the Church with three women in attendance.

On the second day, Cardinal O'Malley presented an update on the work of the Commission for the Protection of Minors. He also spoke about the worrying international outlook in view of the increase in conflicts in the world.

Now you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.

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Photo Gallery

A Byzantine church in the Holy Land

Perfectly drawn, archaeologists have found the site of a Byzantine-era church in the northern Negev. A sample of Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land 1,500 years ago.

Maria José Atienza-June 21, 2024-Reading time: < 1 minute

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Donations to Aid to the Church in Need on the rise

José María Gallardo: "The Church is the first to open its doors when there is a humanitarian emergency".

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has published its report of activities for the year 2023. On this occasion, Omnes interviewed José María Gallardo, director of ACN Spain, who spoke to us about the situation in Ukraine and Africa, the generosity of benefactors and church reconstruction projects, among others.

Loreto Rios-June 21, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

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Aid to the Church in Need has made public its Activity Report for the year 2023. This past year has been marked by record donations, especially due to the generosity of benefactors in the wake of the Syrian earthquake.

In Omnes we have interviewed José María GallardoACN Spain director, who spoke to us about aid to Ukraine, Africa and the support of ACN Spain, who spoke to us about aid to Ukraine, Africa and the support of ACN Spain. ACN Spain to the formation of the laity, among other interesting topics.

During the last year, there has been a record number of donations to ACN Spain. Why is this?

-First and foremost, this record donation is due to the immense generosity of all our benefactors, who have responded to the campaigns we have launched throughout 2023. This year our income from donations has grown compared to the previous year. From 13.5 million in 2022, we have grown to 15.8 million.

This is mainly due to this great generosity and to some of the campaigns, such as that of the Syria earthquakeThe earthquake, which was terrible and devastated the place in February 2023, and where thousands of Spaniards felt the call to support the local church so that they could open their temples and help all those affected by the earthquake. We already know that the Church is always the first to open its doors when there is a natural disaster or a humanitarian emergency.

Secondly, our foundation has the privilege of being one of the Catholic institutions where many people also choose to give a bequest after their death. It is that pool of generosity that has caused us to have a record number of donations during 2023.

Ukraine has been the most assisted country in this period. What aid programs are being carried out there?

-Ukraine is one of the countries that ACN has supported the most for many years. We support both the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite and the Greek Catholic Rite, with contributions of more than 15 million euros and more than 600 projects since February 2022.

For us it has been a priority country and there are three main programs we are working on. The first one is trauma management, to help all those people who are going through a difficult situation, training priests and religious men and women to take care of people who are suffering from the war, but also so that the priests and religious themselves can manage the trauma that they themselves are going through.

Secondly, the sustainability and subsistence of priests, religious, sisters and seminarians. We have had emergency aid for more than 223 priests, the Albertine Brothers, who also help the homeless or the Benedictine Sisters, etc.

Let's not forget that in a war, apart from displaced people, there are people at risk of social exclusion who were there before the conflict arose, and many Catholic congregations had been helping these people since before the war began. So the livelihood program supports not only those who help, but also the most disadvantaged.

And finally, the formation of seminarians. Believe it or not, the war has not slowed down vocations, and the more than 1,128 seminarians of the two rites are being supported by our foundation so that they can sustain themselves and continue their studies despite the terrible situation they are living in.

How is ACN helping in Africa, where there is a strong expansion of Islamic extremism?

-ACN is strongly helping to continue to bring the Gospel to the most remote areas of Africa, so that the advance of Islamic fundamentalism can be fought with the Word and not with weapons.

An example is Nigeria, where we recently conducted the campaign last Christmas and where unfortunately we have seen how there are different groups that cause a terrible pressure on Christians. Specifically, from Nigeria we have also had Father Fidelis and Janada, a victim of Boko Haram who was with us and who has given her testimony in many dioceses throughout Spain.

These violent groups are primarily three in number: In Nigeria, Boko Haram, the Islamic State of West Africa, and the fulaniwho are Muslim nomadic herdsmen. Because of them, due to the imposition of the sharia, the Islamic law, in about twelve states, being a Christian is already a risk.

Why have we supported Africa, not only Nigeria, but also other countries like Tanzania or the Democratic Republic of Congo? Because, in order for the Gospel to continue to advance and permeate society, priests need to be supported and protected.

This is what we at ACN are trying to support in Africa and in those countries where there is the greatest pressure due to persecution.

It is perhaps less well known, but ACN also supports the formation of the laity...

-We all know that every day there are fewer vocations throughout the world, although in some of the countries where we work, where there is also a lot of persecution, priestly vocations are flourishing.

But we, from 2022 to 2023, have increased our aid by about 3 %, a little more than 17 million euros, to the formation of the laity. Because the laity is also a fundamental person in supporting the priest in evangelization.

Catechists are an essential element in many remote parts of Africa or Latin America, for example in the Amazon area. The increase of projects for the support of the laity is a reality that we have tried to cover also in line with the Holy Father, who tells us that the laity must have a greater role in evangelization within our Church.

How is the process of church reconstruction aid?

-Where there is a natural catastrophe or a war is where construction or reconstruction elements are most needed. Especially in areas where there is later peace: we cannot start rebuilding in a conflict zone if war still persists. For example, in eastern Ukraine.

But where there has been a level of peace or where there has been a natural disaster, as in the case of Syria with last year's earthquake, we have supported the construction and reconstruction of churches.

I was in Ukraine traveling for about ten days just before Easter and I was able to see a great project of reconstruction of the cathedral of Ternopil. We were even talking to the architect, who showed us the plans of the major reconstruction work they are doing, where they want to place classrooms for catechesis, for Caritas, etc. This is an example of how ACN also invests its funds in supporting structures that serve to continue announcing the Word of God wherever it is needed.

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Looking forward with God. Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Joseph Evans comments on the readings of the nativity of St. John the Baptist

Joseph Evans-June 21, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Names in the Bible have great significance. They often indicate the mission to which that person has been called.

Thus, St. Joseph is told to call Mary's son "Jesus," "for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21). The name "Jesus" means precisely "Yahweh saves".

But, at least in Our Lord's time, it was already customary for a child to be named after his father. The meaning of the name mattered less; what mattered was the continuation of the lineage.

Thus, in today's Gospel, on the feast of St. John the Baptist, we learn that when the time came for the child to be circumcised, "they wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father.".

There was a problem: the angel Gabriel had already told Zechariah to call the child John (Lk 1:13).

The difference is significant: Zechariah means "God remembers", John means "God is merciful". Thus, Zechariah's name suggests looking back, remembering all the great deeds of God in favor of Israel. This is usually good, but not when God introduces a radical novelty.

When God does this, it is time to look forward, not backward. God was about to be merciful to humanity, to give us his own Son as Emmanuel, God with us, God made man.

God was about to become incarnate as Jesus Christ "full of grace and truth"(Jn 1:14) and John was to be the great prophet who would prepare his coming.

It is evident that at some point Zacharias had informed Elizabeth of this name, no doubt in writing, since he could not speak. So she bravely spoke up to insist: "No! His name is going to be Juan."

The friends and family, who did not trust her because she was a woman, asked Zechariah and he asked for a tablet on which he wrote: "John is his name.". His tongue was loosed, he spoke and praised God. In fact, his prayer, known as the Benedictus -which priests, religious and others pray each morning at the Divine Office-is a particularly beautiful reflection, as it looks backward to look forward.

Zechariah remembers all that God has done for Israel, but he understands, with those months of recollection granted to him by the imposed silence, that God can really do radically new things.

Earlier he had doubted this when he wondered how God could give him and his wife, both now elderly, a son after so many years without having one.

God was being merciful and his son John would "go before the Lord to prepare his ways, declaring salvation to his people".

Zechariah has learned that God, in Jesus, was going to accomplish something truly new and grace-filled, including, let us not forget, a community that valued women and their work of salvation and then, at its height, as the first witnesses of the Resurrection, God's most grace-filled work.

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Catholic scientists: George John, author of Europe's best naval treatise

Jorge Juan y Santacilia has gone down in history as one of the modernizers of the Spanish navy and the founder of the Royal Astronomical Observatory of Madrid. Omnes offers this series of short biographies of Catholic scientists thanks to the collaboration of the Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain.

Juan Meléndez Sánchez-June 21, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Jorge Juan y Santacilia (January 5, 1713 - June 21, 1773) was a Spanish sailor, who excelled as a scientist, naval engineer and public servant.

He was orphaned at the age of three and his uncle took charge of his education. When he was only 12 years old, he was sent to Malta, where he was admitted as a page to the Grand Master of the Order. At the age of 16 he was admitted as a full Knight, which implied the perpetual vow of celibacy.

Back in Spain, he entered the Academy of Midshipmen in Cadiz, where he showed a great talent for mathematics and participated in military actions, such as the capture of Oran. Recently graduated, he was chosen along with another young sailor, Antonio de Ulloa, to be members of the Geodesic Expedition with which the Academy of Sciences of Paris wanted to determine the shape of the Earth.

It was a matter of deciding between the two rival theories of gravitation proposed by Descartes and Newton. The former attributed gravity to the effect of whirlwinds of subtle matter filling space, and predicted an Earth elongated by the Poles, while the latter explained it as an action at a distance acting through the vacuum, and held that the Earth would be dilated by the Equator and flattened by the Poles.

The expedition lasted almost ten years and definitively confirmed Newton's theory. Jorge Juan wrote about it in a book, Astronomical and physical observations in the Kingdoms of Peru, which earned him a membership in the Paris Academy of Sciences.

For the rest of his life Jorge Juan worked tirelessly in the service of the Spanish crown: he introduced new shipbuilding techniques, modernized shipyards, mines and arsenals, reformed the teaching of the Academy of Midshipmen, founded the Royal Astronomical Observatory of Madrid.

Finally, in his later years, he wrote the best treatise on shipbuilding and navigation of the time: the Maritime Examination, which was studied throughout Europe, and for the first time applied Newtonian physics and differential and integral calculus to ship design.

The authorJuan Meléndez Sánchez

Full Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain

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Syria and Ukraine, the countries most assisted by ACN in 2023

During the year 2023, the Pontifical Foundation was able to distribute 143.7 million euros contributed by more than 350,000 benefactors worldwide.

Maria José Atienza-June 20, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

The director of ACN Spain, José María Gallardo and Carmen Conde, head of Finance and Legacies, presented in Madrid the figures for the last fiscal year of the company. Aid to the Church in Need in the world.

José María Gallardo has started the presentation of the Report of Activities 2023 of Aid to the Church in Need thanking the generosity of all benefactors and the work of ACN volunteers around the world.

He also had a special remembrance for Javier Menéndez Ros and Ernesto Saiz de Vicuña, former director and president of the Foundation until the end of 2023.

ACN 2023 data

The director of ACN Spain has described the main data of the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation around the world during the last fiscal year.

Ukraine was the country that received the most aid from this Foundation with more than 7.5 million euros. This aid was mainly destined for the Ukrainian clergy, including war chaplains, and also for the spiritual and pastoral care of refugees in the western part of the country.

As Gallardo himself has pointed out "in the case of Ukraine, there is "a great unknown as to what will happen in the coming months in Ukraine. When there is a crisis, it is necessary to wait for peace to begin reconstruction and the Church is clear about this. For the moment, from Ukraine, they are asking for help and support in the west where the displaced population is (women, children)".

The earthquake in Syria was another focus of attention for this pontifical foundation. The campaign launched in the wake of this catastrophe met with a broad response that resulted in aid of more than 7.4 million euros.

Lebanon and India, where anti-conversion laws and persecution of the Church are present, were the countries in which ACN was able to help with more than 6 million euros each.

In addition to these, projects in several African countries such as Congo, Tanzania and Nigeria have received support from this foundation.

The director of ACN Spain wanted to highlight the characteristic of the foundation, which is to support pastoral and catechetical work, as well as the presence of Christians of all denominations.

It is not surprising, therefore, that most of the beneficiaries are priests, dioceses and bishops, although, as Gallardo stressed, "there are more and more requests for projects for the formation of the laity".

Among the projects supported, 26.8% of the donations were earmarked for the construction and reconstruction of churches, as well as the payment of stipends to priests for their upkeep and the training of religious and catechists.

Spain: donations and benefactors increase

For her part, Carmen Conde explained the role of ACN Spain in this year. In Spain, 27,017 benefactors donated resources to Aid to the Church in Need in 2023, an increase of 17% over the previous year.

The amount of donations, inheritances and legacies received by ACN was 18,432,320 euros, which is 4.6% less than the previous year due to a decrease in inheritances and legacies since regular donations have risen by 17.2%.

Questioned about this data, Conde explained that in 2022 there was a particularly strong inheritance that gave rise to this increase but that, in reality, the number of people who opt for this way of supporting persecuted and needy Christians around the world continues to grow.

Conde also emphasized that "out of 100 euros that are donated to ACN in Spain, 90.7 go to the foundation's own purposes and only 9 euros to other expenses.

In addition, of ACN's 23 offices worldwide, the Spanish office has contributed 12.8 percent of ACN's total revenue in 2023.

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Carmen PeñaCanon Law is responsible for creating a framework for the prevention of abuses".

Valeska Ferrer: "The call in the face of abuse is to break the silence".

Delving into the causes of the abuse of power in the Church has been the task of more than three hundred people - in person and online - from 27 countries, who have participated in Madrid in the Jordan International Congress of the Spanish Province of the Society of Jesus and Jesuit Universities (UNIJES). Valeska Ferrer, its coordinator, talks to Omnes about the abuses.

Francisco Otamendi-June 20, 2024-Reading time: 6 minutes

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Convened by the Jordan projectDuring the past few days, international experts have reflected on numerous questions on the theme "Abuse of power in the Church: structural causes and possible solutions from the dialogue between theology and other disciplines. The research has referred to the different types of abuse of power in the Church. abuseThe power, spiritual and sexual, within the ecclesiastical sphere.

The closing ceremony was presided over by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José CoboThe Archbishop announced that the Archdiocese of Madrid will host a meeting of reparation and prayer with victims of sexual abuse within the Church, which will take place at the beginning of next year in Madrid.

