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THE VATICAN
Pope entrusts world to Mary
1,500 bishops gather in Rome with Fatima statue
The largest meeting of Catholic bishops since Vatican II concluded on Sunday, October 8, when Pope John Paul II—surrounded by 80 cardinals and more than 1,500 bishops—solemnly prayed for the Virgin Mary’s protection over the entire world.
With a large congregation also present in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father directed attention to the famous statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which had been brought to Rome specifically for the event. “Today we wish to confide the future that awaits us to you,” the Pope said in his prayer to the Virgin; “We ask you to accompany us along the way.”
In his prayer for Mary’s protection, Pope John Paul observed that mankind today has acquired “extraordinary powers of intervention” over the physical world, and even over “the very sources of life.” These powers, he observed, could be used to “make the world a garden, or reduce it to a pile of ashes.” The choice, he said, is between acceptance of moral law, or “science that accepts no limits,” and therefore threatens human dignity.
With humanity facing this important crossroads, the Pope affirmed, “O Holy Virgin, our hope for salvation is entirely and solely in your Son Jesus.” He prayed that “all men will discover Christ, the light of the world and its only Savior.”
In his prayer, the Pope implored the Virgin’s intercession on behalf “of all men, beginning with the weakest.” He specifically called upon Mary to help the poor, the weak, and the sick, and to rally broken families.
Prior to this ceremony, the Pope led the assembled bishops in praying the Rosary, again making their prayer before the Fatima statue. Each decade of the Rosary was led by a cardinal, accompanied by a family from one of the five continents. For the last part of the Rosary, a radio link allowed the faithful in Rome to pray along with the Carmelite nuns of Coimbra, Portugal, a convent near Fatima, where Sister Lucia—the sole surviving Fatima seer—now lives.
At a solemn Mass earlier in the day, the Pope emphasized the “great responsibility” that every diocesan bishop has to promote “the doctrinal unity of the faithful.” In his homily, he stressed the bishop’s duty to counteract the moral relativism and subjectivism which is so powerful in contemporary culture. To illustrate the point, he invoked the memory of the Catholic bishops who gave their lives for the faith during the 20th century, and have subsequently been canonized or beatified. He called special attention to four Chinese bishops whose beatification he had celebrated just one week earlier. He also mentioned bishops who died in Nazi death camps, in the Spanish Civil War, and in Communist religious persecutions. The Pontiff concluded by urging the bishops who were present in Rome to maintain, through prayer and public witness, their “fraternal solidarity” with their brother bishops who suffer under active persecution today.
On October 7, Pope John Paul II had told the bishops at their Jubilee meeting that the Church is “the sacrament of salvation for all men.” He went on to say that “love for Christ and love for the Church, in the end, constitute a single and indivisible love.”
The Pope made these remarks as he spoke to the bishops in the Paul VI Auditorium. He observed that their meeting reminded him of “those grace-filled years [of the Second Vatican Council], in which we could strongly sense—like the rustling of a new Pentecost—the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
In his discourse to the bishops, the Pontiff asked them to reflect on Christ’s love for his Church. “It is by virtue of that love that Christ engendered the Church as his body and his spouse, and made her the sacrament of salvation for all men,” he said. Christ’s love for the Church, he continued, should furnish “the model and the strength for each one of us in his ministry, the foundation and the living reason for the mystery in which we live.”
“We must rediscover the enthusiasm of the first announcement of Pentecost,” John Paul said. He acknowledged the difficulty of renewing this zeal today “in a world that has seen the inflation of words through the actions of the media.” Still, he charged his brother bishops to speak “words filled with life.” At a time when the world needs the truth, the Pope insisted that bishops should “not be afraid to proclaim the Gospel, in season and out of season.” And he added that the “witness of personal holiness” would redouble the force of every bishop’s words, making him “more credible and more persuasive” in his efforts to evangelize the laity and lead the clergy in his diocese.
