Latest news with #GermanCatholics
AsiaOne
10-05-2025
- Business
- AsiaOne
What's in the new pope's in-tray: Financial woes, doctrinal rows, World News
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV, the 267th leader of the global Catholic Church and the first US pontiff, will face a number of major challenges following his surprise election on Thursday (May 8). Here is a quick rundown. Budget woes The Vatican, despite the late Pope Francis' cost-cutting efforts and financial management reforms, faces an 83-million-euro (S$121 million) budget shortfall, two knowledgeable sources have told Reuters, and a much larger funding gap in its pension fund. The pension shortfall was estimated to total some 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned. Faith crisis in Europe While the total number of Catholics, as measured by the number of baptised, keeps increasing and has surpassed the 1.4 billion mark, mostly thanks to growth in Africa, Church attendance and priestly vocations are dwindling in Europe. In Germany, the EU's most populous nation, the national bishops' conference reported earlier this year that only 29 new priests had been ordained in the country in 2024, an historic low. They also said around 321,000 German Catholics had left the Church that year. The total number of Catholics in Germany, whose population of 83 million was once about half Catholic, is now under 20 million. Divorcees, LGBT, women Under Francis, tensions between traditionalists and modernisers erupted over whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBT community and divorcees, and let women play a greater role in church affairs. Francis did not formally change church doctrine, but opened the door to communion for divorcees and blessings for same-sex couples, although he did not allow a relaxation of priestly celibacy rules or the ordination of women deacons. The debate over whether to consolidate, expand or roll back these reforms is likely to continue in the coming years, if not decades, forcing the new pope into some sort of balancing act between opposing demands. Child abuse The new pope is destined to continue grappling with the scandal of clerical sex abuse and its cover up, which has dogged the global Catholic Church for at least three decades, seriously undermining its standing. Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI committed themselves to a policy of zero tolerance, but their reforms have delivered at best partial results, with uneven implementation across different continents. Diplomacy Argentine Francis, the first pope from the so-called Global South, was not afraid to use his moral pulpit to ruffle Western feathers. He spearheaded a controversial Vatican deal with China on the appointment of bishops, had fraught relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, and at times appeared to urge Ukraine to give up on its war of defence against Russia. He was a vocal campaigner for action on climate change and a critic of tough European and US immigration policies, putting himself at odds with US President Donald Trump after he called Trump's plans to deport millions of migrants a disgrace. Will the new pope be willing to continue in the same vein? ALSO READ: Prevost, first US pope, supported Francis and shunned spotlight
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Factbox-What's in the new pope's in-tray: financial woes, doctrinal rows
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Leo XIV, the 267th leader of the global Catholic Church and the first U.S. pontiff, will face a number of major challenges following his surprise election on Thursday. Here is a quick rundown. BUDGET WOES The Vatican, despite the late Pope Francis' cost-cutting efforts and financial management reforms, faces an 83-million-euro ($94.22 million) budget shortfall, two knowledgeable sources have told Reuters, and a much larger funding gap in its pension fund. The pension shortfall was estimated to total some 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned. FAITH CRISIS IN EUROPE While the total number of Catholics, as measured by the number of baptised, keeps increasing and has surpassed the 1.4 billion mark, mostly thanks to growth in Africa, Church attendance and priestly vocations are dwindling in Europe. In Germany, the EU's most populous nation, the national bishops' conference reported earlier this year that only 29 new priests had been ordained in the country in 2024, an historic low. They also said around 321,000 German Catholics had left the Church that year. The total number of Catholics in Germany, whose population of 83 million was once about half Catholic, is now under 20 million. DIVORCEES, LGBT, WOMEN Under Francis, tensions between traditionalists and modernisers erupted over whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBT community and divorcees, and let women play a greater role in church affairs. Francis did not formally change church doctrine, but opened the door to communion for divorcees and blessings for same-sex couples, although he did not allow a relaxation of priestly celibacy rules or the ordination of women deacons. The debate over whether to consolidate, expand or roll back these reforms is likely to continue in the coming years, if not decades, forcing the new pope into some sort of balancing act between opposing demands. CHILD ABUSE The new pope is destined to continue grappling with the scandal of clerical sex abuse and its cover up, which has dogged the global Catholic Church for at least three decades, seriously undermining its standing. Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI committed themselves to a policy of zero tolerance, but their reforms have delivered at best partial results, with uneven implementation across different continents. DIPLOMACY Argentine Francis, the first pope from the so-called Global South, was not afraid to use his moral pulpit to ruffle Western feathers. He spearheaded a controversial Vatican deal with China on the appointment of bishops, had fraught relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, and at times appeared to urge Ukraine to give up on its war of defence against Russia. He was a vocal campaigner for action on climate change and a critic of tough European and U.S. immigration policies, putting himself at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump after he called Trump's plans to deport millions of migrants a disgrace. Will the new pope be willing to continue in the same vein? ($1 = 0.8809 euros)
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
What's in the new pope's in-tray: financial woes, doctrinal rows
VATICAN CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - Pope Leo XIV, the 267th leader of the global Catholic Church and the first U.S. pontiff, will face a number of major challenges following his surprise election on Thursday. Here is a quick rundown. The Vatican, despite the late Pope Francis' cost-cutting efforts and financial management reforms, faces an 83-million-euro ($94.22 million) budget shortfall, two knowledgeable sources have told Reuters, and a much larger funding gap in its pension fund. The pension shortfall was estimated to total some 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned. While the total number of Catholics, as measured by the number of baptised, keeps increasing and has surpassed the 1.4 billion mark, mostly thanks to growth in Africa, Church attendance and priestly vocations are dwindling in Europe. In Germany, the EU's most populous nation, the national bishops' conference reported earlier this year that only 29 new priests had been ordained in the country in 2024, an historic low. They also said around 321,000 German Catholics had left the Church that year. The total number of Catholics in Germany, whose population of 83 million was once about half Catholic, is now under 20 million. Under Francis, tensions between traditionalists and modernisers erupted over whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBT community and divorcees, and let women play a greater role in church affairs. Francis did not formally change church doctrine, but opened the door to communion for divorcees and blessings for same-sex couples, although he did not allow a relaxation of priestly celibacy rules or the ordination of women deacons. The debate over whether to consolidate, expand or roll back these reforms is likely to continue in the coming years, if not decades, forcing the new pope into some sort of balancing act between opposing demands. The new pope is destined to continue grappling with the scandal of clerical sex abuse and its cover up, which has dogged the global Catholic Church for at least three decades, seriously undermining its standing. Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI committed themselves to a policy of zero tolerance, but their reforms have delivered at best partial results, with uneven implementation across different continents. Argentine Francis, the first pope from the so-called Global South, was not afraid to use his moral pulpit to ruffle Western feathers. He spearheaded a controversial Vatican deal with China on the appointment of bishops, had fraught relations with Israel over the war in Gaza, and at times appeared to urge Ukraine to give up on its war of defence against Russia. He was a vocal campaigner for action on climate change and a critic of tough European and U.S. immigration policies, putting himself at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump after he called Trump's plans to deport millions of migrants a disgrace. Will the new pope be willing to continue in the same vein? ($1 = 0.8809 euros)
The Independent
26-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
German Catholic Church condemns provocative carnival float linking Jesus to church sex abuse
