St. Columba Catholic Church

ACI MENA, Jul 25, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On July 25, 1967, Pope Paul VI set foot on Turkish soil — the first papal visit to the city of Istanbul since it was called Constantinople. 

After traveling to Istanbul for a celebration at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the pope visited the Orthodox Patriarchal Church of St. George with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Athenagoras I, Orthodox archbishop of Constantinople, three years after exchanging a kiss of peace together during a pilgrimage and peace tour of the Holy Land. Jerusalem was the only place in the world where the heads of the Eastern and Western churches could meet 910 years after the Church split in 1054.

On the first day of his two-day visit, July 25, Paul VI also met the Armenian patriarch and the leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities as well as the Turkish authorities, who welcomed his visit in a warm and cordial manner. He also met then-president of the Turkish republic Cevdet Sunay, with whom he discussed problems in the Middle East and Cyprus. Sunay underlined the Holy Father’s efforts in favor of peace.

The following day, after celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Istanbul, the pope’s journey continued to Smyrna (Izmir), where he first met with authorities, the local population, and the faithful before moving on to Ephesus, where he visited the house of the Virgin Mary, addressing the faithful of Ephesus as well as representatives of the Eastern Orthodox churches. It is noteworthy that Mary is mentioned some 50 times in the Koran and is also venerated by Muslims.

A celebration at St. John’s Cathedral in Izmir brought the official trip to a close. The only blemish on the trip was Paul VI’s prayer at the Hagia Sophia museum — the first official prayer there by a Christian leader since 1453. The Muslim world was taken aback, and the act was described as a “gaffe.”

Despite that, the visit truly marked the renewal of ecumenical relations between the Catholic world and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople — a fundamental step toward unity between the two churches.

The “Charter of the Unity of the Churches of the East and West,” a basic ecumenical document, was read out in Istanbul’s Holy Spirit Cathedral on July 25 in the presence of the pope and Patriarch Athenagoras.

Now, decades later, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I, the archbishop of Constantinople and ecumenical patriarch, have been working in a committed fashion toward unity, as evidenced by their numerous meetings since 2013 (in Jerusalem and Rome), followed by the patriarch’s invitation to Francis to attend the feast of St. Andrew in Istanbul in 2014.

In addition, on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which will be celebrated in 2025, Bartholomew I has once again invited Francis to the historic celebration. At the end of June, Francis declared: “This is a trip I wish to make with all my heart.”

This story was first published by ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 24, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

The community of Discalced Carmelites of San José monastery in Lucena in Spain’s Córdoba province, to whom Pope Francis sent several messages because of his friendship with a former prioress, is being forced to leave after the order’s presence of more than 400 years in the city due to lack of vocations.

Mother Mary Magdalene of St. John of the Cross, prioress of the small community, explained in a statement that “with great pain and great sadness, because there are only three nuns left, the scarcity of vocations and being requested by another Carmel in need, we saw that it is God’s will that our mission here had concluded,” reported the Iglesia en Córdoba (The Church in Córdoba), a weekly newspaper of the Spanish diocese.

Thus the 412-year uninterrupted presence of the Discalced Carmelites in the Lucena monastery will end. The nuns arrived there in 1612 from the city of Cabra, where the community was founded in 1603.

According to the newspaper ABC, the death of the former prioress, Mother Adriana of Jesus Crucified, in September 2023 left the community below the minimum number of five nuns. However, the community was granted a special status that had the support of Pope Francis and the bishop of Córdoba, Demetrio Fernández.

With the recent departure of another sister, the future of the community was sealed. The three nuns will soon move to a community located in the Diocese of Salamanca to which they are joined by a “long and close relationship of sisterhood.”

The community’s ties with Pope Francis

This community of Discalced Carmelites became more known in recent years due to the friendship that their prioress at the time, Mother Adriana of Jesus Crucified, maintained with Pope Francis when he was auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. Two other Argentine nuns in the congregation had also known Francis.

On Dec. 31, 2013, the pontiff called the nuns and left a New Year’s message of encouragement, hope, and joy on their answering machine. Hours later, he was finally able to converse with them for 15 minutes.

