Joint Norwich Catholic Cluster

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 31, 2023 / 09:32 am (CNA).

While staying at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital where he is undergoing treatment for bronchitis, Pope Francis paid a visit Friday to the pediatric oncology ward and baptized a newborn patient.

The Holy See reported that the Holy Father spent about half an hour in the ward, where he distributed “rosaries, chocolate eggs, and copies of the book ‘Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem of Judah.’”

Photos released by Vatican Media show the pope speaking with mothers accompanying their babies, writing a message, and baptizing a newborn baby.

“During the visit, which lasted about half an hour, the pope imparted the sacrament of baptism to a baby named Miguel Angel, who was only a few weeks old. At the end he returned to his department,” the Vatican press office said.

When Pope Francis underwent surgery for diverticulitis in July 2021, he visited the pediatric oncology ward. And in his first outing after that surgery, young cancer patients joined him as he led the Sunday Angelus from a balcony on the 10th floor of the hospital. 

The Vatican said Friday that Pope Francis may be discharged from the hospital on Saturday after responding well to treatments yesterday.

In two brief statements in the early afternoon of March 31, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also said Pope Francis is scheduled to be present at the Vatican’s Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 2.

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Wednesday afternoon with difficulty breathing. He was later diagnosed with bronchitis.

“Yesterday passed well, with a normal clinical progression,” Bruni said around 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

“In the evening Pope Francis had dinner, eating pizza together with those assisting him during his hospital stay,” the Holy See Press Office director said. “With the Holy Father were the doctors, nurses, assistants and Gendarmerie personnel.”

On the morning of March 31, the pope had breakfast, read the newspapers, and resumed work, he said, adding that “His Holiness is expected to return to his Santa Marta home tomorrow, upon the outcome of the results of the last tests this morning.”

Feast date: Mar 31

Blessed Jane lived in the French town of Toulouse during the 13th century. A Carmelite monastery was founded in the same town in 1240 which exposed Jane to the Carmelite lifestyle and spirituality.

In 1265 when St. Simon Stock, a 13th century reformer of the Carmelites, was passing through Toulouse, Jane met him and requested to be affiliated with the Carmelites. Simon agreed and Jane became the first Third Order Carmelite.

Jane vowed herself to perpetual chastity and applied herself completely to the Carmelite Rule. In addition to many daily holy practices and penances, she reached out to the community and worked to help the sick and poor. One of Jane's primary missions was encouraging the boys of the town to help her serve the poor and help them discern whether or not they were called to be Carmelites. 

Blessed Jane is considered to be a founder of the Carmelite tertiary order and is considered to be its first member.

She died in 1286.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2023 / 05:25 am (CNA).

The Vatican said Friday that Pope Francis may be discharged from the hospital on Saturday after responding well to treatments yesterday and sharing a pizza dinner with those assisting him.

In two brief statements in the early afternoon of March 31, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also said Pope Francis is scheduled to be present at the Vatican’s Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 2.

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Wednesday afternoon with difficulty breathing. He was later diagnosed with bronchitis.

“Yesterday passed well, with a normal clinical progression,” Bruni said around 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

“In the evening Pope Francis had dinner, eating pizza together with those assisting him during his hospital stay,” the Holy See Press Office director said. “With the Holy Father were the doctors, nurses, assistants and Gendarmerie personnel.”

On the morning of March 31, the pope had breakfast, read the newspapers, and resumed work, he said, adding that “His Holiness is expected to return to his Santa Marta home tomorrow, upon the outcome of the results of the last tests this morning.”

Around 1:15 p.m., Bruni added the information about the pope’s presence for the Palm Sunday Mass.

In the afternoon on March 29, Bruni issued a brief statement to say Francis was at Gemelli Hospital “for some previously scheduled checkups.” Later that day, he said the 86-year-old pope would remain hospitalized for “some days” after being diagnosed with a respiratory infection.

Gemelli is the same hospital where Pope Francis was hospitalized in July 2021 when he underwent surgery on his colon for diverticulitis, or inflammation of the intestinal wall.