The president of the organizing committee of the congress, Valeska Ferrer, holds a PhD in Canon Law from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, and is the coordinator of the Jordan research project of the Society of Jesus-Province of Spain. In the interview with Omnes, Valeska Ferrer comments on some of the work of the congress.

You point out that there are power relationships and ways of proceeding in ecclesial structures that favor abuses. Can you explain this a little?

- The idea was rather to conceptualize abuse of power as something that affects many things. The PapaIn the two letters, both in the letter to the People of God and to the People of God walking in Chile, he introduced a triad, but they were different in each of the letters. The abuse of power appears in both.

This is what we have been outlining: abuse of power is everything. We all have power over other people, fruit of asymmetrical relationships, and this exercise of power, when it is exercised badly..... I think that Gabino's [Uríbarri] presentation was spectacular, what is the power that Jesus exercises, the power of God is power that generates life, that is creative, and at the same time is capable of withdrawing when it is not necessary, when other people are the ones who in some way exercise this power of creation, of co-creation.

This power, if we misuse it, can affect different areas depending on the sphere in which we somehow affect. If we influence in the area of decision making of concrete acts we are in the abuse of authority; if it is only in the area of decisions we would be in the abuse of conscience; if we make reference and it is an incidence in the corporeality it is a sexual abuse. And I believe that perhaps the most serious thing is when the incidence of this abuse is in the most intimate area of the person, where he/she is built as a believer, image of God, it would be when we talk about spiritual abuse.

On the first day, they worked on the concept of power...

- Yes, these years of work have been progressively formulating how the abuse of power is, and from there, different tentacles that reach different areas or dimensions of the person. The first day we wanted to focus on this, what is power, because the word "dynamis" appears constantly in the Gospels, the power, the authority of God, of Jesus.

It was important to start from the power it has, in a positive way, to then introduce what happens when it is abused at the spiritual level, which is the constitution as a believer. In this sense, the presentation of Maria Dolores Lopez Guzman was also extraordinary, on how to present the damage that is generated, and how to break, and the need to break the silence so as not to deconstruct the person and the image of God: "You shall not take the name of God in vain", she presented.

They have also analyzed some aspects of the structures in the Church that have facilitated abuse, they say.

- I think there are two different things here. One is at the theological level, which is the presentation of Diego [Molina], a Jesuit, who is also a member of the Jordan project team. He gathered a series of elements, such as the self-awareness of the Church as holy, what we mean when we speak of the Church as holy. It does not mean that she is not sinful. When we make the confession of the Creed, one, holy, apostolic... This reference to the holiness of the Church was a question that came up in the audience: should we then remove the expression that the Church is holy? And he said: man, no, it is not that, it is constituted by people, by sinners, but we are called to that holiness, that is where we are walking towards.

Many times the clergy has been assumed to represent Christ, as if there could be no faults in him; it is the idealization of the clergy.

What elements have you detected that have a clear impact on abuse?

- More at the canonical theological level, there are elements that we have been detecting that clearly influence abuse: silence and fear of reprisals.

This has been recorded in the questionnaire that we carried out in the Province, to the whole Society, from which we received 1,188 responses, which is a lot for a first questionnaire, which has been passed on to all sectors: education, universities, faith and social, the four sectors.

And what we have detected, which is in line with other social contexts, is that silence, keeping quiet and not breaking the silence for fear of reprisals, is something we share with the whole society. The problem of abuse is maintained by silence, by the fear of what might happen if I denounce something that has happened to me, or if I denounce what I know has happened to someone else.

And to break the silence?

- This was reflected in the presentation by John Guiney, sj, and Sandra Racionero also closed the final conference. We must break the silence; and break the silence by supporting the people who break the silence.

You cannot break the silence if you do not know that they will support you. If you know that they will support you and they will support the people who support you, then it is easier to break the silence; but if I belong to a community of religious life and I know that if I denounce my superior they will label me as being out of my mind, that my vocation is not clear, they will remove me from any position I may have had or from the school where I was teaching, and they will put me in the porter's lodge.... If I know that all this is going to happen if I say something, then I do not say it, but if I know that if I denounce, not only will the Superior General or the Superior General support me, but also the community will support me, then I do denounce, but if not, it is very difficult.

What is the call made by Congress?

- The call is to break the silence and for the institution to support those who break the silence; this is a call to the victims, but also logically to the institution. We can only break the silence if we feel supported. And also in the families, because they are told: you are going to stigmatize the girl..., shut up. The truth is that if it is not reported, it is covered up. And the aggressor continues to attack, because he or she goes unpunished.

We must always encourage talking, not for nothing but because the sooner it is confronted, and this is also one of the things that is researched, that is, when an abuse is cut early, and measures are taken quickly, it is more likely that the damage and trauma are more limited in time and can become a survivor sooner.

But if you maintain an abuse for 40 years, which is what we see in most cases, when the trauma has been sustained for so long, the damage generated is brutal, because you live with different psychological problems, a dissociative disorder, stress, anxiety....

Let's finish. You have also spoken of good practices, of hopeful proposals.

- The two elements that we have wanted to work on in the project over the years have been, on the one hand, those known as successful performances. That is why it was José Ramón Flecha and Sandra Racionero who somehow made these presentations of successful actions with social impact. That is to say, tools that have been proven to work, and that are capable of transforming reality, that have really been able to reduce abusive dynamics in educational environments in the classroom, and how this can somehow have an impact on the ecclesiastical sphere, in everything that has to do with abusive dynamics.

And the second element?

- On the other hand, there is the issue of restorative justice, which is true that it is not something that is for everyone: not all victims who have participated, not all perpetrators want to participate, but it is true that the experiences that are taking place when they participate are very positive and there are successful experiences that are also transforming the lives of both victims and perpetrators.

To see people who have sexually assaulted, who have acknowledged the facts, who have taken responsibility, who should never have done it, and the desire and the commitment to repair the damage they have committed, I think it is one of the most relevant experiences. To listen to a victimizer sunk in misery, touching his own mud, being able to listen to the voice of God and to start again from the lowest humility, I believe that this is like a small miracle, and to me this also seems to be our call. The possibility that the one who assaulted not only never does it again, but can even work in favor of the victims...; I do not know if this is to be published or not, because it is difficult.

We conclude our conversation with Valeska Ferrer. The Provincial of the Society of Jesus, Enric Puiggròs SJ, pointed out that "the victims evangelize us; we cannot expect this to 'go away', to fade away as if nothing had happened; we must look in the face of what we did wrong", and "overcome the temptation of arrogance, claiming the good things done by us, as if they could somehow compensate for this drama of abuses".

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Humanity and divinity of Christ. Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings for Sunday XII in Ordinary Time and Luis Herrera offers a short video homily.

Joseph Evans-June 20, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

Several Old Testament passages make it clear that control of the sea was a divine prerogative.

In general, the Jews viewed the sea with fear: it represented chaos and was the domain of such terrifying sea monsters as Leviathan (see Job 41). But several psalms express God's control over the seas and waves: see Psalms 89, 9, 93, 4 and, above all, 107, 28-29, which is part of today's psalm. But they cried out to the Lord in their distress, and he plucked them out of trouble. He stilled the storm in a gentle breeze, and the waves of the sea were stilled.

This can help us understand the astonishment of the disciples, described in today's Gospel, when Jesus calms the waves. "They were filled with fear and said to one another, "But who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!".

In other words, they were beginning to glimpse the divine power of Jesus. That he could calm the waves with a few words: "Silence, be silent!", -He could only suggest that he himself was divine in some way. Only God can set the limits of the sea (as today's first reading teaches) and only He can calm its fury.

This episode is one of those ways by which, with divine pedagogy, Christ gradually revealed his divinity to his disciples. If he had tried to do it all at once at the beginning of his ministry, either they would not have believed him, or, if they had accepted it, they would have thrown themselves to the ground before him and would not have dared to get up. God shows his power both by revealing and concealing it, as when he gave Moses only a glimpse of his divine glory, for that was all he could bear (vid. Exodus 33).

Jesus' apparent sleep in the boat was certainly a sign of his real humanity. He had given himself so much to the crowds that he was exhausted, so tired that he could sleep in the middle of a storm. But it also revealed his divinity. For God is the best possible teacher, who watches over and reveals his power according to our weakness and need.

But divine creation goes beyond the material universe. In fact, his spiritual creation, or re-creation, is an even greater work. As today's second reading teaches us, to be "in Christ" is to be "a new creation." God recreates us by grace. As prodigious as Jesus' power over visible creation is, he shows his power even more by transforming us through grace. He calms the storms of passion and evil in our lives so that we can live in the peace of divine love.

Homily on the readings of the XII Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaA short one-minute reflection for these Sunday readings.

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"We are all called to know the impact of abuse," pope says

Cardinal Parolin on abuse: "It is an injustice that affects everyone".

The Pontifical Gregorian University organized the IV International Conference on Safeguarding, with the aim of taking further steps in the prevention of abuse. This year, the theme focused on "Safeguarding and disability".

Giovanni Tridente-June 19, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

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"Abuses represent "an injustice that affects everyone, disabled or not." Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, said this at the opening of the IV International Conference on Safeguarding organized in the Pontifical Gregorian University by its Institute of Anthropology, founded in 2012 as the initial Center for the Protection of Minors. In 2021, the agency, of which Jesuit Hans Zollnerexpanded its mission to include vulnerable people of all ages.

It is no coincidence that this year's conference is dedicated to the theme "Safeguarding and disability", a central concern also in the magisterium of Pope Francis and the Church in general. According to the World Health Organization, 16 % of the world's population lives with a significant disability, as a result of the interaction between health, environmental and personal conditions, notes a statement from the organizers.

"In recent years, the international community has made significant progress in recognizing the rights of persons with disabilities, but unfortunately this has not yet happened at the global level," Parolin explained. If this were to happen, a "more just and caring society could flourish, in which belonging is not a slogan to be used in politically correct speeches, but a practice."

"We have the opportunity," the Cardinal Secretary of State added in his address, "to overcome the various barriers by coming together and discussing ways" to combat any kind of abuse in any circumstance.

The conference

The conference, which runs through June 21, will include several dynamic sessions. These will include the participation of the Deaf Catholic Youth Initiative for the Americas (DCYIA), a non-profit organization that supports the pastoral, cultural and linguistic needs of deaf youth in the Americas. Three American Sign Language interpreters will translate the presentations for the audience and assist the deaf participants. Their talk, entitled "Deaf and Abused...the Forgotten Community," will address the challenges often experienced by these victims.

Three other sessions will focus on the cultural approach to disability in different geographical and social contexts, the acceptance and participation of people with disabilities in the life of the Church, and the difficulties faced by people with disabilities in recognizing and reporting possible abuses.

The attention of Pope Francis

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has devoted special attention to the issue of abuse. Over the past ten years, he has updated both the canonical norms and the laws of Vatican City State regulating sexual abuse by clerics, extending them to lay people as well. It has also put in place measures to investigate and punish not only those who commit abuse, but also those who cover it up with malice or indifference.

In line with the Pontiff's concerns, the Conference also wants to provide a platform to learn more about this issue, to network and share best practices in the field of care, prevention and accompaniment of children and adults in situations of violence or abuse.

Prerogatives that are assumed by the Institute of Anthropology itself, aimed at promoting dignity and care through interdisciplinary training, research and education, approaches inspired by Christian principles and sensitive to cultural diversity.

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Make a symphony of prayer out of the Psalms, Pope encourages

In this preparatory year for the Jubilee of 2025, Pope Francis encouraged the faithful in St. Peter's Square to perform a symphony of prayer by reading and praying with the Psalms. Among others, he cited Psalms 23, 50, 51 or 63. The Psalms were the prayer of Jesus, Mary and the apostles. With them "we will be happy," he said.

Francisco Otamendi-June 19, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

In the Audience This Wednesday, in the fourth session of the cycle of catechesis on "The Holy Spirit and the Bride," which is the Church, Pope Francis encouraged in St. Peter's Square to carry out "a true symphony of prayer" with the Psalms of the Bible. They are inspired by God and breathe God, and were the prayer of Jesus, Mary, the apostles, and all the Christians who have gone before us, the Holy Father pointed out. The basic reading for the reflection was the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, 3:1-17.

"The Holy Spirit is the composer of this beautiful symphony given to the Church. As in every symphony, there are various "movements" in it, that is, various types of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, supplication, lament, narration, sapiential reflection and others, both in personal form and in the choral form of the whole people. These are the songs that the Spirit Himself has placed on the lips of the Bride. All the books of the Bible, as I mentioned last time, are inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the Book of Psalms is also inspired by the Holy Spirit in the sense that it is full of poetic inspiration," the Pope pointed out.

Praying with the Psalms

The Psalms are not something of the past, but are updated with our prayer. The Pontiff recommended that if a psalm or a verse touches our hearts, we should pray with it and repeat it throughout the day. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to pray with the psalms, he said.

On a cloudy day in Rome, with a notorious presence of pilgrims from various countries whom the Pope greeted, especially Argentinians and Lebanese, the Holy Father added that "the psalms allow us not to impoverish our prayer by reducing it only to petitions, to a continuous 'give me, give us...'. We learn from the Lord's Prayer, which before asking for "our daily bread" says: "Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done". The psalms help us to open ourselves to a less egocentric prayer: a prayer of praise, of blessing, of thanksgiving; and they also help us to become the voice of all creation, making it a sharer in our praise".

World Refugee Day

The day after tomorrow, Francis recalled, is World Refugee Day, promoted by the United Nations, and the Pope took the opportunity to recall the Church's commitment to the refugees. refugees and migrants: "welcome, protect and accompany, promote and integrate". We should also remember the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on Sunday, September 29, 2024, with the title "God walks with his people", chosen by Pope Francis for his Message.

Closeness to the Chinese people

The Pope greeted the Association "Friends of Cardinal Celso Costantini", accompanied by the Bishop of the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone, Giuseppe Pellegrini, on the occasion of the centenary of Cardinal Celso Costantini's death. Shanghai Sinense Counciland also to the "dear Chinese people, as "a noble and brave people", with "such a beautiful culture", and to the "dear Chinese people, as "a noble and courageous people", with "such a beautiful culture".

