Pope Francis

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https://zenit.org/2020/10/06/pope-francis-makes-episcopal-appointments-in-spain/

Pope Francis Makes Episcopal Appointments in Spain

Announced on October 6, 2020
OCTOBER 06, 2020 14:55

Resignation and appointment of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Burgos (Spain)

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Burgos (Spain), presented by the Most Exalted Bishop Fidel Herráez Vegas.

The Holy Father has appointed HE Monsignor Mario Iceta Gavicagogeascoa Metropolitan Archbishop of Burgos, transferring him from the Diocese of Bilbao.
 

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/does-fratelli-tutti-change-church-teaching-on-the-death-penalty-62241

Does 'Fratelli tutti' change Church teaching on the death penalty?
By Matt Hadro

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 6, 2020 / 06:00 am MT (CNA).- In his new encyclical, Pope Francis reiterated that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”  Did the pope change centuries of Church teaching with that statement? A leading theologian told CNA that the pope’s teaching was a development, not a rupture with the Church’s past.

In Fratelli Tutti, released on Sunday, Pope Francis cited both Pope St. John Paul II and new language added to the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty, calling the practice “inadmissible” and urging for its abolition worldwide.

“Saint John Paul II stated clearly and firmly that the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice. There can be no stepping back from this position,” Pope Francis wrote in paragraph 263 of the encyclical.

“Today we state clearly that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible’ and the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide,” he said.

Some Catholic commenters have claimed that Pope Francis’ statement constituted a “definitive change” in Church teaching.

But the pope's teaching was a development in line with statements of recent popes, not a rupture from doctrine, theologian Fr. Thomas Petri told CNA.
 

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Update:  Cardinal Becciu/Cardinal Pell Investigation

https://www.ncregister.com/news/pope-francis-meets-with-australian-nuncio-amid-700k-euro-bank-transfer-allegation
Pope Francis Meets With Australian Nuncio, Amid 700k-Euro Bank Transfer Allegation
Edward Pentin   Vatican  October 6, 2020

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis today received in private audience the apostolic nuncio to Australia amid allegations that hundreds of thousands of euros were sent from the Secretariat of State to the nunciature in Canberra around the time of Cardinal George Pell’s trial for sexual abuse. 

Vatican sources have told the Register that the Pope summoned Filipino Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana to Rome in order to learn more about what happened to the funds. The Register asked the Vatican for confirmation of the reason for the visit but has so far received no response.

The news of the meeting follows Italian media reports last week that Vatican officials had compiled a dossier allegedly showing a bank transfer of 700,000 euros — approximately $1 million Australian — that Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s department had sent to an “Australian account” in 2017. Cardinal Becciù was sostituto, or deputy secretary of state, at the time.

Archbishop Yllana was appointed nuncio to Australia in 2015, succeeding Archbishop Paul Gallagher, now the Vatican’s “foreign minister.” The Register has learned that Archbishop Yllana and Cardinal Becciu are friends. Born the same year (1948), they both entered the Holy See diplomatic service within months of each other in 1984.
 

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Update:  Cardinal Becciu

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/reports-say-woman-working-for-becciu-received-600000-euros-from-vatican-secretariat-of-state-12655
Reports say woman working for Becciu received 600,000 euros from Vatican Secretariat of State
By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome Newsroom, Oct 6, 2020 / 08:00 am MT (CNA).- Italian media reported this week that a woman with a company based in Slovenia received at least half a million euros from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State in connection with Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

According to reports, the 39-year-old Cecilia Marogna, who is from Becciu’s home island of Sardinia, received 500,000 or 600,000 euros in payments from the Secretariat of State over four years.

Reports also claimed that the payments had been made to the Slovenia-based company Logsic, D.O.O., owned by Marogna.

In two interviews Oct. 6, Marogna rejected rumors that she was related to, or had any sort of inappropriate relationship with, the cardinal, but said she was paid the money as a salary for work she did as a diplomatic consultant and as reimbursement for travel and other related expenses.

