The Vatican has made the unprecedented move of beatifying an entire Polish family for their “gesture of hospitality and care” in sheltering Jewish people during the Second World War.

The family-of-nine — a married couple and their small children — were murdered by the Nazis in 1944 after they were apparently betrayed.

Speaking during a Mass in the village of Markowa, in southeastern Poland, papal envoy Cardinal Marcello Semeraro read out the Latin formula of the beatification of the Ulma family signed last month by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Semeraro noted that for their “gesture of hospitality and care, of mercy” the Ulmas “paid the highest price of martyrdom”.

A contemporary painting representing Jozef and a pregnant Wiktoria Ulma with their children was revealed near the altar, and a procession brought relics taken from their grave to the altar.

It is the first time that an entire family has been beatified.

Speaking to the public from a window in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Francis said the Ulmas “represented a ray of light in the darkness” of the war and should be a model for everyone in “doing good and in the service of those in need”.

The pope then invited the crowd below to applaud the family, and he clapped his hands.

Those gathered in Markowa watched Francis’ address on giant screens placed by the altar.

Last year, Francis pronounced the deeply Catholic Ulma family, including the child that Wiktoria Ulma was pregnant with, martyrs for the faith.

The Ulmas were killed at home by German Nazi troops and by Nazi-controlled local police in the early hours of March 24 1944, together with the eight Jews they were hiding at their home, after they were apparently betrayed.

Jozef Ulma, 44, was a farmer, Catholic activist and amateur photographer who documented family and village life. He lived with his 31-year-old wife Wiktoria; their daughters Stanislawa, seven; Barbara, six; Maria, 18 months; and sons Wladyslaw, five; Franciszek, three; and Antoni, two.

With them were killed 70-year-old Saul Goldman with his sons Baruch, Mechel, Joachim and Mojzesz, along with Golda Grunfeld and her sister Lea Didner with her young daughter Reszla, according to Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, which has documented the Ulmas’ story.

Polish president Andrzej Duda along with the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, attended the celebration in Markowa, and thousands of pilgrims came from across Poland to take part.

In Poland, the Ulma family is a symbol of the bravery of thousands of Poles who took the utmost risk while helping Jews.

By the occupying Nazis’ decree, any assistance to Jews was punished with summary execution.

Poland was the first country to be invaded by Nazi Germany, on September 1 1939. Some six million of its citizens were killed during the war, half of them Jews.

The Vatican expressed “shame and sorrow” on Thursday over revelations that Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania sexually abused about 1,000 people over seven decades, vowing to hold abusers and those who protected them accountable.

In a long statement that broke the Vatican’s silence over a damning U.S. grand jury report that has shaken the American Church, spokesman Greg Burke said the Holy See was taking the report “with great seriousness”.

He stressed the “need to comply” with civil law, including mandatory reporting of abuse against minors and said Pope Francis understands how “these crimes can shake the faith and spirit of believers” and that the pontiff wanted to “root out this tragic horror”.

The grand jury on Tuesday released the findings of the largest-ever investigation of sex abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church, finding that 301 priests in the state had sexually abused minors over the past 70 years. It contained graphic examples of children being groomed and sexually abused by priests.

“The abuses described in the report are criminal and morally reprehensible. Those acts were betrayals of trust that robbed survivors of their dignity and their faith,” Burke said.

“The Church must learn hard lessons from its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers and those who permitted abuse to occur,” he said.

His statement came hours after U.S. bishops called for a Vatican-led probe backed by lay investigators into allegations of sexual abuse by former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who resigned last month.. The Vatican did not directly address their request.

Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation in July after American church officials said allegations that he sexually abused a 16-year-old boy almost 50 years ago were credible and substantiated.

McCarrick was possibly the first cardinal to resign since French theologian Louis Billot, who according to the National Catholic Reporter, a US newspaper, left over a disagreement with Pope Pius XI in 1927.

“The overarching goal in all of this is stronger protections against predators in the Church and anyone who would conceal them, protections that will hold bishops to the highest standards of transparency and accountability,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement.

The bishops said they would create a new way to report accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members and for claims to be investigated without interference from bishops overseeing priests accused of sex abuse. They said it would involve more church members who were not clergy but had expertise in law enforcement or psychology.

