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Vatican Observatory publishes new method to better understand the Big Bang theory

null / Credit: Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Two priests and cosmologists from the Vatican Observatory have made further progress in developing a new mathematical method to understand the Big Bang theory, which describes the first moments of the universe.

In a 2022 article published in the prestigious journal Physical Review D, Fathers Gabriele Gionti, SJ, and Matteo Galaverni introduced the new and promising mathematical tool. They have recently published a new article in the European Physical Journal C, a publication that presents novel research results in theoretical physics and experimental physics.

“It really is fascinating to try to understand the physical laws in the early moments of the universe. The search for new physical laws and the effort to fully understand them is a process that fills our minds and hearts with great joy,” the priests said in a Vatican Observatory publication released March 14.

The observatory’s statement points out that Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which postulates that gravity is the curvature of space-time rather than a force as proposed by Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, remains the best physical theory “for understanding the large-scale structure of the universe today.” However, there are still unresolved questions about the laws of physics during the first moments of the universe and about how gravity works on extremely small scales, which can be studied using quantum mechanics.

Currently, there are alternative or modified theories of gravity that suggest that gravity might behave differently than general relativity predicts, even with respect to the large-scale structure of the universe.

In their new article, “On the canonical equivalence between the Jordan and Einstein frames,” Gionti and Galaverni demonstrate how they can “map” the solution to a physical problem from an alternative theory of gravity to general relativity through a mathematical trick. This trick consists of analyzing the problem through two different mathematical frames, known as the “Jordan” and “Einstein” frames, which are different approaches to describing the geometry of space-time in general relativity, each with its own advantages and specific applications.

For Gionti and Galaverni, this work is “a way to contribute, together with the entire scientific community, to answering some fundamental questions: “Who are we? Where do we come from? What is our origin?”

“Furthermore, for a person of faith, it is a wonderful possibility to interpret one’s research as a discovery of new traces or signs of God’s beauty and elegance in the creation of the universe, despite our extremely limited knowledge!” the priest-scientists concluded.

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

Pope Francis: God’s glory does not correspond to human success

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square during his Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2024 / 09:07 am (CNA).

Pope Francis said Sunday that God’s glory and our true happiness are not found in success, fame, or popularity but in loving and forgiving others.

In his Angelus address on March 17, the pope asked: How it is possible that God’s glory is manifest in the humiliation of the cross?

“One would think it happened in the Resurrection, not on the cross, which is a defeat, a failure,” he said. “Instead, today, talking about his passion, Jesus says: ‘The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified’ (Jn 12:23). What does he mean?” 

The pope explained that “for God, glory is to love to the point of giving one’s life.”

“Glorification, for him, means giving himself, making himself accessible, offering his love,” he said.

“And this reached its culmination on the cross, where Jesus outspread God’s love to the maximum, fully revealing the face of mercy, giving us life and forgiving his executioners.”

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis underlined that giving and forgiveness “are very different criteria to what we see around us, and also within us, when we think of glory.”

Yet while worldly glory fades, this Christian way of life brings lasting happiness, he explained.

“And so, we can ask ourselves: What is the glory I desire for myself, for my life, that I dream of for my future?” Francis asked.

“That of impressing others with my prowess, my abilities, or the things I possess? Or the path of giving and forgiveness, that of the crucified Jesus, the way of those who never tire of loving, confident that this bears witness to God in the world and makes the beauty of life shine? What glory do I want for myself?”

“Indeed, let us remember that when we give and forgive, God’s glory shines in us,” Pope Francis said.

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

After praying the Angelus prayer in Latin from the window of the Apostolic Palace with the crowd gathered below in St. Peter’s Square, the pope asked people to pray for war-torn populations in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Syria.

Pope Francis expressed his relief at the release of some of the religious brothers kidnapped three weeks ago in Haiti as he made an appeal for the “beloved country tried by so much violence.”

