Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Sviatoslav Shevchuk is Major Archbishop of Kyiv–Galicia and Primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 1, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced the release of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests who had been captured in November 2022 by the Russian National Guard.

The freed priests are Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, members of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), who had been accused of having committed “subversive” and “guerrilla” activities.

The priests, who served the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, were accused of allegedly possessing weapons, ammunition, and books on the history of Ukraine in a parish building.

The information about the release, announced June 28 by María Lozano, press officer for ACN International, has been confirmed by the information department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The priests had been arrested on Nov. 16, 2022, in Berdyansk, a city on the north shore of the Sea of Azov, an area occupied by the Russians. Despite the danger, both had decided to stay to serve the “communities of Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics, to give them hope in the face of the occupation.”

The ACN news brief also noted that Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč, expressed his “deep gratitude to the Holy See,” in particular to Pope Francis, to Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin; to the Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has carried out various peace missions to try to end the conflict; and to Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, for his efforts to obtain the release of the two priests.

“Despite the joy of this news, ACN recalls that many innocent civilians remain in custody and invites its friends and benefactors to continue to pray for their release, and for peace in Ukraine,” the news brief concludes.

On multiple occasions, Pope Francis has encouraged prayer for “martyred” Ukraine and has urged dialogue to end the conflict.

On June 23, in his last public intervention on the matter, he asked the Holy Spirit to “enlighten the minds of the rulers,” stressing that “negotiation is needed” to end not only the war in Ukraine and the Holy Land but also in other places in the world.

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

The Catholic Cathedral of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. / Credit: Mylius via Wikimedia (GFDL 1.2)

CNA Newsroom, Jul 1, 2024 / 09:45 am (CNA).

Just one day after the news that hundreds of thousands of Catholics left the Church in Germany in 2023, the Vatican met with representatives of the German Synodal Way to discuss the controversial plans for a permanent synodal council.

The meeting on Friday resulted in Rome demanding the Germans change the name of the body and agree it cannot have authority over — or be equal to — the bishops’ conference, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The gathering came at a critical time: According to the official statistics released by the German Bishops’ Conference on Thursday, more than 400,000 people officially left the Church in 2023.

While this represents a decrease from the 522,000 departures in 2022, the trend remains alarming for Church leaders and Catholics alike.

Currently, there are 20,345,872 Catholics registered in Germany. If trends persist, the number could drop below 20 million in 2024.

Moreover, only 6.2% of Catholics regularly attend Mass: This translates to approximately 1.27 million practicing Catholics in a country of over 80 million, CNA Deutsch noted.

The new official numbers also reveal significant disparities in Mass attendance across Germany. 

The Diocese of Görlitz, bordering Poland, leads with a 13.9% attendance rate despite being the smallest diocese with fewer than 30,000 Catholics. In contrast, the Diocese of Aachen, on the Rhine in Western Germany, reports only 4.2% of Catholics practicing their faith regularly.

A 20-year comparison, released by the bishops’ conference, paints a bleak picture of the Church’s decline: Since 2003, the number of Catholics has decreased by almost 6 million, while Sunday Mass attendance has plummeted from 15.2% to 6.2%.

The number of active priests has also declined, with 7,593 in pastoral ministry in 2023, down from 7,720 in the previous year. Priestly ordinations have dropped significantly, from 45 in 2022 to 28 in 2023.

A 2021 report by CNA Deutsch noted that 1 in 3 Catholics in Germany were considering leaving the Church. The reasons for leaving vary, with older people citing the Church’s handling of the abuse crisis and younger people pointing to the obligation of paying church tax, according to one earlier study.

The German Bishops’ Conference currently stipulates that leaving the Church results in automatic excommunication, a regulation that has sparked controversy among theologians and canon lawyers.

Scientists at the University of Freiburg predicted in 2019 that the number of Christians paying church tax in Germany will halve by 2060.

‘A concrete form of synodality’

Warning of a threat of a new schism from Germany, the Vatican intervened as early as July 2022 against plans for a German synodal council. 

Against the backdrop of ongoing dramatic decline and internal division, the Vatican engaged in yet another round of discussions with representatives of the German Synodal Way last Friday.

As CNA Deutsch reported, the meeting on June 28 involved high-ranking Vatican officials and representatives from the German Bishops’ Conference.

On the Vatican side, secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and four prefects attended: Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandéz, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; and Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. 

