1. Catholic Bishops Elect Cardinal Daniel DiNardo USCCB President, Theological conservative will be joined by vice president Archbishop José Gomez, an immigrant-rights advocate, By Ian Lovett and Francis X. Rocca, The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2016, Pg. A3.
The men will help guide the American church’s relationship with Mr. Trump and Pope Francis, at a time when American bishops remain divided over what many see as the pope’s attempts to liberalize the church.
The election of Archbishop Gomez—who is one of the church’s loudest voices in support of immigrants—sends a clear message to Mr. Trump, who vowed during the campaign to build a border wall and deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally.
Mr. Trump has pledged to nominate U.S. Supreme Court justices who would overrule the 1973 decision recognizing a Constitutional right to abortion, which is forbidden by Catholic moral teaching, and to repeal requirements in the Affordable Care Act that require Catholic hospitals to provide contraception services.
Cardinal DiNardo has served as vice president of the USCCB for the past three years, a position that traditionally leads to the presidency. Following his election on Tuesday, Cardinal DiNardo said the new administration in Washington, D.C. “invites some hope” of shared perspectives.
“Pro-life issues are very dear to me,” he said. “The beginnings and ends of life are extremely crucial for us.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/catholic-bishops-meet-to-elect-usccb-president-1479214805
2. Pope praises Latinos, immigrants in remarks to US church, By Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press, November 15, 2016, 5:30 PM.
Pope Francis praised Latino contributions to the country in a message to U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday, a week after Donald Trump was elected president and on the day the prelates put a Mexican-born archbishop in line to be their leader.
Francis noted that the U.S. church has welcomed immigrants throughout its history and said the “rich variety of their languages and cultural traditions” had enriched the church and the country. He urged the U.S. church to “go out from its comfort zone” and heal a society facing “increasing polarization.”
The pope sent the message to the annual Baltimore meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
At the very start of the meeting Monday, the bishops issued a plea to adopt humane policies toward immigrants and refugees, and vowed to stand with them and serve them no matter what is ahead.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/pope-praises-latinos-immigrants-remarks-us-church
3. Pope: ‘Discern well to avoid becoming lukewarm Christians’, Vatican Radio, November 15, 2016.
Taking his cue from the readings of the day, Pope Francis repeated the scathing admonition of the Book of Revelations against those Christians of the Church of Laodicea “who are neither hot nor cold: I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
The lukewarm, Pope Francis said, “lose the capacity to contemplate, the capacity to see the great and beautiful things of God”. For this the Lord seeks to awaken us, to help us convert. But, he continued, the Lord is “present in another way: He is there to invite us: ‘Behold, I knock at the door.’” Here the Pope underlines the importance of being able to “hear when the Lord knocks at our door… because He wants to gives us something good.”
4. Protecting planet is ethical, moral obligation, pope says, By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, November 15, 2016.
In a written message to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Marrakech, Morocco, Francis praised the 100 countries that formally joined the Paris climate agreement adopted last year, but emphasized that implementing the agreement must involve multidisciplinary cooperation and special measures of solidarity with the poor.
“Technological solutions are necessary, but not sufficient,” the pope wrote to the conference, which was meeting Nov. 7-18. Governments must recognize there are “ethical and social aspects” of working for a new model of development that is sustainable and respectful of both the planet and the poor.
“The current situation of environmental degradation,” he said, is “strongly connected with human, ethical and social degradation.”
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/11/15/protecting-planet-ethical-moral-obligation-pope-says/
