Pope Francis repeatedly pulled his hand away when worshippers attempted to kiss his papal ring at the Holy House of Loreto in Italy on Monday. Kissing the papal ring is traditionally seen as a sign of respect for the office. A close aide to the pontiff said: 'Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he does not.'
Continue reading...Category Archives: Pope Francis
Self-interest must not guide UK aid | Letters
Britain’s aid budget must be about altruism, not narrow self-interest say the Rt Rev John Arnold and the Rt Rev Dr Christopher Cocksworth
Your article (Aid budget: Ex-minister joins calls for shake-up, 18 March) on the report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance offers an opportunity to reflect again on what we want and expect from our government.
In the suffering of men, women and children caught up in conflict, dealing with the worst effects of climate change or leaving their homes in search of a safer future, we see the face of Jesus Christ.
Continue reading...Pope Francis beset by global sexual abuse scandal after George Pell’s conviction
Pontiff talks of ‘remorse’ and ‘never again’ but the church’s culture is impervious to change, and there will be more horrors to come
• Follow live updates on the reaction to Cardinal George Pell’s conviction
• Full report: Pell found guilty of child sexual assault
• Explainer: who is Pell and what has he been convicted of?
Pope Francis must have hoped that last week’s unprecedented summit in Rome of senior bishops and church figures from around the world would mark a turning point for his papacy on sexual abuse. The world would see that the Vatican was finally getting a grip on the issue that has caused such grave damage to the church for the past 20 years.
Such hopes have been dealt a devastating blow by the news that Cardinal George Pell, until recently the third most senior figure at the Vatican, is facing a prison term for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1990s.
Continue reading...‘Why did we keep silent for so long?’: Nun condemns Catholic church over clerical abuse – video
A Nigerian nun uses her speech to the Vatican's summit on clerical sexual abuse to condemn the church's hierarchy for its 'mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency' in handling the scandal. Sister Veronica Openibo is softly spoken but delivers a strong rebuke to the gathering.
Continue reading...Catholic nun condemns church hierarchy over failure to tackle abuse
Sister Veronica Openibo says leaders must accept they have brought disgrace upon church
A nun has condemned the Catholic church’s hierarchy for its failure to tackle the scourge of clerical sexual abuse, saying leaders must concede that their “mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency” has brought the church to a “disgraceful place”.
In her speech, delivered at the Vatican’s unprecedented summit on the issue, , Sister Veronica Openibo from Nigeria said the church was in a state of “crisis and shame”.
Continue reading...Vatican reveals it has secret rules for priests who father children
Spokesman says guidelines for those who break celibacy vows will not be made public
The Vatican has acknowledged for the first time the existence of secret guidelines for priests who break their vows of celibacy and father children.
However, it declined to make its advice public, saying it was an internal matter. Alessandro Gisotti, a Vatican spokesman, told the New York Times that the “fundamental principle” of the 2017 document was the “protection of the child”.
Continue reading...Credibility of Catholic church at stake in sexual abuse summit
Vatican under pressure to show it is serious about dealing with crisis at Rome meeting
More than 100 senior Roman Catholic bishops from around the world will gather in Rome this week for a summit Pope Francis has called to address clerical sexual abuse – the most serious crisis in the church since the Reformation, according to a Catholic historian.
The Vatican has sought to downplay expectations surrounding the four-day meeting, which begins on Thursday. But survivors and advocacy groups say it must deliver clear outcomes if it is to begin to restore the church’s damaged credibility on the issue and avoid being seen as a talking shop.
Continue reading...The Catholic church is still making excuses for paedophilia | Peter Stanford
Cardinals around the world are joining the pope at a forum on tackling abuse. But only radical reform can solve the crisis
When the first meeting in the Vatican of cardinals from around the world to discuss clerical sexual abuse was announced, hopes were high among Catholics. Finally, it seemed, the courageous, mould-breaking Pope Francis was going to force through root-and-branch reforms to tackle the scandal that has done such damage to the reputation of the institution he leads.
Yet even before 180 cardinals assemble on Thursday in Rome for this unprecedented four-day summit, the chance of such prayers being answered is looking increasingly remote. The Vatican press office has been downplaying the event as simply an opportunity to remind senior clerics of the patchy efforts that global Catholicism has made this past quarter of a century to address the thousands upon thousands of cases of priests molesting, abusing and traumatising children in their care.
Continue reading...Pope defrocks ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick over abuse claims
Ex-archbishop of Washington DC is most senior figure to be removed from priesthood in modern times
A former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal has been dismissed from the priesthood after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors in a sign of an increasingly hardline stance taken by the church.
Related: Vatican envoy faces inquiry into sexual assault claims
Continue reading...The pope makes first visit to the Arabian peninsula – in pictures
An estimated 170,000 Catholics visited the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi for a historic mass with Pope Francis
Continue reading...‘I am blessed’: UAE’s expatriate workers marvel at mass with the pope
Show of public Christian worship considered largest ever seen on the Arabian peninsula
Marivic Sorita’s eyes filled with tears as she spoke of her daughters back in the Philippines. She has seen them only three times in the 11 years she has worked as a housemaid in Abu Dhabi. Her eldest, now 21, had recently completed her studies “thanks to the sacrifice” Sorita has made by the separation, sending almost all her salary back home.
Maybe one day, when her 14-year-old daughter has also finished her studies, Sorita will be able to go back to Manila and be reunited with her family. But for now, she was enjoying a rare day off work for what she described as a “very, very special” occasion.
Continue reading...Many people in mostly Christian countries believe values clash with Islam – poll
Almost one-third in UK see rift, finds survey ahead of pope’s visit to Arabian peninsula
Large numbers of people in Christian-majority countries in the west see a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of their nation, according to a survey.
However, significantly fewer people in the Middle East and North Africa view Christianity in the same way.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on the pope in the Gulf: an important signal | Editorial
As the first leader of the Catholic church to visit the Arabian peninsula, Francis knows his contact with Muslims will be as important as the mass he hosts for the Christian minority
Pope Francis’s visit to the United Arab Emirates this week will be greeted enthusiastically. Some 120,000 people are expected to turn out for his mass in a sports stadium in Abu Dhabi – as many as turned out in Dublin when he travelled to historically Catholic Ireland last year. The first visit by a pontiff to the Arabian peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, highlights the complications of the religious situation in the Middle East, and more widely the issues of Christian-Muslim relations.
There may be as many as 2 million Christians in the Middle East today. Despite nearly 16 years of war and sometimes brutal persecution in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq, many remain in the lands that were the cradle of Christianity. In part this is because it is still made as hard as possible for them to leave the region. The Christians of Iraq have largely been driven from their homes by persecution, as have some of the Christians of Syria, where a number have taken the side of the Assad dictatorship. But they have ended up in refugee camps rather than reaching notionally Christian Europe.
Continue reading...Pope faces critics over Yemen on first papal visit to UAE
Francis’s trip to United Arab Emirates ‘to promote peace’ comes amid bloody conflict to south
Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, when he celebrates mass this week in front of an expected 120,000 people in Abu Dhabi.
The pope has been invited to visit the United Arab Emirates by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, to take part in an international interfaith meeting as part of the Gulf state’s “year of tolerance”.
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