The cardinals were joined by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts.

On the German side, bishops Georg Bätzing, Stephan Ackermann, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck represented the Synodal Way. They were joined by the bishops’ conference general secretary Beate Gilles and communications director Matthias Kopp.

The talks centered on the proposed synodal council, which initially was intended to oversee the Church in Germany permanently but was rejected by the Vatican. 

According to a joint press release, both sides want to “change the name and various aspects of the previous draft” for the controversial body. Both sides also agreed that the synodal council would not be “above or equal to the bishops’ conference.”

The meeting had a “positive, open, and constructive atmosphere,” the statement said, adding discussions focused on balancing episcopal ministry with the co-responsibility of all faithful, emphasizing canonical aspects of establishing a “concrete form of synodality.”

‘Who has actually read this letter?’

The ongoing dialogue may mark a significant step in the negotiations between the Vatican and the organizers of the German Synodal Way, following previous repeated interventions by Pope Francis and the Vatican. 

Both parties have agreed to continue talks after the conclusion of the world Synod on Synodality in October, with plans to address further anthropological, ecclesiological, and liturgical topics.

This is a significant development: Amid the ongoing exodus of the faithful, the news that the German process will not simply dovetail with the Synod on Synodality in Rome raises the question of the overall purpose of what has proven to be an expensive German exercise.

In a video message released Saturday, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne urged German Catholics to take the Vatican’s concerns seriously. The archbishop reminded the faithful that Pope Francis said “everything he had to say” in a historic letter to German Catholics five years ago.

Pope Francis warned of disunity in the 5,700-word letter. He also cautioned German Catholics to avoid the “sin of secularization and a secular mindset against the Gospel.”

Woelki pulled no punches in his video. “Let’s be honest: Who has actually read this letter?” the German prelate asked pointedly. 

Noting the pope had called on German Catholics to evangelize, Woelki said: “We should fulfill his so urgently expressed wish — for our own sake, but also the sake of the Church in Germany, because only then will she have a future [here].”

Belgian prelates Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels (left) and former archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels Cardinal Jozef De Kesel were fined by a Belgian court after they denied a woman entry into a diaconate formation program. / Credit: HATIM KAGHAT/BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jun 27, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

A Belgian civil court has fined two Catholic prelates after they denied a woman entry into a diaconate formation program.

According to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, the woman, Veer Dusauchoit, asked the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels to register for training as a deacon in June 2023 and again in October 2023. 

Dusauchoit made her first request to Cardinal Jozef De Kesel and her second to Archbishop Luc Terlinden after De Kesel’s 2023 resignation at age 76. Both times, her request to join the four-year diaconal training program was denied. 

The two prelates will have to pay 1,500 euro (about $1,605) each, the court ordered.

The court in Mechelen ruled that the archbishops made a mistake when refusing Dusauchoit entry to the program but did not address the question of actually ordaining Dusauchoit. According to De Morgen, the court cannot overturn the archbishop’s refusal or decide in his place who will be admitted to deacon training. 

“We received the verdict yesterday afternoon, are now studying it, and will then decide how to proceed,” a spokesman for the archdiocese said in response to a request from the website katholisch.de on Wednesday. 

The Catholic Church teaches that holy orders — of which there are three degrees of diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate — is the sacrament of apostolic ministry and is reserved to baptized men.

Pope Francis has reiterated numerous times that holy orders are “reserved to men.”  

Dusauchoit, 62, has served at her parish church in a Flemish part of Belgium for years, according to De Morgen. As her parish no longer has a priest, Dusauchoit got involved with arranging funerals and scriptural readings, katholish.de reported. 

In an April 22 op-ed, Dusauchoit described herself as a “religious, socially committed, feminist, and ecologically inspired woman.” She claimed that as late as the 1970s in Belgium, wives of deacons were required to attend deacon training together with their husbands. 

“Women in the Church are still not fully appreciated and given their equal place,” she wrote. 

“Out of that frustration, from the conviction that training as a deacon can help the Church grow further and at the same time from the determination not to break with the Church, I decided to register for training as a deacon,” she wrote.

In Belgium, the state pays the salaries of ministers of recognized religions, which include Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy, and Islam. 

The bishops of Belgium, since the 2023 refusals to admit Dusauchoit, have since expressed support for the ordination of women to the diaconate. 

