De mortuis nil nisi bonum. So goes the ancient Latin aphorism: Speak no ill of the dead. But what of the dead who did so much ill that any speech at all would have to include it? That’s the dilemma facing Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, New York. What should he say about Bishop Emeritus … Read more
The watching world loved it. Here was a friendly, informal sort, who eschewed the traditional vestments for the occasion and spoke to the vast assembly in the same way he did when visiting the ordinary folk of the slums, as was his custom in Buenos Aires. The balcony appearance prefigured all that was to come … Read more
The recent letter to the world’s bishops from Cardinal Mario Grech, head of the Vatican synod secretariat, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, shows that managing a synod is not as easy as it used to be. The previous synods under Pope Francis were relatively easy to handle compared to … Read more
Rome asked — begged, actually — the German bishops to take an off-ramp from their Synodal Way, which demands significant changes in Catholic doctrine, sacramental practice and ecclesial governance. The Germans refused. At the speeds traveled on the autobahn, the coming crash is going to be dreadful. What recently unfolded in Rome was devastating for … Read more
The latest step in the synodal process on synodality for a synodal Church was unveiled in late October, a document for the “continental” stage. That stage will occupy the meeting agenda until next March, when all of the new papers generated will be returned to Rome for further collating, summarizing, synthesizing and drafting. The cud … Read more
Jesuit At Large: Essays and Reviews, by the late Paul V. Mankowski, S.J., exposes corruption within the Society of Jesus. Need a prominent cleric to give cover to Catholic politicians who vote to preserve and expand abortion access? For more than 50 years, the Jesuits have had a man at the ready. It is a … Read more
As Cardinal Pell arrives in Rome this week after three years in Australia, a look at the counterpoint between the cardinal’s return and Cardinal Becciu’s fall. An important, but not the primary, consequence of the stunning sacking of Cardinal Angelo Becciu is that it completes on the Vatican side what was accomplished by the Australian … Read more
In Querida Amazonia, as in previous documents, clear questions were posed. Ambiguous answers were given, awaiting clarification by novel maneuvers. In regard to the magisterium of Pope Francis it’s not just what he teaches, but how. In both Amoris Laetitia and in regard to capital punishment, the manner of magisterial teaching was novel. The pattern … Read more
Did Pope Francis just name his successor? Much of the commentary about the appointment of Cardinal Luis Tagle, until now archbishop of Manila, to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples put that question in first or second place. That’s speculation — about which, more later — but the appointment on its own merits is … Read more
Married priests — and perhaps women deacons — are on the way. The Synod of Bishops on the Pan-Amazon Region comes to a conclusion, with the participants voting on the final report on Saturday. How and when the Church in the Amazon (and elsewhere?) will get there will be left deliberately ambiguous, but the end … Read more