Four of the six religious from the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Institute who were kidnapped in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 23 have been freed, along with a teacher. The pope called for the release of the two remaining kidnapped religious and all other people who have suffered at the hands of kidnappers in Haiti.

The pope called on all political leaders and social actors in Haiti to “abandon all special interests and to engage in a spirit of solidarity in the pursuit of the common good” while supporting “a peaceful transition to a country … that is equipped with solid institutions capable of restoring order and tranquility among its citizens.”

Before waving goodbye to the crowd, the pope gave a shoutout to the athletes who ran in the Rome marathon on Sunday morning, especially the volunteers and runners from the Vatican’s own sports club, Athletica Vaticana.

Pope Francis names U.S. police professional, Colombian bishop to minor protection commission

A Colombian psychologist bishop and a retired colonel from the Illinois State Police are the new secretaries of the Pontifical Commission for the Guardianship of Minors. / Credit: Holy See Press Office

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Friday appointed an American former law enforcement professional as adjunct secretary to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a Colombian bishop as secretary of the independent body tasked since 2014 with advising the pope on how the Church can best protect minors and vulnerable adults. 

The Vatican announced March 15 that Teresa Morris Kettelkamp, a Chicago native and Illinois law enforcement professional, was named as the commission’s adjunct secretary. Auxiliary Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera of Bogotá, Colombia, was named secretary of the commission, replacing Father Andrew Small, who had served as temporary secretary since 2021. Both appointees were already members of the currently 19-member commission. 

The commission, established by Pope Francis in March 2014, is headed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who turns 80 in June. O’Malley has defended the commission’s effectiveness, saying last March that “the protection of children and vulnerable persons remains at the heart of the Church’s mission.”

Kettelkamp formerly was appointed to lead the United States bishops’ Office for Child and Youth Protection in 2005, serving in that role until 2011. She was first appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2018. She had previously worked on the drafting of the Guidelines for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults with the commission. 

A former colonel with the Illinois State Police (ISP), Kettelkamp retired after 29 years of service, during which time she headed the ISP’s crime labs and crime scene services. She also, according to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors website, headed the ISP’s Division of Internal Investigation, which was responsible for the investigation of allegations of misconduct within the ISP as well as in the agencies, boards, and commissions under the executive branch of the Illinois state government.

Alí Herrera, who is also a psychologist, was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on May 2, 1967, and was ordained a priest in 1992. After graduating with a degree in theology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá in 2003, he obtained a degree in psychology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (2007). He is a senior associate of the Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos (Colombian School of Psychologists), Vatican News reported.

Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2014 and appointed him an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bogotá the following year.

The work and operations of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has garnered scrutiny in recent years, in part because of questions Small, the commission’s former temporary secretary, has faced since May 2023 about his management of funds at the Pontifical Mission Societies U.S.A. In addition, a prominent founding member of the commission, Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, resigned his post roughly a year ago, citing “issues that need to be urgently addressed” related to a perceived lack of “responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency.”

Pope Francis: Indigenous ‘ancestral wisdom’ a vital tool in fight against climate change

Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 15, 2024 / 10:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday reflected on the importance of holding up Indigenous voices and incorporating “ancestral wisdom” as part of broader efforts to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate change.

“Open dialogue between Indigenous knowledge and the sciences, between communities of ancestral wisdom and those of the sciences, can help to confront in a new, more integral and more effective way such crucial issues as water, climate change, hunger, and biodiversity,” the pope observed at the Vatican on Thursday. ‘“These issues, as we know very well, are all interconnected.”

The remarks were addressed to participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15. 

This event brings together a plurality of voices from the pontifical academies, Indigenous groups, academics, and international organizations in order to evaluate how traditional Indigenous teachings and methodologies can be harmonized with conventional science to inform global policy on climate change, biodiversity loss, food security, and health.

According to the United Nations, Indigenous people are defined as those who “inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived” and retain distinct “social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics” from their native societies. 

Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“The Church is with you, an ally of the Indigenous peoples and their wisdom, and an ally of science in striving to make our world one of ever greater fraternity and social friendship,” the pope said on Thursday. 

In the address, Francis pointed to a 2021 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that examined both Indigenous food systems and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge as a core component of the United Nations’ 2024–2033 “International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD).”

The pope cited these as two concrete examples of how Indigenous representation has been developed on the international stage. 

The pope stressed the importance of protecting Indigenous “cultures, traditions, spiritualities, and languages” as they form part of the “fabric of humanity,” and their loss would “represent an impoverishment of knowledge, identity, and memory for all of us.”

“For this reason,” the pope continued, “projects of scientific research, and accordingly investments, ought to be directed decisively to the promotion of human fraternity, justice, and peace, so that resources can be coordinated and allocated to respond to the urgent challenges facing the earth, our common home, and the family of peoples.”

The themes of ecological protection and human fraternity have been featured prominently in Francis’ pontificate. 

In his seminal 2015 encyclical on climate Laudato Si’, Pope Francis emphasized the urgency of incorporating Indigenous voices in the broader discussion on climate change mitigation, noting those individuals “are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed.” 

According to the United Nations Development Program, the global Indigenous population sits at 370 million people — or 5% of the worldwide population — and is among the most vulnerable groups to the effects of anthropogenic climate change and its associated risks such as desertification, food scarcity, biodiversity loss, and forced migration.

Controversial Sister Lucía Caram and Religión Digital team meet with Pope Francis

Dominican Sister Lucía Caram on the television program “Cuentos Chinos” (“Tall Tales”) in Spain. / Credit: Mediaset

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Yesterday Pope Francis received the controversial nun Sister Lucía Caram and team members of the Spanish-language news portal Religión Digital, which regularly publishes content contrary to Catholic doctrine.

The pope’s March 13 audience with Caram and the Religión Digital journalists went unmentioned in the Vatican Press Office’s daily news brief.

In an article, Religión Digital, now in its 25th year, stated that the Holy Father met with its members for half an hour and reportedly encouraged the team: “Do not lose hope. Continue fighting for this living Church and making it known.”

The article noted that the pontiff met with the visitors in “the back room of the Paul VI Hall, (la auletta),” which is “the same office where he received [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Nicolás] Maduro, and Raúl Castro,” presidents of Ukraine, Venezuela, and Cuba, respectively.

Participating in the audience with the pope were Caram, a Dominican nun; the director of Religión Digital, former priest José Manuel Vidal; journalists José Lorenzo and Jesús Bastante; and Father Ángel García Rodríguez, president of the nongovernmental organization Messengers of Peace.

Topics such as “the Church in Spain, future challenges, his health, extreme critics, the question of seminaries, future trips, and the validation of Vatican II” were discussed.

“Vatican II was a midfield goal for the Church, which has done us a lot of good, and which was necessary, although not everything has yet been put into effect,” the pope reportedly commented.

According to Religión Digital, the group gave Pope Francis on the 11th anniversary of his pontificate “a special gift: the tens of thousands of messages of support received in the RDconelPapa campaign [‘Religión Digital [Is] with the Pope’] that came from all corners of the world,” for which the Holy Father expressed his great appreciation.

Caram commented on Facebook that “we saw a serene pope, he looked very well. We were able to talk, listen, and share. I gave him a gift that moved him: a case with the book of the Gospels and psalms that a soldier had on him when he died on the front” in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Who is Sister Lucia Caram?

Caram, 57, is a Dominican nun from Argentina who lives in Spain. She is known for various controversial positions, such as her support for Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

In 2023 she spoke out in favor of homosexual couples being able to “marry in the Church.”

In 2017, in an interview with porn actor Nacho Vidal, the nun criticized that “for a long time the Church has dedicated itself to stoning those who weren’t living according to the norm.”