He also recalled the upcoming feast day on the 21st of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian Jesuit known for his service to the sick and his dedication to the education of young students. In concluding, as usual, Pope Francis noted that "we continue to pray for peace in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, in Sudan, Myanmar and wherever there are people suffering because of war, which is always a defeat."

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

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Belorado. Buying and selling of monasteries, a pseudo-Catholic sect and cism?

At the end of the week expires the deadline given by the archbishopric of Burgos so that, one by one, the Poor Clare nuns of the community of Santa Clara de Belorado express their will or not, to remain within the Catholic Church.

Maria José Atienza-June 19, 2024-Reading time: 14 minutes

Until a few weeks ago, not many people knew of the existence of the convent of Santa Clara de Belorado. Beyond the area, where the community was especially loved and some scattered regional news about the baking work of the nuns, the life of this monastery and its surroundings was marked by tranquility and practically no media exposure.

The story took a turn on May 13 when, in an unusual way, the abbess of the community, Sister Isabel, announced that she had signed, on behalf of the entire community, a document formally abandoning the Catholic Church, called "Catholic Manifesto". In this document, the nun affirmed that the Catholic Church is heretical and schismatic and placed the community under the jurisdiction of Pablo de Rojas, who claims to be a bishop and is the head of the sect known as "....Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle"..

This abandonment of the Catholic Church, it seems, had been made through a request signed by the abbess herself on May 8 and accepted by Pablo de Rojas on May 10, 2024.

What makes a community decide to take such a step? Is it a religious question, or is there something else? What is the Pious Union? What happens to the monasteries if the nuns abandon the Catholic faith?

The answers to these questions are varied and certainly do not cover the full reality of a situation that is more like a farce than anything else. In the Belorado case economic and religious issues converge. There are various nuances and issues that have converged in an almost grotesque situation whose outcome remains unknown.

The "Catholic Manifesto

The Catholic Manifesto published by the Sisters of Belorado is a 70-page document that reproduces the main ideas of the so-called "Theological positioning." of the sect.

The document defends the idea that Pius XII was the last legitimate Pope and after his death "the See of St. Peter is vacant and usurped".

According to this manifesto, the Catholic Church is schismatic and has betrayed Christ. The Vatican Council is, according to this document, a heretical act and the subsequent Church, illegitimate. The bishops and priests are a kind of "heretics, thieves, perfidious and blasphemers". Among other affirmations, it maintains that "Ratzinger was a great heretic with the patina of a conservative" and Pope Francis is called "Mr. Bergoglio", "who is not a bishop, not even a priest".

The Manifesto, signed only by the former abbess "in my name and in the name of all the sisters of the two monasteries located in Belorado and Orduña", affirms categorically that they will not obey those they consider heretics and makes a confused invitation to all the people who "want to be saved" to leave the Church or "sect of the council".

Is it a schism? Technically yes, since according to canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law, schism is "the refusal of subjection to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him". More accurately, we are faced with the adherence of a number of persons to an already constituted schismatic sect.

The Belorado community

The Monastery of Santa Clara in the town of Belorado, Burgos, is a monastery of Poor Clares whose first construction dates back to the 14th century. The building was sacked by the French troops at the beginning of the 19th century and later disentailed by Mendizábal. The nuns recovered the convent and, since then, nothing had changed in a quiet monastic life marked by the work of the nuns' bakery.

The monastery is part of the Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Arántzazu together with forty other monasteries, including Vitoria and Derio.

At present, the community of Belorado is composed of fifteen religious. Of these fifteen, "the five eldest are outside this whole process," according to a source in the archbishopric of Burgos. The situation of these five older sisters, who are over 80 years old, is the focus of much of the concern of both the archbishopric and the superiors of the Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Arántzazu. Although both understand that they are well cared for, they have serious doubts that they are aware of what is happening in their community.

Following the publication of the Catholic Manifesto and the subsequent declarations of the other 10 nuns, each nun received a summons to appear before the ecclesiastical tribunal individually in order for them to second the step taken or retract it.

This summons was served on June 6. The three main superiors of the community - the former abbess, Sister Isabel, the former vicar, Sister Paz, and the former fourth discreet, Sister Sión - were given 10 days to appear before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Burgos on suspicion of schism, a period which the archdiocese extended for another five days, at the request of the nuns.

The other 7 sisters were given 15 days to make this appearance. June 21 will be the date on which the sisters will have to decide, one by one, if they will break with the Catholic Church.

In the event that they continue with the position they have held since May 13, the nuns will be excommunicated for the same reason. (excommunication latae sententiae)), they would be excluded from religious life and prohibited from exercising various baptismal rights.

If they retract, as the archbishopric of Burgos points out, "they will continue in the community and it will be the federation that will decide". In the archbishopric they emphasize their willingness to "dialogue until the last minute, but we must be aware that if these people voluntarily abandon the Catholic Faith they cannot continue living in a place that belongs to the Church".

Bishop Iceta appointed Commissioner

On May 28, in view of the events and after the request of the Poor Clare Federation of Our Lady of Aránzazu, the Holy See named Bishop Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa "pontifical commissary ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of the monasteries of Belorado, Orduña and Derio. This appointment grants him "all the rights and duties that the universal law of the Church and the proper law of the Institute attribute to the Major Superior and his Council, including legal representation in the civil sphere". The Archbishop of Burgos then created a management commission, of which the following are members "the president of the Federation of Our Lady of Aránzazu, mother Javier Sotoand its federal secretary, Carmen Ruizwho will watch over the care of the community. Together with them, the judicial vicar of the archdiocese, Donato Miguel Gomezwill be in charge of canonical matters, while the director of Legal Affairs of the Archbishopric will be in charge of canonical matters, Rodrigo Sáizwill coordinate the aspects related to the civil field. They will also count on the collaboration of a professional firm for the administration of the monasteries and their assets and will be in charge of carrying out an audit and an inventory. Likewise, and if necessary, they will count on the help of professional offices of legal services, in civil, fiscal or criminal matters.".

With this appointment, the legal civil representative of everything related to the Monastery became the Archbishop of Burgos, so that "he has the right and duty to watch over, above all, the people who live in the monastery, particularly the elderly sisters, the contracted workers, the proper management of financial movements, as well as the management of all movable and immovable property" as highlighted in the note issued by the Archbishopric of Burgos to announce this appointment.

[Enlargement of the news item]

On June 21, the Poor Clares sent a burofax to the Archbishopric of Burgos, which had extended the deadline at the request of the nuns, in which they expressed their "unanimous and irreversible position" of abandoning what they describe as a church "born of Vatican II larceny".

The nuns claim that the Code of Canon Law is not "competent". This is completely implausible and has placed the dialogue with the Archbishopric in the hands of civil lawyers.

The convent's accounts

The nuns of this community, led by the former abbess, Sister Isabel, have not responded to the incessant requests for dialogue addressed to them both by the federation of Poor Clares to which they belong and by the archbishopric of Burgos. Their communications are made through their blog or in the national media.

The nuns of Belorado have used their blog and social networks to "denounce" their disagreement with all the measures imposed from the Holy See, although, for the moment, they have not established direct contact with the Federation of Poor Clares nor with the Archbishopric. In the last few weeks they claimed they could not access their "bank accounts, given that D. Mario has taken control of them, thus blocking access to the fruit of our daily work", something that has been firmly denied by the Archbishopric of Burgos since "the sisters know that they can count on everything they need through the federal secretary, Sister Carmen". With the appointment of the commissary, "the accounts of the convent have been intervened, following the usual process of a pontifical commissariat" the archbishopric points out, "the receipts continue to be paid, but the nuns cannot withdraw money since they are no longer empowered to do so". Carmen, who was expelled when she went to the convent on June 6 to ask what they needed and to see the elderly sisters.

From the archbishopric, in a note issued on June 13, they pointed out that "they are working with the banks so that there is no problem of payment to those who legitimately have the right to payment: supplies, payroll, receipts, etc."They said that they were still "waiting for the sisters to communicate to us the necessary amounts required for the usual expenses of ordinary life", a step that the nuns have not taken because, according to them, if they request the money from the Archbishop "it would mean, de facto, the recognition of the legitimacy of the usurpation".

On the part of the Archbishopric of Burgos and the Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Arántzazu, the pertinent legal steps in the civil and canonical sphere have been taken correctly and the legal representative of the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado in the registry of the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts is Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa, Archbishop of Burgos.

Is the Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle a sect?

Yes, this group is classified as a sect in the book of the expert Luis Santamaría. "On the outskirts of the Cross", published by the Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos in 2023. The volume gathers a hundred sects of Christian origin or appearance.

In his introduction, Santamaría explains that "the fact that most of them use the name 'Church' shows their intention to present themselves as the true Church of Christ or, sometimes, as a new and independent, but totally legitimate, grouping within the universal Church. They usually coincide in their claim to recover what is genuinely Christian - which would have been betrayed in the historical Churches and ecclesial communities from which they have broken away - and in their claim to greater openness to all humanity, without strict norms, admission criteria or excommunications."

– Supernatural Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle "it considers itself the true Church of Christ, and for this reason its leader always presents himself as a 'Catholic, apostolic and Roman bishop', as well as referring to the Catholic Church as "the sect of the council or of 'Monsignor Roncalli'".

This group professes sedevacantism "in such a way that it does not recognize any bishop of Rome after Pius XII. Neither does it admit the validity of the sacraments celebrated in the post-conciliar Catholic Church".

A look at the Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle website gives a brief idea of the lines of this minority group. The theological position from which the manifesto signed by the former abbess of Belorado is born is a sum of texts and phrases taken from preconciliar documents, overloaded language and terminology "stolen" from various institutions of the Church.

The theological position emphasizes that "with the death, on October 9, 1958, of the last legitimate Pope, until now, H.H. Pius XII, and with the convocation of the "Second Vatican Council", the "conciliar church" arose, which attempts to eclipse the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church", and describes the Catholic faithful as "acatholics".

The theological position mixes questions of a moral nature with canonical and magisterial issues.

– Supernatural Pia unión is presented as "a sort of Warrior Militia predestined to excel over all that exists" and "it is not open to priests, religious or simple faithful who only want to benefit spiritually or sacramentally, since for this it is necessary to be subjects of the Most Reverend Her Most Reverend Dr. Pablo de Rojas Sánchez-Franco and to collaborate with the Pious Union". Dr. D. Pablo de Rojas Sánchez-Franco and collaborate with the Pious Union".

– Supernatural Pia Union The Pious Union's website states the prohibition of "manifesting to strangers that they are members of the Pious Union", the sacraments can only be received in chapels of the institution and rules of such nature are established. sui generis such as forcing women to wear "skirt, stockings, French sleeves at least, and for men, if possible, a blazer and tie, otherwise they can wear colored chino pants, never jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt, with two turns at the cuffs, mostly for aesthetic reasons, as our founder says "baker's sleeves are very ordinary" (short sleeves)".

The "characters

Who is this Pablo de Rojas? Are there many followers of this Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle? Numerous media have profiled the leader of this hitherto almost unknown sect.

The description that Luis Santamaría makes, in the first pages of "A las afueras de la cruz" about the founders and heads of many of the sects of Christian origin, is applicable as a description of the self-styled bishop Rojas. These are people who have "been rejected in seminaries, novitiates and other houses of formation, or have abandoned them, or have been expelled from them. There are also cases of people who have sought ordained ministries and have not achieved them. So, as a vital alternative, they have decided to join schismatic movements or, after having obtained a priestly ordination or episcopal consecration, they have created their own "church", entering into a dynamic of mutual recognitions and ordinations and in the creation of complex structures with bombastic names and superimposition of adjectives to pretend to show an ecclesiastical seriousness that they lack".

Pablo Rojas is a native of Jaén and the biography he presents on the website of the Pious Union of St. Paul the Apostle is full of inconsistencies and strange facts such as having received communion at the age of five in Spain in the 1980s or having been ordained a priest twice.

Textually from his website: "[Rojas]He was 'confirmed' in Madrid in 1993 by 'Mons. de Galarreta, "bishop" of the Fraternity of St. Pius X, 'consecrated' by 'Mons. Lefevre. In 2005 he received the Sacrament [of Holy Orders] by Bishop Shell on May 13, 2005 and on June 28, 2010, 'sub conditione' from the hands of Bishop Subiron." Both Derek Schell and Ricardo Subiron were excommunicated for their membership in the sect of the Church of Palmar de Troya.

Rojas settled in Bilbao where it was common to see him walking around dressed as a bishop in the old style and accompanied by José Ceacero (known by his nickname of "Rojas"). barman priestHe also claims to be a priest and acts as "spokesman" for the nuns of Belorado.

In 2019, Bishop Mario Iceta, then Bishop of Bilbao, signed a decree declaring Pablo de Rojas excommunicated in which he stressed that "he himself (Rojas) has claimed to have had himself consecrated Bishop by Mr. Daniel L. Dolan, of the line of the schismatic Bishop Ngô Dình Thuc, incurring in the crime of schism ex can. 1364 § 1 C.I.C.

Ad abundantiamThe celebration of various sacraments in our Diocese ex can. 1378 § 2, no. 1 and 2 C.I.C., has been attentive to the celebration of various sacraments in our Diocese ex can. 1378 § 2, no. 1 and 2 C.I.C.

He has contumaciously relapsed last June 28, 2019 in the crime typified in canon 1382 CIC; having himself re-consecrated Bishop by the schismatic Bishop Williamson, currently in a situation of excommunication."

Purchase and sale of monasteries

This anomalous situation is related to the properties of three monasteries. The three properties are part of the Federation of Our Lady of Arantzazu (Province of Cantabria - Poor Clare Sisters) and are the Poor Clare monasteries located in the towns of Derio (Vizcaya), Belorado (Burgos) and Orduña (Alava).

The start of these monastery sale and purchase transactions dates back to 2020.

In 2020, the monastery of Orduña, owned by the Poor Clares of Vitoria, was canonically suppressed and empty. In October of that year, the community of Belorado signed an agreement for the purchase and sale of this monastery for an "amount of 1,200,000 € and with a delay of two years. In this act of sale and purchase, they contributed 100,000 € and committed to make semi-annual payments of 75,000 €", according to the note issued by the archbishopric of Burgos. At that time, part of the Poor Clare community of Derio left this property and moved to Orduña.

