VATICAN NEWS (CNS) -- In order to be compassionate and respond best to the needs of others, it is necessary to take time out to relax and not be anxious about getting things done, Pope Francis said.

It is also a "social injustice" when working parents hardly see their children because of long hours away from home, he said, before praying the Angelus in St. Peter's Square July 21. "In families, fathers and mothers should have time to share with their children, to let love grow within their family and in order not to fall into the dictatorship of doing."

The pope reflected on the day's Gospel reading from St. Mark (6:30-34) about Jesus telling the apostles to rest after their return from their mission of preaching and healing. However, when Jesus saw the vast crowd that had gathered, "his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things," the verse says.

The pope said, "On the one hand, there is an invitation to rest, and on the other, Jesus' compassion for the crowd." Resting and being compassionate "may seem like two incompatible things, while they actually go together."

"Only if we learn how to rest can we have compassion. Indeed, it is only possible to have a compassionate gaze, which knows how to respond to the needs of others, if our heart is not consumed by the anxiety of doing, if we know how to stop and how to receive the grace of God, in the silence of adoration," he said. 

There is a danger that "can threaten us when, for instance, our enthusiasm in carrying out our mission or our work, as well as the roles and tasks entrusted to us, make us fall victim to a kind of activism which is overly concerned with things to do and with results, and this is a bad thing," he said.

"It then happens that we become agitated and lose sight of what is essential. We risk exhausting our energies and falling into bodily and spiritual fatigue," the pope said.

A person's life, society in general and even the church in its pastoral work may often be "held prisoner by haste," he said. "Brothers and sisters, let us beware of the dictatorship of doing!"

This can also happen out of necessity in families, he added, when one or both parents have to earn a living and sacrifice time that could have been spent with the family, for example, having to leave before the kids are awake and getting home after they are asleep.

"This is a social injustice," he said. "Let us think about what we can do to help people who are forced to live in this way."

Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to ask themselves: "Am I able to stop during my day? Am I capable of taking a moment to be with myself and with the Lord, or am I always in a hurry, in a constant hurry for things to do?"

He asked the faithful to find an "inner" place of rest even in the midst of a busy day and to be compassionate towards others.

Pope warns against "dictatorship of doing"

A look at Pope Francis' Angelus July 21, 2024.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace with her husband, King Philippe of the Belgians, on Sept. 14, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 10:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will spend four days at the end of September in the small European countries of Luxembourg and Belgium, where he will greet royal leaders, prime ministers, professors and students, and Catholics in some of the countries’ historic palaces, cathedrals, and universities.

The pontiff will make a one-day stop in Luxembourg on Sept. 26 before visiting three cities in Belgium to mark the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve from Sept. 26–29.

The European visit will take place just under two weeks after Francis lands back in Rome at the end of the most ambitious journey of his pontificate: a 12-day trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore.

The full schedule of Pope Francis’ visit to the two constitutional monarchies of Luxembourg and Belgium is below.

Luxembourg

The first day of Pope Francis’ trip will be dedicated to visiting Luxembourg, a small landlocked country in Western Europe with an estimated population of 672,000 people.

Luxembourg is the seat of several institutions of the European Union, including the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority.

After his arrival, Francis will visit the grand duke of Luxembourg, Henri, at his official residence, the Grand Ducal Palace. Henri’s wife, Grand Duchess María Teresa, is one of only a few royal women with the “privilège du blanc,” a papal privilege allowing her to wear white when meeting the pope.

The pontiff will then meet with the prime minister of the grand duchy before addressing members of the government, civil society, and the diplomatic corps at a Luxembourg administrative building, Cercle Cité.

Luxembourg has just one ecclesiastical territory, the Archdiocese of Luxembourg, which is led by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator-general of the Catholic Church’s present Synod on Synodality.

In 2021, the archdiocese was estimated to have almost 457,000 Catholics, which is 73% of the population.

After lunch on Sept. 26, Francis will hold an audience with the Luxembourg Catholic community in the Gothic 17th-century Notre-Dame Cathedral before taking a 55-minute flight to the neighboring country of Belgium.

Belgium

The Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels, built in the late 1700s, is the residential palace of the king and queen of Belgium. Since 1999, it has been the home of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and their family.

Francis will meet King Philippe at the castle on the morning of Sept. 27. Philippe’s wife, Mathilde, as a Catholic queen, also has the “privilège du blanc” when meeting the pope.