According to Iglesia en Córdoba, when Mother Adriana’s death was imminent, Pope Francis “comforted the nun in her last moments of life” and, after her passing, “recontacted the monastery to convey condolences to the rest of the community of nuns.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 24, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

With President Joe Biden bowing out of the 2024 presidential race following intense pressure from within his own party, Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely Democratic nominee to face former president Donald Trump in November’s general election.

Harris was raised by a Christian father and a Hindu mother and attended both Hindu and Christian services as a child. As an adult, Harris was a member of a Black Baptist church. Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish and attended a Reform Synagogue growing up.

Throughout her career — as vice president, senator, and attorney general of California — Harris has taken a variety of stances that could pose problems for Catholic voters, a key voting bloc. 

Harris has consistently promoted abortion, scrutinized Catholic judicial nominees, and opposed pro-life pregnancy centers and activists. She has also embraced gender ideology as well as transgender and contraception mandates that have, at times, jeopardized religious freedom.

Leading Biden administration’s pro-abortion efforts

As vice president, Harris has taken the lead on many of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to promote abortion, including the effort to codify Roe v. Wade’s abortion standards into federal law.

In September of last year, the vice president embarked on a tour stopping at various college campuses called the “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour” to promote abortion and other aspects of the administration’s agenda. 

At the beginning of 2024, she launched another speaking tour to promote abortion called “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms.” During this tour, Harris became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic in March when she toured a Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis. At the event, she praised abortionists and chastised pro-life lawmakers who voted to put limits on abortion.

In an interview with ABC in 2023, Harris criticized states that adopted pro-life laws and urged Congress to pass legislation that would establish federal abortion standards that prevent states from enforcing pro-life laws. In 2022, the vice president claimed that religious Americans can support abortion without abandoning their faith.

As a senator, Harris co-sponsored legislation that would have prevented states from passing abortion restrictions, and she voted against a bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care to a child who is born after a failed abortion attempt.

Scrutinizing judicial nominees’ Knights of Columbus memberships

As a senator, Harris pressed three judicial nominees about their affiliations with the Knights of Columbus: Brian Buescher, Paul Matey, and Peter Phipps. Her questions suggested that the nominees’ ties to the Catholic fraternal organization could make them biased because the group adheres to Church teachings about life and marriage. 

In written questions to Buescher, for example, Harris asked the nominee whether he knew “that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when [he] joined the organization.” She questioned whether he agreed with then-Supreme Knight Carl Anderson that abortion is “the killing of the innocent on a massive scale.” She asked him whether he knew “that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when [he] joined the organization.”

Buescher, responding to Harris, informed her that “the Knights of Columbus is a Roman Catholic service organization with approximately 2 million members worldwide.”  

“The organization has a religious and charitable purpose,” he continued. “I joined the Knights of Columbus when I was 18 years old and have been a member ever since. My membership has involved participation in charitable and community events in local Catholic parishes.”

Raiding pro-life activist’s home

In 2016, as California attorney general, Harris’ office launched a raid on the pro-life activist David Daleiden’s home.

The raid was in response to Daleiden’s undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood, which showed organization officials discussing costs for fetal tissue and body parts. It is illegal to sell fetal tissue and body parts.

Harris claimed that Daleiden broke several laws when obtaining videos of Planned Parenthood officials. He was charged with 15 felonies related to allegations of falsification of identity and invasion of privacy. He pleaded not guilty, but the case is still ongoing. 

As attorney general, she never launched an investigation into the allegations against Planned Parenthood. She received thousands of dollars in campaign funds from Planned Parenthood.

Regulating the speech of pro-life pregnancy centers

As California’s attorney general, Harris co-sponsored and promoted the Reproductive FACT Act, which required pro-life pregnancy centers to post notices that provided information on where to obtain abortions.

Pro-life pregnancy centers sued the attorney general’s office, arguing that the law violated their First Amendment rights. In 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the law violated the right to free speech because it compelled speech. 