The original idea seemed to be to sell the Derio monastery in order to buy the Orduña monastery. However, the sale of Derio has still not taken place, so it was unfeasible to undertake the payment of the second one. In fact, although the first payment for the purchase was to be made on November 1, 2022, no payment has ever been made.

This was the situation when, in March 2024, the abbess of Belorado, Sister Isabel "declared that she had a benefactor who would buy and put the Monastery (Orduña) in the name of the benefactor himself, reach an agreement on its use and resell it to the community of Belorado when they obtained the proceeds from the sale of the Monastery of Derio".

The secrecy of this operation and "the suspicions that this person was alien to the Catholic Church" expressed by the Poor Clares of Vitoria, lead the bishop of this diocese and his vicar for consecrated life, to go to Orduña on March 21, 2024 to inquire about this benefactor. There they were told that the abbess was in Belorado, so the prelate and the vicar went to the other monastery, located 100 kilometers away. Once in Belorado, "they were informed that Sister Isabel could not receive them and they were received at the lathe by the vicar, Sister Paz and the fourth discreet, Sister Sión".

Neither of the two nuns told the bishop the identity of the buyer. A month and a half later, his identity is still not really known.

The community of Vitoria, owner of the monastery of Orduña, which had not received any payment, decided to terminate the contract and summoned the community of Belorado before a notary.

As the note issued by the Archbishopric of Burgos on May 13 points out, Sister Isabel, accompanied by Sister Paz and Sister Sión, handed over a document "claiming 1,600,000 € as payment for the amount of the works carried out by her community in the Monastery of Orduña and a 30% for damages". The former abbess did not accept the termination of the contract and decided to take the matter "to the courts". The community of Vitoria has expressed its intention to recover the property of the monastery of Orduña and expel the nuns from Belorado through civil proceedings.

What does the Code of Canon Law say?

According to the Code of Canon Law, canon 634, "institutes, provinces and houses, as juridical persons in their own right, have the capacity to acquire, possess, administer and dispose of temporal goods, unless this capacity is excluded or limited by the constitutions" but it notes in canon 634, § 3.3, that "for the validity of an alienation or of any operation in which the patrimonial condition of a juridic person may suffer prejudice, the license of the competent Superior given in writing, with the consent of his council, is required. But if it is a matter of an operation in which the sum determined by the Holy See for each region is exceeded, or of goods donated to the Church, because of a vow, or of objects of great price because of their artistic or historical value, the license of the Holy See itself is also required". In the case of Spain, the figure that requires the explicit permission of the Holy See is 1,500,000 euros.

Another relevant provision in this matter is canon 639 of the Code of Canon Law which, in its first point, states that "if a juridical person contracts debts and obligations, even if it does so with the license of the Superiors, it must respond for the same", and in the third point it states that if "a religious contracts debts and obligations without any license from the Superiors, he personally responds, and not the juridical person". Two points that suppose a serious problem for the religious of Belorado, who cannot assume the debt contracted both for the purchase of the monastery of Orduña and for the works undertaken in the same building when the community arrived from the monastery of Derio.

Chronology:

October 2020

Signing of the agreement between the community of Derio-Belorado and the community of Poor Clares of Vitoria for the purchase and sale of the Monastery of Orduña.

October 28, 2020

Transfer of the community of Derio to the monastery of Orduña.

March 2024

Declaration of the abbess of having a benefactor who will pay for the purchase of the monastery of Orduña.

March 21, 2024

Attempted dialogue with the abbess by the bishop of Vitoria to find out the identity of the buyer.

April 12, 2024

The episcopal delegate for the consecrated life of the archdiocese of Burgos visits the monastery of Belorado. He is attended by two sisters and not by the abbess. The dates of May 27, 2024 for a canonical visit to Belorado, May 28 to Orduña and May 29 for the election of a new abbess are agreed upon (by telephone).

April 13, 2024

The president of the Federation of Our Lady of Arantzazu communicates to the Archbishop of Burgos her suspicion of a possible schism crime.

April 24, 2024

The bishops of Vitoria and Bilbao and the archbishop of Burgos sign a decree opening a preliminary investigation into a possible schism in Belorado.

May 7

Attempted rescission of the agreement of purchase and sale of the Monastery by the community of Poor Clares of Vitoria. Refusal of Sister Isabel.

May 13, 2024

Sister Isabel signed, in the name of the community of Belorado, a document of formal abandonment of the Church, the so-called "Catholic Manifesto" and submitted to the jurisdiction of Mr. Pablo de Rojas.

The chaplain of the convent visits the community and manages to speak with the vicar Sister Paz. Paz confirms by telephone to the Archbishop of Burgos the "abandonment of the Catholic Church by the whole community and declares that the decision has been taken unanimously by all the nuns".

May 29, 2024

Date of expiration of the appointment of Sister Isabel as abbess of the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado.

Appointment of Msgr. Mario Iceta as "pontifical commissioner ad nutum Sanctae Sedis"The monasteries of Belorado, Orduña and Derio.

June 6, 2024

Sister Carmen Ruiz, Secretary of the Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Aránzazu; Rodrigo Sáiz, proxy of the Pontifical Commissioner; Carlos Azcona, notary of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, and the notary María Rosario Garrido, went to the convent of Belorado to carry out the process determined by the Holy See and were expelled from the convent.

June 16, 2024

End of the deadline given to the former abbess, the former curate and the former fourth discreet to come to testify before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal. In response to the request for an extension of the deadline, the archbishopric granted five more days.

June 21, 2024

The deadline given to the nuns of the Belorado community to go to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal to testify has expired.

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The Parables of Jesus of Nazareth

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Why Jesus preached in parables

Jesus used parables in his teaching to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God, to fulfill the messianic prophecies and to manifest his divine status as the Son of God.

Rafael Sanz Carrera-June 19, 2024-Reading time: 5 minutes

Heir to a rich prophetic and wisdom tradition, Jesus not only preached. He also emerged as a master of parables, telling stories that connected with people and conveyed his messages in a profound and unforgettable way.

The exclamation of his contemporaries: "Never has any man spoken like this man!" (John 7:46), sums up perfectly the uniqueness and impact of Jesus' teachings, imbued with profound wisdom and expressed through incomparable parables such as that of the lost sheep, the Good Samaritan or the prodigal son. Examples of his masterful ability to use everyday stories to convey profound moral and spiritual messages.

Why did Jesus use parables?

The reasons given by exegetes for Jesus' use of parables are varied, but we can point to two main reasons:

To reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God to the disciples. Since the disciples have a receptive and open disposition to Jesus' message (Mark 4:11; Matthew 13:11; Luke 8:10), the parables help them to understand deep spiritual truths that would otherwise be too complex or difficult to grasp (Matthew 13:11-12). In this sense the use of parables was a gift from God and a sign of grace to them: "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it" (Matthew 13:16-17); cf. Mark 4:11).

2. To hide the mysteries of the kingdom of God from those who do not believe. Those who do not believe have hardened hearts and are unwilling to receive Jesus' message, especially in a figurative language they do not understand (Mark 4:12; Matthew 13:13-15; Luke 8:10). In a way, the parables are also a means of revealing the unbelief and hardness of heart of those who rejected his message.

However, we will try to show that there were other reasons why Jesus used parables, such as: (1) the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies and (2) the manifestation of his divine nature as the Son of God.

Jesus fulfills the prophecies

We intend to highlight how Jesus fulfills the messianic prophecies by using parables.

The clearest example is found in the Gospel of Matthew, which says: "Jesus said all this to the people in parables, and without parables he spoke nothing to them, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 'I will open my mouth speaking in parables; I will proclaim the secret things from the foundation of the world'" (Matthew 13:34-35).

In this passage, Matthew says that Jesus' use of parables fulfills the prophecy of Asaph and demonstrates his role as the prophet who reveals God's will. The prophecy of Asaph, an Old Testament poet and musician, is found in Psalm 78:2: . Thus, according to Matthew, it is "that I will open my mouth to judgments, that the riddles of the past may spring forth." This prophecy foretold that the Messiah would teach using parables, and Jesus fulfills it, since "without parables he spoke to them nothing".

Then there is Isaiah's prophecy: "He said to me, 'Go and tell this people, "No matter how much you hear, you will not understand; no matter how much you look, you will not comprehend. Dull the heart of this people, harden their hearing, blind their eyes: lest their eyes see, lest their ears hear, lest their heart understand, lest they turn and be healed'" (Isaiah 6:9-10). It is Jesus himself who quotes this passage in several places (Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:11-12; Luke 8:10) precisely to explain why he spoke in parables.

We see that Jesus not only follows a tradition (prophetic and sapiential) with his way of preaching with parables, but he is also conscious of fulfilling the prophecies about him.

God Speaks in Parables

The Bible teaches us that the language God uses is often mysterious, highlighting the parabolic character of his speech as the natural form of his expression.. The idea that God speaks in parables is well grounded in the Scriptures. Here are some examples.

We read in the following passage from Hosea that God says of himself: "I have spoken to the prophets, and multiplied visions; and through the prophets I have used parables" (Hosea 12:10). Clearly God says that he has spoken using parables and visions. While this verse underscores God's use of parables, it also suggests that Jesus, in using parables, does so in connaturality with his status as the Son of God. This was, in part, what caught the attention of his contemporaries: "for he taught them with authority and not as their scribes" (Matthew 7:29); they perceived the parabolic character of his discourse as his natural (divine) form of expression.

We see it also in Proverbs 25:2: "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; the glory of kings to search it out," where it is suggested that it is part of God's nature to conceal certain things, leaving it to humans to discover and understand them through search and discernment. This relates directly to the use of parables by requiring the listener to actively participate in the search for truth. They are not simply stories. They are vehicles of deep spiritual and moral meanings that must be discovered and understood through reflection and discernment.

Parables to reveal the mysteries

The same is true in Ezekiel 17:2: "Son of man, propound a riddle and tell a parable to the house of Israel." In this passage, Ezekiel, as a prophet, receives this instruction in a difficult context where Israel needs to be called to repentance and reflection on their actions. The parable becomes the best tool for God's message to be seriously considered and deeply understood. Jesus employs this same divine method; and that being prophesied, he is also giving fulfillment with his parables.

Finally, Psalm 49:4: "I will give ear to the proverb, and I will put my problem to the sound of the zither". This verse again reinforces the idea that proverbs and riddles are a form of communication with God. Jesus, as the Son of God, used parables in a similar way, revealing spiritual truths through simple stories that invited reflection and understanding.

These passages illustrate that the use of parables is a frequent form of divine expression and communication, which leads listeners to search for truth, discern and reflect deeply. In this sense, Jesus' use of parables is the best way to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and to manifest his condition as the Son of God.

Other Messianic prophecies fulfilled

In a more indirect way, we find other prophecies that suggest to us the way in which the Messiah would preach and to which Jesus also gives fulfillment in some way. Let us look at some of them.

Isaiah 42:1-4: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one, in whom I am well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him; he will manifest righteousness to the nations. He shall not cry out, he shall not cry, he shall not shout in the streets. The bruised reed he shall not break, the flickering wick he shall not quench. He will manifest justice with truth. It will not waver or break, until it establishes justice in the country. In its law the islands await".

Although the text does not mention parables explicitly, this prophetic passage describes the character of the servant of the Lord, the Messiah. Thus we see that Jesus' parables are presented as everyday stories with simple and accessible language: "He will not cry out, he will not cry, he will not shout in the streets", and he addresses those of humble condition: "The bruised reed he will not break, the wavering wick he will not quench".

Proverbs 1, 6: "to understand proverbs and sayings, sayings of wise men and riddles". The proverb suggests that the understanding of wisdom is not immediate, but requires a gradual process of learning and reflection.

Similarly, Jesus' parables can also be seen as a form of gradual revelation. Not all people grasp the full meaning of the parables from the beginning. Those who are willing to listen carefully and seek wisdom can come to understand the profound truths Jesus conveys through them. While Proverbs 1:6 does not refer specifically to parables, it does establish principles that illuminate Jesus' way of preaching.

Conclusion

We can conclude that Jesus used parables in his teaching to fulfill a double function. In the first place, to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God to his disciples and to hide them from those with hardened hearts. But also, by doing so, he fulfilled the messianic prophecies, and furthermore, he made manifest his divine condition as the Son of God.

The authorRafael Sanz Carrera

Doctor of Canon Law

The Parables of Jesus of Nazareth

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Stephen BarrThe thesis of the conflict between science and faith is a myth generated by the polemics of the end of the 19th century".

Guy Consolmagno: "We have a very small idea of God".

The Vatican Observatory is hosting an international meeting to celebrate the legacy of Father Georges Lemaître, the Belgian priest who formulated the Big Bang model for the expansion of the universe.

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U.S. astronomer Fr. Guy Consolmagno, director since 2015 of the Holy See's astronomical observatory, the Specola Vaticanachaired the presentation of an event to be held June 17-21 at Castel Gandolfo, entitled "Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Space-Time Singularities".

Consolmagno, Ph.D. in Planetology at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory from the University of Arizona, taught at Harvard College Observatory and MIT. In 1989 he entered the Society of Jesus and in 1991 he took vows as a Coadjutor Brother.

After the presentation in the Press Room of the Holy See, the American astronomer assured Omnes that this event "is very important for the world of science."

Among other reasons, the astronomer pointed out, "because it provides an opportunity to discuss so many points of view, so many questions: the true nature of Space and Time; how to reconcile the laws of Quantum Mechanics with Einstein's General Relativity, which governs the behavior of the gravitational field in the first moments of the Universe; space-time singularities; and the nature of our Universe".

Moreover, he continued, "it is also important for the Vatican because it shows the world that it is very open to the opinions of science, as long as science points to the truth, because in truth there is God."

Our idea of God

"We have too small an idea of God," the scientist assured, although "we can speak at the same time of God as a father," reiterating that our "vision is small because He is the creator of all this and even more than we could imagine."