Historic canonizations
China protests naming of first native saints
On October 1, the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries, Pope John Paul II presided over the canonization of 120 new saints from China, a Sudanese slave, an American heiress, and the first female Basque saint.
The most controversial of the canonizations were easily the 120 saints from China, 87 of whom were the first native Chinese saints. The remainder of the Chinese martyrs were 33 European missionaries. Their canonization had aroused controversy when the Chinese government charged that the Vatican was engaged in a deliberately political ploy, since (Beijing argued) many of the martyrs were contemptuous of Chinese culture and independence.
During the ceremony, the Pope responded directly to those complaints, reiterating the Vatican’s statement that the canonization was not a comment on any political regime, but an affirmation of the saints’ holiness and zeal.
The Chinese martyrs, who lived and died at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century, were caught up in “difficult and complex” political and social issues, the Pope acknowledged. For that very reason, he suggested, “Today’s celebration is not the right time to form judgments on those historic periods. That can and should be done at another time and place. Today, with a solemn proclamation of their holiness, the Church simply wants to recognize these martyrs as examples of courage and coherence for all of us, and thus to honor the noble Chinese people.”
To illustrate his point, the Holy Father mentioned two of the Chinese martyrs. One of them, Anna Wang, was only 14 when she was beheaded. On the point of death, she told all who could hear her that “the door to heaven is open to everyone.” Similarly Chi Zhuzi, who was eight when he died, told his persecutors, “Every drop of my blood will testify that I am a Christian.”
As for the 33 foreign missionaries among the martyrs, the Pope pointed out that they had left their homelands in order to minister to the Chinese people and never returned. “The tombs are there [in China],” he observed, “as a sign of their definitive tie with China— a country which they loved, through all their human weaknesses, and for which they spent their energies.”
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Pope John Paul issued a statement to Chinese Catholics indicating that he hoped the canonizations would be “a special moment of grace for the whole Church and for the entire Chinese Catholic community.” The Pope concelebrated the Eucharistic liturgy with Cardinal Shan Kuo-hsi of Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Archbishop Joseph Ti-kang of Taipei, Taiwan; and Bishop John Ton Hon, an auxiliary for the diocese of Hong Kong.
As he pronounced the canonization of Katherine Drexel, Pope John Paul urged all Catholics, and especially young people, to use their talents and their goods for the welfare of others.
St. Katherine Drexel (1858-1955), the second US native to be canonized, was known for her extraordinary work on behalf of black and native Americans. Born into a wealthy family, she began contributing to missionary efforts at an early age, taking a special interest in work with blacks and Indians in the American West.
Her apostolate, the Pope pointed out, had helped to raise awareness of “the need to fight against all forms of racism through education and social services.” He prayed that “her example will help young people, especially, to realize that there is no greater treasure in the world than following Christ with an undivided heart, using the gifts that we have received generously in the service of others, and building a more just and brotherly world.”
The canonization of Josephine Bakhita prompted the Holy Father to issue an appeal on behalf of the victims of civil war in Sudan, the native country of the new saint.
The Pope asked for the intercession of St. Josephine Bakhita, and urged all Christians to pray “for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted and enslaved, especially in Africa and in her native Sudan, so that they might know reconciliation and peace.”
“I implore the international community: do not continue to ignore this immense human tragedy!” the Pope cried out. “In the name of suffering humanity, I once again call upon those who exercise authority: open your heart to the cries of the millions of innocent victims, and embrace the choice of negotiation!” Sold into slavery when she was just seven years old, Josephine Bakhita was traded to several different masters before finally finding her way to Italy, where she was baptized and eventually joined the Canossian order. The Pope praised her as an example of “authentic emancipation,” since she won not only her physical freedom but also the spiritual liberation that comes from knowing and loving God and forgiving one’s debtors.
The new African saint, the Pope continued, also serves as a model in that she always showed “a firm resolution to work for the freedom of her brothers and sisters from oppression and violence, and to give them back their dignity and their rights.”