The pope’s brief meeting with Belgium’s royal leader will be followed by appointments with the country’s prime minister and other governmental authorities.

The day’s schedule will close with a papal address to professors at KU Leuven, a Catholic research university, to mark the 600th anniversary of its founding. At KU Leuven, classes are mainly taught in Dutch and some English.

On his second full day in Belgium, Pope Francis will meet with clergy members and religious brothers and sisters in the Koekelberg National Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels.

After lunch, he will make the just under one-hour drive to visit Louvain-la-Neuve, a university city about 18 miles southeast of the capital city.

The town hosts the French-language Catholic University of Leuven, which split from KU Leuven in the late 1960s.

Pope Francis will spend the afternoon meeting with university students in Louvain-la-Nueve before holding a private audience with Jesuits at St. Michel College back in Brussels.

On his final day in the Low Countries on Sept. 29, the pontiff will celebrate Sunday Mass in King Baudouin Stadium before departing shortly before 1 p.m. local time for Rome.

Pope Francis' brief remarks during the Angelus July 21, 2024, focused on the day’s Gospel passage from Mark, which demonstrates how rest and compassion for others go together. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 21, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Do not be consumed by “the anxiety of doing” but spend time in rest and silent prayer to receive God’s grace, Pope Francis said on Sunday.

The pontiff told Catholics, especially those in ministry, to beware of “the dictatorship of doing” during his weekly reflection and Angelus on July 21.

The Angelus is a Marian prayer traditionally recited at three different hours throughout the day: at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m.

“It is only possible to have a compassionate gaze, which knows how to respond to the needs of others, if our heart is not consumed by the anxiety of doing, if we know how to stop and how to receive the grace of God in the silence of adoration,” Pope Francis said on a hot and humid day during the peak of summer in Rome.

Addressing the large crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said we are often “held prisoner by haste.” He called it an important warning, especially for those in engaged in ministry and pastoral service in the Church.

“Am I able to stop during my days? Am I capable of taking a moment to be with myself and with the Lord, or am I always in a hurry for things to do?” he said from a window of the Apostolic Palace.

He added that sometimes families are forced to live a frenetic pace; for example, when a father has to work from dawn until dusk to put food on the table. But this is a social injustice, he said, and we should help families in this situation.

The pope’s brief remarks focused on the day’s Gospel passage, which demonstrates how Jesus is able to combine both rest and compassion for others.

In the Gospel, Jesus invites his apostles to “come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” but when they get out of the boat, they find the crowd already waiting for them.

Jesus’ “heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things,” the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 6, says.

“These may seem like two incompatible things — resting and being compassionate — but they actually go together,” Pope Francis underlined.

Jesus is concerned for his disciples’ tiredness, the pontiff said, because he is aware of the danger of our ministries and lives falling victim to an over concern with “things to do and with results.”

“We become agitated and lose sight of what is essential,” he emphasized.

Francis also explained that the rest proposed by Jesus is not “an escape from the world, a retreat into a merely personal well-being,” but a rest that helps us to have more compassion for others.

“Only if we learn how to rest can we have compassion,” he said.

After leading the Angelus, the pope spoke about the Summer Olympic Games, set to start in Paris on July 26, and the Paralympics, which will follow in August.

Sports, he said, have “a great social force, capable of peacefully uniting people of different cultures.”

“I hope that this event can be a sign of the inclusive world we want to build and that the athletes, with their sporting testimony, will be messengers of peace and good role models for young people,” he added.

Francis also recalled the tradition from ancient Greece of the “Olympic Truce,” noting that such an initiative would be an opportunity to “demonstrate a sincere desire for peace.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With world peace under serious threat, Pope Francis called on all nations to observe the Olympic truce and cease all conflicts for the traditional period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Paris.

May God help "enlighten the consciences of those in power to the grave responsibilities incumbent upon them, may he grant peacemakers success in their endeavors," the pope said in a written message to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris.

The Vatican published the letter July 19, seven days before the opening of the Summer Games and the customary start of the observance of the Olympic truce. The archbishop celebrated Mass in Paris at the Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine July 19 to mark the official start of the Olympic truce.

The Olympic truce tradition, originating in Greece in the 8th-century B.C., asked that all wars and conflict be suspended during the games and seven days before and after the games as a way to make sure participants could travel to and from the venue safely. 