Marogna did not deny reports that she had used the Vatican payments to buy luxury purses, but insisted it was for her work and that she personally lives modestly, renting an apartment and driving a 10-year-old car.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-we-need-courageous-christians-like-elijah.html

Pope Francis: We need courageous Christians like Elijah
07 October 2020, 10:32

Pope Francis, during Wednesday’s General Audience resumes his catechesis on prayer following the cycle on the Healing the World wounded by the pandemic. This week he tells the faithful. “We need the spirit of Elijah.”
By Vatican News

Speaking to the faithful in the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday, Pope Francis described the prophet Elijah as “one of the most compelling characters in the whole of Sacred Scripture.”

Elijah and the Bible

“He goes beyond the confines of his time,” the Pope said. He also recalled how Elijah appeared at Jesus' side, together with Moses, at the moment of the Transfiguration.

In the Bible, the Pope noted, “Elijah appears suddenly, in a mysterious way.”

Pope Francis said the prophet Elijah is a man without “a precise origin, and above all without an end, taken up into heaven: for this reason, his return was expected before the coming of the Messiah.”

The Pope emphasized, “Scripture presents Elijah as a man of crystalline faith.”

“Elijah is the example of all people of faith who know temptation and suffering, but do not fail to live up to the ideal for which they were born.”
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-rosary-general-audience-pandemic-faith-contemplatio.html
Pope urges Catholics to pray the rosary amid “looming threats”
07 October 2020, 11:27

https://zenit.org/2020/10/07/pope-at-general-audience-like-elijah-lets-persevere-in-prayer-discern-daily-gods-will-find-consolation/
Pope at General Audience: Like Elijah, Let’s Persevere in Prayer, Discern Daily God’s Will & Find Consolation
Due to Rain, Holy Father Holds General Audience in Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, 1st Time Since Pandemic
OCTOBER 07, 2020 10:34  DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV

https://zenit.org/2020/10/07/full-text-of-popes-october-7-general-office/
Full Text of Pope’s October 7 General Audience
Catechesis ‘Healing the World’: 9. Elijah’s Prayer
OCTOBER 07, 2020 14:06

Video at the link below--
Pope Francis - General Audience 2020-10-07
https://www.youtube.com/user/vatican

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-interview-il-mio-papa-coronavirus-life.html

Pope addresses key themes of life during pandemic in interview
07 October 2020, 12:12

Pope Francis grants an interview to the Spanish edition of the monthly periodical “Il mio Papa”, reflecting on key issues which have emerged during the pandemic and offering several proposals for how to overcome current challenges.
By Manuel Cubías

The director of the Spanish edition of the periodical Il mio Papa, Carmen Magallón, interviewed Pope Francis in an article published on Wednesday.

The Pope addressed such topics as the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects on future generations and the marginalized, as well as migration and the mission of the Church’s ministers.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-message-academy-sciences-plenary.html

Pope urges science, technology to create inclusive society
07 October 2020, 17:13

Pope Francis sends a message to the plenary meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which is discussing the contribution of science for the survival of humanity in light of the pandemic and other issues.
By Robin Gomes

At a time when the pandemic has roiled the social, economic and spiritual fabric of society, Pope Francis hopes that advances in science and technology will help create a more equitable and inclusive society, where the neediest and most vulnerable are given preference.

“How wonderful it would be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation could come along with more equality and social inclusion,” the Pope said. “How wonderful would it be, even as we discover faraway planets, to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters who orbit around us!” he said, citing from his latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, on fraternity and social friendship, released on Sunday.

The Pope made the remark in a message to the plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which began on Wednesday.

The 7-9 October virtual meeting is focusing on the notion of science at the service of people for the survival of humanity, in light of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic and other global issues.
 
https://zenit.org/2020/10/07/popes-message-to-plenary-session-of-pontifical-academy-of-sciences/
Pope’s Message to Plenary Session of Pontifical Academy of Sciences
OCTOBER 07, 2020 14:57

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-tells-un-it-is-deeply-concerned-by-pressure-to-reinterpret-the-very-foundations-of-human-rights-95796

Vatican tells UN it is ‘deeply concerned’ by push to ‘reinterpret' foundations of human rights

CNA Staff, Oct 7, 2020 / 06:00 am MT (CNA).- A Vatican representative told the United Nations Tuesday that the Holy See was “deeply concerned” by moves “to reinterpret the very foundations of human rights.”

In a statement Oct. 6, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent ******* of the Holy See to the United Nations, said that the reinterpretation of human rights benefited the powerful at the expense of the weak.