This is difficult for us," acknowledged the astronomer, "and at the same time, in astronomy, we are faced with this reality: the universe is bigger than we know," although this "incredibly big God is very close to us".

He also assured that "this idea, which seems very modern, is already found in Psalm 8". In fact, the Magisterium of the Church sees in Psalm 8 an invitation to recognize God's work in creation and to praise his name for the dignity granted to man, who is called to care for and responsibly value creation.

"O Lord our God," begins Psalm 8, "how great is your name above all the earth! Thou hast exalted thy majesty above the heavens".
Regarding the apparent contradiction between man made in the image of God and the immensity of the universe, the scientist considers that this explanation "more than a contradiction is a kind of poetry. For things that are too big to be explained and contained in words, we use poetry. Knowing that poetry uses images that rather than explaining reality, it shows where reality is'.

Participants in the event

The 40 participants at the meeting include Nobel laureates Adam Riess and Roger Penrose; cosmologists and theoretical physicists Andrei Linde, Joseph Silk,Wendy Freedman, Licia Verde, Cumrun Vafa and the winner of the Fields MedalEdward Witten.

The conference, which celebrates the scientific legacy of the bishop Georges Lemaîtrethe Belgian physicist who developed what is known today as the theory of the Big Bang, is the second of its kind to take place at the Vatican Observatory; the first was in 2017.

The authorHernan Sergio Mora

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Indigenous peoples and the doctrine of the Church

United States

U.S. Bishops' Spring Plenary Concludes

On June 14, 2024, the summer meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops concluded. Among the topics discussed by the episcopate were the Eucharistic Revival, the beatification of Adele Brise and a plan for indigenous ministry.

Gonzalo Meza-June 18, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

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On June 12-14, the Spring Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was held in Louisville, Kentucky.USCCB). During the meeting, the prelates discussed important issues for the North American church, including the Synod on Synodality, the Eucharistic Revival and the National Eucharistic Congress (to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, July 17-21). The bishops also approved a document for indigenous pastoral ministry and voted to advance the cause for the beatification and canonization of Sister Adele Brise.

Referring to the Eucharistic Revival initiative, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, spoke of the relationship that must exist between Eucharistic devotion and service. He also added that the wounds of the Church should not be hidden, but should be tended to in order to be healed by Christ.

"We are aware of the most evident wounds in the Church: the scandal of abuse, the plague of indifference to the poor, faith immersed in a secularized culture, polarization and division-even among those of us who are committed to Christ and his Church. These wounds and sufferings are not simply abstract ideas," he said. In that sense, Bishop Pierre pointed out that the Eucharist is the source of healing for these wounds, as it constitutes a powerful medicine.

Indigenous Ministry

At this meeting, the North American bishops also approved a pastoral framework for indigenous ministry entitled "Keeping Christ's Sacred Promise," which aims to "promote reconciliation and healing, celebrating God's love for indigenous peoples and fostering unity in faith and love of Christ."

The theme of healing and reconciliation is the opening chapter. The bishops acknowledge the traumas experienced by the native peoples not only with the arrival of the explorers and the dispossession of their lands, but also with the system of boarding schools for children, which was implemented by the U.S. government in the 19th century and under which indigenous people were forcibly removed from their families to enter these institutions.

This system lasted 150 years and of the nearly 500 boarding schools, 87 were run by the Catholic Church. "Many Native peoples never fully recovered from these tragedies, which often resulted in homes torn apart by addiction, domestic abuse, abandonment and neglect. The church recognizes that it played a role in such traumas experienced by Native children," the document notes, adding that "the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, serve as the primary remedy for healing the wounds of the past." There are currently more than 340 parishes that minister to Native American ministry.

Adele Brise

During this session, the bishops also approved the advancement of the cause of beatification and canonization at the diocesan level of Adele Brise, born in January 1831 in Belgium but who emigrated with her family to Champion, Wisconsin in 1855 where she lived until her death in 1896.

In 1859 Adele reported having apparitions of a woman dressed in white whom she identified as Mary, Queen of Heaven and who told her: "Gather the children of this country and teach them what they must know for salvation: the catechism, how to cross themselves with the sign of the cross and how to approach the sacraments. That is what I want you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you". This was the beginning of Adele's mission and she would soon gather a group of lay women to embrace religious life and dedicate themselves to teaching. These Marian apparitions received the approval of the Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in 2010 and the site of the apparitions was designated in 2015 as the National Basilica of Our Lady of Champion.

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José Antonio Rosas Amor. Bringing faith to politics

Father of a family and committed politician, Mexican José Antonio Rosas Amor directs the Catholic Leadership Academythrough which it seeks to form politicians consistent with the faith who contribute to the development of society.

Juan Carlos Vasconez-June 18, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

In the hustle and bustle of political life, where voices intertwine in heated debates and agendas seem to be overwhelmed by the urgencies of the moment, a figure emerges who seeks to unite two apparently divergent worlds: faith and politics. He is José Antonio Rosas Amor.

José Antonio, a Mexican layman, father of a family and convinced politician, is responsible for a singular mission: "To invite Catholic politicians to play a more active role in promoting social welfare, inspired by the principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church.".

José Antonio directs the Academy of Catholic Leaders (www.liderescatolicos.net) that seeks "to form a new generation of Latin American Catholics with political and social responsibilities to transform the face of the continent at the service of its peoples, in the light of the Magisterium of the Church and in view of the Jubilees of the Fifth Centenary of Guadalupe and the two thousand years of the redemption.

Since his childhood, José Antonio has witnessed the divine presence in his life. Raised by a single mother who instructed him in a simple but profound faith, he learned from a young age "the value of trust in providence".. His mother, a merchant with a modest store, but with great common sense and supernatural sense, instilled in him the importance of abandoning himself to God's will at all times.

Significant encounters

His path, as he himself points out, has been marked by significant encounters. One of the most memorable was with Brother Miguel Martinez, a referent of the movement. scout in Mexico, who dedicated time and effort to guide him in his spiritual journey.

Brother Miguel knew how to transmit passion for Jesus and for his Church and from this religious José Antonio learned to find the supernatural point of view in his ordinary life, to develop the naturalness of one who is accustomed to treat God and the angels with the same confidence with which one treats a good friend.

José Antonio recalls that on one occasion, some 30 years ago, when cell phones did not exist, "One of the leaders of the Scouts in Latin America urgently needed to speak with Brother Miguel, he called him on the phone from his office and was informed that the religious had left in his car several hours ago, he was on his way to another city, and that he probably still had about six hours to travel. This answer left him cold, he urgently needed Brother Miguel's advice to make an important decision that could not wait. Half an hour later the phone rang, he took the call, it was Don Miguel 'What luck we were looking for him'. And don Miguel's answer was: 'I was on the road and my guardian angel told me that you were looking for me. So the first chance I got I parked and I'm calling'. This is an example of the naturalness of the supernatural.".

Leadership training

José Antonio's vocation crystallized at an early age, when he discovered his calling to politics as an expression of his Christian identity. His main objective is to "to form committed Catholics who participate in political life from a perspective of encounter and unity, following the teachings of the Popes, especially those of Pope Francis, who emphasizes the importance of being signs of unity in a polarized world."

With an ardent passion and an unwavering faith, José Antonio seeks to transmit closeness, to teach Catholics to live their faith in politics with coherence, reminding them that social and political commitment can be a way of encountering God and our fellow men and women.

His work inspires many to embrace a more inclusive and humanitarian vision of politics, where faith is not an obstacle, but a beacon that guides toward a greater common good. In a world in need of hope and cohesion, the voice of José Antonio Amor resonates as an echo of solidarity and love in action.

People who count

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Synodal Committee formed in Germany

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German "Synodal Committee" continues to defy the Vatican

Almost all the German bishops participated in the last meeting of the German "Synodal Committee" before the summer in which three "commissions" have been constituted, one of which will be in charge of preparing the so-called "Synodal Council", repeatedly forbidden by the Vatican.

José M. García Pelegrín-June 17, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

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Last Friday and Saturday, the so-called German "Synodal Committee" met in Mainz. It is composed of 74 members: the 27 titular bishops, 27 representatives of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) and 20 other members elected by the plenary assembly of the "Synodal Way"; resolutions are approved by a simple two-thirds majority.

However, of the 27 titular bishops, four -Cardinal Rainer Woelki (Cologne) and Bishops Gregor Maria Hanke OSB (Eichstätt), Stefan Oster SDB (Passau) and Rudolf Voderholzer (Regensburg) - decided not to participate. According to the organizers, of these 74 members, 64 were present in Mainz.

The Vatican has repeatedly questioned the "authority that the Bishops' Conference (DBK) would have to approve the statutes" of such a Committee, since neither the Code of Canon Law nor the DBK Statute "provide a basis for it."

As will be recalled, both in a letter of January 16, 2023 as in another of the February 16, 2024the principal cardinals of the Holy See recalled that a Synodal Council "is not foreseen by current canon law and, therefore, a resolution in this sense by the DBK would be invalid, with the corresponding juridical consequences".

For this reason, the German bishops declared that they would submit their work in the "Synodal Committee" to the approval of the Holy See and that meetings would continue to be held in the Vatican. The date of the next visit of German bishops to Rome has yet to be fixed.

However, at the initial press conference, DBK President Bishop Georg Bätzing stated that "the Synodal Committee is counting on the go [approval] of the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Cardinals involved."

This statement has been questioned by the lay initiative "New Beginnings", which for years has been criticizing the drift of the "Synodal Way" and now of the "Synodal Committee". Last week they sent a formal question to the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops about the legality of these activities of the DBK and the ZdK.

Furthermore, during the meeting of the "Synodal Committee," the Tübingen canonist Bernhard Sven Anuth - presented as a "constructive critic" of the Synodal Way - exposed the canonical situation or, in the words of Dorothea Schmidt in the Catholic weekly "Die Tagespost," that "which cardinals of the curia, canonists and the Pope have been trying to make the Catholic Church in Germany understand since 2019." if Rome has said that "neither the Synodal Way, nor a body appointed by it, nor an episcopal conference has the authority to establish the 'Synodal Council' at the national, diocesan or parish level," then any attempt to do so would also be "invalid according to canon law." Thomas Schüller, a canonist from Münster and member of the "Synodal Committee", agreed with him: "in the end, it is the bishop and the Pope who decide".

Although this intervention by Bernhard Anuth made it clear that there would be no "co-decision of the laity" and that Vatican approval of a "supposed parity" between bishops and laity is ruled out, many members of the "Committee" spoke in favor of "being courageous and exploring or even going beyond the limits of canon law".

The "Synodal Committee" - in the words of the DBK president - will implement and further develop "the rich fruits of the five synodal assemblies". To this end, three working groups, the so-called commissions, were formed on Saturday: one of them will be dedicated to the initiatives of the "Synodal Way" which, due to time constraints, could not be dealt with in the Synodal Way, such as "the new sexual morality" or "the decision-making rights of the laity"; a second commission will evaluate the resolutions approved in the Synodal Way and the third will prepare the Synodal Council. Each of the commissions is made up of ten members of the "Synodal Committee". The next meeting of the Synodal Committee is scheduled for mid-December in Wiesbaden.

A new meeting of DBK representatives with Vatican dicasteries, agreed upon during the last visit of German bishops to Rome in March, has no date yet, but it is rumored that it could be before the end of this month of June.

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Integral ecology

The roots of the divorce between modern science and Christian religion

The separation, or even the apparent confrontation between faith and scientific progress has no real consistency. One only has to look at the beliefs of many of the greatest scientists in history and the impulse that their faith gave to their scientific research. The modern "divorce" between science and faith comes from a forgetfulness, on the part of both, of the keys and premises of their necessary relationship.

Juan Arana-June 17, 2024-Reading time: 10 minutes

The relationship between modern science and the Christian religion appears to be surrounded by a halo of conflict that conditions everything that is said about it. This is how it is seen by those who are convinced that there is something fundamentally wrong in one or the other: scientismists think that modern science monopolizes the truth, so that all religions must necessarily be false, except in any case a scientific version of them, such as the "religion of Humanity" that Auguste Comte tried to establish in the 19th century. At the same time, there are Christians who counterattack by recalling the null success of such attempts: they see in science at most a handful of secondary truths, which should be tied up short so as not to absolutize them, a temptation that would always be lurking.

I have devoted most of my effort to examining the history of the relationship between modern science and the Christian religion. I must say that I disagree with both positions. I am not relying on a simple hunch: I have taken the trouble to coordinate a group of specialists to analyze the pro-, anti- or a-religious attitude of a selection of 160 leading figures in all fields of positive knowledge from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the end of the twentieth. Our conclusions are categorical: during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, practically all of them were pro-, anti- or a-religious. all the creators of the new science were believers. They were not only at the same time scientists y The work they did was almost always based on religious motivations, so that they managed to become high-level researchers. because were Christians (something similar can be said in general of second and third level scholars).

In the 19th century, a period in which the de-Christianization of European intellectuals (especially philosophers) had advanced very significantly, scientists remained for the most part men of faith: of our selection, 22 out of 32. And those attached to religion were not exactly the least representative: among them were no less than Gauss, Riemann, Pasteur, Fourier, Gibbs, Cuvier, Pinel, Cantor, Cauchy, Dalton, Faraday, Volta, Ampère, Kelvin, Maxwell, Mendel, Torres Quevedo and Duhem: the best among the mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, chemists, biologists, physicians and engineers of that time.

We all know that in the twentieth century, the spiritual disenchantment has become a mass phenomenon. However, the religious option remains the most popular among the great scientists: 16 of the 29 whose affiliation is not in doubt. Once again, the Christians are by no means a marginal group: Planck, Born, Heisenberg, Jordan, Eddington, Lemaître, Dyson, Dobzhansky, Teilhard de Chardin, Lejeune, Eccles....

Enlightenment and secularization

Data are always interpretable; we can present them in one way or another and give them all the twists and turns we want. Nevertheless - sophistry and rhetoric aside - it is difficult to avoid the following conclusions:

1ª. Modern science was born and grew in Christian Europe and not precisely by the work of dissident minorities, but by the hand of people firmly attached to that tradition (Copernicus, Képler, Galileo, Descartes, Huygens, Boyle, Bacon, Newton, Leibniz, etc. etc.).