The International Olympic Committee revived the tradition in 1992 and it works with the United Nations to pass a symbolic U.N. resolution before each Games inviting U.N. member states to observe a truce to encourage the Olympic spirit of peace.

In his letter, the pope said the Olympic Games can be "an exceptional meeting place between peoples, even the most hostile. The five interlinked rings represent the spirit of fraternity that should characterize the Olympic event and sporting competition in general."

"I therefore hope that the Paris Olympics will be an unmissable opportunity for all those who come from around the world to discover and appreciate each other, to break down prejudices, to foster esteem where there is contempt and mistrust, and friendship where there is hatred. The Olympic Games are, by their very nature, about peace, not war," he wrote.

"It was in this spirit that antiquity wisely instituted a truce during the Games, and that modern times regularly attempt to revive this happy tradition," the pope wrote.

"In these troubled times, when world peace is under serious threat, it is my fervent wish that everyone will take this truce to heart, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony," he wrote.

Pope Francis also sent his support and blessings to all athletes, spectators and the people of Paris, including the many Catholics who "are preparing to open wide the doors of their churches, schools and homes." 

"I hope that the organization of these Games will provide the people of France with a wonderful opportunity for fraternal harmony, enabling us to transcend differences and opposition and strengthen the unity of the nation," he wrote.

The Olympic Games begin July 26 and run until Aug. 11, followed by the Paralympic Games, which will take place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.

Some 10,500 athletes from around the world are set to compete in the Olympics and as many as 4,400 in the Paralympics. Thirty-seven athletes from 11 countries of origin are expected to represent the Refugee Olympic Team at the Summer Games and eight athletes from six countries will compete in the Refugee Paralympic Team.

The Paris Summer Games will mark the first time there is the same number of women and men competing in events since the modern Summer Olympics began in Athens in 1896 and where all the athletes were men.

Some 6,000 grandparents and other older people attended the papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on July 23, 2023, for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. / Credit: Pablo Esparza/EWTN

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits a sick, lonely, or disabled elderly person on the fourth annual World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly on July 28.

Those who are grandparents or elderly themselves can also receive a plenary indulgence, as well as anyone who participates in religious functions connected to the celebration, as long as the usual conditions are fulfilled.

The usual conditions to obtain a plenary indulgence are to be detached from all sin, to receive sacramental confession and holy Communion, and to pray for the pope’s intentions.

An indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. It applies to sins already forgiven and cleanses the soul as if just baptized.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, sent a decree July 18 granting the plenary indulgences.

A person who cannot leave his or her home due to sickness, infirmity, or another serious reason can also obtain the plenary indulgence if they “unite themselves spiritually to the sacred functions” of the day, “offering to the merciful God the prayers, pains, or sufferings of their lives, especially during the various celebrations which will be broadcast through the media,” De Donatis decreed.

The major penitentiary also asked priests to make themselves available to hear confessions “in a ready and generous spirit” so that Catholics may more easily have “the opportunity to attain divine grace through the power of the keys of the Church.”

World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly

The World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021, is held on the fourth Sunday of July, which falls near the July 26 feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.

In 2024, the day will be celebrated on July 28 with the theme: “Do Not Cast Me Off in My Old Age” — taken from Psalm 71.

The Vatican announced the theme in February, saying it was Pope Francis’ desire “to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly people, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.”

In 2023, Pope Francis marked the day with an intergenerational Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, affirming in his homily that old age is a “blessed time.”

“How much we need a new bond between young and old,” the pope said on July 23 last year, “so that the sap of those who have a long experience of life behind them will nourish the shoots of hope of those who are growing. In this fruitful exchange we can learn the beauty of life, build a fraternal society, and in the Church, be enabled to encounter one another and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit.” 

Conditions to obtain a plenary indulgence

In order to obtain a plenary indulgence, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Detachment from all sin, even venial.

2. Sacramental confession, holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope. These three conditions can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence, but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.

A single sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences, but frequent sacramental confession is encouraged in order to obtain the grace of deeper conversion and purity of heart.

For each plenary indulgence that is sought, however, a separate holy Communion and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.

The prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father is left up to the choice of the individual, but an Our Father and Hail Mary are suggested.

The kids and Pope Francis released biodegradable balloons into the sky together on July 18, 2024. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.” / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).

Pope Francis visited the kids participating in the Vatican’s annual summer camp on Thursday morning, answering their questions and releasing biodegradable balloons into the sky.