The legislation served as a model for lawmakers in other states, such as Vermont and Illinois, who tried to regulate the speech of pro-life pregnancy centers. 

Opposing religious liberty, embracing gender ideology

Throughout her career, Harris has been against strong protections for religious freedom and has supported gender ideology.

In 2014, Harris was one of 14 state attorneys general to file an amicus brief with the Supreme Court that asked the court to force Hobby Lobby to cover contraception — which included potentially abortifacient drugs — in its health insurance policies despite the ownership’s religious opposition. 

As a senator, Harris went further, co-sponsoring the Do No Harm Act and the Equality Act. The former would have ended religious exemptions for certain government mandates, such as laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and rules that force insurance coverage of abortion and sex change surgeries. The latter would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

As vice president, Harris has further promoted gender ideology. She has criticized Republican states for prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on minors, restricting female sports to only biological women and girls, and preventing teachers from pushing gender ideology onto students. 

Vatican City, Jul 24, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on July 24 approved the “spiritual experience” connected to the Sanctuary of Maccio located in Italy, making it the fifth public announcement of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) since the office published its norms for the discernment of “alleged supernatural phenomena” on May 17.

The DDF recognized the “action of the Holy Spirit” in the mystical experiences and spiritual writings of Italian father and music teacher Gioacchino Genovese, which highlight the centrality of the Holy Trinity as the “source of mercy.”

In 2000, Genovese reportedly had mystical experiences during times of prayer in which he perceived the love of the Holy Trinity through the merciful gaze of Jesus Christ. Initially keeping his intellection visions to himself, he later began to open up about his prayer life with others. Devotion among Catholics around his “intellectual visions” began to spread throughout the Diocese of Como.

“The Church is called to rediscover more and more in the gestures of Christ that infinite mercy of the triune God, who in the writings of Mr. Genovese is called by the name ‘Trinity Mercy,’” reads the letter signed by DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández.

“This is the center of all the messages because, ultimately, it is the center of revelation: ‘And the heart of revelation is this: God, trinity of love, one God, gift that gives himself in our humanity, in Jesus walks with us.’”

Fernández granted the sanctuary a “nulla osta,” meaning the spiritual experiences connected to the sanctuary “do not contain theological or moral elements contrary to the doctrine of the Church.”

In the letter addressed to Cardinal Oscar Cantoni, bishop of Como, Fernández also outlined further considerations regarding specific “expressions” contained within Genovese’s writings that have the potential to cause confusion or be “interpreted in a way contrary to the Catholic faith.”

Before the Genovese’s texts can be published and further disseminated, they must first be granted a “nihil obstat” (“no objection”) by the Holy See.

Since 2005, Genovese’s writings have inspired local Catholic faithful to pray at the Sanctuary of Maccio, located in the Diocese of Como, and contemplate the Church’s teachings on the Trinitarian God, whose mercy is made manifest through the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Citing the words and works of both St. John Paul II and Pope Francis on the theological and spiritual significance of mercy for the Church, the DDF stated: “Mr. Genovese’s spiritual experience is in line with the rediscovery of the centrality of the Most Holy Trinity for the faith and Christian life that occurred in the last century.

St. John Paul II, also known as the “mercy pope,” wrote his second encyclical letter titled Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy) in 1980. He also instituted Divine Mercy Sunday, celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter, and canonized St. Faustina Kowalska on the same day on April 30, 2000. 

In 2015, Pope Francis opened the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy to “point out the path that we [in the life of the Church] are called to follow in the future.” In Misericordiae Vultus, the papal bull announcing the holy year, the Holy Father wrote: “With our eyes fixed on Jesus and his merciful gaze, we experience the love of the Most Holy Trinity. The mission Jesus received from the Father was that of revealing the mystery of divine love in its fullness.”

To date, the Vatican has made public declarations on five cases of supernatural phenomena that have taken place in different countries in Europe. Three of the five cases, which have taken place in Italy — including the shrine dedicated to “Our Lady of the Rock” in a village in Calabria — have been given the seal of approval by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2024 / 16:32 pm (CNA).