2ª. There is not a single "Enlightenment", that is, a single movement determined to promote the development of reason and the improvement of humanity through the free use of the intellectual faculties in accordance with an emancipatory ideal. It is true that there is an anti-religious enlightenment (that of Diderot, La Mettrie, d'Holbach and Helvetius) and also a anti-Christian enlightenment (that of Voltaire, d'Alembert, Frederick II or Condorcet). But alongside them there is also another Christian enlightenment, the only one that brought modern science to its definitive maturity, both within Spain (Feijóo, Mutis, Jorge Juan...) and outside it (Needham, Spallanzani, Maupertuis, Euler, Herschel, Priestley, Boerhaave, Linnaeus, Réaumur, Galvani, von Haller, Lambert, Lavoisier...).

3ª. The process of secularization taking place in the Western world throughout modernity. in any way was caused the rise of the new science, but rather delayed for it. The scientific community, both in the sphere of the great creators and in that of the modest workers of knowledge, has always been (and still is) more pious than their social environment.

4ª. If we want to find causes historical y sociological of the modern process of secularization (leaving aside for the moment the specifically secular ones). spiritual), there are far more credible alternatives to attributing it to the development of scientific rationality. The first of these is the division of the Christian churches after the Protestant Reformation and the scandal of the subsequent wars of religion. Paul Hazard and many others have emphasized the crisis of conscience that occurred in all countries where the loss of religious unity undermined the very foundations of social coexistence (particularly in France, England and Germany). One anecdote in a million illustrates the phenomenon: in 1689 Leibniz was crossing the Venetian lagoon. The boatmen (who did not expect the German to understand Italian) planned to assassinate him, since, being a heretic, they saw nothing wrong with it: rather, it was an action as laudable as it was lucrative. Leibniz saved his life by taking a rosary out of his pocket and beginning to pray, a practice that dissuaded the ruffians from their evil intentions: at that time the story of the Good Samaritan was not considered a model to follow.

The de-Christianization of philosophers, literati and intellectuals was intimately connected with the loss of a common religious ground. Tragically, they were powerless to remedy the undeniable evils that afflicted the Church and to prevent the fragmentation of the Reformation into innumerable confessions. Again, I illustrate this with an example: the desperate cry of Erasmus of Rotterdam at the inability of his contemporaries to unite around the mysteries of the faith, instead of exacerbating hatreds: "I am not a believer in a common religion.We have defined too many things that we could have ignored or overlooked without endangering our salvation... Our religion is essentially peace and concord. But these cannot exist as long as we do not resign ourselves to defining as few points as possible and do not leave each one his free judgment in many things. Now a great many questions have been postponed until the ecumenical council. It would be much better to postpone them until the moment when the mirror and the enigma are uncovered and we see God face to face.".

The failure of the theologians of the time is pathetic. The solutions proposed by the pure philosophers, such as defining a purely natural religion, appeasing tempers by means of purely and simply "broadmindedness" or seeking alternative secular values to cement individual and collective life, proved to be unfeasible or catastrophic. In comparison, the pioneers of the new science had a much more constructive and effective attitude: they clung to the fundamental articles of faith without trying to distort them or turn them into a weapon to be used against others. They judged - quite rightly - that the task of deciphering the enigmas of the universe fostered piety, remedied the material miseries of existence and, not least, united souls instead of sowing discord.

It is striking the ecumenism that these characters showed from the very beginning: a good ecumenism, which was not based on the rejection of the dogmas that were the object of controversy, but on the commitment to add new truths in the field of the preambles of faith, which nourished admiration for the power and wisdom of God, while increasing respect for man, the most exalted creature in the universe. There are truly moving examples in this regard: the canon Copernicus remained faithful to the Catholic Church in the midst of turbulence; he only decided to publish his great astronomical work at the insistence of his bishop, dedicated it to the reigning Pope (who appreciated the detail), made use of the services of Rhaetius, a young Reformed astronomer, and found a publisher in the Lutheran Nuremberg. There was no major problem for the local theological authorities to authorize the printing of the book that a Polish Catholic offered to the Roman Pontiff. It is striking that the also Catholic Descartes lived and composed his great scientific work in Protestant Holland, or that the Lutheran Kepler was always at the service of Catholic monarchs.

Under Catholic patronage

These were not isolated cases: the first European academies of science served as a refuge for persecuted religious minorities. And there was certainly no indifferent attitude towards religion behind them: Descartes maintained a cordial correspondence with Elizabeth of Bohemia, the princess who had given rise to the terrible Thirty Years' War. When she dared to attack the convictions of the French mathematician and philosopher (mentioning a case of conversion to Catholicism, supposedly out of interest), he reacted with both firmness and tact: "I cannot deny to you that I was surprised to learn that your Highness was discomfited [...] by something which most people would find good [...]. For all those of the religion to which I belong (who are, no doubt, the majority in Europe) are bound to approve of it, even if they saw apparently reprehensible circumstances and motives; for we believe that God uses various means to draw souls to himself, and that he who entered the cloister with evil intentions has afterwards led an extremely holy life. As for those who are of another belief, [they should consider] that they would not be of the religion they are if they, or their parents, or their ancestors, had not abandoned the Roman, [so that they] will not be able to call fickle those who abandon theirs."

The aforementioned Leibniz was not only well received when he visited the Vatican, but he was offered the direction of his library if he returned to the ancestral faith. Leibniz rejected the offer, because it did not seem right to him to change religion for a worldly advantage, but, above all, because he was working intensely (first with Bishop Rojas Spinola and then with Bossuet) to achieve the reunification of Lutherans and Catholics in an ecumenical council, which was not celebrated in spite of papal support, because it was contrary to the interests of the King of France, Louis XIV.

This last example brings us to the crucial point: the conflicts that arose between ecclesiastical institutions and scholars of nature, such as the cases of Galileo and the Roman Inquisition, or that of Servetus and Calvin.

The Galileo "case

Tons of ink have been spilled to discuss them (especially the first of them) and to establish the thesis of an inevitable conflict between the religious and the scientific instance. It is impossible to discuss it in depth now, but it is worth making a few remarks on which practically all scholars agree serious. First of all, they were very important events, both in the Catholic Church and in the other Christian denominations.

The positivist/scientistic historiography of the 19th century (as well as the sequels it has had until today in all those who wrote obeying slogans or mediated by ideology) took the Galileo dispute as a banner to demonstrate a supposed war (certainly not a "holy" one) between science and religion. This is the most abusive form of induction that I know of: it jumps directly from one to infinity. For there to be such a war, the list of scientists of renown (even simply of solvency) oppressed would have to be lengthened. for the scientific theses they defended. Simply by way of contextualization, it is worth remembering that throughout the 17th century, the list of famous scientists was growing, only within the Jesuit order, includes among others the following names: Stéfano degli Angeli, Jacques de Billy, Michal Boym, José Casani, Paolo Casati, Paolo Casati, Louis Bertrand Castel, Albert Curtz, Honoré Fabri, Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Georg Joseph Kamel, Eusebio Kino, Athanasius Kircher, Adam Kochanski, Antoine de Laloubère, Francesco Lana de Terzi, Théodore Moretus, Ignace-Gaston Pardies, Jean Picard, Franz Reinzer, Giovanni Saccheri, Alfonso Antonio de Sarasa, Georg Schönberger, Jean Richaud, Gaspar Schott, Valentin Stansel or André Tacquet.

In addition, there is the incontrovertible fact that both Galileo and Servetus were, at the same time as men of science, men of faith, as attached (or more so) to their own religious convictions as those who condemned them. Thirdly, more recent and reputable research, such as that of Shea and Artigas, has established beyond any doubt that these very concrete and limited "persecutions" were due to tactical considerations related to the exercise of power and political strategy, if not purely and simply to personal animosities. The members of the Church, even in the highest spheres, have never been free of vices and sins, and even more so in a time like that, when the main hierarchs had a power and wealth of which fortunately (it would be better to say, "the Church has never been free of vices and sins"): providentially) were stripped with the passage of time. However, it must be said that during the rise of modernity they sinned much more frequently and seriously against the demands of the religion to which they were beholden than against the interests of culture, art or science.

In short, to argue from the trial of Galileo (regrettable as it was) that the Church is allegedly hostile to the new science would be more or less like claiming that the United States is opposed to physics, given that its leaders mounted a kind of trial of the father of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer, in order to question his patriotism.

The thesis remains that modern science was born and flourished with the encouragement and inspiration of individuals who in an overwhelming proportion were fervent Christians. Was it a coincidence? I do not think so. At the end of Antiquity the pagan sages of Alexandria could very well have initiated the path that a thousand years later was trodden by the Christians of the West. But they did not. Why not? There are several converging reasons:

The Olympian contempt for manual labor displayed by the Greeks and Romans was opposed by the principle "he who does not work, let him not eat," formulated by Paul of Tarsus, apostle of the new faith while he was making tents with his own hands. Christianity sponsored from its very beginnings all honest occupations. From the slave or the farmer to the king, everyone could fit into it.

2. The pagans never conceived of a plus ultra of the universe: their very deities were cosmic. An indispensable condition of possibility for the emergence of science was the demystification of the universe, that is, the submission of nature to a superior legality. Although it took fifteen centuries to complete the task, it was the Christians who were the first to achieve it and to draw the appropriate consequences.

3. In contrast to the cyclical conceptions of time, dominant in the first European civilizations and in exotic cultures, modern science needed to start from a linear conception. It was also the Christians who contributed it.

4. The notion of natural law is indispensable for the unfolding of the new science. The idea of a transcendent God, creator and legislator was the matrix from which it emerged.

The Pythagoreans had already conceived of the world in terms of mathematical forms and structures. However, most mathematical equations are too complex for the human mind to be able to solve. Undoubtedly God could have created a universe much more complicated than this one, but then it would be beyond our capacity of comprehension. Also a more perfect one from the mechanical point of view, but then it would be uninhabitable. It is not the least contribution of religion to have aroused in researchers the conviction that the world is relatively simple to understand, despite the fact that it possesses sufficient complexity to house beings as sophisticated as us.

If the story I have told were true, why are Christian scientists in a minority today? The reason is quite simple: the birth of the new science required an intellectual and spiritual temperament that only Christianity was able to provide. Once it had been set in motion and its enormous potentialities had been proven, it was no longer necessary to be imbued with the founding spirit. Apart from the great creators, men of science are not of a special breed: children of their time, they generally share the dominant values and beliefs. They are only somewhat more hard-working, more realistic, less cynical and disenchanted than the average of their contemporaries: this is the heritage that remains of the Christian roots of science, a heritage that could, however, be lost if the present civilization persists in the nihilism that generates its estrangement from God. It is no less sad that many Christians have detached themselves from science as if it were something foreign or hostile to them. This can only be explained by ignorance of how this great enterprise was born and what continues to be its profound vocation. How to overcome this estrangement? By shaking off their indolence and assuming once and for all the demands that come from committing themselves to Christ.

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Trust, the key to the apostolic exhortation on St. Therese

Pope Francis reflects on "confident waiting".

In his Angelus meditation, Pope Francis spoke about the Lord's patience with the faithful, drawing on the parable of the Gospel seed.

Paloma López Campos-June 16, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

In his meditation on the AngelusPope Francis reflected on "trustful waiting", drawing on the parable of the seed of the Gospel of the day.

Like a sower, said the Pontiff, "the Lord deposits in us the seeds of his Word and of his grace, good and abundant seeds, and then, without ceasing to accompany us, he waits patiently". During this time, "the Lord continues to watch over us, with the confidence of a Father". At the same time, he waits because "he is patient" for "the seeds to open, grow and develop until they bear the fruit of good works".

At the same time, Francis explained, by acting in this way "the Lord gives us an example: he also teaches us to sow the Gospel with confidence wherever we are and then to hope that the seed planted will grow and bear fruit in us and in others".

In this sense, the Pope assured that, very often, "beyond appearances, the miracle is already underway and in due time it will bear abundant fruit".

As usual, the Holy Father concluded his reflection by posing some questions for personal prayer: "Do I allow the Word to sow in me? Do I in turn sow the Word of God with confidence in the environments in which I live? Am I patient in waiting, or do I become discouraged because I do not immediately see the results? And, do I serenely entrust everything to the Lord, while giving my best to proclaim the Gospel?

Pope Francis insists on the need for peace

After praying the Angelus, the Bishop of Rome asked for a round of applause for the new Blessed "Michele Rapaz, priest and martyr, pastor according to the heart of Christ, faithful and generous witness of the Gospel who experienced both Nazi and Soviet persecution".

The Pope also called again for peace, recalling the "clashes and massacres that have taken place in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo". He also mentioned the conflicts in Ukraine, the Holy Land, Sudan, Myanmar and "all the places where people are suffering because of war".

Finally, the Pope sent greetings to all "Romans and pilgrims. Among those present in St. Peter's Square were "faithful from Lebanon, Egypt and Spain", from England, Poland, Carini, Catania, Syracuse and Padua, among others.

Pope Francis

Trust, the key to the apostolic exhortation on St. Therese

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Juan Ignacio GonzalezBishop of St. Bernard: "It is not clear what religious freedom is".

Anja Hoffmann: "Discrimination against Christians in Europe has increased significantly".

In this interview with Omnes, Anja Hoffmann, executive director of OIDAC (Observatory against Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe) talks about the difficulties and discrimination Christians are currently facing in Europe.

Loreto Rios-June 16, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

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The Observatory against Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) is a member organisation of the EU Platform for Fundamental Rights that investigates cases of intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe and guarantees freedom of religion and expression. Omnes interviewed Anja Hoffmann, executive director of OIDAC.OIDAC) is a member organization of the European Union's Fundamental Rights Platform that investigates cases of intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe and guarantees freedom of religion and expression. Omnes interviewed Anja Hoffmann, executive director of OIDAC.

In general terms, what is the current situation of intolerance towards Christians in Europe? with regard to intolerance towards Christians in Europe?

Since the founding of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination more than a decade ago, cases of anti-Christian hate crimes and discrimination have unfortunately increased significantly. On one hand, attacks on churches have increased with arson attacks rising by more than 40% between 2021 and 2022, according to our research.