The day camp for children of Vatican employees is in its fourth year. It is taking place June 17–July 26 inside Vatican City in a newly-built area with sports facilities and a swimming pool dedicated to St. Joseph.

According to the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis met both the kids and counselors of “Youth Summer at the Vatican” on July 18.

The pope answered some of the questions and comments of the children and spoke about the importance of having good family relationships, including with grandparents, the Vatican said, adding that Francis also urged the kids to work for peace, because promoting peace “is the most beautiful thing in life.”

The pontiff and camp attendees then said a prayer together before launching colorful, biodegradable balloons into the air. The Vatican said the message, “You, dear boy, dear girl, are precious in God’s eyes,” was stamped on the balloons “with the hope that the message will reach as many people as possible.”

Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis had met the camp’s benefactors at his Santa Marta residence.

The camp is organized around the 2024 theme of “Knights Errant,” guided by an interpretation of the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza from the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. 

The camp’s activities include prayer, team sports, swimming and water games, dancing, and creative and educational workshops for ages 5–13.

Started in 2020, the camp is an initiative of the Vatican Governorate in response to the pope’s wish to welcome children to the Vatican in the style of St. John Bosco’s oratories.

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, speaks at a May 2, 2023, press conference. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI Prensa

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2024 / 10:18 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday added two new vice directors to the senior management of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.

Massimiliano Menichetti, 53, is a 20-year veteran of Vatican News, where he has served in a number of leadership roles, including deputy editor-in-chief, manager of the multimedia publishing center, and coordinating chief of Vatican Radio-Vatican News. He has also been a journalism lecturer at Italian universities and co-authored a book in 2017 on the Vatican trial known as “Vatileaks 2.”

Menichetti joins two other vice directors in the editorial department, working under director Andrea Tornielli, who joined the Vatican communications team in 2018 after coordinating the “Vatican Insider” webpage for the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Former Italian TV director Francesco Valle, 52, has been named vice director of the general affairs office of the dicastery. He started working for Vatican communications in 2023 as manager for commercial activities.

Valle will work under Paolo Nusiner, who has led the general affairs office of the Dicastery for Communication since 2015. 

Nusiner, who was formerly president of the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire for 18 years, is also president of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, with campuses in cities throughout Italy, and president of the Tiber Island-Gemelli Island Hospital in Rome.

Existing Vatican communications leadership

The Dicastery for Communication has been led since 2018 by Paolo Ruffini, the first layman to be named prefect of a department of the Roman Curia. Father Lucio Adrián Ruiz is the dicastery’s secretary.

Others on the management team include Andrea Monda, director of the Vatican’s long-running newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office.

Nataša Govekar, a theologian from Slovenia, heads the communication dicastery’s theological-pastoral department.

Govekar is also a member of the directorial team of the Centro Aletti, an art and theological center in Rome founded by the disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.

Vatican publishing house signs deal

Also on Thursday, the Vatican’s publishing house signed an agreement with a Catholic university press in Rome to help with the editorial production of some of its publications.

The Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV) will assist the Urbaniana University Press with “the editorial management of the scientific production” of the university’s historic publishing service, according to a July 18 press release.

Part of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, the Urbaniana University Press is the successor to a historic publishing house from the 17th century — the Propaganda Fide Polyglot Printing House.

Propaganda Fide is the historic name of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, which is focused on missionary work and assisting missionary territories in the Church.

Four years after the then-sacred congregation was founded in 1622, Pope Urban VIII created the “Polyglot Printing Office of Propaganda Fide” for the publication of Catholic texts in diverse, non-Latin languages, according to Agenzia Fides.

According to the missionary-focused news agency, which is under the Dicastery for Evangelization, the first volume printed by the Polyglot Printing House “was probably a Greek version of the ‘Guía de Pecadores’ by the Dominican Luigi da Granada, written in 1588."

This work “was followed by works on grammar, law, controversies, and spirituality, all aimed at serving the missionaries in the East,” Agenzia Fides reported.

“With publications in multiple languages, the Polyglot Printing House laid the foundations for intercultural communication and an unprecedented dissemination of the Christian message and knowledge,” according to a press statement from the Dicastery for Communication and the Urbaniana University Press.

“This mission is more relevant today than ever in an increasingly interconnected world,” the statement continues, noting the press’ present-day commitment to increasing cultural and scientific publications in languages such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Konkani.

