He'd Make a Decent Unitarian...He's Got the Logic Skills

 

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2021 / 07:00 am MT (CNA).- A Catholic diocese in Italy has described a priest’s refusal to bless palms on Sunday because of the Vatican’s rejection of blessings for same-sex unions as “reprehensible.”

The Diocese of Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato said that the matter was being addressed according to Church norms.

Fr. Giulio Mignani, a priest in the north-western Italian diocese, made headlines after he refused to bless palm branches at a Palm Sunday Mass in protest of the Vatican’s document clarifying that the Catholic Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.

The document, a “responsum ad dubium,” was issued with Pope Francis’ approval by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on March 15. The CDF explained its reasoning in a note and accompanying commentary.

The 50-year-old Mignani, pastor of Santa Caterina Parish in Bonassola, said during his homily March 28, “if I can’t bless same-sex couples, then I won’t bless palms and olive branches either,” according to local newspaper La Nazione.

Johnny (Francis) On The Spot!

 

Florence, Italy, Jan 10, 2021 / 03:01 pm MT (CNA).- The Archbishop of Florence has said no new students have entered his diocesan seminary this year, calling the low number of priestly vocations a “wound” in his episcopate.

Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, who has led the Archdiocese of Florence since 2008, said in 2009 he ordained seven men as priests for the diocese, while this year he will ordain one man, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. In 2020 there were no ordinations.

“I consider it one of the biggest wounds of my episcopate,” Betori said in a video press conference last month. This “is a truly tragic situation.”

The 73-year-old cardinal said he believes the low number of men entering the seminary in his diocese is part of a larger vocational crisis that also includes the sacrament of marriage.

 

But Not To Worry! Pope Francis is on the case!

 

 
Vatican City, Jan 10, 2021 / 05:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed Sunday for the United States, asking the Immaculate Virgin Mary to help foster a “culture of encounter” after the recent violence at the U.S. Capitol Building.

I'm Too Smart to be a Bishop

 

 

Rome Newsroom, Dec 14, 2020 / 12:55 pm MT (CNA).- Catholic bishops in northeast Italy have said that the risk of illness amid the ongoing pandemic constitutes a “grave necessity” permitting priests to confer the Sacrament of Reconciliation under the “third form,” also called general absolution, before and during the Christmas season.

General absolution is a form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which may be imparted, as defined by canon law, only in moments when death is believed to be imminent and there is no time to hear the confessions of individual penitents, or for another “grave necessity.” 

The Apostolic Penitentiary, a dicastery of the Roman Curia, issued a note in March saying it believed that during the COVID-19 pandemic there were cases which would constitute grave necessity, and therefore make general absolution lawful, “especially in places that are most greatly affected by the pandemic contagion, and until the phenomenon subsides.”

A penitent who receives absolution in such a manner -- sometimes known as collective absolution -- must also individually confess his or her mortal sins when possible.

Good Thinking, Bad Execution

 5 PM local time? In Turin? And where can we view it. The article does not say. They forgot the when and where.

Turin, Italy, Apr 6, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Catholics around the world will be invited to pray virtually before the Turin Shroud on Holy Saturday as the world struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Church officials have said.

The Shroud, which bears the image of a crucified man and has been venerated for centuries as Christ’s burial cloth, will be displayed via livestream at 5pm local time April 11. 

Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia will preside over a liturgy from the chapel of Turin cathedral where the Shroud is kept in a climate-controlled vault. It will be broadcast live on television and social media. 

The archbishop said he was responding to thousands of requests from people asking to venerate the Shroud amid a global crisis that has so far claimed nearly 70,000 lives. 

"Thanks to television and social networks," he said, "this time of contemplation will make available to everyone throughout the world the image of the sacred cloth, which reminds us of the Lord's passion and death, but also opens our hearts to faith in His resurrection.”

WHo the Heck is in Charge Here?