“The Holy See is deeply concerned over growing pressure to reinterpret the very foundations of human rights and to compromise their inner unity so as to move away from the protection of human dignity and to satisfy political and economic interests,” Caccia said during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“This approach creates a hierarchy of human rights by relativizing human dignity and assigning more value and additional rights to the strong and healthy, while discarding the weak.”

The archbishop specifically criticized the promotion of abortion and euthanasia as supposed “rights.”
 
https://zenit.org/2020/10/07/archbishop-gabriele-giordano-caccia-addresses-key-issues-at-united-nations/
Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia Addresses Key Issues at United Nations
OCTOBER 07, 2020 15:39

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-moneyval-prevent-speculation-humanity.html

Pope to Moneyval: Preventing merchants from speculating on humanity
08 October 2020, 10:59

In an address to the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe, Pope Francis recalls the need for clean finance at the service of humanity, especially the weakest members of society.
By Vatican News

It is a task which is “particularly dear to my heart", carried out "to promote a 'clean finance', in which the 'merchants' are prevented from speculating in that sacred ‘temple’ which is humanity."

Pope Francis made that remark on Thursday in an address to the evaluators of the Moneyval Programme.

The Committee of the Council of Europe arrived in the Vatican on 30 September to evaluate measures against money laundering and financing of terrorism. The visit was agreed upon in 2019, and takes place in the cycle of periodic evaluations to which all jurisdictions belonging to Moneyval are subject according to a pre-established schedule.
 
https://zenit.org/2020/10/08/to-promote-a-clean-finance-with-a-human-face-pope-encourages-moneyval/
To Promote a ‘Clean Finance’ With a ‘Human Face’ — Pope Encourages Moneyval
OCTOBER 08, 2020 11:15  DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-discourse-women-consultation-group-peace.html

Pope: Women are bearers of peace and renewal
08 October 2020, 13:00

Pope Francis sends a message to the Women’s Consultation Group of the Pontifical Council for Culture, commending them as 'bringers of peace' as they work to create a dialogue between intellect and spirituality.
By Vatican News staff writer

In a message to the Women’s Consultation Group of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Pope Francis noted that “For the first time, a Dicastery has involved a group of women by making them protagonists in developing cultural projects and approaches, and not simply to deal with women’s issues”.  Your gathering, he said, highlights “the novelty that you represent in the Roman Curia.”
 
https://zenit.org/2020/10/08/pope-women-are-the-protagonists-of-church-that-goes-forth/
Pope: Women Are the Protagonists of Church that Goes Forth
OCTOBER 08, 2020 11:52  DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-10/pope-francis-launches-global-education-compact-press-release.html

Pope Francis to relaunch Global Compact on Education
08 October 2020, 12:46

The Congregation for Catholic Education announces that a video message from Pope Francis will be broadcast at an event at the Pontifical Lateran University on 15 October. The event will be live-streamed on Vatican News.

On Thursday 15 October 2020 at 2.30 p.m. Rome time, Pope Francis will once again address the theme of education, which is central to his teaching and dialogue with the world. He will do so with a video message, which is both a summary - of what was suggested on the theme during his pontificate - and a programme: because, as Francis has repeatedly said, "to educate is an act of hope". At the end of the Message, Pope Francis will suggest that all people of good will join the Global Compact on Education, a Pact to encourage change on a global scale, so that education may become a creator of fraternity, peace, and justice. An even more urgent need in this time scarred by the pandemic.

The Pope's video message will be broadcast during an event at the Pontifical Lateran University, promoted by the Congregation for Catholic Education, specifically dedicated to the academic world and all the stakeholders of education, which can be followed live online on the portal and Youtube channels of Vatican News www.vaticannews.va (simultaneous translation into English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese will be available) and through Vatican Media distribution channels.
 

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https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2020/10/vatican-applauds-abraham-accords-but-fears-isolation-of-palestinians/

Vatican applauds ‘Abraham Accords’ but fears ‘isolation’ of Palestinians
John L. Allen Jr.  Oct 8, 2020

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a three-part Crux interview with British Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, effectively the Vatican’s Foreign Minister. Part one yesterday dealt with the Vatican’s controversial 2018 deal with China over the appointment of bishops, while part three tomorrow concerns Gallagher’s recent mission in Belarus and the fate of exiled Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk.