Sister Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus Sancho de Guerra (1842-1912) became the first Basque woman to be recognized as a saint on October 1. During the ceremony, the Pope called for peace in the Basque region, which has been troubled by clashes between separatists and the Spanish government. He prayed “that the intercession of St. Maria of the Heart of Jesus will help the Basque people to banish all forms of violence forever . . . that the Basque country might be a blessed land and a place of peaceful and brotherly life, where the rights of all peoples are always respected, and blood is never shed again.”
With the ceremonies of October 1, Pope John Paul II has now presided at the canonization of 447 saints during his pontificate, 401 of whom have been proclaimed as martyrs.
One day after the canonization of the Chinese martyrs, the Holy Father discussed their witness once again as he met with a group of pilgrims at the Vatican.
Speaking to a group of Chinese Catholics who had traveled to Rome for the canonization ceremonies, the Pope said that the occasion should be understood as “a real honor for the noble people of China.”
The Pontiff spoke of his delight in knowing that “all the faithful of mainland China are intimately united on this occasion—knowing, as you know, that in the martyrs, they have not only an example to follow, but also intercessors before the Father.”
The Pope continued: “We really need their help, because in daily life we are called to show the same zeal and the same fidelity that the martyrs showed in their own time.”
Speaking also to pilgrims from the European countries that had sent missionaries to martyrdom in China, the Pope expressed regrets that today’s “partial and not at all objective” view of history saw the late-19th-century conflicts between China and Europe purely in terms of imperial quarrels. He urged believers to recognize that the martyrs, regardless of their personal stake in such political disputes, should be “seen in their glory, and cause us to thank God for using poor instruments for the glorious work of salvation.” The Pope also took the opportunity to praise the memory of Father Matteo Ricci, the Italian Jesuit who was among the first missionary priests to enter China in the 16th century. Father Ricci’s appreciation for Chinese cultural traditions helped to spark the “battle of the rites” after his death. But the Pontiff noted that the Italian Jesuit was a model of “profound and respectful intercultural dialogue.”
[See “China” for more on the Chinese reaction to the canonizations.]
Pope to visit Armenia, Syria
Trips to take place in 2001
Pope John Paul II will visit Armenia and Syria in June 2001, according to reports from Church officials.
Bishop Gregory Ghabroyan, the spiritual leader of the Armenian-rite Catholics in Western Europe, announced that the Pope would accept an invitation that will be formally delivered early in November, when Catholicos Karekin II Nersissian, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, visits Rome.
Karekin II, the “supreme catholicos of all the Armenians,” was elected in October 1999 to succeed Karekin I. The latter, the spiritual head of a Church that has been separated from Rome for centuries, had been particularly close to Pope John Paul and had made great strides toward re-establishing unity between the Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic churches. Karekin I died in June 1999; his final illness caused the postponement of a papal trip to Armenia, which had been scheduled at his invitation.
Now, however, the path is clear for a papal visit. “John Paul II is very anxious to go to Armenia, and the Armenian authorities have already invited him. If his health permits it, the trip should not pose any problem at all,” said Bishop Ghabroyan. The year 2001 will furnish an apt occasion for the papal visit, since it marks the 1,700th anniversary of the first evangelization of Armenia.
Some Vatican insiders have suggested that the papal visit may occur not in June but in September of 2001. However, Bishop Ghabroyan expressed confidence that the June date would soon be announced officially.
Meanwhile, the Armenian-rite Catholics of the world celebrated their Jubilee in Rome on September 14, led by their Patriarch Nerses Bedros XIX. After their celebration, a group of about 20 bishops, religious superiors, and other leaders of the Armenian Catholic Church remained in Rome for their annual synod, September 19-27.
The Armenian Catholic Church dates from the 18th century when the Holy See appointed a patriarch to provide pastoral care for the Armenians living in exile in the Holy Land. Today, there are about 250,000 Armenian Catholics spread across Syria and Lebanon as well as Armenia itself and another 3.25 million in Russia, Georgia, Europe, and America.