Nick Ingala, a spokesman for Voice of the Faithful, a group formed to promote parishioners’ voices after the abuse scandal surfaced, said it was heartening that bishops wanted to set up an independent review process but he expressed scepticism that it would be successful.

“I don’t know how they are going to work that out,” Ingala said in a telephone interview. “I’m always hesitant to give 100 percent credence to any plan the bishops put forth based upon experiences in the past.”

The Pennsylvania grand jury report was the latest revelation in a scandal that erupted onto the global stage in 2002, when the Boston Globe newspaper reported that for decades, priests had sexually assaulted minors while church leaders covered up their crimes.

Similar reports have emerged in Europe, Australia and Chile, prompting lawsuits and investigations, sending dioceses into bankruptcy and undercutting the moral authority of the leadership of the Catholic Church, which has some 1.2 billion members around the world.

]]> 7782 https://www.faith-matters.org/pope-recognises-decisive-measures-against-abuse-by-chiles-bishops/ Tue, 07 Aug 2018 08:50:33 +0000 https://www.faith-matters.org/?p=7632

Pope Francis recognised on Monday measures that Chile’s bishops said they would take to assist prosecutors investigating allegations of sex abuse that have plagued the Roman Catholic Church in Chile, including that they would work to reach an agreement with prosecutors on an exchange of information.

The pontiff wrote in a letter released to media on Monday by the Chilean Church that the steps taken at a conclave last week were “realistic and concrete” and that he was confident they would make a “decisive” difference.

After a week-long leadership conclave, the bishops asked for forgiveness, saying in a statement on Friday that they had failed to aid and accompany victims who had suffered “grave sins and injustices committed by priests and clergy.”

Fernando Ramos, secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference, said last Friday that they also wanted “to reach an agreement [with prosecutors] to assure a fluid exchange of information, one that meets our standards, as well as the requirements of the Public Ministry.”

Chilean law enforcement is investigating 38 accusations of sexual abuse against 73 bishops, clerics and lay workers, involving 104 victims.

“I was impressed by the reflection, discernment and decisions that were made,” the pope wrote. “But what struck me most was the example of a unified episcopal community. Thank you for this edifying example.”

Chilean prosecutors said last week that they had asked the government to submit a formal request to the Vatican for information about nine clergymen and lay workers who have been accused of sexual abuse of children.

“We will make public every prior investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children that has occurred in our jurisdictions. We will ask the same of officials at all religious congregations,” Santiago Silva, president of the Episcopal Conference, told reporters last week.

A senior Vatican official who last week made a historic visit to Saudi Arabia says he told authorities in the kingdom, where non-Muslim worship is banned, that Christians cannot be considered second-class citizens.

French cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran’s trip, the first by such a senior Catholic figure, raised hopes of more openness in the kingdom, which is home to Islam’s holiest sites but bans the practice of other faiths. It included a meeting with King Salman, his first with a Catholic official.

“I think all religions are faced with two dangers: terrorism and ignorance,” Tauran, who is head of the Vatican’s Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, told Vatican Radio.

“During my meetings, I insisted very much on this point, that Christians and non-Muslims are spoken of well in schools and that they are never considered second-class citizens,” he said.

Tauran, 75, who signed a cooperation accord with Saudi authorities, said he sensed that they wanted “to show that even in Saudi Arabia there is the possibility of discussion, and therefore of changing the country’s image”.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has promised to promote interfaith dialogue as part of his domestic reforms in the deeply conservative kingdom.

The young prince has rocketed to the pinnacle of power, pushing a reform agenda called Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the country off oil and introducing social changes.

As part of his push for a more moderate Islam, the crown prince has loosened social restrictions, scaling back the role of religious police and permitting public concerts. The government also announced plans to allow women to drive this year.

“The new generation can really help ‘change gears,’ in a certain sense,” Tauran said.

Tauran’s visit followed a flurry of meetings between senior Saudi figures and representatives of other Christian denominations.

Last month in London, the Crown Prince met the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican communion.

Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Patriarch visited Saudi Arabia in November. Patriarch Beshara al-Rai heads the Maronite church, which has a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus and follows an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church.

Most Christians in Saudi Arabia are migrant workers and diplomats. Since churches are banned, they worship in private homes.

In 1995, on the same day Rome’s first mosque opened with the Vatican’s blessing, the late Pope John Paul pointedly noted in a speech that “In some Islamic countries, similar signs of recognition of religious freedom are lacking”.