According to the press release, the agreement of the two presses to join editorial forces on some publications fulfills the instructions in article 183 of Pope Francis’ 2022 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, to unify “the Holy See’s activities in the area of communication so that the entire system consistently responds to the needs of the Church’s evangelizing mission.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Pope Francis was once asked if a girl could ever grow up to become a deacon or join the clergy of the Catholic Church, he responded with a clear "no." 

Nonetheless, conversations about the role of women in the church and their ministerial functions are still being held at the highest levels of the Vatican. 

Months before he rejected the possibility of women deacons during a May interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS, the pope invited a Salesian sister, a consecrated virgin and a woman Anglican bishop into a discussion on women in the church with his Council of Cardinals, commonly known as the C9. 

It was the second meeting of the council, an international group of cardinal advisors to the pope, dedicated to discussing the role of women in the church. The pope and his council have held a total of four meetings with women experts -- in December, February, April and June --  to continue conversations on the role of women in the church. 

While information on the meetings is typically limited to a list of discussed topics distributed by the Vatican, talks from the December council meeting were published February in a book, titled "Smaschilizzare La Chiesa?" ("De-masculinize the Church?), and the speeches of the three women and responses of two cardinals from the February session were published in a book -- "Donne E Ministri Nella Chiesa Sinodale" ("Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church") -- released July 11.

In its foreword, Pope Francis wrote that the participation of the three theologians at the C9 meeting fell in line with the synodal process, which is "a process of discernment (that) starts in reality and experience."

He said that just as the modern age has been marked by a draw toward "clear and refined" ideas, "the Church too has sometimes fallen into the trap of considering loyalty to ideas to be more important than attention to reality," and listening to the joys and suffering of women in the church "is certainly a way to open us up to reality." 

Insisting on the need to speak openly and frankly about the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate, Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, a professor of Christology and Mariology at Rome's Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences "Auxilium," explained in her speech that the justifications for reserving ordained ministry to men "are weak, and it is important to recognize and be aware of it." 

Biblically, she noted that the calling of the 12 apostles cannot be equated with the institution of priestly or episcopal orders as they are understood today. Theological justifications for excluding women from holy orders were founded on the idea that women were incapable of holding positions in the public sphere by their nature -- an idea, she said, that became "unacceptable" after the feminist movements of the 20th century lifted women into previously inaccessible positions. 

Additionally, Sister Pocher said that papal rejections of admitting women to ordained ministry cannot be used as a justification for maintaining the practice since there are numerous historical instances of popes altering positions held by their predecessors.

In his response to the speeches, however, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley of Boston said that "in the continuous and unchanging tradition of the church, priestly ordination is reserved for men," adding that church leadership should find ways to open more ministries to women since male-only ordained ministry "will not change." 

The cardinal said that the practice of only ordaining men to the priesthood "absolutely does not mean that men are in some way superior to women," and while women must be able to fully contribute to the church "we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes acting hastily or without a full consideration of the possible consequences of these changes." 

He added that a greater development of the priestly dimension in the life of all baptized people is needed and that women need to occupy more leadership positions in the Vatican, in archdioceses, dioceses and parishes around the world. 

Anglican Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, recounted in her presentation the path toward and following the 1978 Lambeth Conference which gave each Anglican church the authority to decide whether to ordain women. As part of the theological rationale for the decision she cited the idea that God created all of humanity with the capacity to lead and govern whereas women's subordination to men only comes after humanity's fall from God's grace. 

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg responded to the reality of Anglican ordained ministry by saying it is "not entirely adaptable to Catholic ordained ministry."

"In the Catholic Church we have a unity of doctrine and a unity of the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, which represented the universal Church," he said, noting the division that arises between Anglican parishes that recognize women as ordained ministers and those that do not -- particularly in recognizing the authority of women bishops. 

He also said that ordaining women could hinder the warming relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Yet, "Do these doubts mean the ordination of women should be completely excluded?" the cardinal asked. "I am not sure," he said, but added that it seems unlikely the church could answer such a question now or in the near future. 

Cardinal Hollerich, who is also relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, asked whether the synodal path being taken by the church to recognize the baptismal dignity of its members and in which "ordained ministry becomes true service" could already "reduce the frustration of many women."

The synod on synodality, which will hold its second assembly at the Vatican in October, will not address the question of admitting women to diaconal ministry, but the working document for the assembly affirmed that "theological reflection should continue" on the matter and noted that a dedicated body is studying the question. 