The Armenian Apostolic Church split from Rome because of disagreements over the dogmatic formulations of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Those disagreements were largely overcome in a joint statement of doctrine signed by Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin I, paving the way for a renewal of full ecclesial communion.
Meanwhile, plans for a papal trip to Syria remain incomplete, according to spokesmen for the Holy See, despite published reports that dates have been fixed in February 2001.
Responding to reports in the Syrian media, the papal nunciature in Damascus has issued a statement confirming that plans are being made, but insisting that no precise arrangements have been finalized. And Syria’s ambassador to the Holy See has confirmed that the news reports “are no more than rumors.”
The Holy Father has indicated that he wants to visit Syria as part of his Jubilee pilgrimage to the sites connected with the history of salvation. He has mentioned the importance of Damascus insofar as St. Paul was converted on the road to that ancient city.
There has also been speculation that, on a trip to Syria, the Pope would stop in Turkey to visit Ephesus, in the footsteps of St. John. The government of Turkey recently helped to pave the way for such a visit by issuing a formal invitation to the Pope. Vatican representatives are expected to visit Syria soon to make preparations for a papal pilgrimage.
Condom controversy
Theologians claim change in Church position
News reports in several US newspapers, stemming from an article in the September 23 issue of the Jesuit magazine America, claimed that the Vatican, in an article in the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, had approved the use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS, but the author of that article contradicted that claim.
The source of the controversy was an April article in L’Osservatore Romano in which Msgr. Jacques Suaudeau of the Pontifical Council for the Family cites efforts to stop the spread of HIV/ AIDS in various countries. In addressing a condom distribution program for prostitutes in Thailand, Msgr. Suaudeau questions the effectiveness of the program and writes, “The use of prophylactics in these circumstances is actually a ‘lesser evil . . .’” However, he goes on to add, “. . . but it cannot be proposed as a model of humanization and development,” that is it is not an appropriate response to the crisis.
The America magazine article claimed that Father Suaudeau and L’Osservatore Romano had backtracked on recent Vatican pronouncements that condom use can never be advocated, even as a lesser evil. While statements in the Vatican newspaper are not official Church teaching, they are held to reflect accurately the thinking of top Vatican officials.
Msgr. Suadeau said his writings were distorted by the authors of the America article. He said the Church had not changed her views on condoms and added that she is not indifferent to those suffering from AIDS.
But in their article, two American Jesuits said Msgr. Suaudeau’s article signaled a change in the Church’s teaching. Msgr. Suaudeau called the article a “pretext to relaunch the argument.” He told The Associated Press, “This is a manipulation. It is blown up and exaggerated.” He added that his article endorsed sexual abstinence and chastity as the means to prevent AIDS.
New missal due
Released before Christmas
A new edition of the Roman Missal will be published before Christmas, a Vatican official has revealed.
Archbishop Francisco Tamburrino, the secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said that the text of the new missal has already been sent to the printer. But the printing process may be time-consuming, he said, because the missal poses some special challenges for printers, such as settings for Gregorian chant.
The new Roman Missal was approved by Pope John Paul II in January. This will be the third official edition of the missal to be published since Vatican II. The previous editions were produced in 1969 and 1975.
After 25 years it was important to offer an updated Roman Missal, Archbishop Tamburrino said. The new text “allows some timely adaptations,” he explained, and the prayers have been enriched in light of new developments. For example, the missal includes prayers for the 300 new saints whose feasts have been added to the liturgical calendar. The new missal also introduces special prayers for children, new rites of reconciliation, and new prayers for Marian feasts.
“Many of these prayers come from ancient theological texts,” Archbishop Tamburrino said. “Here we touch on an important role for our Congregation, which is to work for Christian unity by going back to the sources of the liturgy, to the patrimony of the Church as she was before the divisions.” The Introduction to the new Roman Missal has been available since August, and episcopal conferences are already at work on translations. The Introduction itself is a 100-page document.
Archbishop Tamburrino said that the most important development in the new Introduction was Chapter 9, which allows much broader latitude for adaptation of liturgical norms by national bishops’ conferences. The previous Roman Missal allowed only minor alterations, he noted.