In an interview with the Associated Press in January, Pope Francis disclosed that the diverticulitis had “returned.” At the time, the pope — who traveled to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in late January — insisted he was in relatively good condition.

St. Louis, Mo., Mar 30, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis is exhibiting “marked improvement” after being admitted to the hospital on Wednesday with difficulty breathing, which was later diagnosed as bronchitis. 

“Pope Francis spent the afternoon at [Gemelli Hospital] devoting himself to rest, prayer, and some work duties,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni told reporters Thursday evening. 

“As part of scheduled clinical checks, the Holy Father was found to have a bronchitis infection that required the administration of antibiotic therapy through infusion, which produced the expected effects with a marked improvement in his state of health. Based on the expected course, the Holy Father could be discharged in the coming days.”

This update comes after Bruni said mid-Thursday that the pope “rested well overnight” and that “the clinical picture is progressively improving.” 

“This morning after having breakfast, [Pope Francis] read some newspapers and resumed work,” Bruni added. “Before lunch, he went to the chapel of his private apartment, where he spent time in prayer and received the Eucharist.”

Bruni had issued a brief statement earlier in the afternoon of March 29 to say the pope was at Gemelli Hospital “for some previously scheduled checkups.” Later that day, he said the 86-year-old pope would remain hospitalized for “some days” after being diagnosed with a respiratory infection. 

Gemelli is the same hospital where Pope Francis was hospitalized in July 2021 when he underwent surgery on his colon for diverticulitis, or inflammation of the intestinal wall.

In an interview with the Associated Press in January, Pope Francis disclosed that the diverticulitis had “returned.” At the time, the 86-year-old pontiff — who traveled to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in late January — insisted he was in relatively good condition.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2023 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Last week the European bishops elected the new president of their commission, Italian Bishop Mariano Crociata.

Crociata, who leads the Catholic Diocese of Latina in the Lazio region of Italy, succeeds Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.

The bishop delegates of the dioceses of the European Union elected Crociata in a March 22 vote during their spring plenary assembly.

Crociata, 70, will lead the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) until 2028. He is supported by four vice presidents.

“This is a crucial time for Europe and for the Church. Unity and solidarity are needed more than ever. They should guide us through the many transitions our societies are faced with,” Crociata said in a statement after his election.

Crociata told EWTN News after his election that he was feeling a little intimidated by the new responsibility.

“We are diocesan bishops ... and here a certain level of responsibility and institutional attention is required,” he said.

The bishop added that his experience as vice president of the commission over the past five years has given him more confidence for the new role, however, together with “the really collegial nature of great partnerships, the support of the general secretariat, and of many experts.”

Crociata said Pope Francis is very attentive to the issues facing the European Union today, and in a meeting with COMECE on March 23 the pope invited the bishops “to center all our efforts around the theme of the unity of Europe and the search for peace.”

The Italian bishop was born in the town of Castelvetrano in Italy’s southernmost region, the island of Sicily.

He was ordained a priest in 1979 at the age of 26 after studying philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received a doctorate in theology.

After his first 24 years as a priest, he was nominated vicar general of the Diocese of Mazara del Vallo and diocesan director of Catholic Action. He was also a fundamental theology teacher at the Pontifical Theology Faculty of Sicily.

He was also a theology and Christology professor at the Institute of Religious Sciences of Mazara del Vallo and an expert on interreligious dialogue.

In 2007, Crociata was named bishop of Noto, a diocese in Sicily. The following year he was appointed secretary general of the Italian bishops’ conference for a five-year period, thus concluding his term as bishop of Noto.

He was named bishop of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno on Italy’s mainland in 2013.

Prior to being elected president of the European bishops’ commission, Crociata was first vice president for five years. He has been the Italian delegate since 2017.

COMECE is made up of bishops delegated by the bishops’ conferences of the 27 member states of the European Union.

The commission’s leadership has released statements in support of Catholic values in Europe, particularly against abortion and for the protection of persecuted Christians in other countries.

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 30, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA).

Bishop José Guadalupe Torres of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, expressed in a March 28 statement his deepest condolences for the 38 migrants who died “due to the fire in the temporary residence of the National Institute of Migration here in our city.”