Central to the charism of St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was his insistence that all Christians are called to aim for holiness in their ordinary lives, especially through their everyday work. / Credit: Opus Dei/Flickr

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 26, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

Today the Catholic Church honors St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás (1902–1975), Spanish priest, founder of Opus Dei, and author of “The Way” (1934), a book that continues to be of great spiritual benefit for millions of Catholics. 

“God doesn’t pull you out of your environment, he doesn’t remove you from the world, nor from your state in life, nor from your noble human ambitions, nor from your professional work... but, there, he wants you to be holy!” 

The above words of St. Josemaría Escrivá summarize the inspiration and message he promulgated that would move the hearts of many, with a call to sanctify ourselves and sanctify the world. He earned the title “the saint of the ordinary” for emphasizing what the life of a Christian today is chiefly about: making ordinary everyday life something extraordinary.

In the footsteps of Christ

Escrivá was born in 1902 in the town of Barbastro in Huesca province in northeastern Spain into a profoundly Christian family. From an early age, he experienced suffering: His three younger sisters died when they were very young, his father’s business failed, and the family had to leave their land to move to Logroño in search of better conditions.

One day, Escrivá saw footprints of bare feet in the snow. Just thinking about who could have left them chilled him to the core. Who can walk on ice without shoes? It seemed crazy to him. But when he found out that they were the footsteps of a monk, his perception of those tracks changed completely. 

Those footprints, he thought, have been left by someone extraordinary who does equally extraordinary things. Thinking that someone was capable of doing something like that could only be explained by a great purpose, someone operating on a different plane. Escrivá then sensed that perhaps God was sending him a message — perhaps God wanted something from him.

Little by little, his mind became clearer: Christ wanted him to follow in his footsteps closely as a priest.

Escrivá was characterized by his generous and cheerful character, while his simplicity and equanimity made him very beloved among his fellow students. He was very dedicated to prayer, discipline, and had a love for learning. Without wanting it, he was looked up to by those around him. He went on to enter the seminary.

On March 28, 1925, Escrivá was ordained a priest. Years later, with permission from his bishop, he would move to Madrid to obtain a doctorate in law. Once the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, he was forced to interrupt his studies, which he was only able to finish after the end of the war. After finishing his doctorate in jaw, he earned another doctorate in theology — this time, outside of Spain, at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

Recognizing his call

On Oct. 2, 1928, in his own words, God made him “see” what he wanted from him: to spread the message of the universal call to holiness throughout the world.

What the Spirit of God had stirred up in his heart moved him to form a community, a family within the Church: Opus Dei (The Work of God), whose purpose lies in promoting sanctification among its members in the midst of ordinary life, particularly through work. 

In 1946, Escrivá moved to Rome and obtained definitive approval from the Holy See for Opus Dei.

In the 1960s he followed the Second Vatican Council closely, establishing ties with many council fathers and opening new doors to make Opus Dei grow and spread its message. 

He traveled through various countries in Europe and Latin America with the aim of promoting and consolidating the apostolate of “The Work.”

“There, where your fellow human beings are, where your aspirations, your work, your loves are, there is the place of your daily encounter with Christ,” Escrivá emphasized.

Escrivá died from cardiac arrest on June 26, 1975, in Rome. That day, after reverently genuflecting before the tabernacle, he went to his study. Upon entering, he looked fondly at an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Suddenly feeling ill, he collapsed onto the floor. After receiving last rites and medical efforts to save him, he expired.

 St. Josemaría Escrivá was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2002.

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

A flooded road is seen in the village of Tintenbar after heavy rain on April 5, 2024, in Ballina, Australia. / Credit: James D. Morgan/Getty Images

Rome, Italy, Jun 26, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

The effect of climate change on vulnerable populations among the Pacific Island nations was the subject of “Oceania Speaks,” a conference held in Rome this week attended by the Holy See diplomatic corps, religious communities, and charitable organizations.

Organized by the Australian Embassy to the Holy See, the June 23 event aimed at raising awareness of the impacts of climate change in the Asia Pacific, already affecting the countries of Tuvalu, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and New Zealand.

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva, Fiji, in a video message insisted “the world has yet to really listen deeply to the voices, particularly to the ‘tagi’ [cries] of Oceania people,” who are vulnerable to the immediate and enduring impacts of climate change. 