In 2014, she told La Opinión de Málaga online news that “those who freely make the decision [to abort] have to be the people [involved]. The Church cannot meddle in there. Not even God, who made us free for a reason.”

In 2013, interviewed by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the nun defended the use of contraceptive methods and claimed that “hell does not exist.”

It should be noted that an audience with the pope is not a papal endorsement by association with the person or persons visiting him or their views and that the Vatican Press Office does not confirm or deny statements allegedly made by the pope in such private audiences or nonpublic interviews.

What is Religión Digital?

Religión Digital is a website that regularly publishes content contrary to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. One of its most controversial articles, written by the Jesuit priest Juan Masiá, denied the virginity of Mary. On the same portal, on another occasion Masiá defended euthanasia.

Caram has also been a contributor to the portal.

In 2016, the well-known Spanish priest and demonology expert Father José Antonio Fortea told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that Religión Digital was “a website that continually promoted all authors who attacked dogma and the ecclesiastical hierarchy.”

Fortea questioned that some Catholics finance Religión Digital and warned that the portal is a “source of waters poisoned by heterodoxy.”

After Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation from the pontificate in February 2013, a month before the election of Pope Francis, Religión Digital published on its front page: “The problem is not the pope... the problem is the papacy.”

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

Pope Francis: Study groups to examine 10 Synod on Synodality themes through June 2025

Cardinal Mario Grech and Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 28, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Church experts will meet in study groups to examine the question of women deacons and other key topics through June 2025 — well beyond the Oct. 27 conclusion of the final assembly of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis revealed in a new letter to the synod’s general secretary released Thursday.

Writing to Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, the pope noted that the 42-page Synthesis Report produced after the first session of the synod assembly held last October “enumerates many important theological issues,” which “by their very nature, require in-depth study.”

Because it won’t be possible to complete this study before the start of the next synod assembly on Oct. 2, the pope explained, “I am arranging for them to be assigned to specific study groups, so that they may be properly examined.”

In his letter Pope Francis listed 10 themes he wants the study groups to examine. They are:

1. Some aspects of the relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church.

2. Listening to the cry of the poor.

3. The mission in the digital environment.

4. The revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a missionary synodal perspective.

5. Some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms.

6. The revision, in a synodal missionary perspective, of the documents touching on the relationship between bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations.

7. Some aspects of the person and ministry of the bishop (criteria for selecting candidates to episcopacy, judicial function of the bishops, nature and course of ad limina apostolorum visits) from a missionary synodal perspective.

8. The role of papal representatives in a missionary synodal perspective.

9. Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.

10. The reception of the fruits of the ecumenical journey in ecclesial practices.

These selected themes were among a more extensive list of topics deemed “matters of great relevance” that came up during the synod’s first session in October 2023 that required consideration “at the level of the whole Church and in collaboration with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” according to the Dec. 12, 2023, document from the synod’s general secretariat titled “Towards October 2024.”

Observing that these issues require extensive review, Pope Francis noted that there is inadequate time to fully address them ahead of the synod in October. Therefore, he said, “the study groups will offer an initial account of their activity on the occasion of the second session and, if possible, will conclude their mandate by the month of June 2025.”

The pope said “it is the task of the General Secretariat of the Synod, by joint agreement with the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia, to constitute these groups, calling pastors and experts from all continents to take part in them, and taking into consideration not only existing studies but also the most relevant current experiences in the people of God gathered in the local Churches.”

“It is important that the aforementioned study groups work according to an authentically synodal method, of which I ask you to be the guarantor,” the pope continued in his letter to Grech.

At a press briefing at the Vatican on Thursday, officials of the Secretariat of the Synod discussed the pope’s letter as well as two new documents the secretariat released in conjunction with the letter.

The first document, titled “Five Perspectives for Theological Exploration in View of the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” reflects on the guiding theme of the synod: “How to Be a Synodal Church on Mission?”