The coordinators of the bishops of Texas and Mexico — Eugenio Lira, the bishop of Matamoros, Mexico, and Gustavo García-Siller, archbishop of San Antonio, Texas — also “deeply regretted the death of the migrant brothers.”

A fire occurred in the lodging area of the temporary residence of Chihuahua. So far, 38 deaths and 29 injuries have been reported.

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference also lamented the tragedy and expressed its sorrow in a March 28 statement but pointed out that “these are not isolated cases” but rather “are closely related to what happened in 2020 when a Guatemalan national lost his life at the Tenosique Migration Station in Tabasco state, as well as what happened at the Piedras Negras Station in Coahuila state in 2022.”

As reported by the BBC, the Ciudad Juárez temporary residence is a “center used by the Mexican authorities to house migrants who attempt to cross illegally and who are candidates for deportation.”

Ciudad Juárez lies on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande across from El Paso, Texas.

In their statement, the Mexican bishops pointed out that “they’re not ‘shelters’” but migration stations that actually “operate as prisons and as punishment for irregular migration.”

“As a Church, we will always stand by the side of those who suffer the most, the excluded, the poor, and the people most in need,” the conference said in its statement.

The coordinators of the bishops of the Texas and Mexico border area said that “knowing that God loves his children, and that in him we are all brothers, we pray that he will receive the deceased and make them partakers of his eternal life; may he grant a speedy recovery to the injured, and may he give their families much strength.”

Torres, Lira, and García-Siller asked the corresponding authorities to clarify what happened and guarantee the safety of the other migrants.

“This Church, under the protection of holy Virgin Mary, will ensure the dignified accompaniment of all migrants as daughters and sons of the same God,” the Mexican Bishops’ Conference said.

Torres invited the faithful to participate in a special Mass that he will offer in the Ciudad Juárez cathedral “to pray for the eternal rest of those who have lost their lives and for the recovery of those in the hospitals of our city who are injured.”

The National Institute of Migration (INM) posted a statement on Twitter announcing that it has filed “a complaint with the corresponding authorities so that they investigate what happened and, where appropriate, proceed accordingly.”

The institute also requested the National Human Rights Commission “to intervene in legal proceedings and to safeguard foreigners.”

At the site were “68 adult males from Central and South America.”

“Of them, 29 other foreign migrants were injured by the fire and were transferred in critical-serious condition to four local hospitals for immediate care,” the INM statement continued.

Communication has been established with the consular authorities of the foreign nationals to facilitate the identification of the deceased.

The INM said that it will continue to report on the condition of those hospitalized and that it “strongly condemns the actions that led to this tragedy.”

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reported in his daily press conference that “it had to do with a protest that they started after, we assume, that they found out that they were going to be deported.”

“And, as a protest, they put mattresses at the shelter doorway and set them on fire; and they didn’t imagine that this was going to cause this terrible mishap.”

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

Rome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).

In the month of April, Pope Francis has asked the world to pray in a special way for a culture of nonviolence and peace.

“Living, speaking, and acting without violence is not surrendering, losing, or giving up anything but aspiring to everything,” the pope said in a video message released March 30.

He urged both countries and citizens to “resort less and less to the use of arms.”

In the video, images of Pope Francis delivering his message are interspersed with scenes of war zones, bombed-out cities, people fleeing war, police at crime scenes, and peace protesters.

In some of the video clips, the faces of iconic people associated with peace — Pope John XXIII, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi — are superimposed on the scenes.

“As St. John XXIII said 60 years ago in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, war is madness,” the pope said. “It’s beyond reason.”

“Any war, any armed confrontation, always ends in defeat for all,” he said.

Pacem in Terris, subtitled “On establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity, and liberty,” was published 60 years ago on April 11.

Pope Francis urged the world to “develop a culture of peace” and to “remember that, even in cases of self-defense, peace is the ultimate goal, and that a lasting peace can exist only without weapons.”

The pope’s monthly prayer intention is promoted and published by The Pope Video initiative, run by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

“Let us make nonviolence a guide for our actions, both in daily life and in international relations,” Pope Francis said.