On the other hand, many Christians, especially those who adhere to traditional Christian moral beliefs, are experiencing increasing pressure to express their worldview in the public sphere or in their workplaces. Midwives or doctors who are opposed to participating in abortions for reasons of conscience are threatened with losing their jobs, as many states, including Spain, restrict conscientious objection in their medical legislation. Teachers who express their belief that human beings were created as male and female, and therefore object to addressing students with "alternative pronouns," have been suspended from their schools. And some Christians in Europe have even been prosecuted for expressing religious views, including biblical scripture, or detained by police for praying silently in so-called "safety zones" around abortion clinics.

Considering these restrictions, can we say that freedom of speech is still protected in Europe?

The right to freedom of expression is enshrined in international and European human rights law and holds constitutional status in most countries. Under human rights law, states are obliged to protect even “unpopular ideas including those that may offend or shock” and must meet a very high threshold when imposing limitations on freedom of expression.

Despite the high level of protection freedom of expression enjoys in Europe, we see a problematic trend restricting free speech, including religious speech. In the attempt to combat hate speech some governments have introduced extremely broad “hate speech” laws. However, criminalising speech instead of actions has detrimental effect on the public democratic discourse. What is more, it is often unclear which speech amounts to “hate” and will hence be prosecuted. This, in turn, leads to insecurity about what can be said and thus results in a high level of self-censorship. In the UK and Germany, recent opinion polls have shown that half of the population do not dare to say what they think in public out of fear of negative consequences.

Can ‘hate speech laws lead to the criminalisation of people who do not think like the mainstream or those who enact them?

Unfortunately, we do see examples of Christians being criminalised for expression their beliefs. This concerns especially those Christians (or non-Christians alike) who express traditional beliefs on moral issues.

In the UK several street preachers were fined or even arrested by the police for reading from the Bible in public after bystanders reported that they felt “distressed,” which is a criminal offence under the UK Public Order Act. In Spain, the media reported last March that Fr. Custodio Ballester received a summons from a provincial court to answer charges of an alleged “hate crime” after criticising Islam in a pastoral letter. In Finland, former minister and current member of parliament, Pävi Räsänen, is now standing trial at the Supreme Court for alleged “hate speech” after a Bible tweet with which she had critised her church’s sponsoring the Helsinki pride. In Malta, Matthew Grech, a young Christian and former LGBTIQ activist got arrested after sharing his personal experience as a homosexual and how Christianity had changed his life in a TV interview. He was reported to the police, accused of breaching the “Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Act” and faces a court trial with up to five months in prison if found guilty.

The list goes on, but the common denominator is that all these laws are extremely broad and make Christians who express their beliefs about moral issues vulnerable to prosecution.

Are governments doing anything to protect religious freedom in their countries?

Most governments in Europe think of religious freedom issues solely on the global scale. Even the Special Envoy for Religious Freedom of the EU is tasked only with religious persecution outside of the EU.

Furthermore, due to religious illiteracy of reporters, religious freedom restrictions in Europe are underreported by the media. This leads to our governments’ lack of sensitivity about domestic abuses of religious freedom and contributes to policies which erode religious freedom in the name of protecting other human interests.

Has the war in Ukraine affected religious freedom?

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there has been an increase in anti-Christian hate crimes and religious freedom restrictions. However, these issues are complex since they are intertwined with other elements such as politics and ethnicity. As of February 2023, around 297 Christian buildings had been destroyed during the war and as of October 2023, 124 of the 295 UNESCO cultural sites damaged were religious buildings. All these number indicate a disproportionate targeting of churches.

Christian leaders who spoke out against the war were also specifically targeted. Recently, Archbishop Viktor Pivovarov of the Russian Holy Intercession Tikhonite Church was threatened, prosecuted, fined, and imprisoned for sermons in which he criticised the war. During the investigation, Russian forces also tried to demolish his church, since they considered it a public place where crimes against the State were happening.

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ColumnistsAntonio Moreno

Adolescent Europe

Europe draws from the sources of Greco-Roman culture, the Renaissance and the French Revolution, but its face would not be what it is without the Judeo-Christian tradition and more specifically Christian humanism.

June 15, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

It was a spectacular news program directed by Carlos Franganillo on the eve of the European elections. From Normandy to Ukraine, from Brussels to Washington and from Spain to Lesbos and Athens to talk about the past and present of Europe. But there was a big forgotten one: Rome.

It would have been the same if any other network had done it, the Christian roots of the old continent are rarely alluded to. Like a teenager who is embarrassed by his parents in public, the Europa The 21st century woman disowns those who gave her life, those who fed, clothed and cared for her, looking for a new identity that makes her feel autonomous, independent and "older".

The truth is that, no matter how great we may be, in the world geopolitical panorama our status is increasingly insignificant compared to the great powers that are currently the ones cutting the codfish.

In its role as mother, the Catholic Church has warned time and again about the bad company of this spoiled child who, raised in cotton wool thanks to the patrimony worked by her parents, continues to believe she is superior to others.

The Bishop of Rome has come to call these friendships "dangerous ideological, cultural and spiritual colonizations" and accuses them of "looking above all to the present, denying the past and not looking to the future".

In the face of today's reality, the example of the founding fathers of the European UnionThey were not so much concerned about themselves, their present, their welfare, their political influence, but about the future of all after the horrors of the Second World War. And they did so without denying the past, taking Christian values as the basis of their project.

There were four architects of the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community, the seed of today's EU: the Frenchman of Luxembourgish origin Robert SchumanGermany's Konrad Adenauer, Italy's Alcide De Gasperi and the French Jean Monnet.

Not by chance, the first three relied on deep Christian convictions to develop their political activity, "one of the highest forms of charity" as the popes of the twentieth century would define it.

Two of them are even considered "servants of God" and are in the process of beatification, namely Schuman and De Gasperi. Their political charity, their desire to love one's neighbor as oneself, each one from their responsibility as statesmen, did not hide proselytizing purposes, but a deep democratic conviction and a scrupulous respect for the separation of Church and State.

That initial impulse, based on the Gospel values of peace, solidarity and the search for the common good, gradually lost steam as we forgot about spiritual and cultural ties and left only economic ties as the only point of union.

And what would you say, from your experience, is the main reason for the breakup of any well-adjusted family? They got it right: the intrusion of money, especially in excess, such as when an unexpected inheritance arrives.

So here we are, in a wealthy and divided Europe (the brexit It is not just an anecdote), polarized in the extremes according to the results of the last elections and with very few things clear about what it wants to be, about what its vocation is beyond that of deifying the ideology of the influencer of the moment.

Europe certainly draws from the sources of Greco-Roman culture, the Renaissance and the French Revolution, but its face would not be what it is without the Judeo-Christian tradition and more specifically Christian humanism.

It was in this sense that the Pope reflected a few days ago during his visit to the Capitol, precisely the place where the Treaty of Rome was signed. There he affirmed that "Roman culture, which undoubtedly experienced many good values, needed on the other hand to rise up, to confront itself with a broader message of fraternity, love, hope and liberation (...) The brilliant witness of the martyrs and the dynamism of charity of the first communities of believers intercepted the need to hear new words, words of eternal life: Olympus was no longer enough, we had to go to Golgotha and before the empty tomb of the Risen One to find the answers to the longing for truth, justice and love". It could not be said better.

In connection with this problem with the teenager Europe, I heard the other day a phrase that comes to the point. It said: "parents who kneel down, children who rise up". It is timely because, in addition to continuing to exercise as a good mother her prophetic and crushing role, the Church - which is made up of the whole community of believers - needs to pray, like St. Monica, for the rebellious child.

Let us hope that post-war adolescent Europe can rectify in time, stand up, rediscover its identity and say, as we have all said remembering our adolescent stubbornness: "It is true that my mother had her faults, but how right she was!

The authorAntonio Moreno

Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.

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ColumnistsRafael Domingo Oslé

Towards freedom in solidarity

The individualistic vision disconnects freedom from the common good, from solidarity and love. On the other hand, a solidary vision of freedom enhances it, because it allows a broader decision making, thinking of the good of the other, of the political community, of humanity.

June 15, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

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Human dignity or freedom to abort?

In our times, an individualistic conception of the freedomThe idea of freedom, which has been developed mainly in the corridors of American universities, has identified the idea of freedom with the capacity to choose.

According to this vision, a real poisoned candy, increasing human freedom consists exclusively in creating new spaces of choice. I am freer if I can work in any country of the European Union than if I can do so only in my own country; if I can change my sex when I so decide than if I cannot, or if I can marry one or more persons belonging to one of the different affective genders (bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, asexual, omnisexual, etc.) than if only the heterosexual option is possible. A woman who can decide to terminate a pregnancy with complete freedom for unlimited reasons (economic, psychological, aesthetic) is considered freer than if she has to justify them or flatly rejects abortion, who can decide whether or not to consume drugs than if she cannot, or to distribute pornography without any restriction than if she can.

Taken to its ultimate consequences, this individualistic vision of freedom culminates when one conquers the space of one's own freedom, that is, when one can make the decision to end one's own life and therefore one's own capacity to make decisions. In this way, the circle is perfectly closed.

Freedom and independence

This myopic vision of freedom is based on an ethic that its great advocate, the American philosopher Ronald Dworkin, called ethical independence.. Ethical independence grants absolute personal sovereignty in the area of what Dworkin calls foundational matters (life, sex, religion, among others), so that, in these matters, a person should never accept someone else's judgment in place of his own. Therein lies his dignity.

To implement this social model, public authorities must refrain from dictating ethical convictions to their citizens about what is better or worse to achieve a successful life. Since freedom is a foundational matter, no government should limit it except when necessary to protect life (not embryonic, not terminal), the safety or freedom of others (especially to enforce non-discrimination). This individualistic conception seeks at all costs to eradicate any kind of ethical paternalism that might favor one choice over others.

In the end Dworkin unwittingly fell into his own trap. His requirement that public authorities should refrain from dictating ethical convictions to their citizens constitutes, in itself, the imposition of an ethical conviction. Apart from this structural error, which damages the pillars of its own intellectual construction, it seems to me that this way of understanding freedom and the ethics that sustain it is enormously reductionist, thus impoverishing the very meaning of freedom and morality. Moreover, the alleged ethical neutrality sought by Dworkin is impossible to achieve given the intrinsic connection between morality and politics.

It is true that freedom of choice is one of the most important expressions of our human freedom, and as such it must be protected, although not absolutely, but freedom is more, much more, than mere choice. Freedom is also found, and I believe in a purer and more sublime state, in the capacity to accept.

In the key of acceptance

He acts with a wonderful freedom who accepts his parents and siblings, his land and his culture, his language and his history, his illness, his dismissal, even if he has not decided about it. He acts with great freedom who accepts the fact of having been born without having been asked, and leaving this world without knowing the precise moment. The acceptance of reality as it is, and above all the acceptance of the founding reality, that is, of God, of his paternity and mercy, is, in my opinion, the greatest act of human freedom, and the one that opens wide the doors of Love.

The individualistic vision disconnects freedom from the common good, from solidarity and love. There is an intrinsic connection between the particular good and the common good, private and public morality, love of self and love of others, for the unity of love, of good and therefore of morality is indestructible. It comes from the factory. This unity of love and goodness makes the right exercise of freedom a purely solidary one, even though decision-making may be individual. Therefore, a solidary vision of freedom in no way reduces individual freedom, but rather enhances it, since it allows for a broader decision-making process, thinking of the good of others, of the political community, of humanity, and not only of one's own interests. It is a freedom founded on love, which is the source of freedom.

The 21st century has been called the century of solidarity, just as the 20th century was the century of equality and the 19th century was the century of freedom. The time has come to develop a framework for an authentic freedom of solidarity, which is the maximum expression of the correct exercise of individual freedom.

The authorRafael Domingo Oslé

Professor and holder of the Álvaro d'Ors Chair

ICS. University of Navarra.

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Religions and politics in Morocco

With this article, historian Gerardo Ferrara concludes a series of two articles on religion, culture, history and politics in Morocco.

Gerardo Ferrara-June 15, 2024-Reading time: 6 minutes

Western Sahara is one of the oldest and most complex territorial disputes in contemporary history and dates back to colonial times. This region, in fact, constituted a Spanish province known as Spanish Sahara and was claimed in 1975 (end of Spanish colonial rule over the region) by both Morocco and Mauritania.

The Western Sahara issue

The area has always been inhabited by the Saharawi people, who speak the Arabic language "hassaniya" (a particular form of Maghrebi Arabic that differs in part from Moroccan) and belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Moors (Arabized Berbers).

Already in 1973 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro had been created with the aim of achieving the independence of the region. In 1975, after the Green March (a massive demonstration organized by the Moroccan government to achieve the independence of the Saharawi region from Spain and its annexation to Morocco), Spain withdrew from the area, which was then invaded by Morocco and Mauritania, triggering an armed conflict with the Polisario Front. In 1976, the latter proclaimed the birth of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), recognized by several countries and the African Union, but not by the United Nations.

In 1979, Mauritania relinquished its claims to Western Sahara, leaving Morocco in control of most of the territory. The conflict lasted until 1991, when the United Nations negotiated a cease-fire and established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), with the aim of organizing a referendum to determine the future of the territory. However, this referendum was never held, due to disagreement between the parties over both the composition of the electorate and the manner of voting.

Morocco continues to consider Western Sahara an integral part of its territory and has launched a policy of development and investment in the region. On the other hand, the Polisario Front continues to fight for independence and runs Saharawi refugee camps in neighboring Algeria, where many refugees have been living for decades (Morocco is at odds with Algeria mainly over this issue, as Algeria has always supported the Polisario Front also to destabilize its neighbor).

There have been important diplomatic breakthroughs in recent years, such as the U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in 2020, in exchange for the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. However, the international community remains divided on the issue, and the future of Western Sahara is more uncertain than ever.

The Jews of Morocco

Currently, 99% of the Moroccan population is Sunni Muslim. However, a very ancient Jewish community, one of the most important in the Arab-Islamic world, has been present in the country for thousands of years. Various legends trace its origins back to the time of Joshua. The communities that had already been living in Morocco for several centuries were later reinforced by the wave of Israelite refugees expelled from Spain in 1492, who brought to Morocco the splendor of the Andalusian golden age.