Finally, the archbishop called particular attention to the emphasis placed on Gregorian chant in the new Roman Missal. Gregorian chant, he said, retains a special place as the recommended music of the Catholic Church.
Archbishop appointed
New head of Congregation for Bishops
Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Lucas Moreira Neves as prefect of the influential Congregation for Bishops, and appointed Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re.
Archbishop Re has been serving as Under-Secretary of State for the Holy See. He will be replaced in that post by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the papal nuncio in Mexico. Archbishop Sandri’s successor in Mexico has not been named.
The prefect of the Congregation for Bishops is one of the most influential figures at the Vatican, and Cardinal Moreira Neves had once been viewed as “papabile”—a likely candidate for the papacy. But the Brazilian prelate suffers from severe diabetes, and with his health clearly slipping, he asked for permission to return to Brazil. The Pope granted that request on the cardinal’s 75th birthday.
Archbishop Re will surely be elevated to the College of Cardinals at the next consistory. Vatican officials have suggested that a consistory may be convened in February 2001. By that time, the number of cardinals under the age of 80—and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave—will be 95 (assuming that none of the cardinal-electors dies in the intervening months). That would leave 25 openings for new cardinals since the maximum number of electors is fixed at 120.
Archbishop Re was born in Brescia in northern Italy in 1934. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1957 and served in the Brescia diocese until 1961. Then he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps, serving in Panama and Iran, before returning to Rome to serve in the Secretariat of State. He was secretary of the Congregation for Bishops from 1987 to 1989 then returned to the Secretariat of State.
The Congregation for Bishops supervises the appointments of two-thirds of the world’s bishops. (The Congregation for the Eastern Churches has responsibility for the Eastern-rite Catholics, while the Congregation for Evangelization covers missionary territories.)
With the departure of Cardinal Moreira Neves, Vatican-watchers are still waiting for the replacement of three top officials who have reached or passed retirement age: Cardinals Achille Sivestrini, the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, Josef Tomko, prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization, and Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
New Doctor of the Church?
Also, a patron for politicians
Pope John Paul II has received a formal request to name St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort a Doctor of the Church.
Bishop Francois Garnier of Lucon, France, introduced the formal request on October 13. Bishop Garnier, whose diocese includes the town of St.-Laurent-sur-Sevres where St. Louis-Marie died in 1716, presented the request as he met with Pope John Paul, along with a group of Marian scholars.
Lauding the power of the spiritual writings of St. Louis-Marie, the bishop told the Holy Father of the “intense desire” among Marian scholars to see the proclamation of this saint as a Doctor of the Church. He told the Pontiff that they had presented the case for such a declaration as persuasively as possible, and thanked him “with all our hearts” for hearing out the petition.
Pope John Paul responded by saying that St. Louis-Marie “is a figure of important significance, who brought me light at some important moments of my life.” He said that, after having been introduced to the spiritual writings of St. Louis-Marie during his days as a clandestine seminarian in Poland, he had “read and re-read” them many times, and had always drawn “great spiritual profit” from them.
Meanwhile, the Holy Father is expected to proclaim St. Thomas More as the patron saint of politicians. The Pope’s announcement, taking the form of a motu proprio, will be issued on November 4 or 5 as the Vatican observes the Jubilee for politicians. The announcement comes in response to a formal request from a committee of Italian political leaders, headed by Francesco Cossiga, the former president of the Italian republic.
Executed in 1535 because of his opposition to the efforts of King Henry VIII to separate the Church of England from Rome, St. Thomas More is venerated today for his willingness to sacrifice his political influence, and ultimately his life, out of dedication to the Gospel.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, reports that the suggestion of naming St. Thomas More as patron of politicians is “not a new idea.” The cardinal continued, “Politics is a field for the greatest kind of charity. We need a new generation of politicians who are convinced of that, and the witness of Thomas More will offer them an example to follow.”
Back to Catholic World Report November 2000 Table of Contents