It highlights that the next session will serve to deepen “the dynamic connection between the participation of all and the authority of some, in the horizon of communion and mission … in its theological meaning, in the practical ways of setting it in motion, and in the reality of canonical structures.”

The document also outlined the intermediary steps that are to be taken in the upcoming months in preparation for the synod, noting that this process will be built upon a “new consultation process,” articulating this will unfold on three distinct levels: the local Church, the groupings of Churches (i.e. national, regional, continental), and on the universal level.

The second document is titled “Study Groups on Questions Arising in the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to Deepen in Collaboration with the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.”

It is the second document that specifies that theme No. 5 — regarding matters related to ministerial forms — “is the context in which the question on the possible access of women to the diaconate can be appropriately posed.”

The study group formed to examine this question will be under the direction of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the document notes. This group “is entrusted with the task of continuing “theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate, taking advantage of the results of the commissions specially established by the Holy Father.”

The group’s work “will also aim to respond to the desire expressed by the Synodal Assembly for ‘a greater recognition and appreciation of the contribution of women and a growth in the pastoral responsibilities entrusted to them in all areas of the life and mission of the Church.”

Pope Francis takes on critics in forthcoming memoir, says he won’t be resigning

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has no plans to resign from office — though he says some in the Church wish he would. 

The pontiff addresses the topic in “Life: My Story Through History,” his forthcoming autobiography. Excerpts from the book, which explores in detail the most significant moments of the 87-year-old’s life up until the present day, were published March 14 by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. 

In the book, Pope Francis says that despite the criticism and medical issues he has faced during his 11-year pontificate, he considers the Petrine ministry to be “for life” and sees no conditions for resignation, barring serious physical impairment.

“Over the years, perhaps some people have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after hospitalization, I would make an announcement like this, but there is no such risk: Thanks to the Lord, I enjoy good health, and God willing, there are many projects still to realize.” 

The pope says that some are already focusing on who might succeed him, which he says was “only human,” but he also warns that this kind of speculation can be motivated by personal gain or “for profit in the newspapers.” 

Addressing criticism leveled against him during his more than 10 years as pontiff, the Argentinian pope acknowledges that he was hurt by those who claim that he is “destroying the papacy.” But he says that he would have to go to the psychologist once a week if he paid attention to all of the criticism, which he suggests is motivated by opposition to his desire to make the Church more pastoral and less monarchical. 

The pope also writes that it has “pained” him to see Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and lived in the Vatican as pope emeritus before passing away on Dec. 31, 2022, used against him for “ideological and political purposes” by “unscrupulous people who, not having accepted his resignation, have thought of their own gain and their own little garden to cultivate, underestimating the dramatic possibility of a fracture within the Church.” 

In the new book, Pope Francis also defends arguably the most divisive move of his papacy: the Vatican’s recent controversial approval of blessings for same-sex couples. The pope said that the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans confirms that “God loves everyone, especially sinners,” and that if some decide not to implement the guidance, as many bishops and some entire episcopal conferences have, “it does not mean that this is the antechamber of a schism, because the doctrine of the Church is not called into question.” 

While the pope says that marriage between people of the same sex is not a possibility, he reiterates his approval of civil unions, stating that “it is right that these people who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.” 

Twists, turns, and a ‘small crush’ 

The forthcoming autobiography reveals many details of the pope’s family history, upbringing, and ordained ministry — including several twists and turns and “near misses” along the way. 

For instance, the pope shares how his paternal grandparents and father were almost aboard an Italian ship that sank in 1927 en route to Argentina, resulting in the death of 300 emigrants. But the Bergoglio family didn’t have enough money to buy tickets and were providentially spared from the doomed voyage. 

Pope Francis also recounts how as a seminarian he developed a “small crush” on a young woman he met at his uncle’s wedding, whom he was “dazzled by.” 

“For a week I always had the image of her in my mind and it was difficult for me to pray! Then luckily [thoughts of her] passed, and I dedicated body and soul to my vocation.” 