ROME – Breaking the Vatican’s month-long silence on the recently announced “Abraham Accords,” British Archbishop Paul Gallagher said Tuesday the deals for diplomatic relations sponsored by the Trump administration involving Israel and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Israel and Bahrain, are “very positive” and to be applauded.

At the same time, Gallagher expressed concern about a growing “isolation” of the Palestinians in the Middle East, which some critics argue has been exacerbated by the Abraham Accords, and he reiterated the Vatican’s call to both Israel and Palestine to restart direct negotiations.
 

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Update:  Cardinal Becciu

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-becciu-claims-absolute-falseness-of-allegations-against-him-24970

Cardinal Becciu claims ‘absolute falseness’ of allegations against him

CNA Staff, Oct 8, 2020 / 11:00 am MT (CNA).- Cardinal Angelo Becciu insisted Wednesday on the “absolute falseness” of claims of financial misconduct against him.

In a press statement issued through his lawyer Oct. 7, the embattled former senior Vatican official denied a series of allegations presented in the Italian media following his dramatic resignation of his rights as a cardinal last month.

He rejected the most recent allegation, aired this week, that he had channeled Vatican funds without proper oversight to a 39-year-old woman from his home island of Sardinia.

“The contacts with Cecilia Marogna strictly pertain to institutional affairs,” the cardinal said in the statement released by Fabio Viglione, who is representing Becciu following the resignation of his previous lawyer, Ivano Iai.
 

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Video, with English text, at the link

https://zenit.org/2020/10/09/popes-october-prayer-intention-for-laity-especially-woman-to-have-more-leadership-roles-in-church/

Pope’s October Prayer Intention: For Laity, Especially Woman, to Have More Leadership Roles in Church
OCTOBER 09, 2020 01:15  JIM FAIR

Pope Francis on October 8, 2020, released a video to accompany his October prayer intention: “We pray that by the virtue of baptism, the laity, especially women, may participate more in areas of responsibility in the Church.”
 
Full text of the prayer intention:

No one has been baptized a priest or a bishop. We have all been baptized as lay people.

Lay people are protagonists of the Church.

Today, it is especially necessary to create broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church.

And we must emphasize the feminine lay presence because women tend to be left aside.

We must promote the integration of women, especially where important decisions are made.

We pray that by the virtue of baptism, the laity, especially women, may participate more in areas of responsibility in the Church, without falling into forms of clericalism that diminish the lay charism.

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-the-fascination-of-god-makes-its-powerful-attracti.html

Pope Francis: The fascination of God makes its powerful attraction felt
10 October 2020, 11:59

Pope Francis on Saturday receives a delegation from the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia in Italy, on the occasion of celebrations marking the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's death.
By Vatican News

Greeting a delegation from the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy in the Vatican on Saturday, the Pope told them that the poetry of Dante Alighieri is just as relevant today as it was 700 years ago.

Dante’s resonance

He said this “extraordinary exponent of a golden age of European civilization” has the ability to resonate with people. “Teenagers, for example…if they have the opportunity to approach Dante's poetry in a way that is accessible to them, inevitably find, on the one hand, all the distance between the author and his world; and yet, on the other, they feel a surprising resonance.”

Pope Francis explained that “this happens especially where the fascination of the true, the beautiful and the good, ultimately the fascination of God makes its powerful attraction felt.”

Exile and inspiration

The Pope noted that “Ravenna, for Dante, is the city of the "last refuge". The poet spent his remaining years there and completed his work the Divine Comedy, which included the final part called Paradise.
 

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-10/vatican-supervision-of-financial-movements-strengthened.html

Vatican: Supervision of financial movements strengthened
10 October 2020, 15:02

The President of the Financial Information Authority says the aim of Saturday's amendments to Law XVIII of 2013 is to make the management of Vatican finances more transparent within a framework of intense and coordinated checks.
By Sergio Centofanti

The Holy See Press Office published on Saturday the Decree of the President of the Governorate, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, with which amendments were made to Law XVIII of 8 October 2013 on transparency, supervision and financial information.

The changes are part of the reform process requested by Pope Francis in order to make the management of Vatican economic resources more and more accurate and transparent.