Cardinal Mario Grech, who is secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops but not a member of the C9, said at a news conference July 9 that it is "not a contradiction" for the pope to reject the possibility of women deacons while advancing theological study on the issue. 

"According to the information that we have today, it is a 'no'" on expanding the diaconate to women, he said, "but at the same time the Holy Father has said that reflection, deeper theological study, should continue."
 

Father Marko Rupnik, SJ. / Credit: Vatican News/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 16, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

Father Marko Ivan Rupnik is a former Jesuit priest whose artwork decorates Catholic churches, chapels, and shrines around the world, including the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Vatican and the major seminary of Rome. He is accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse of women for decades and his case is currently being investigated by the Vatican.

Rupnik’s career

Rupnik, 69, was born in 1954 in Zadlog, Slovenia. During his youth he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Rome and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he earned a doctorate with a thesis on the theological significance of modern art in the light of Russian theology.

In the 1980s in his native country with the nun Ivanka Hosta he founded the Loyola Community, where he allegedly abused nuns.

He is also the founder of the Centro Aletti spiritual art workshop in Rome, from where many of the accusations of abuse have also come.

Six years since the first allegations

According to a timeline released by the Society of Jesus, the first accusations against Rupnik were received in October 2018 for giving absolution in confession to an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment.

In May of the following year, the investigation led by the Society of Jesus considered the accusations credible and a file was sent to the Congregation — now the Dicastery — for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which launched a criminal administrative process.

In May 2020, the Vatican confirmed the facts and declared Rupnik to be in a state of “latae sententiae” (automatic) excommunication. The excommunication lasted only two weeks, as it was lifted by a CDF decree that same month.

In June 2021, new accusations came in regarding Rupnik and some members of the Loyola Community, so the Society of Jesus established a preliminary investigation and imposed restrictions on the priest.

The CDF stated in October 2022 that the statute of limitations had expired and that no trial could proceed despite the Jesuits urging the Vatican to begin criminal proceedings.

However, in December 2022, the case was in the news again after the appearance of new alleged victims of Rupnik in Rome, this time related to the Aletti Center.

In his capacity as Vatican commissioner for the Loyola Community, dissolved in December 2023, the now assistant for consecrated life of the Holy Father, Bishop Daniele Libanori, confirmed the veracity of the abuse against the nuns of which Rupnik is accused.

The Society of Jesus expelled Rupnik in June 2023, and the Diocese of Koper, Slovenia, incardinated him in August 2023.

In October 2023, Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations on the case and ordered that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith begin a judicial process, after detecting “serious problems in the way the case was handled.”

In February, two alleged victims of Rupnik made their first public appearance and shared their heartrending testimony at a press conference in Rome.

Although expelled from the Jesuits, Rupnik continues to appear as a Jesuit and Vatican consultant in the 2024 Pontifical Yearbook.

World-famous artist

Rupnik has created numerous religious works of art around the world and is especially known for his easily recognizable mosaics.

In 1996, St. John Paul II entrusted him with the renovation of the mosaic in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the apostolic palace in the Vatican.

Three years later, the “Pilgrim Pope” presided over the rite of dedication of the chapel, where Rupnik and his team had restored the Wall of the Incarnation, the Wall of the Ascension and Pentecost, and the Wall of the Parousia.

In February 2011, Rupnik’s Aletti Center renovated the main chapel inside the building of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference in Madrid.

Also in the Spanish capital, the Slovenian priest decorated the main sacristy, the chapter house, and the Blessed Sacrament chapel in the Almudena Cathedral.

In addition, the priest artist did the art for the main altar wall of the shrine to the Holy Trinity in Fátima, Portugal, located in front of the site of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, and his work is also found at the Lourdes shrine in France.

In Italy, Rupnik designed the ramp and crypt of the lower Church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, in San Giovanni Rotondo, where thousands of Catholic faithful come to venerate Padre Pio.

He also decorated the chapel of the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary in Italy with his famous mosaics; the Manresa Cave shrine in Spain, where the artist painted 90 faces of biblical figures; the Church of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia; the Aparecida Shrine in Brazil; and the Knights of Columbus’ Holy Family Chapel in New Haven, Connecticut.

Rupnik was the author of the logo of the Jubilee of Mercy convened by Pope Francis on Dec. 8, 2015, and was also commissioned to create the official image for the 10th World Meeting of Families that took place in Rome from June 22–26, 2022.

