Latest news with #CatholicChurches
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Local priest reacts to newly elected pope
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — History is made as the Catholic Church gets its first American born pope. Earlier today, white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel and shortly after that Robert Prevost was named Pope Leo XIV. Now we are hearing from the local Catholic community about the significance of a new pope. Father Patrick at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church says just from what he's seen today he believes that Pope Leo XIV will be a successful pope. He also tells Ozarks First that he has had a blessed few weeks because he was fortunate enough to attend Pope Francis's funeral. 'I must say that there was a moment of pause, just a moment of pause and a moment of silence because what you're looking at is a man who for 12 years actually reminded us about the presence of Jesus and reminded us about what Jesus actually was in this life. So that was very special for me to be able to be part of that,' says Father Patrick Nwokoye, who was in Rome at the time of Pope Francis's death. He had travelled there to attend the canonization of Carlo Acutis, which was then cancelled due the pope's passing. He then stayed to attend the funeral. Now, nearly two weeks later Robert Prevost has been named Pope Leo XIV. He is 267th in the churches history and is the first to be born in the United States. Multiple people off camera today at Catholic Churches in Springfield told Ozarks First they are excited to see someone born in the United States lead the church. Pope Leo XIV's father is of French and Italian decent and his mother is of Spanish decent. Father Patrick says that the new pope being born in the United States is very significant for the church but believes it the pope's ties to places around the world will help him be great. 'It has never happened before,' says Father Patrick Nwokoye. 'So this is a big thing that we have a pope that is from Chicago who has a tie to France. So, this is a big thing. But I think this this pope is going to be good for the church.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Maverick
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
In the wake of Pope Francis, who will champion humanity against the rising tide of greed and corruption?
The death of Pope Francis, one of the most humane and beloved of Catholic pontiffs, leaves the world's vulnerable and oppressed with one less voice against the cacophony of tongues of fire from evangelicals such as Paula White. White was Donald Trump's 'spiritual and campaign adviser' during his 2016 bid for the US presidency. Paula White Ministries now has an online store selling trinkets and blessings, and takes 'offerings' in return. Trump himself is selling a personalised 'God Bless the USA Bible', which will set you back about $60. Like a Vatican trinket shop selling blessed rosaries and bracelets of saints, Trump has set himself up as the Orange Pope of prosperity religion — his own prosperity. Moral compass Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the first Latin American pontiff, and the world that shaped him also guided his moral compass and his understanding of the poor, the oppressed, the marginalised and the powerful role of the church. As former archbishop of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, he chose Francis as his papal name, after St Francis of Assisi – the saint of prayer and peace. In a world where the richest man, Elon Musk, has claimed that 'empathy' is 'suicidal' for Western society and that technology, instead, will save humankind, a strong, moral countervoice is desperately needed. Who will it be? Scandals in the church The Catholic community numbers about 1.4 billion and is regarded as the largest church globally. Its head has enormous influence over the lives of these believers. Pope Francis' most pressing challenge was — and remained — the scandals of child sex abuse and predatory priests around the globe. The Church of England has also had to deal with this phenomenon, as have other religious institutions. It was Francis who made the reporting of abuse by clergy mandatory, the turning point occurring on a 2018 trip to Chile, where a paedophilia scandal had caused outrage. In February 2019, former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick was defrocked by Francis in a historic first after his sexual abuse of a teenager in the 1970s. In the same month, 114 heads of bishops conferences from around the world met with the head of the eastern Catholic Churches for a four-day summit on the protection of minors convened by the pontiff. In 2023, Pope Francis also waived the statute of limitations with regard to a Slovenian priest, Marko Rupnik, who abused a community of religious women in the 1990s. It was a start. Small men, big mouths That the vituperative US Vice-President JD Vance should be one of the last visitors to Pope Francis before he died is serendipitous. A portent, perhaps. Vance is a recent convert to Catholicism and met the pontiff on the morning of Sunday, 21 April 2025, to exchange 'Easter greetings'. Tensions between the US and the Vatican were heightened when the pope rebutted Vance's earlier claim that US actions with regard to immigrants were justified by ordo amoris, medieval Catholic theology of 'rightly ordered love', which Vance had invoked. Vance said there was 'a clear hierarchy of care, and that compassion should be focused on one's community and fellow citizens before it is extended to the rest of the world'. Christian love, the pope schooled him, is one which builds fraternity and is open to all without exception. A final plea Before his death, Pope Francis decried the hate towards 'others' such as migrants and refugees in his Easter Sunday address. 'How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalised, and migrants!' the pope said. 'On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas.' He leaves the world — the Catholic world and the world at large — with a huge vacuum and task: to elevate the voices of the just over the noise of the babblers. While on a trip to Mexico, Francis criticised Trump's 2016 plan to build a wall along the border, noting that 'a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel.' Pope Francis cast his gaze far and wide in the modern world, criticising right-wing populism and calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. Before his death, he called for peace in Gaza, noting that he was thinking of 'the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation'. DM