“We have to educate, empower, and allow the regional voices of peoples of the Pacific to be heard, and not to be dominated and framed by politicians and funders who dominate these climate narratives,” he stated.

According to a United Nations Development Programme report, approximately 75% of the population of Pacific island nations are affected by natural disasters. The report also states that the impact of climate change in the region is “largely overlooked” and poses a serious threat, particularly to young people and future generations who face the potential loss of their homelands, cultural identity, and work opportunities resulting from rising sea levels. The report estimates that sea levels will rise between about 10 inches to 23 inches by 2050.

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has been outspoken on the need for the care of creation as well as the “integral human development” of all people, particularly the poor and vulnerable. In addition to his encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015) and apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum (2023), the Holy Father has addressed the issue of climate change and its rising human cost to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in 2015 as well at COP, the annual U.N. climate change conference.      

At “Oceania Speaks,” Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations Archbishop Paul Gallagher echoed Pope Francis’ concern for people facing hunger, exploitation, and poverty due to climate change and emphasized the “urgent need for a unified global response” to the crisis. 

“In the context of Oceania, the impending threat posed by rising sea levels to many small Pacific islands states is deeply alarming, reaching beyond mere geographical boundaries,” Gallagher said at the gathering. “Entire villages [are] on the brink of destruction, forcing local communities — particularly families — into perpetual displacement that erode their distinct identities and cultural heritage. We should also take into consideration the risk of degrading their natural heritage.”  

Sister Philomena Waira of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea also shared her testimony at “Oceania Speaks” and highlighted the ecological and social impacts of foreign mining and logging in Papua New Guinea. 

“In the past, people had no problem with food and water. [People] were able to grow crops without fertilizers,” Waira said. “As the years went by the governments are allowing foreign investors into our countries. After the mining is done, it has affected climate change, peoples’ fishing, and animals have also run away.”  

This week, Pope Francis is expected to release his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation based on the theme to “hope and act with creation.” 

Globally, the month of June marks World Environment Day (June 5), World Oceans Day (June 8), and the World Day Against Desertification and Drought (June 17).

Father David Waller will become the first bishop ordinary of the Walsingham Ordinariate. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 25, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

In a first, a former Anglican priest has been consecrated as a bishop in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Located in Great Britain, the ordinariate was created to give Anglicans a pathway to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Bishop David Waller received his episcopal ordination in Westminster Cathedral in London on June 22, which is the feast day of the English saints John Fisher and Thomas More.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, imparted the episcopal blessing. Also presiding over the Mass was Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Bishops Stephen Lopes and Anthony Randazzo, heads of the Anglican-Catholic ordinariates in the U.S.-Canada and Pacific-Australia. 

During the Mass Fernandez spoke on the “treasure” of the Church’s apostolic succession, beginning with St. Peter and the apostles and continuing to this day, saying: “What I have received from the Church, I now pass onto you.”

As bishop, Waller will lead the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which has parishes throughout England, Scotland, and Wales.

Members of the ordinariate participate in a Mass and liturgical tradition that is rooted in Anglican patrimony while still being in total union with the pope and the Catholic Church.

Along with its sister ordinariates in the U.S.-Canada and Pacific-Australia, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 through his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. Though open to Catholics of all backgrounds, the ordinariate primarily exists as a way for former Anglicans to be received into the Catholic Church while still retaining many of their English traditions and practices.

While the ordinariates in the U.S. and Australia have their own bishops, neither of whom were former Anglicans, Waller is the first bishop to lead the ordinariate in the U.K. Previously the Walsingham Ordinariate had been led by Monsignor Keith Newton, a former Anglican who was ordained a priest in the Catholic Church but could not be ordained a bishop due to being married. Newton, who is 72, is retiring.

The Vatican’s decision to make the head of the ordinariate in Britain a bishop has widely been seen as a signal of support and confidence from Rome.

In an interview with OSV News, Waller said that though there have been rumors that “Rome was going to put an end to our ordinariate,” he said that “this was never the attitude of the Holy See, which has always been supportive and caring.”

Following Saturday’s ordination, the Walsingham Ordinariate said in a statement on its website that “it is a great honor that Pope Francis has appointed one of our own priests to be the second ordinary and shows his commitment to the ordinariates established under Anglicanorum Coetibus by his predecessor.”