Rome, Italy, Mar 12, 2020 / 01:15 pm (CNA).- The vicar general of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, announced Thursday the closure of all churches in the diocese through April 3
.
Since March 9 public Masses have been canceled throughout the diocese, but churches had remained open for personal prayer, and some had held Eucharistic adoration or confession.

Starting from the decree's publication March 12, entrance to the parish and other churches of Rome is forbidden to the general public and to lay Catholics. 

Has anyone informed the Bishop of Rome?

Shouldn't That Read "People"?

Vatican City, Jun 7, 2019 / 02:36 pm (CNA).- The Apostolic See has confirmed the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal prepared by the Italian bishops' conference. The translation has garnered attention for its changes to the Our Father, as well as the Gloria.

The newly-approved Messale Romano will translate the penultimate line of the Our Father (ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem) (lead us not into temptation) as “non abbandonarci alla tentazione” (do not abandon us to temptation). The existing version had translated it as “non ci indurre in tentazione” (lead us not into temptation).

In the Gloria, the line “in térra pax homínibus bónae voluntátis” (on earth peace to people of good will) will be translated “pace in terra agli uomini, amati dal Signore” (peace on earth to men, loved by the Lord). It was translated “pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà” (peace on earth to men of good will).

 The English translation of the third edition of the Missale Romanum was issued in 2011.
A spokesman for the English and Welsh bishops has said that the International Commission on English in the Liturgy “is not currently considering the Lord's Prayer,” and that “there are no plans at present for [the Our Father] to change in English,” but that “I am sure there will be some consultation with the English-speaking nations.”

The Almoner as Criminal

Rome, Italy, May 13, 2019 / 06:08 am (CNA).- Cardinal Konrad Krajewski climbed down a manhole Saturday to restore the power supply to a disused, Italian state-owned property in Rome where many homeless persons have been living. 

Cardinal Kajewski

 The building’s power was cut by the electricity supplier May 6 because it had accumulated a debt of some 300,000 euro ($337,000).
It has been occupied since 2013 by the Action movement, and in addition to housing, it hosts several workspaces.
“I intervened personally last night to turn back on the meters. It was a desperate gesture. There were over 400 people without electricity, families with children,” Krajewski, almoner of the office of papal charities, told Ansa May 12.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, said, “I expect that the pope’s almoner, who intervened to turn the power back on in an occupied building in Rome, will also pay the 300,000 euros in back bills.”

 As papal almoner, Archbishop Krajewski is responsible for distributing donations to those in need on behalf of Pope Francis. Other initiatives he has carried out include a dormitory, barber services, and showers for those in need.

 

Cardinal Kajewski's Mentor

Stop Quoting What He Said!

 From "First Things" an article by Charlotte Allen. Read the whole thing.

On November 15 the Italian Bishops’ Conference announced that it plans to change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer in the Mass liturgy. The bishops want the current Italian equivalent of “lead us not into temptation” to become “do not abandon us to temptation.”
The bishops have now petitioned the pope to approve this proposed alteration—a petition he is almost certain to grant. In a 2017 interview with an Italian Catholic television channel, the pontiff expressed his distress with the current Italian wording—non c’indurre in tentazione, a literal translation of the Latin ne nos inducas in tentationem that is part of the Lord’s Prayer in the Vulgate versions of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. (The Vulgate version is in turn a literal translation of words [the root verb is eisphero, “bring into”] that appear in the oldest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament—which means there’s a good chance the clause preserves the exact wording Jesus used when he proclaimed the prayer in his native Aramaic.) 

 It is always irritating when professional liturgists, theologians, and prelates deem ordinary Catholic laypeople mentally incapable of looking beyond the surface meaning of “lead us not into temptation” and understanding that the words might actually imply a subtle and nuanced understanding of God the Father’s providential concern for sinful humanity. It is especially irritating for English-speaking Catholics to face—possibly—the prospect of changing, on a whim of bishops or pressure from the pope, the deliberately archaic language of their own beloved Christian prayer that has included the words “lead into” as a translation of inducas since Anglo-Saxon times. Proposals to “modernize” the English Our Father have surfaced from time to time, but so far both clergy and faithful have rejected them.