More information about the pope’s prayer intention for April can be found here.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2023 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Cardinal Sean O’Malley said Thursday he strongly disagrees with a critique of the Vatican’s safeguarding commission by abuse expert and recently resigned member Father Hans Zollner.

In a new statement March 30, O’Malley, who heads the commission, said: “I am surprised, disappointed, and strongly disagree with [Zollner’s] publicly-issued assertions challenging the commission’s effectiveness.”

The 56-year-old Zollner, a founding member of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors, said in a statement March 29 that “structural and practical issues” within the commission had led him “to disassociate” from it.

A statement from commission president O’Malley issued a few hours earlier had characterized the Jesuit priest’s departure as an effort to reduce his already significant administrative responsibilities, including “his recent appointment as consultant for safeguarding to the Diocese of Rome.”

The commission issued an updated statement on March 30 in which O’Malley said he was “supplementing” his earlier sentiments regarding Zollner’s resignation.

“We do both share the view that the protection of children and vulnerable persons remains at the heart of the Church’s mission and the commission will continue to manifest that conviction,” he said.

“The commission has a plenary meeting scheduled in the next few weeks during which we can address these and other matters more fully as a group.”

In his critique of the commission, Zollner said he had “grown increasingly concerned” with the Vatican’s safeguarding commission and its lack of “responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency.”

“I am convinced that these are principles that any Church institution, let alone the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, is bound to uphold,” he said.

In early March, Zollner was appointed a consultant to the Diocese of Rome’s new office for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.

He is also the director of the Institute of Anthropology: Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care (IADC), hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University.

The IADC, formerly called the Center for Child Protection, is an academic institute offering higher-education degrees in abuse safeguarding and anthropology.

In his March 29 statement, Zollner also criticized a lack of transparency about decisions in the Vatican safeguarding commission, including problems with “insufficient information and vague communication” with members on how particular decisions were made.

“With regard to compliance, there has been a lack of clarity regarding the selection process of members and staff and their respective roles and responsibilities,” the priest also said. “Another area of concern is that of financial accountability, which I believe is inadequate. It is paramount for the commission to clearly show how funds are used in its work.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, instituted in 2014, serves as an advisory body to the pope, providing recommendations on how the Church can best protect minors and vulnerable adults.

Rome, Italy, Mar 30, 2023 / 04:47 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will continue to receive treatment after being hospitalized for a respiratory infection on Wednesday, a Vatican spokesman said Thursday.

“His Holiness Pope Francis rested well overnight. The clinical picture is progressively improving and he is continuing his planned treatment,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said in a brief statement issued just after 12:30 p.m. local time on March 30.

“This morning after having breakfast, [Pope Francis] read some newspapers and resumed work,” Bruni added. “Before lunch, he went to the chapel of his private apartment, where he spent time in prayer and received the Eucharist.”

On March 29 the Vatican announced that Pope Francis was expected to remain in a Rome hospital for a few days due to a respiratory infection. It had been announced earlier in the day that he was in the hospital for previously scheduled medical checkups.

As of Thursday morning, the pope’s agenda lists no appointments for the day for March 30. He is still scheduled to preside over a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 2 for Palm Sunday and to give the usual Sunday Angelus address.

“In recent days Pope Francis has complained of some difficulty breathing and this afternoon went to [Gemelli Hospital] to carry out some medical tests. The results of these tests showed a respiratory infection (a COVID-19 infection was excluded) that will require some days of opportune medical treatment in the hospital,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said Wednesday evening.

“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages he received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” Bruni added.

Bruni had issued a brief statement earlier in the afternoon of March 29 to say the pope was at Gemelli Hospital “for some previously scheduled checkups.”

Gemelli is the same hospital where Pope Francis was hospitalized in July 2021 when he underwent surgery on his colon for diverticulitis, or inflammation of the intestinal wall.

In an interview with the Associated Press in January, Pope Francis disclosed that the diverticulitis had “returned.” At the time, the 86-year-old pontiff — who traveled to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in late January — insisted he was in relatively good condition.

The pope has also suffered since last year from a problem with his right knee, making it necessary for him to rely on a cane and a wheelchair to move around. But Francis told the AP that a fracture had healed without surgery after laser and magnet therapy.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 30, 2023 / 04:03 am (CNA).