]]> 7297 https://www.faith-matters.org/pope-says-will-sincere-trump-vatican-meeting/ Sat, 13 May 2017 23:34:04 +0000 https://www.faith-matters.org/?p=6726

Pope Francis said on Saturday he would be “sincere” with U.S. President Donald Trump over their sharp differences on subjects such as immigration and climate change when the two hold their first meeting at the Vatican later this month.

But the pope also told reporters aboard a plane returning from Portugal that he would keep an open mind and not pass judgement on Trump until first listening to his views at their meeting on May 24.

“Even if one thinks differently we have to be very sincere about what each one thinks,” Francis said in a typically freewheeling airborne news conference.

“Topics will emerge in our conversations. I will say what I think and he will say what he thinks. But I have never wanted to make a judgement without first listening to the person.”

The pope’s meeting with Trump could be potentially awkward given their diametrically opposed positions on immigration, refugees and climate change, which he told reporters on the plane “are well known”.

Last year, in response to a question about then-candidate Trump’s views on immigration and his intention to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, Francis said a man with such views was “not Christian”.

Trump, who grew up in a Presbyterian family, shot back saying it was “disgraceful” for the pope to question his faith.

SEEKING COMMON GROUND

The two men also disagree strongly about climate change.

Trump signed an executive order dismantling Obama-era environmental legislation.

Francis has made defence of the environment a key plank of his papacy, strongly backing scientific opinion that global warming is caused mostly by human activity.

Still, Francis said he was willing to find common ground with Trump.

“There are always doors that are not closed. We need to find the doors that are at least partly open, go in, and talk about things we have in common and go forward, step by step,” he said.

Trump will visit the Vatican during a tour of the Middle East and Europe that will also include a meeting in Sicily of the leaders of the Group of Seven leading economies.

The pope is a head of state as well as being leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. Such meetings allow for an exchange of views on world affairs and a chance for the pope to encourage ethical solutions to world problems.

About 21 percent of Americans, or 70 million people, are Catholic. Washington has had full diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan saw Pope John Paul, a Pole, as a crucial ally against communism.

Pope Francis warned against religious fanaticism on Saturday, wrapping up a brief trip to Cairo where he urged Muslim leaders to unite against violence by Islamic militants threatening to rid the Middle East of its ancient Christian communities.

Francis’ trip comes three weeks after Islamic State killed at least 45 people in attacks on two Egyptian churches. He has used the visit to launch a strong appeal for religious freedom and to accuse extremists of distorting the nature of God.

After a dense first day of meetings with political and religious leaders, the highlight on Saturday was a Mass in the Air Defence Stadium, where Vatican officials said 15,000 people gathered, among them Coptic bishops and senior Anglican figures.

Crowds arrived early, waving Egyptian and Vatican flags and braving intense security measures to welcome Francis, who toured the sun-drenched stadium in a golf buggy to the sound of hymns performed by a choir and orchestra.

He blessed Egypt as one of the earliest nations to embrace Christianity and repeated his plea for tolerance.

“True faith leads us to protect the rights of others with the same zeal and enthusiasm with which we defend our own,” he told the crowd in the heavily guarded arena.

“The only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity. Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him,” he said in his homily.

In a series of speeches during his two-day stay, the pope has delivered his bluntest denunciations yet against religious violence, and has appeared to endorse Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign against Islamist militants.

However, he nuanced his message by lamenting the rise of “demagogic forms of populism” — a possible reference to right-wing nationalist parties in Europe pushing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim agendas.

He also defended human rights — which non-governmental organisations have accused Sisi’s administration of abusing.

“History does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practise injustice,” he said in a speech on Friday, sharing the stage with Sisi, who warmly applauded his words.

STRICT SECURITY

The unusual choice of venue for Saturday’s religious service highlights the security concerns surrounding the trip.

Helicopter gunships circled the perimeter of the stadium and armoured military vehicles patrolled the streets of the Egyptian capital on Saturday. Police in white uniforms were positioned every few metres (yards) on a Nile bridge that the pope crossed.

The 80-year-old pope himself declined the use of an armoured limousine, preferring instead to travel in an ordinary Fiat car with its window wound down so he could be closer to onlookers.

“The visit really supports national unity and shows that there is no fear but a fear of God,” said Ehab Moheiy, 54, who attended the Mass. “Despite the bombings, the pope came and a celebration like this took place.”