From Anglican priest to Catholic bishop

Waller, 63, joined the Anglican priesthood in 1992, converted to the Catholic Church in 2011, and became a priest that same year. Before being appointed to lead the Walsingham Ordinariate he served as its vicar general.

After receiving three recommendations from the ordinariate’s governing council, Pope Francis announced he was appointing Waller as the new head of the ordinariate on April 29.

The Walsingham Ordinariate was the first of three in the world to have had an influence in choosing its leader. In April, Newton told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that he believed allowing this faculty, one that is usually left to the apostolic nuncio, “showed the Holy See’s confidence in the ordinariate in the U.K.” 

Father Mark Elliott Smith, rector of the ordinariate’s central church, Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory at Warwick Street in London, told CNA that he believes the new bishop’s ordination is “immensely good news for the ordinariate here in the U.K.”

“Not only is Bishop David our first bishop ordinary, he is a priest originally incardinated in the ordinariate, ordained in 2011 alongside all those who first gratefully accepted the invitation of Anglicanorum Coetibus,” he explained. “To my mind it demonstrates that Rome has confidence in the way the ordinariate has progressed in the 13 years since it was established and trusts in its ability to discern how it is to be led, and identify the qualities needed in its leader.”

Smith said that Waller’s elevation “is also a clear signal that it [the Vatican] believes that the ordinariate’s distinctive liturgical heritage has the power and the beauty to draw people to Christ and his Church” and that “it will give renewed energy and purpose to the ordinariate as it begins a new phase of its life.”

In a statement shortly after his announcement, Waller said it was “both humbling and a great honor” to have been appointed and added that “the past 13 years have been a time of grace and blessing as small and vulnerable communities have grown in confidence, rejoicing to be a full yet distinct part of the Catholic Church.”

This story was updated on June 26, 2024, at 10:27 a.m. ET with the comments from Father Mark Elliott Smith.

The decision was announced by Mario Iceta, archbishop of Burgos. / Credit: Archdiocese of Burgos, Spain

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 24, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Spain has decreed the excommunication and expulsion from consecrated life of the Poor Clare nuns of Belorado for committing the crime of schism.

Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law states that schism is “the refusal of submission to the supreme pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” The penalty for this crime is excommunication.

In a June 22 press release, the Archdiocese of Burgos “has communicated the decree of declaration of excommunication and declaration of ‘ipso facto’ [immediate] expulsion from consecrated life of each and every one of the 10 sisters who have incurred schism.”

The decision was announced by Mario Iceta, the archbishop of Burgos, who is also the pontifical commissioner and legal representative of the monasteries of Belorado, Orduña, and Derio in Spain.

The statement also points out that these “are the same sisters who have presented their free and personal decision to leave the Catholic Church. Given this decision, it is necessary to remember that the declaration of excommunication is a legal action considered by the Church as a medicinal measure, which prompts reflection and personal conversion.”

“The Church always shows her profound compassion and, as a mother, is ready to welcome her children who, like the prodigal son, trust in God’s mercy and begin the journey back to the Father’s house,” the statement explained. 

In addition, the Archdiocese of Burgos indicated that “there continues to be a monastic community made up of the sisters who have not incurred excommunication, as they have not supported the schism: They are the five older sisters and three other sisters who, although at this time are not at the monastery, they belong to the community by being incardinated in it.”

Finally, the archdiocesan statement noted that “the older sisters continue to be a priority in our concerns. The Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Aránzazu has planned a way to immediately care for these sisters in the Belorado Monastery itself, moving some sisters from other monasteries of the federation to live in the monastery.”

The Poor Clares decision

On May 13, the community of Poor Clare sisters of the monasteries of Belorado and Orduña, located respectively in the Archdiocese of Burgos and the Diocese of Vitoria in Spain, made public a manifesto and a letter in which they announced that they were leaving the Catholic Church and placed themselves under the tutelage of the excommunicated false bishop Pablo de Rojas. The nuns claimed they were leaving “the Conciliar Church [i.e., post-Vatican II] to which it belonged to become part of the Catholic Church.” 

At the end of May, the Vatican appointed Iceta as pontifical commissioner with full powers. When he began to take measures, the nuns filed a complaint with the National Police, alleging “abuse of power” by Iceta.

At the beginning of June, the Archdiocese of Burgos formally informed the nuns that they had to appear before the ecclesiastical court of Burgos to answer for the crime of schism defined in Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law, punishable by the penalty of excommunication. The deadline expired on Friday, June 21, with the nuns failing to appear.

