1. ‘Who am I to judge?’ helps explain pope’s view, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, November 18, 2020, Opinion
Pope Francis’s famous quip “Who am I to judge?” could go a long way toward explaining his initial attitude toward Theodore McCarrick, the defrocked and disgraced American cardinal who was the subject of a two-year Vatican investigation that was released last week.
Francis uttered the line on July 29, 2013, four months into his pontificate, when he was asked en route home from his first papal trip about reports of a sexually active gay priest whom he had just promoted. His point: If someone violated the church’s teaching on sexual morals in the past but had sought forgiveness from God, who was he to pass judgment?
The comment won plaudits from the LGBT community and landed Francis on the cover of The Advocate magazine. But Francis’ broader tendency to blindly trust his friends and resist judging them has created problems seven years later. A handful of priests, bishops and cardinals whom Francis has trusted over the years have turned out to be either accused of sexual misconduct or convicted of it, or of having covered it up.
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/11/who-am-i-to-judge-helps-explain-popes-view/
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2. Leader of US Catholic bishops: Biden’s stances pose dilemma, By David Crary, Associated Press, November 17, 2020, 7:15 PM
The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told colleagues Tuesday that President-elect Joe Biden’s policy positions, including support for abortion rights, pose a “difficult and complex situation” for the church.
Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, completing his first year as the USCCB’s president, welcomes many of Biden’s stances, including on immigration, racial justice and climate change. But some conservative bishops, noting the church’s strong opposition to abortion, were upset last week when Gomez congratulated Biden — a fellow Catholic — on his victory.
On Tuesday, as the USCCB ended the public portion of its two-day national meeting, Gomez departed from the official agenda to broach the issue.
“We are facing a unique moment in our history,” he said. “The president-elect has given us reason to think he will support some good policies” but also some that “undermine our preeminent priority of the elimination of abortion.”
“These policies pose a serious threat to the common good,” Gomez said. “When politicians who profess the Catholic faith support them … it creates confusion among the faithful about what the church actually teaches on these questions.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/leader-of-us-catholic-bishops-bidens-stances-pose-dilemma/2020/11/17/24254e74-2933-11eb-9c21-3cc501d0981f_story.html
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3. US bishops reauthorize Committee Against Racism, approve budget, By Catholic News Agency, November 17, 2020, 11:21 AM
The U.S. bishops voted at their fall general assembly this week to reauthorize their Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism for three years.
They also approved the 2021 proposed budget and the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan.
The action items received a vote on Monday, the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) annual fall assembly. The results were announced Tuesday.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-bishops-reauthorize-committee-against-racism-approve-budget-21953
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4. Report: Search finds 600,000 euros in cash at suspended Vatican official’s home, By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, November 17, 2020, 12:00 PM
Police have found hundreds of thousands of euros in cash hidden in two homes of a suspended Vatican official under investigation for corruption, according to Italian media reports.
Fabrizio Tirabassi was a lay official at the Secretariat of State until his suspension, together with four other employees, last year. According to sources close to the Secretariat for the Economy, Tirabassi oversaw several financial transactions at the secretariat which are now under investigation.
The Italian daily Domani reported that, on the order of Vatican prosecutors, Vatican gendarmes and Italian financial police searched two of Tirabassi’s properties, in Rome and in Celano, a town in central Italy where Tirabassi was born.
The search, which was focused on computers and documents, reportedly also uncovered bundles of banknotes amounting to 600,000 euros ($713,000). Around 200,000 euros was reportedly found in an old shoe box.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/report-search-finds-600000-euros-in-cash-at-suspended-vatican-officials-home-58310
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