The Hindu
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Clerical sex abuse: Pope Francis's thorniest challenge
When Pope Francis took over in 2013, the Catholic Church was embroiled in a global scandal over child sex abuse by priests, and the institution's attempts to cover it up. Pope Francis death LIVE: The pontiff sanctioned top clergy and made reporting abuse mandatory, but victims said more can and must be done. Criticised commission In December 2014, Pope Francis established an international panel of experts to recommend how to protect minors, but the commission was mired in controversy from the start. Two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, including Marie Collins, who was raped by a priest in Ireland when she was 13 years old and who decried as 'shameful' the lack of cooperation from Vatican officials. Also read: Pope updates canon law to address paedophilia by priests In March 2023, the commission's last remaining founding member, prominent German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, resigned expressing concerns over 'responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency'. Turning point in Chile Pope Francis's trip in January 2018 to Chile, where a clerical paedophilia scandal had caused outrage, was a turning point. Pope Francis initially defended a Chilean bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest, demanding the accusers show proof of his guilt. He later admitted making 'grave mistakes' in the case — a first for a pope. He summoned all of Chile's bishops to the Vatican, after which they all submitted their resignations. McCarrick affair In February 2019, in a historic first, Pope Francis defrocked former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick had been known for having sex with adult seminarians, and the year before, the Vatican's former ambassador to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, accused Pope Francis of ignoring years of allegations against the cardinal. A Vatican report in 2020 acknowledged errors by the Catholic hierarchy and found former pope John Paul II ignored advice against promoting McCarrick, but largely absolved Pope Francis. Unprecedented summitv In February 2019, the pope convened the heads of 114 bishops conferences from around the world with the head of the eastern Catholic Churches and superiors of religious congregations for a four-day summit on 'the protection of minors'. It heard devastating accounts from abuse survivors and searing criticism from within the Church. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a close adviser to the pope, dropped the bombshell that bishops' offices might have destroyed files on clerical abuse suspects. The pope promised an 'all-out battle' against abuse, comparing child sex abuse to human sacrifice. Legal changes In December 2019, the pope made complaints, testimonies and documents from internal Church trials available to lay courts. Victims were able to access their files and any judgements. The same year, he made it compulsory to report suspicions of sexual assault or harassment to Church authorities — and any attempt at a cover-up. In 2021, the Catholic Church updated its criminal code for the first time in nearly 40 years to include an explicit mention of sexual abuse by priests against minors and disabled people. However, victims continued to complain that clergy were still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remained sacrosanct. A mixed record On his foreign trips from Canada to Belgium Pope Francis met with survivors of abuse and regularly issued calls for forgiveness. But while he did the most of any pope to combat the scourge, campaigners say he has never acknowledged what might be the 'systemic' causes of abuse within the Church. He was criticised for not meeting the authors of a major report into sexual abuse within the Church in France, and urging caution in interpreting its claim that, about 330,000 minors had been abused over 70 years. Critics also say he should have been more decisive with Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest and world-renowned mosaic artist accused of abusing a community of adult religious women in the 1990s. Under pressure, the pope waived the statute of limitations in 2023 to allow potential disciplinary proceedings.
Herald Malaysia
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Herald Malaysia
Clerical sex abuse: Pope Francis' thorniest challenge
Campaigners say he never acknowledged what might be the 'systemic' causes of abuse within the Church Apr 21, 2025 A portrait of Pope Francis is seen on the phone of a faithful while travelling in the subway heading to Buenos Aires Cathedral on April 21, following the death of Pope Francis in the Vatican. (Photo: AFP) By AFP When Pope Francis took over in 2013, the Catholic Church was embroiled in a global scandal over child sex abuse by priests and the institution's attempts to cover it up. The pontiff sanctioned top clergy and made reporting abuse mandatory, but victims said more can and must be done. Criticized commission In December 2014, Pope Francis established an international panel of experts to recommend how to protect minors, but the commission was mired in controversy from the start. Two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, including Marie Collins, who was raped by a priest in Ireland when she was 13 years old and who decried as "shameful" the lack of cooperation from Vatican officials. In March 2023, the commission's last remaining founding member, prominent German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, resigned, expressing concerns over "responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency." Turning point in Chile Pope Francis' trip in January 2018 to Chile, where a clerical paedophilia scandal had caused outrage, was a turning point. Francis initially defended a Chilean bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest, demanding the accusers show proof of his guilt. He later admitted making "grave mistakes" in the case -- a first for a pope. He summoned all of Chile's bishops to the Vatican, after which they all submitted their resignations. McCarrick affair In February 2019, in a historic first, Pope Francis defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick had been known for having sex with adult seminarians, and the year before, the Vatican's former ambassador to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, accused Pope Francis of ignoring years of allegations against the cardinal. A Vatican report in 2020 acknowledged errors by the Catholic hierarchy and found former pope John Paul II ignored advice against promoting McCarrick, but largely absolved Francis. Unprecedented summit In February 2019, the pope convened the heads of 114 bishops' conferences from around the world with the head of the eastern Catholic Churches and superiors of religious congregations for a four-day summit on "the protection of minors." It heard devastating accounts from abuse survivors and searing criticism from within the Church. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a close adviser to the pope, dropped the bombshell that bishops' offices might have destroyed files on clerical abuse suspects. The pope promised an "all-out battle" against abuse, comparing child sex abuse to human sacrifice. Legal changes In December 2019, the pope made complaints, testimonies and documents from internal Church trials available to lay courts. Victims were able to access their files and any judgements. The same year, he made it compulsory to report suspicions of sexual assault or harassment to Church authorities -- and any attempt at a cover-up. In 2021, the Catholic Church updated its criminal code for the first time in nearly 40 years to include an explicit mention of sexual abuse by priests against minors and disabled people. However, victims continued to complain that clergy were still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remained sacrosanct. A mixed record On his foreign trips from Canada to Belgium, Pope Francis met with survivors of abuse and regularly issued calls for forgiveness. But while he did the most of any pope to combat the scourge, campaigners say he has never acknowledged what might be the "systemic" causes of abuse within the Church. He was criticised for not meeting the authors of a major report into sexual abuse within the Church in France, and urging caution in interpreting its claim that about 330,000 minors had been abused over 70 years. Critics also say he should have been more decisive with Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest and world-renowned mosaic artist, accused of abusing a community of adult religious women in the 1990s. Under pressure, the pope waived the statute of limitations in 2023 to allow potential disciplinary
News.com.au
21-04-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Clerical sex abuse: Pope Francis's thorniest challenge
When Pope Francis took over in 2013, the Catholic Church was embroiled in a global scandal over child sex abuse by priests, and the institution's attempts to cover it up. The pontiff sanctioned top clergy and made reporting abuse mandatory, but victims said more can and must be done. - Criticised commission - In December 2014, Pope Francis established an international panel of experts to recommend how to protect minors, but the commission was mired in controversy from the start. Two members representing abuse survivors resigned in 2017, including Marie Collins, who was raped by a priest in Ireland when she was 13 years old and who decried as "shameful" the lack of cooperation from Vatican officials. In March 2023, the commission's last remaining founding member, prominent German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, resigned expressing concerns over "responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency". - Turning point in Chile - Pope Francis's trip in January 2018 to Chile, where a clerical paedophilia scandal had caused outrage, was a turning point. Francis initially defended a Chilean bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest, demanding the accusers show proof of his guilt. He later admitted making "grave mistakes" in the case -- a first for a pope. He summoned all of Chile's bishops to the Vatican, after which they all submitted their resignations. - McCarrick affair - In February 2019, in a historic first, Pope Francis defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick had been known for having sex with adult seminarians, and the year before, the Vatican's former ambassador to the United States, Carlo Maria Vigano, accused Pope Francis of ignoring years of allegations against the cardinal. A Vatican report in 2020 acknowledged errors by the Catholic hierarchy and found former pope John Paul II ignored advice against promoting McCarrick, but largely absolved Francis. - Unprecedented summit - In February 2019, the pope convened the heads of 114 bishops conferences from around the world with the head of the eastern Catholic Churches and superiors of religious congregations for a four-day summit on "the protection of minors". It heard devastating accounts from abuse survivors and searing criticism from within the Church. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, a close adviser to the pope, dropped the bombshell that bishops' offices might have destroyed files on clerical abuse suspects. The pope promised an "all-out battle" against abuse, comparing child sex abuse to human sacrifice. - Legal changes - In December 2019, the pope made complaints, testimonies and documents from internal Church trials available to lay courts. Victims were able to access their files and any judgements. The same year, he made it compulsory to report suspicions of sexual assault or harassment to Church authorities -- and any attempt at a cover-up. In 2021, the Catholic Church updated its criminal code for the first time in nearly 40 years to include an explicit mention of sexual abuse by priests against minors and disabled people. However, victims continued to complain that clergy were still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remained sacrosanct. - A mixed record - On his foreign trips from Canada to Belgium Pope Francis met with survivors of abuse and regularly issued calls for forgiveness. But while he did the most of any pope to combat the scourge, campaigners say he has never acknowledged what might be the "systemic" causes of abuse within the Church. He was criticised for not meeting the authors of a major report into sexual abuse within the Church in France, and urging caution in interpreting its claim that, about 330,000 minors had been abused over 70 years. Critics also say he should have been more decisive with Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest and world-renowned mosaic artist accused of abusing a community of adult religious women in the 1990s. Under pressure, the pope waived the statute of limitations in 2023 to allow potential disciplinary proceedings. cmk/ar/sbk