Another near redirection occurred after World War II when the young Jesuit asked to go to Japan as a missionary. But his request was denied due to health concerns.

“If they had sent me to that mission land, my life would have taken a different path; and maybe someone in the Vatican would have been better off now,” the pope quips, referring to his detractors in the Curia. 

Francis also recounts some of the highlights of his ordained ministry, such as the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, but also the more difficult stretches, such as his experience during the Argentinian dictatorship of 1976–1983 and his “exile” into rural Argentina by his Jesuit superiors. 

“It was a period of purification,” the pope says of his years in Cordoba in the 1990s, which came about after mistakes he committed “due to my authoritarian attitude.” 

“I was very closed in on myself, a little depressed.” 

Important formative figures also factor into Pope Francis’ autobiography, including his paternal grandparents, Giovanni and Rosa, but also his boss while a student in a laboratory: a woman named Esther whom the pope describes as “a true communist.”

Abortion, surrogacy, and defacing art 

In “Life: My Story Through History,” Pope Francis also states his views on some of the most pressing issues facing the Church and society. 

He reiterates his description of abortion as “a criminal act” akin to hiring “hitmen.”  

“No more abortions, please! It is essential to always defend and promote conscientious objection.” 

The pope also condemns surrogacy as “inhuman,” as it “threatens the dignity of men and women, with children treated as commodities.” 

On the topic of the protection of creation, Pope Francis writes that “time is running out” to save the planet but urges activists to not resort to violence or “defacing works of art” in their efforts to push for change. 

The pope also emphasizes the need for the Church to follow Christ’s example of going to people on the margins in its care for same-sex-attracted and trans-identifying people, “who are often marginalized within the Church.” 

“Make them feel at home, especially those who have received baptism and are to all intents and purposes part of the people of God.”

Pope Francis co-wrote “Life: My Story Through History” with Fabio Marchese Ragona, a Vatican journalist and personal friend. The highly anticipated autobiography, which is being published in the United States and Europe by HarperCollins, is expected to be released in full on March 19. 

Blinken, Putin congratulate Pope Francis on 11th anniversary of election

Pope Francis presides greets pilgrims at a penitential service at St. Pius V Parish in Rome on March 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).

The international community on Wednesday sent congratulatory messages to Pope Francis to mark the 11th anniversary of his election to the pontificate, praising him for his leadership and peace initiatives over his nearly-dozen years at the Vatican. 

“Today, I join millions of Americans in congratulating the Holy Father on this anniversary as he continues his work of leading the Catholic Church and inspiring people around the globe to seek peace, charity, and compassion,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a March 13 statement

Blinken in his statement noted that the U.S. and the Vatican are “united by common values such as respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.” 

“We continue to work together to address the challenges of climate change, human trafficking, food security, and the humanitarian effects of conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere,” Blinken concluded. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Francis on his anniversary in an official correspondence on Wednesday, remarking that the pope is a “a true and honest defender of peace and one of the few leaders with an honest strategic vision of world problems.” 

The Russian Embassy to the Holy See also wrote a congratulatory message on X, calling the pope “a true and sincere advocate of humanism, peace and traditional values,” and “one of the few political leaders with a truly strategic viewpoint on world problems.” 

Other world leaders such as Tsai Ing-wen, the president of the Republic of China, expressed “profound respect” for the pope’s leadership over the last 11 years, lauding him for having “promot[ed] peace and goodwill, particularly in Ukraine and Palestine.”

Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, likewise reflected on the pope’s anniversary, noting his country’s “genuine dialogue and mutual understanding” with the Holy See, which has contributed “to preserving universal values and fostering solidarity among representatives of various religions and cultures.” 

Pope Francis — born Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was elected as the 265th successor to St. Peter on March 13, 2013, following the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He previously served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires in his native Argentina. 

Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, has centered his pontificate on the care of migrants, environmental protection, and building a Church that reaches out to the poor and the peripheries.