As part of a six-year investigation into decades of abuse and neglect in the country, New Zealand pointed to the Catholic Church among other institutions for what it said was the Church’s role in perpetuating abuse.

New Zealand’s abuse commission, Abuse in Care: Royal Commission of Inquiry, focused on uncovering abuse and neglect in state and faith-based care institutions from 1950 to 1999 in a final report released on Wednesday. 

The report found abuse and neglect of 200,000 survivors in New Zealand state and faith-based institutions, and pointed to the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions in particular for enabling abusers.

“If this injustice is not addressed, it will remain as a stain on our national character forever,” Arrun Soma, chief adviser of the commission, said in a video statement.

The New Zealand commission said the Catholic Church and Catholic entities responded inadequately to complaints of abuse and neglect, appointed abusers to schools, and prioritized forgiveness over safeguarding and accountability.

The report reveals that up to 42% of those in faith-based care run by all denominations were abused in New Zealand during that time period. A 2020 briefing from the Catholic Church previously noted abuse accusations against 14% of its New Zealand clergy during those decades. 

The report details different forms of abuse occurring in a variety of institutions, including physical, emotional, mental, and sexual, as well as cultural neglect and racism against the indigenous Māori of New Zealand. 

The commission found that the Catholic Church relied “heavily on psychiatrists’ opinions, leading to transferring abusers to other areas of ministry where they re-offended.” In addition, it also found the Church at fault for prioritizing its “reputation over safety” and the creation of a “power imbalance between clergy and parishioners.”

The commission noted that there was a “lack of resources and investment in those caring for children and vulnerable individuals” in Catholic institutions. 

“Faith-based institutions had some unique factors that contributed to abuse and neglect in their care,” Soma said. “The assumed moral authority and trustworthiness of clergy and religious leaders allowed abusers in faith-based institutions to perpetrate abuse and neglect with impunity.”

“Religious beliefs were often used to justify the abuse and neglect, and to silence survivors,” he continued. “Hierarchical and opaque decision-making processes impeded scrutiny and making complaints.”

From the more than 2,300 survivors who spoke with investigators, there was “a higher proportion of survivors in faith settings than in state care [who] were sexually abused,” the report read. Investigators found that “the highest reported levels of sexual abuse” were at Dilworth School in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, an Anglican institution, as well as Marylands School in Ōtautahi Christchurch, a Catholic institute, and “at Catholic institutions in general.”

“In faith-based care settings, abuse was treated as a religious transgression that required survivors to forgive, let go of anger and blame, and instead embrace those who had sinned against them; and abusers to merely repent,” Soma noted. “Many abusers were relocated and went on to continue abusing people in care.”

The New Zealand Conference of Catholic Bishops thanked the commission for its report in a July 24 statement and promised to take action following its review of the findings.

“We hope this report and the work that flows from it will result in a better society and a safer environment for all people,” read the statement by Bishop Steve Lowe, head of the bishops. “Abuse is not only historical, nor confined to one part of society or another. The inquiry’s report and the material that we heard from victims and survivors make that crystal clear.”

“Over the past 30 years, the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand has made significant progress in responding to reports of abuse and safeguarding,” the bishops continued. “We must continue to work to ensure that progress continues and that our church communities are places where people are safe.”

The commission recommended that New Zealand seek apologies from state and Church leaders, including Pope Francis. The report also called for an investigation into Catholic priests who were transferred to Papua New Guinea after abuse allegations. 

The New Zealand investigation is notably the most wide-ranging investigation into abuse and neglect undertaken worldwide, according to its leadership. The investigation looked into abuse in faith-based care, state institutions, foster care, schools, and medical settings, and interviewed nearly 2,500 survivors. 

“We thank and send aroha [love] to all survivors, your whanau [extended family] and communities who came forward,” said Andrew Erueti, commissioner of the report. “You helped us uncover the horrifying scale, nature, and impact of abuse and neglect in this country. You told us about your darkest days, years, and now decades. Your so-called protectors became perpetrators. We want you to know that we have heard you and believe you.”