What is excommunication?

Briefly, excommunication can be defined as the most serious penalty a baptized person can incur, which consists of being placed outside the communion of the faithful of the Catholic Church and denied access to the sacraments.

Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, major penitentiary emeritus of the Church, once explained that the purpose of excommunication is to bring “the guilty to repentance and conversion.”

“With the penalty of excommunication the Church is not trying in some way to restrict the extent of mercy but is simply making evident the seriousness of the crime,” he noted.

Why is a person excommunicated?

Excommunication is not only a punishment and goes beyond restricting access to holy Communion.

According to Canon 1339 § 2, along with excommunication “in the case of behavior which gives rise to scandal or serious disturbance of public order, the ordinary can also correct the person, in a way appropriate to the particular conditions of the person and of what has been done.”

What happens next?

Since the nuns have declared themselves no longer members of the Catholic Church, by remaining in the monastery they find themselves occupying the property of the Church to which they do not belong and have no legal right to stay there.

The archbishop has told them that they need to vacate the premises as a consequence of their actions but is taking a patient approach, hoping they will do so of their own accord by early July without having to be forcibly evicted. 

The archbishop pointed out that although the nuns do not recognize his jurisdiction nor that canon law applies to them in this case, as established in Article 1.4 of the accord between Spain and the Holy See, Spain’s civil law recognizes the Church’s Code of Canon Law as governing in these matters such that “civil law abides by what canon law says in ecclesiastical entities,” just as the Spanish state recognizes the validity of a marriage officiated by a Catholic priest.

Regarding the false bishop Rojas and the false priest Ceacero, Iceta explained that “it’s been almost four weeks since they were told that they should not be in the monastery and in a steadfast and contumacious way they persist in being there,” so the legal authorities will act against them, probably more quickly than with the excommunicated women.

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

Christ Church Cathedral (Holy Trinity) in Dublin, Ireland. / Credit: Bas van den Heuvel/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 24, 2024 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of Ireland on Monday issued a statement laying out the Church’s teaching on end-of-life issues and advocating for palliative care amid a push by Irish politicians to introduce legislation to legalize assisted suicide. 

“We believe that every person who is seriously ill, together with all those who are concerned with his or her care, however difficult the circumstances, is held in the unconditional love of God,” the bishops noted.

“By legislating for assisted suicide or euthanasia, the State would contribute to undermining the confidence of people who are terminally ill, who want to be cared for and want to live life as fully as possible until death naturally comes.”

The Catholic Church has long supported, in the face of terminal illness, palliative care, which involves the holistic management of a person’s suffering. Assisted suicide and euthanasia — which both involve the intentional taking of life — are never permissible under Catholic teaching, though the withholding “extraordinary means” of medical treatment and allowing death to occur naturally can be morally permissible.

Noting that patient “autonomy” is often cited as a reason to pass assisted suicide legislation, the Irish bishops said taking a patient’s life also takes away their autonomy and “cuts off any prospect of growth or healing and represents a failure of hope.” Instead of assisted suicide, palliative care services need to be made more widely available in hospitals and hospices and in the community, the bishops recommended.

A March 2024 report produced by a committee of the Oireachtas, or Irish Parliament, recommended that the government introduce legislation to legalize assisted suicide “in certain restricted circumstances” and with safeguards in place to avoid coercion. Under the recommendations, adults suffering with an “incurable and irreversible” condition with between six and 12 months to live could request assisted suicide, which would be done in the presence of a medical professional. 

In response to the report, the country’s bishops reiterated that “whatever the circumstances, the deliberate taking of human life, especially by those whose vocation is to care for it, undermines a fundamental principle of civilized society, namely that no person can lawfully take the life of another.” 

In addition, the intellectually disabled would be particularly vulnerable under such a law, the bishops warned, pointing to countries such as Canada where serious efforts are being made to expand the provision of assisted suicide to those who are mentally ill. 

Asking medical professionals to oversee assisted suicides would “radically undermine the ethos of health care.”

“Whenever we place health care professionals under pressure to participate, either directly or by referral, in an act that they themselves believe to be fundamentally immoral, we treat them as mindless functionaries. This does untold damage to the integrity of health care in Ireland and removes the human person as its primary focus,” the bishops concluded. 