This was discussed with Carmelo Barbagallo, President of the Financial Information Authority (FIA), the competent institution of the Holy See and Vatican City State in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
 
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-amends-financial-law-amid-moneyval-inspection-34078
Vatican amends financial law amid Moneyval inspection

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/beatification-of-carlo-acutis-computer-whiz-becomes-first-millennial-declared-blessed-63426

Beatification of Carlo Acutis: The first millennial to be declared Blessed
By Courtney Mares

Assisi, Italy, Oct 10, 2020 / 09:46 am MT (CNA).- With the beatification of Carlo Acutis in Assisi Saturday, the Catholic Church now has its first “Blessed” who loved Super Mario and Pokémon, but not as much as he loved the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

“To be always united with Jesus, this is my life program,” Carlo Acutis wrote at the age of seven.

The young Italian computer whiz, who died of leukemia at 15 offering his suffering for the pope and the Church, was beatified Oct. 10 in a Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. The teen who had an aptitude for computer programming is now one step away from canonization.
 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-10/carlo-acutis-blessed-assisi-eucharist-patron-internet.html
Carlo Acutis: Millennial generation has a Blessed
10 October 2020, 09:00

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https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-francis-beatification-carlo-acutis-millenials.html

Pope: ‘Blessed Carlo Acutis a witness of Christ for younger generations’
11 October 2020, 13:36

Following the beatification of Carlo Acutis on Saturday, Pope Francis invites young people to look to the late Italian teenager as a model of holiness. He also urges Catholics to take part in a Rosary campaign led by Aid to the Church in Need.
By Devin Watkins

Blessed Carlo Acutis was beatified in the Italian town of Assisi on Saturday during Mass celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini.

Pope Francis recalled the 15-year-old Italian teenager as “a young man in love with the Eucharist.”

“He did not rest in comfortable immobility,” said the Pope. “He grasped the needs of his time, because he saw the face of Christ in the weakest.”

Blessed Carlo Acutis’ example, he added, shows young people that “true happiness is found in putting God in the first place and serving Him in our brothers and sisters.”
 

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Video at the link

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-10/pope-ted-countdown-climate-change-video-message.html
Pope invites Countdown participants on a journey toward climate change
11 October 2020, 09:09

In his second TED talks appearance, Pope Francis sends a video message to participants in “Countdown”, saying it is time to make planet-changing choices.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

“We live in a historic moment marked by difficult challenges,” Pope Francis said in a video messages aired during Saturday’s global launch of “Countdown”. The event was organized on a global level by TED to find prompt solutions to the climate crisis.

Covid-19, continued the Pope, is forcing us to choose between what does and does not count.
 
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-integral-ecology-in-ted-climate-countdown-video-41488
Pope Francis calls for 'integral ecology' in TED Climate Countdown video

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Update:  Cardinal Becciu

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/10/more-allegations-of-financial-wrongdoing-against-ousted-cardinal/
More allegations of financial wrongdoing against ousted cardinal
Elise Ann Allen  Oct 10, 2020ate
 
In a nutshell, here’s what’s been alleged:

— Becciu and at least some of his four brothers parked money in foreign bank accounts and investment funds.

— While Becciu was still in charge, money was transferred from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State into personal accounts belonging to members of his family.

— Becciu helped broker a deal for a beer company run by his brother, Mario, involving the Catholic charity Caritas in Rome. In exchange for the use of the Caritas logo, the company was to donate a percentage of its proceeds to the charity.

— Becciu and his brothers invested money, possibly including Vatican resources, in speculative hedge funds.

— Becciu directed Vatican money to support an Angolan oil company run by Anthony Mosquito, presumably in exchange for something

— Becciu directed at least $500,000 over four years to a fellow Sardinian named Cecilia Marogna for a personal motive, either fraud or because he and Marogna were romantically involved. (Marogna is a global security consultant who claims she was paid to offer advice to Vatican embassies and religious orders regarding the risks of kidnappings and terrorist actions.)

— Becciu demanded a 150 million Euro loan from the so-called “Vatican bank” without adequate explanation.

— Becciu used Vatican money to interfere in the legal process in Australia against his erstwhile rival, Cardinal George Pell, including paying off Pell’s accuser. (That charge, for the record, also has been denied by the accuser’s lawyer. It is reportedly being investigated by the Victoria Office of Public Prosecution in Australia.)