Two Vatican departments issued a joint statement Thursday on the “doctrine of discovery” and the dignity and rights due to indigenous peoples.

The statement said the legal concept of the “doctrine of discovery” is “not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church” and historical research shows certain papal documents “written in a specific historical period and linked to political questions have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

“In no uncertain terms, the Church’s magisterium upholds the respect due to every human being,” the document said. “The Catholic Church therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery.’”

The joint Vatican statement was published March 30 by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

It said the Church is committed to listening to indigenous peoples and fostering efforts for reconciliation and healing. In this context the Church heard the need to address the so-called “doctrine of discovery,” it added.

People from indigenous communities in Canada had urged Pope Francis last year to rescind the “doctrine of discovery.”

“The legal concept of ‘discovery’ was debated by colonial powers from the 16th century onward and found particular expression in the 19th century jurisprudence of courts in several countries, according to which the discovery of lands by settlers granted an exclusive right to extinguish, either by purchase or conquest, the title to or possession of those lands by indigenous peoples,” the Vatican explained.

“Certain scholars have argued that the basis of the aforementioned ‘doctrine’ is to be found in several papal documents, such as the Bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455), and Inter Caetera (1493),” it continued.

While the statement said these papal documents are not considered expressions of the Catholic faith, it added that “the Church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples.”

“The Church is also aware that the contents of these documents were manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities,” the document said. “It is only just to recognize these errors, acknowledge the terrible effects of the assimilation policies and the pain experienced by indigenous peoples, and ask for pardon.”

The note also pointed out that there are numerous statements by the Church and popes upholding the rights of indigenous people, such as the 1537 bull Sublimis Deus by Pope Paul III, who wrote: “We define and declare [ ... ] that [, ... ] the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the Christian faith; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, said in a separate note that the Vatican statement was part of an “architecture of reconciliation.”

He described the art of reconciliation as “the process whereby people commit to listening to each other, to speaking to each other and to growth in mutual understanding.”

The insights informing the statement, he added, are the fruit of a renewed dialogue between the Church and indigenous peoples.

“It is in listening to indigenous peoples that the Church is learning to understand their sufferings, past and present, and our own failings. It is in cultural dialogue that we are committed to accompanying them in the search for reconciliation and healing. We have to live out the art of encounter,” the cardinal said.

The joint statement said “the Catholic Church strives to promote universal human fraternity and respect for the dignity of every human being” in fidelity to Christ’s mandate, and that is why Catholic popes throughout history “have condemned violence, oppression, social injustice, and slavery, including those committed against indigenous peoples.”

“There have also been numerous examples of bishops, priests, women and men religious, and lay faithful who gave their lives in defense of the dignity of those peoples,” it said.

“At the same time,” it added, “respect for the facts of history demands an acknowledgement of the human weakness and failings of Christ’s disciples in every generation. Many Christians have committed evil acts against indigenous peoples for which recent popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions.”

According to the statement, in recent years, a renewed dialogue with indigenous peoples, including Catholic indigenous, has helped the Church to better understand their values, cultures, as well as past and present sufferings.

“As Pope Francis has emphasized, their sufferings constitute a powerful summons to abandon the colonizing mentality and to walk with them side by side, in mutual respect and dialogue, recognizing the rights and cultural values of all individuals and peoples. In this regard, the Church is committed to accompany indigenous peoples and to foster efforts aimed at promoting reconciliation and healing,” the document said.

During a July 2022 visit to Canada, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the harm done to indigenous Canadians by Catholics.

“I express my deep shame and sorrow, and, together with the bishops of this country, I renew my request for forgiveness for the wrong done by so many Christians to the indigenous peoples,” the pope said in a July 27, 2022, address, citing the Catholic Church’s role in running many of the country’s government-sponsored residential schools for indigenous children.

The encounter with top government officials and representatives of the indigenous peoples in Canada was part of a weeklong “penitential pilgrimage” in which Francis also publicly apologized for the harm done to indigenous Canadians and repeatedly expressed his shame and sorrow.