For centuries, Muslims and Jews coexisted productively in the Maghreb country, and the Israelites, who were encouraged by Muslim rulers to live with the rest of the population in mixed neighborhoods, preferred instead to live in separate neighborhoods, which took the name "mellah", a typically Moroccan toponym for the land by which part of the city of Fez was known.

In 1764, King Mohammed III ordered many Jewish merchant families to settle in the new city of Mogador. A new privileged merchant class was thus formed, which took the reins of a vast commercial activity throughout the Mediterranean. However, despite this new status, Moroccan Jews, largely excluded from this economic process, continued to engage in traditional trades, especially craftsmanship.

With the Algeciras conference of 1906, the Moroccan territory was divided into two zones of influence, one French and the other Spanish, and in 1912 two different protectorates were established.

However, the northern part (the French part, i.e. Morocco proper) continued to enjoy a certain autonomy, so that the Moroccan Jewish community was able to preserve itself from the racial laws applied in the rest of the Maghreb (Algeria and Tunisia) during the Vichy regime, since King Mohammed V (Morocco was a protectorate of France) refused to make them operative in his country.

Apart from the serious pogrom in Oujda, in 1948, after the proclamation of the State of Israel, which caused 40 deaths among the Israeli population of the city, after the independence of Morocco in 1956, the attitude of the Moroccan authorities towards the Jews was, at least to a certain extent, commendable. Moroccan Jews, in fact, had long been considered citizens like the others and therefore less influenced by French culture than their Algerian and Tunisian co-religionists. They spoke mostly Spanish or Arabic, held important positions in the government and some of them were members of the regular army.

However, if in 1956 the Moroccan population of Jewish religion amounted to 263,000 people, in 1961, the time of the first real crisis in the relations between Jews and Muslims, 40,000 Jews had already left the country. Until 1978, emigration did not cease, to the point that today only 2 or 3 thousand citizens of the Jewish religion remain in the country, most of whom live in Casablanca, Marrakech and Rabat.

Christianity in Morocco

Christians in Morocco are a tiny minority, between 20,000 (according to the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures, GRF) and 40.000 (according to the U.S. State Department), nothing compared to ancient times (Christianity arrived in Morocco already in Roman times when it was practiced by the Berbers of the then province of Mauretania Tingitana, but in fact disappeared after the Islamic conquest) and the colonial era (the European presence in the country had raised the number of Christian believers to more than half a million, almost half the population of Casablanca, of which at least 250,000 were Spanish).

After independence in 1956, many Christian institutions remained active, although most of the European settlers left the country in the years that followed. Despite this, the Christian community has been able to continue to exist thanks mainly to expatriates and emigrants, especially from sub-Saharan Africa: these constitute a large part of the Christian faithful in Morocco, along with a very small number of Moroccan converts.

However, there are no official figures, partly because of the fear of many converts to Christianity from Islam. There is talk of 5,000 expatriate Christians and 3 to 45,000 local converts (the latter figure is provided by the NGO Voice of the Martyrs, VOM), and the practice of apostasy from Islam is secretly spreading not only in the cities, but also in rural areas.

The fear of apostates from Islam declaring themselves Christians derives both from religious traditions (in Islam, apostasy is punishable by death) and from the rules sanctioned by the Penal Code, which prohibits proselytizing and conversion from Islam to other religions (once more common, especially under the French protectorate), even though the most recent Moroccan Constitution of 2011 states (Article 3) that "Islam is the religion of the State", but the State itself "guarantees to each one the free exercise of his religion".

In fact, the Moroccan Penal Code (which still considers breaking the fast in public during the holy month of Ramadan, sexual relations outside marriage or blasphemy as crimes) states, in Article 220, that anyone who induces or encourages a Muslim to convert to another religion is liable to a prison sentence of three to six months and a fine of 200 to 500 dirhams.

Therefore, if apostasy on the part of the one who commits it is not in itself a criminal offense (it is for those who induce a Muslim to convert), it does in fact entail a kind of "civil death", since the apostate, according to the Family Code of the country, is affected by a series of serious impediments, especially in matters of marriage, custody of children and inheritance. In fact, the marriage of a Muslim who converts to another religion is dissolved and the right to custody and guardianship of his children is revoked. If the apostate, therefore, is a woman, she may only have custody of the child until the age at which she has the capacity for religious discernment. As for succession, the apostate has no right to inheritance, which is guaranteed exclusively to Muslim heirs.

Among the Christian communities, the most numerous is the Catholic community, with several parishes, charitable institutions and especially schools throughout the country, especially in Casablanca, Rabat and other large cities. The Protestant and Orthodox Churches are also present. All the Churches are particularly committed to assisting and welcoming expatriates, but also and especially refugees, displaced persons and immigrants, especially sub-Saharans.

In recent years, efforts have been made to promote interfaith dialogue. King Mohammed VI has expressed his commitment to religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence between the different communities, and events such as the visit of Pope Francis in 2019 have stressed the importance of dialogue between Muslims and Christians to foster peace and mutual understanding.

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Pope praises work of humorists as promoters of peace

In a meeting with humorists from around the world, Pope Francis praised their work as promoters of peace and the ease with which they provide a critical view on all kinds of issues while making people laugh.

Paloma López Campos-June 14, 2024-Reading time: 2 minutes

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Pope Francis has gathered well-known comedians from different countries during a meeting at the Vatican. Among the most renowned attendees were Jimmy Fallon, Belén Cuesta and Lino Banfi.

The Holy Father has affirmed at the beginning of his speech who looks "with admiration to the artists who express themselves in the language of comedy, humor, irony". In his opinion, they are the professionals "most loved, sought after, applauded" because "they have and cultivate the gift of making people laugh".

Francisco wanted to highlight the work of humor professionals and their "power to spread serenity and smiles". Through their work, they reach "very different people, from different generations and cultural backgrounds".

This is an important task, the Pontiff assured. "Joy allows us to share and is the best antidote to selfishness and individualism," the Pope said. Not only that, but humorists are a reminder to everyone that "playful amusement and laughter are fundamental in human life, to express ourselves, to learn, to give meaning to situations."

Humorists as promoters of unity

In this regard, the Pope thanked the "precious gift" of the talent of these professionals. Their work, he explained, "spreads peace. And, revealing a personal facet, Francis confessed that he prays "every day with the words of St. Thomas More: 'Give me, Lord, a sense of humor'".

The Bishop of Rome has also stated that humorists "achieve another miracle: they manage to make people smile even when they deal with problems, small and big facts of history". Something they do not do through "alarm or terror, anxiety or fear", but with "critical sense, making people laugh and smile".

But this effect is not only on people. The Pope has told humorists that "when they succeed in making intelligent smiles flow from the lips of a single spectator, they make God smile too."

The limits of humor

Francis also reflected on humor as a tool "to understand and 'feel' human nature". Through it, one can "bring together different and sometimes even opposing realities".

Finally, the Pontiff answered a question that many people ask: "Can we laugh at God? His answer was clear: "Of course, as we play and joke with the people we love". However, there is a limit, one must avoid "offending the religious feelings of believers, especially the poor".

The Pope ended his speech by encouraging the humorists to continue their work. "Help us, with a smile, to see reality with its contradictions, and to dream of a better world."

Pope Francis

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Pope to Ecclesial Movements: overcome closed-mindedness and cultivate humility

Representatives of Associations of the Faithful, Ecclesial Movements and new Communities met with the Holy Father in Rome.

Giovanni Tridente-June 14, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

Thinking according to God, overcoming all closed-mindedness and cultivating humility. These are the three "synodal virtues" that Pope Francis proposed to the more than 200 representatives of Associations of the Faithful, Ecclesial Movements and new Communities gathered in the New Hall of the Synod for the annual meeting convened by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.

The Pontiff also reiterated the importance of spiritual conversion in order to make synodality a shared "ecclesial style". Prohibition, therefore, of attitudes of pride and closed-mindedness that are detrimental to an open and inclusive vision of the Church's mission. It is not by chance that the title of the meeting convened this year by the Dicastery was "The Challenge of Synodality for the Mission". An opportunity to take stock of how this time of consultation, reflection and dialogue is progressing in the dozens of Associations of the Faithful spread throughout the world.

Tuning in to God

Entering into the merits of the Pope's speech, the initial invitation referred to the need to move from a "mere human thought" to a "thought of God", recalling that the protagonist of every evangelizing and synodal journey is the Holy Spirit.

"Let us never take for granted that we are in tune with God," the Holy Father admonished, encouraging us to overcome ecclesial fashions to authentically embrace God's will.

The temptation of the closed circle

Secondly, Francis warned against the temptation of the "closed circle", inviting us to open ourselves with great courage to new pastoral modalities, allowing ourselves to be "wounded" by the voice and experience of others, especially those who do not belong to our own enclosure or circle.

In fact, it is necessary to start from the assumption - directly addressing the Movements - that "their own spirituality, they are realities to help walk with the People of God, but they are not privileges".

Humility against divisions

Finally, the third aspect: the need to cultivate humility, defined by the Pope as the "gateway to all the virtues. Only the humble, in fact, value others and make the "we" of the community emerge, avoiding divisions and tensions.

"And if we realize that, in some way, a little pride, or pride, has made a breach in us, then we ask for the grace to be converted back to humility," Francis explained. Only those who are humble are capable of accomplishing "great things in the Church", because "they have a solid foundation, founded on the love of God, which never fails, and for this reason they do not seek other recognitions".

The Gathering

The day had opened with the celebration of Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery, who also introduced the meeting immediately after the Audience with the Pope.

Synodality, Farrell said, is not put into practice by inserting the laity in "places of power" or by creating bodies to show that they are "more involved in the decision-making processes. Rather, it is about fostering that communion that should serve "to truly walk together - laity and pastors, charisms and ecclesial institutions - and to find together the path that the Spirit indicates to carry forward, with new impetus, the evangelizing mission of the Church."

This topic was addressed in detail by Rafael Luciani, professor at the Andrés Bello Catholic University of Venezuela, followed by Elisa Lisiero, an official of the Dicastery, who explored the theme of synodality in the experience of the movements.

The 117 associations

There are currently 117 institutions under the direct jurisdiction of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, divided between international associations of the faithful, private and public, and other entities with juridical personality. The list and contacts are freely available on the Dicastery's website.

The last association in order of time that has received pontifical recognition is the "Association for the Protection of the Environment".Magnificat Community"It has dozens of fraternities in Italy, Romania, Turkey and Argentina, with the Eucharist at the center of the personal and community life of its members and evangelization as its main charism.

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Father S.O.S

10 AI video generators for pastoral work

In this article, ten video generator portals using artificial intelligence and the characteristics of some of them are presented. A perfect tool for the evangelizing work of the Church in the digital environment.

José Luis Pascual-June 14, 2024-Reading time: 3 minutes

In an increasingly digitized world, the Church faces the challenge of reaching a diverse and globalized audience. Evangelization, the act of sharing faith and religious teaching, has evolved over time, and, today, technology plays a crucial role in this process. Artificial intelligence (AI) video generators offer a powerful tool for spreading the religious message in a creative and compelling way. Today we will explore 10 AI video generators that the Church can leverage for its pastoral work.

-RenderforestVersatile platform that allows users to create customized videos using preset templates. This tool is especially useful for creating promotional videos for parish events, catechesis and pastoral messages. With a wide range of customization options, Renderforest offers an easy and accessible way to convey religious messages effectively.

-Lumen5: It uses AI to turn text into engaging videos in a matter of minutes. This tool is ideal for creating educational videos about faith, pastoral reflections and biblical quotes. The Church can take advantage of Lumen5 to reach a wider audience through social media platforms and websites, sharing catechetical content in a visually appealing way.

-WibbitzAI: A platform that uses AI to create videos from existing content, such as blog articles or social media posts. This tool is perfect for transforming catechetical content into informative and accessible videos that help teach the principles of faith in a dynamic way. With WibbitzIn this way, the Church can reach a wider and more diverse audience with relevant and moving pastoral messages.

-ClipchampOnline video editor that uses AI to simplify the video editing process. This tool is ideal for creating promotional videos of pastoral events, faith testimonies and messages of hope. With ClipchampThe Church can create professional videos easily and quickly, enabling it to share its teaching of love and mercy effectively.

-Animaker: An intuitive platform that allows users to easily create animated videos. This tool is perfect for telling biblical stories in a visually appealing way, thus reaching a younger and more diverse audience. The Church can use Animaker to share religious teachings in a creative and dynamic way, thus encouraging participation and engagement.

-MoovlyVideo Asset Library: It is a platform that offers an extensive library of multimedia assets for the creation of videos. This tool is ideal for the creation of informative videos on the history and teachings of the Church, as well as for the promotion of pastoral events and activities. With MoovlyThe Church can create inspirational videos that strengthen the faith of the faithful and encourage participation in parish life.

-Adobe Premiere Pro: Software professional video editing software that uses AI to simplify complex editing tasks. This tool is ideal for creating high-quality videos with stunning visual effects and captivating graphics.

-Filmora: Software easy-to-use video editing tool that uses AI to enhance the quality of videos. This tool is perfect for creating devotional and catechetical videos that help deepen understanding of the faith. The Church can use Filmora to create inspirational videos that strengthen the spiritual life of the faithful and guide them in their faith journey.

–MagistoPlatform that uses AI to automatically create videos from existing photos and videos. This tool is ideal for collecting and sharing significant moments of parish life, such as liturgical celebrations and community activities. With MagistoThe Church or parish can create videos that capture the beauty and joy of Christian life, thus fostering a sense of belonging and unity among the faithful.

–HitFilm Express: Software free video editing software that offers powerful editing tools and visual effects. It is ideal for creating high quality pastoral videos without incurring additional costs.

In conclusion, AI video generators offer the Church a unique opportunity to bring the message of Christ to new audiences in creative and compelling ways. From creating educational videos to promoting pastoral events, these tools can be used to strengthen faith and parish life in today's digital world.

Artificial intelligence

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