Francis had lunch with Egyptian bishops and later led prayers at a Catholic seminary in the south of Cairo, the final step of his 27-hour stay.

The visit was the first by Francis to Cairo but the second by a Catholic pope. Pope John Paul II came to Egypt in 2000, a year before the September 11 attacks on the United States that convulsed Western relations with the Muslim world.

“His two days in Egypt have turned Egypt into a paradise,” Father Panteleimon, a priest from the north of the country, said enthusiastically after the open-air Mass. “Today is a celebration, today is a festival. Egypt is happy.”

Egypt’s Christians comprise 10 percent of the 92 million population, the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Most Egyptian Christians are Coptic Orthodox, while barely 200,000 are members of Churches within the Roman Catholic fold.

While Egypt has escaped the sort of sectarian violence that has decimated ancient Christian communities in Syria and Iraq, it is under threat from Islamic State militants who launched a campaign in December to wipe out Egypt’s Christians, carrying out three church attacks that have killed more than 70 people.

The campaign presents a challenge for Sisi, who has vowed to crush Islamist extremist and is fighting a long-running insurgency in North Sinai, where Islamic State murders have forced hundreds of Copts to flee.

Sisi, who declared a three-month state of emergency after the Palm Sunday church attacks, appealed for more international cooperation to combat terrorism when he met Francis on Friday.

The Vatican on Friday condemned a right-wing Catholic radio station that said a series of earthquakes that hit Italy in the past three months was “God’s punishment” for the country approving same-sex civil unions.

“These remarks are offensive for believers and scandalous for non-believers,” Deputy Secretary of State Archbishop Angelo Becciu was quoted as saying by Italian media.

He asked for forgiveness from the victims of the earthquakes for the comments, made by an announcer this week on the Catholic radio network Radio Maria.

The announcer said the quakes, including one in August that killed nearly 300 people and levelled towns and churches in central Italy, was “God’s punishment” for human sins. He said these included the approval last May of same-sex civil unions .

The same region was struck in late October by the country’s biggest quake in decades, which caused widespread damage but no deaths or critical injuries.

Becciu said Radio Maria, which has come under criticism in the past for comments seen as anti-Semitic, had to “moderate the tone of its language” and conform to the Church’s message of mercy.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor, will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at a Vatican ceremony on September 4th.

Pope Francis cleared the way for sainthood for her last December. Teresa’s compassion reached out to slum-dwellers, famine sufferers and AIDS victims, and won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Born in Yugoslavia in 1910, Teresa traveled to India at age 18 and taught geography at a convent school. Twenty years later she opened her first school in the Calcutta slums.

She was honored by many world and religious leaders including the Pope, Indian Premiers Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, and British Queen Elizabeth II.

Pope Francis lit the Christmas tree and nativity scene in Assisi. From a distance in the Vatican, he performed the ceremony online on December 7.

In attendance at the lower piazza of the Basilica San Francesco were 31 refugees from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria and Syria. The other invited guest included the Naval officer who assisted in their rescue. All stood alongside local residents as the Christmas tree lit up.

#Assisi,accensione delle luci del presepe: “Anche quella volta siamo arrivati in tempo per salvare una vita in mare” pic.twitter.com/uF4abIu5zc

— Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015

Papa Francesco accende le luci del presepe di #Assisi. Comandante nave #MarinaMilitare porterà la sua testimonianza pic.twitter.com/7hoMEVj0H2

— Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 6, 2015

At the foot of the tree stands a nativity scene crafted into the boat used by those who arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa from Tunisia in 2014.

The Italian State Railway and Italian Navy also handed out toys to families in need.

Staff at the Basilica, the Conventual Franciscan Friars, dedicated the tree and “this Christmas to immigrants“.

In a translated address, according to Vatican Radio, Francis thanked the Coast Guard. He said: “I would like to thank the [members of the] Coast Guard: the good men and women. I thank you, for you were the instrument of hope that brings us Jesus.”

And in reference all refugees, Pope Francis said: “I say a word, that of the prophet: Raise your head, the Lord is near. And with him is strength, salvation, hope. The heart, perhaps, [is] sorrowful, but the head [is] high in the hope of the Lord.”

This follows a statement he made back in October that: “At the heart of the Gospel of mercy, the encounter and acceptance by others are intertwined with the encounter and acceptance of God himself”.

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