Vatican seeks to break new ground in Confucian and Christian dialogue

Confucius statue in Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China. / Credit: aphotostory/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Vatican sponsored a dialogue in Taiwan this week as the Catholic Church prepares to release official guidelines for engagement with Confucianism, one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China.

Father Paulin Kubuya, the undersecretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, traveled to New Taipei City for the meeting at Fu Jen Catholic University. He told CNA in an interview on March 12 upon his return to Rome that the guidelines could help Catholics in East Asia to navigate living out the faith amid their cultural traditions.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Kubuya is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is fluent in Chinese after serving as a Xaverian missionary in Taiwan. During his time as a missionary, he saw how converts to Catholicism wrestled with what to do with the traditions and rituals that they grew up with, such as veneration of one’s ancestors.

“Confucianism, until the 19th century, provided Chinese, Korean, Japanese [societies] with guidelines on how to conduct themselves,” the priest explained, adding that “The Analects of Confucius” still informs basic formation and education in Taiwan.

“For Asian Christians … this dialogue, these guidelines will be helpful, because it will enable them to dialogue with themselves,” he said.

The Vatican is drafting the guidelines with the goal of providing a valuable resource for individuals, organizations, and communities both within and beyond the Catholic Church that seek to engage in dialogue with followers of Confucianism, according to the dicastery.

The workshop in Taiwan was the fruit of more than two years of preparation. The Vatican’s interreligious dialogue office invited experts in Confucianism from around the world to share their insights in a series of online meetings leading up to the in-person meeting in Taiwan.

More work and study are required, according to Kubuya, who expects the guidelines to be finalized and published sometime next year.

“Hopefully by engaging Confucianism in a dialogue … a Christian coming from Asia and who is coming from that background, he will know the position of the Church, he will know how he can put together his cultural tradition and the faith that he has received and live in peace with it,” Kubuya said.

The Vatican’s current dialogue with Confucianism builds upon the work of pioneering Catholic missionaries in Asia in centuries past, like Venerable Matteo Ricci, the 17th-century Jesuit known for introducing Christianity to China’s imperial Ming Dynasty.

Ricci saw in Confucianism “a high culture” and engaged with the literati in the heart of the Imperial City of Beijing.

Later missionaries in China took issue with Confucian practices, particularly in what they saw as ancestor worship, giving rise to the Chinese Rites Controversy, explained Kubuya, who is the author of the book “Meaning and Controversy Within Chinese Ancestor Religion.”

The Vatican intervened in the matter on numerous occasions in the 17th and 18th centuries with Clement XI and Benedict XIV both banning Chinese rites. Two centuries later, Pius XII issued a decree in 1939 allowing Chinese Catholics to observe ancestral rites.

“In Taiwan, the Catholic community is tiny. It’s a minority community, but I always say that they are few, but very ripe because they are well determined and their Christian identity is very strong,” Kubuya said.

African priests witnessing to the Gospel in Asia

As a Xaverian missionary priest, Kubuya is aware that he is part of the continuation of the Church’s missionary legacy in Asia. 

The Xaverian order was founded by St. Guido Maria Conforti, a 19th-century Italian missionary who was inspired to carry on the missionary work of St. Francis Xavier, the 16th-Jesuit missionary in Asia who died before realizing his dream of evangelizing China.

Kubuya recalls that he was one of 12 Congolese priests serving as missionaries in Taiwan before he was called upon to serve in the Roman Curia.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

In Taiwan, “the idea that many Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians have is they think that Christian priests, missionaries are all foreigners, meaning Westerners, Americans, or Europeans, so by seeing us from Africa, they started understanding that actually the Church is very complex, is rich, and does not exclude. This was my experience,” he said.

“I think that our presence [in Asia] displays the catholicity of the Church, that the Church will work beyond colors, beyond languages,” he said. “That the Catholic Church is universal because we are coming from everywhere.”