Should Rupnik’s artworks be removed or not?

Earlier this month, the bishop of Lourdes, France, Jean-Marc Micas, stated that the Rupnik mosaics should be removed, but he refrained from making a final decision on their fate in the face of “strong opposition.”

Cardinal Seán O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a member of the C9 council of cardinals that advises Pope Francis, asked in a letter that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of those of accused of abuse. 

The cardinal’s letter appeared a week after the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, defended the use of his art.

Ruffini noted that there is no official verdict yet and that “anticipating a decision is something that, in our opinion, is not good.” Furthermore, he asserted that “removing, erasing, destroying art has never been a good choice.”

At the same time, the lawyer for the alleged victims, Laura Sgrò, called for the removal of the mosaics in a letter written on behalf of five complainants and addressed to the bishops.

The Knights of Columbus announced July 10 that it will cover the Rupnik mosaics located in the two chapels of the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel in the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly told EWTN News that his work will be covered at least until the Vatican’s formal investigation is completed.

This story was first published in December 2023 and has been updated by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presides over a press conference on Friday, May 17, 2024, on the Vatican’s new document on Marian apparitions. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Jul 16, 2024 / 11:24 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has accepted the decree of a bishop approving the spiritual activities of a shrine at the site of alleged Marian apparition “Our Lady of the Rock” in southern Italy.

It is the DDF’s fourth public pronouncement related to alleged apparitions since issuing norms for the discernment of “alleged supernatural phenomena” in May. The new regulations stated the local bishop must consult and receive final approval from the Vatican after investigating and judging alleged apparitions and connected devotions.

In a July 5 letter published Tuesday, the DDF said it had taken note of Bishop Francesco Oliva’s “positive report on the spiritual good that is taking place” at the Shrine of the Madonna dello Scoglio (“Our Lady of the Rock”) in the southern Italian diocese of Locri-Gerace and confirmed the bishop’s declaration that nothing prevents Catholics from visiting and participating in its devotions and liturgies.

The dicastery stressed that while it affirmed the bishop’s recognition of the spiritual experience at the shrine, it should be in no way construed as a judgment of the supernatural quality of the alleged apparitions of “Our Lady of the Rock.”

The letter is signed by DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and was approved by Pope Francis in a July 5 audience.

The Marian shrine in Santa Domenica, a tiny village in the Italian region of Calabria, was built around a boulder, the site of Mary’s alleged appearances to 18-year-old Cosimo Fragomeni from May 11–14, 1968, as he was returning home from working in the fields.

Officially constructed in 2016, the sanctuary has come to be known locally as “the little Lourdes of Calabria” and has seen an ever-growing number of pilgrims and visitors, many of whom come seeking physical healing.

Fragomeni is still living and has recounted his alleged mystical experiences in approximately 30 letters. He receives visitors for brief personal meetings twice a week.

The DDF instructed the local bishop, who has jurisdiction over the shrine, to be clear in his decree that approval of the spiritual activity of the shrine does “not imply any judgment — either positive or negative — on the lives of the persons involved in this case” and any further messages from the seer should be made public only with his approval.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office confirmed the “nihil obstat” judgment of the diocesan bishop given that, as he informed them, “no critical or risky elements have emerged, much less problems of obvious gravity” at the alleged Marian apparition site, but “instead, there are signs of grace and spiritual conversion.”

According to the May 17 norms, a “nihil obstat” judgment means: “Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself, many signs of the action of the Holy Spirit are acknowledged ‘in the midst’ of a given spiritual experience, and no aspects that are particularly critical or risky have been detected, at least so far.”

In its letter, the DDF quoted Oliva’s letter to the dicastery, which explained that “the fruits of Christian life in those who frequent the Rock [i.e., the shrine] are evident, such as the existence of the spirit of prayer, conversions, some vocations to the priesthood and religious life, testimonies of charity, as well as a healthy devotion and other spiritual fruits.”

“In the secularized world in which we live, in which so many spend their lives without any reference to transcendence, the pilgrims who approach the Shrine of the Rock are a powerful sign of faith,” the DDF’s letter said.

“Their presence before the Virgin, who for them becomes a clear expression of the Lord’s mercy, is a way of acknowledging their own inadequacy to carry out the labors of life and their ardent need and desire for God,” it continued. 

“In such a truly precious context of faith, a renewed proclamation of the kerygma can continue to enlighten and enrich this experience of the Spirit.”