Maybe the Bishops Can Put the Priests' Photos on the Carton de Laits

When Fr Joseph Longo arrived in France from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2003, he planned to stay just a few months to complete a philosophy doctorate. Today, having run large parish clusters in different dioceses, he has become one of many resident African priests helping to sustain the French Church.

Bishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Katiola (Getty)

It was hardly surprising that Fr Longo was prevailed upon to stay. Over the last half century the number of priests in France has been reduced by three quarters. Within six months of studying at Toulouse University’s Catholic faculty, Fr Longo had been asked to take over the medieval St Barthelemy’s Church at nearby Lauzerte, which also involved looking after 18 other parishes.
He is one of 1,800 foreign priests officially ministering in France, mostly from former colonies in Africa. The figure is nearly a fifth of the total number of diocesan clergy – 11,500. An unknown number of priests are also here without authorisation. And recently there have been signs of discontent at what some African bishops see as a new “ecclesiastical migration”.
In May, the Ivory Coast’s bishops’ conference complained that more and more priests were going missing in Europe and ignoring instructions to return after completing study and pastoral assignments. (It’s not just France: in Italy, for instance, up to 40 per cent of parishes are run by foreign-born clergy.)

The Monks Of Norcia

The Basilica over the birthplace of St. Benedict was destroyed in the recent earthquake in mid-Italy. I have written about the Benedicine monks there before -their singing, their beer. There is hope for the Church as long as there are men like this in it.  Please read this article by Rod Dreher.

There is a man driven to his knees, on the piazza, surrounded by nuns, the elderly, and someone in a wheelchair. The weak, the frightened, those without a roof over their heads. What did the priest-monk Basil do? He went to his knees to pray. This is the fruit of the spiritual training, day and night, that Brother Augustine talks about — the training that simply is the Benedictine life. This is the core of the Benedict Option: building up the daily habits of prayer, asceticism, and charity that allow the Holy Spirit to make us resilient. If you think losing their basilica and monastery is going to stop the Monks of Norcia, you badly underestimate them. All the prayer, worship, fasting and brotherhood they’ve been living these last 16 years, this ordering their lives around the service of Christ, has rooted them deeply in the faith. This terrible calamity shows their human weakness, but it also will reveal their inner strength, for as God said to St. Paul, “My power is made perfect in weakness.”

Pray for the Monks

A powerful earthquake devastated a string of mountainous towns in central Italy on Wednesday, trapping residents under piles of rubble, killing at least 38 people and leaving thousands homeless.
The quake struck in the early hours of the morning when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.

 The town of Norcia is near the epicenter, which is the birthplace of St. Benedict and the home to the Monastery of Monks of Norcia. They send this:

Dear Friends,
Many of you have by now heard of the earthquake that struck us during the night. The quake was a powerful one with a magnitude of 6.2. We’ve taken the past few hours to assess the situation.
First: We are OK. We are alive, and there are no serious injuries to report. Sadly, there are many injuries to report among the people of the region, especially those in small mountain villages. Please pray for them. We monks will do what we can to contribute here on the ground, but we’ll need your spiritual support in a special way during this period.
Second: We, as many others in Norcia and surrounding areas, suffered a lot of damage to our buildings and especially to our basilica. It will take some time to assess the extent of the damage, but it is very sad to see the many beautiful restorations we’ve made to St. Benedict’s birthplace reduced, in a moment, to disrepair.
Third: What can you do? Please, pray for us, for those who have lost their lives, who have lost someone they love, who have lost their homes and livelihoods. We will need your help, as always but now in a special way, to start the project of rebuilding. Please consider making a gift to help us get started.

No word yet on the condition of their brewery.