Germany's Catholic Church has sharply criticized a carnival float made for a big street parade in the western city of Cologne that linked Jesus with the church abuse scandal. The float, which was unveiled Tuesday, shows an altar boy in front of a confessional with an arm sticking out and an outstretched hand luring the boy inside. On the side of the confessional, bold letters read 'Jesus loves you.' The Cologne archdiocese condemned the float as 'tasteless.' 'The inscription on the confessional — 'Jesus loves you' — directly associates Jesus, the Son of God, with the abuse,' it wrote in a letter published Tuesday on its website. 'It is suggested that Jesus himself is sitting in the confessional and wants to pull the altar boy into it with a wave of his hand; at the very least, Jesus is being instrumentalized here,' the letter said. The floats for Cologne's annual Shrove Monday parade are famous for poking fun at the powerful and mockingly referring to controversies. But the church's reaction suggested that the city's carnival committee went too far this time. 'If one assumes that the Son of God is partly responsible for the terrible acts of abuse that have also and especially occurred in the Catholic Church, a line has been crossed that cannot be justified for any reason in the world,' the archdiocese's letter said. Several members of the center-right Christian Democratic party, including a former Cologne mayor, also expressed anger over the float. In a letter they said the image, 'which cannot be surpassed in terms of embarrassment and tastelessness, should not belittle the Cologne Shrove Monday procession and carnival as a whole,' German news agency dpa reported. Cologne is a traditionally Catholic city, known for its iconic, double-domed cathedral. It was one of the most important European places of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. However, many German Catholics, also in Cologne, have turned their backs on the churc h in recent years. Many say they felt betrayed by the scale of the sex abuse allegations and disappointed by what they describe as inadequate prosecution of perpetrators by the church. In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys. The head of the Cologne Carnival Committee, Christoph Kuckelhorn, rejected any criticism of the provocative float. 'It's not the depiction of abuse that is tasteless and embarrassing, but rather the abuse itself and how it is dealt with,' Kuckelkorn told dpa, adding that carnival is all about satire and to make people think.
Associated Press
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
German Catholic Church condemns provocative carnival float linking Jesus to church sex abuse
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Germany's Catholic Church has sharply criticized a carnival float made for a big street parade in the western city of Cologne that linked Jesus with the church abuse scandal. The float, which was unveiled Tuesday, shows an altar boy in front of a confessional with an arm sticking out and an outstretched hand luring the boy inside. On the side of the confessional, bold letters read 'Jesus loves you.' The Cologne archdiocese condemned the float as 'tasteless.' 'The inscription on the confessional — 'Jesus loves you' — directly associates Jesus, the Son of God, with the abuse,' it wrote in a letter published Tuesday on its website. 'It is suggested that Jesus himself is sitting in the confessional and wants to pull the altar boy into it with a wave of his hand; at the very least, Jesus is being instrumentalized here,' the letter said. The floats for Cologne's annual Shrove Monday parade are famous for poking fun at the powerful and mockingly referring to controversies. But the church's reaction suggested that the city's carnival committee went too far this time. 'If one assumes that the Son of God is partly responsible for the terrible acts of abuse that have also and especially occurred in the Catholic Church, a line has been crossed that cannot be justified for any reason in the world,' the archdiocese's letter said. Several members of the center-right Christian Democratic party, including a former Cologne mayor, also expressed anger over the float. In a letter they said the image, 'which cannot be surpassed in terms of embarrassment and tastelessness, should not belittle the Cologne Shrove Monday procession and carnival as a whole,' German news agency dpa reported. Cologne is a traditionally Catholic city, known for its iconic, double-domed cathedral. It was one of the most important European places of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. However, many German Catholics, also in Cologne, have turned their backs on the churc h in recent years. Many say they felt betrayed by the scale of the sex abuse allegations and disappointed by what they describe as inadequate prosecution of perpetrators by the church. In 2018, a church-commissioned report concluded that at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy in Germany between 1946 and 2014. More than half of the victims were 13 or younger, and nearly a third served as altar boys. The head of the Cologne Carnival Committee, Christoph Kuckelhorn, rejected any criticism of the provocative float. 'It's not the depiction of abuse that is tasteless and embarrassing, but rather the abuse itself and how it is dealt with,' Kuckelkorn told dpa, adding that carnival is all about satire and to make people think.