“In our culture, we rightly hold doctors and nurses in high esteem because they are presumed always to be at the service of life, for as long as their patient lives. We call on Catholics to stand firmly in support of nurses and doctors who stand for life. One day it may be your life.”

Pope Francis has said that “authentic palliative care is radically different from euthanasia, which is never a source of hope or genuine concern for the sick and dying.”

Assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalized in recent decades countries such as Canada, Australia, Spain, Belgium, and in multiple U.S. states, permitting patients to take their own lives or allowing doctors to kill them outright. In some of those countries, patients can request assisted suicide even if they are not suffering from a fatal affliction.

Ireland’s bishops have spoken out against assisted suicide proposals before. In 2021, they described a proposal to legalize assisted suicide, the Dying with Dignity Bill, as being “at odds with the common good” and “fundamentally flawed.”

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland — the largest doctor’s group in the country — in 2023 also came out against assisted suicide, with a group representative saying the practice was “contrary to best medical practice” and that “the potential harms outweigh the arguments that can be made in favor” of it.

In the nearby U.K., proposals to legalize assisted suicide in recent years have been consistently rejected by lawmakers. The practice is illegal in England and Wales, and doctors who assist a suicide can be jailed up to 14 years under the Suicide Act 1961.

In October 2022 a bill to legalize assisted suicide in England and Wales was ultimately not taken to a vote after seven hours of debate and impassioned opposition in the House of Lords.

Thousands of people from across Italy braved the summer heat to join the national Demonstration for Life in Rome on the afternoon of June 22, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome, Italy, Jun 22, 2024 / 16:35 pm (CNA).

Thousands of people from across Italy braved the summer heat to join the national Demonstration for Life in Rome on the afternoon of June 22.

“Let’s Choose Life” was the motto of the annual procession, which began at 2 p.m. in Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, close to the city’s main Termini train station.

The slow march continued almost one mile down the Via Nazionale before reaching the area of the ancient Imperial Forum, where a rally with speeches and musical performances was held.

“There is no compromise on human life!” Pope Francis said in a message sent to organizers ahead of the march.

He thanked participants for their “commitment and public witness in defense of human life from conception to natural death” and urged them to “go forward with courage despite every adversity.”

“The stakes, namely the absolute dignity of human life, the gift of God the Creator, are too high to be the object of compromise or mediation,” Francis wrote.

The pope also invited families to bear witness to “the beauty of life and of the family that welcomes it” in order to build “a society that rejects the culture of waste at every stage of existence: from the most fragile unborn child to the suffering elderly, passing through the victims of trafficking, slavery, and every war.”

Massimo Gandolfini, one of the spokespersons for the annual protest against abortion, said earlier this year that the organization is calling on Italy’s political leaders to create “structural public reforms to encourage the marriage of young couples, incentivize the birth rate and support parenting by mothers and fathers by reshaping taxation and social services to be family-friendly.”

Priests concelebrate a Mass in Rome. / Credit: Martha Calderón/ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 22, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) reported that, in 2024, 105 new priests will be ordained, 17 more priests than in 2023, when 88 new priests were ordained in the European country.

An article published on the CEF website said the vast majority of priestly ordinations are celebrated during the month of June, particularly on the Sunday before the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, which the Catholic Church celebrates every year on June 29.

Of the 105 new priests, 73 are diocesan, 16 belong to religious orders, 10 are members of communities, two belong to societies of apostolic life, while the remaining four “were ordained in the institutes under the former Ecclesia Dei commission, celebrating according to the Roman Missal of 1962 [before the reform of Vatican II].”

At a press conference, Bertrand Lacombe, the archbishop of Auch and a member of the council for ordained ministers and laypeople in ecclesial mission, highlighted two aspects to be considered regarding the new priests: “the essential mission of the priest in the Church and the meaning of this mission today within an increasingly secularized French society” and “the ongoing reflections of the bishops as well as the initiatives launched in the dioceses to raise up vocations.”

The French prelate wished a “beautiful ministry to the priests who are responding to the spiritual expectations of our time: The adventure is worth the effort and gives light to the world!”

The CEF article also noted that according to its 2024 Catéchuménat survey, every year there are more young people and not so young people who want to receive baptism, the Eucharist, and confirmation. 

The archbishop told the new priests that this new generation of young people drawn to the Church is also their generation that “they grew up with and matured” in and that in administering the sacraments to them they both will be nourished.

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