Vatican’s ongoing dialogue with Taoism

The dialogue on Confucianism in New Taipei City, titled “Christians Fostering Dialogue with Confucians: Guidelines and Prospects,” was one of two workshops in Asia sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue this week. 

A second event on dialogue with Taoism is taking place in Hong Kong March 11–13, organized by the Vatican dicastery and titled “Cultivating a Harmonious Society through Interreligious Dialogue.”

Taoism is different from Confucianism in that it involves the worship of deities. The Vatican’s Taoism colloquium in Hong Kong focused on the themes of “Christian and Taoist Scriptural Foundations for Cultivating a Harmonious Society,” “Cultivating Harmony Through Worship and Liturgy,” “Tao/the Way and De/Virtue in Dialogue and Practice,” “Holiness in Taoism and Christianity,” and “Transmitting Religious Beliefs and Values in a Globalized World.”

Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, told Vatican News that he hopes the recognition of a shared spirit of service between Christianity and Taoism will help “the value and meaning of religion [to be] better appreciated in China.”

“The vision of the Taoist religion is to foster a movement of the world toward peace and unity, where humanity and the Way — we would say the ‘Logos’ — are connected,” the Jesuit cardinal said.

Christianity and Taoism “share the values of mercy, simplicity, and not striving for worldly achievements,” Chow said.

Pope Francis: Virtue enables us to have ‘a tendency towards the right choice’

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday opened a new chapter in his ongoing catechetical series on vices and virtues, shifting his reflection to the origins and nature of virtue itself and underscoring its value for human formation. 

“Virtue is a ‘habitus’ of freedom. If we are free in every act, and every time we are required to choose between good and evil, virtue is what enables us to have a tendency towards the right choice,” the pope observed in his weekly general audience held in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope did not read Wednesday’s address, instead relying on an aide to deliver the remarks on his behalf. The Holy Father has been assisted in his public remarks since late February when the Vatican announced he was suffering from “mild flu” symptoms. 

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Building upon the notion of virtue as an integral, and innate, characteristic that enables humans to differentiate between good and evil, the pope noted that “it is not an improvised or somewhat random good that falls from heaven sporadically” but “a goodness that stems from a slow maturation of the person, to the point of becoming an inner characteristic.” 

The Holy Father pointed to the saints, arguing that they should not be thought of as “the exceptions of humanity” or “a sort of restricted circle of champions who live beyond the limits of our species” but as “those who become themselves fully, who fulfill the vocation proper to every man or woman.” 

“Therefore,” the pope continued, “the exercise of the virtues is the fruit of long germination, requiring effort and even suffering.”

The Holy Father also stressed the importance of developing virtuous actions and attitudes against the backdrop of what he characterized as “these dramatic times of ours in which we often have to come to terms with the worst of humanity.” 

Pope Francis greets children gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets children gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“In a distorted world, we must remember the form in which we were shaped, the image of God that is forever imprinted upon us,” Francis continued. 

“What a happy world it would be if justice, respect, mutual benevolence, broadmindedness, and hope were the shared normality and not instead a rare anomaly,” the pope observed. 

Yet it is precisely because “the human heart can indulge evil passions,” which in turn “can pay heed to harmful temptations disguised in persuasive garb,” that the pope reminded the faithful that the human being is “not a free territory for the conquest of pleasures, emotions, instincts, passions.” 

Emphasizing again that “the human being is made for goodness,” the pope underscored that cultivating virtue, the “mirror image” of vice, is built upon “open-mindedness” and the “wisdom that can learn from mistakes,” a gift that comes from the Holy Spirit.  

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“The Holy Spirit acts in us who have been baptized, working in our soul to lead it to a virtuous life,” the pope said. “How many Christians have reached holiness through tears, finding they could not overcome some of their weaknesses!” 

“But they experienced that God completed that work of good that for them was only a sketch. Grace always precedes our moral commitment.”