(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Thursday announced a significant reorganisation of the principle monastery of the Benedictine Order, located at Montecassino in Italy’s southern Campania region. A large part of the land, including 53 parishes with 37 priests and 50 women religious, which have been under the jurisdiction of the Abbey will be transferred to the local diocese of Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo. At the same time Pope Francis also appointed Abbot Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., as the new abbot of Montecassino.
A note issued by the Holy See Press Office said that since the Second Vatican Council the Church has been in the process of consolidating the role of abbots as fathers of the their religious communities, rather than Ordinaries who have to care for all the pastoral activities of their ecclesiastical territories.
The note says that in his 1976 Motu proprio “Catholica Ecclesia,” Pope Paul VI followed up on the suggestions of the bishops at the Second Vatican Council that no more territorial Abbeys should be established and that the existing ones should be either “more suitably defined” in terms of their territory or transformed into other ecclesiastical territories. The objective, the note says, was to encourage a more specific identity and legal definition which corresponded to the life of the monastic community, while at the same time ensuring that those living under the territorial Abbeys could enjoy the kind of pastoral care they needed in the modern world.
In order to promote this objective, in accordance with the agreements signed with the Italian State and in order to respect the great historic and cultural heritage of these territorial Abbeys, it was agreed that existing Abbeys in Italy would not be closed down, but would rather be limited to the area directly connected to the monastic community, namely the hermitage and related buildings.
Finally the note says that after lengthy reflection and careful consultation, the Holy See has decided that the time has come to bring Montecassino Abbey in line with “Catholica Ecclesia”, following on from a similar process at Subiaco Abbey in 2002, at Montevergine Abbey in 2005 and at Cava de’Tirreni Abbey in 2013. Montecassion Abbey will continue to be an ecclesiastical territory on a par with a diocese, although its territory has been significantly reduced.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Thursday announced a significant reorganisation of the principle monastery of the Benedictine Order, located at Montecassino in Italy’s southern Campania region. A large part of the land, including 53 parishes with 37 priests and 50 women religious, which have been under the jurisdiction of the Abbey will be transferred to…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell, Thursday morning in the Vatican. Mr. Mitchell subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.
A communiqué issued by the Holy See Press Office stated that “In the course of the cordial conversations, the parties focused on the good relations existing between the Holy See and Grenada, as well as the important contribution made by the Catholic Church in the educational, social, and charitable spheres, to meet the challenges of the country, especially with regard to youth. In this regard, the need for cooperation between all of the social services, in order to promote the common good and the development of the country, was affirmed”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “We cannot be Christians without the grace of the Holy Spirit” who gives us the strength to love, said Pope Francis at Mass Thursday morning at Santa Marta.
Emer McCarthy reports:
Pope Francis centered his homily on St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians in which the Apostle describes his experience of Jesus, an experience “that led him to leave everything behind” because “he was in love with Christ.” His is an “act of adoration”: firstly, he bends his knees before the Father, who “has the power to do much more than we can ever think or ask “. He uses a “limitless language”: He adores this God, “who is like a sea without beaches, without limitations, an immense ocean”. Paul asks the Father for all of us, “to be powerfully strengthened in our inner selves, through his Spirit”.
“He asks the Father to send the Spirit to strengthen us, to give us strength. We cannot go forward without the power of the Spirit. Our own forces are weak. We cannot be Christians without the grace of the Spirit. It’s the Spirit that changes hearts, that keeps us moving forward in virtue, to fulfill the commandments “.
“He then, asks another grace from the Father”, “the presence of Christ, to help us grow in charity”. Christ’s love “which surpasses all knowledge”, can only be understood through “an act of adoration of such great immenseness”.
“This is a mystical experience of Paul and it teaches us the prayer of praise and the prayer of adoration. Before our pettiness, our many, selfish interests, Paul bursts out in praise, in this act of worship and asks the Father to send us the Holy Spirit to give us strength and to be able to move forward; he helps us understand the love of Christ and that Christ consolidates us in love. And he says to the Father: ‘Thank you, because You are able to do what we do not dare to think’. It is a beautiful prayer … It is a beautiful prayer”.
Pope Francis concluded his homily: “And with this inner life we can understand how Paul gave up everything and considered it all rubbish, in order to gain Christ and be found in Christ. It does us good to think of this, it does us good to worship God. It does us good to praise God, to enter this world of amplitude, of grandeur, generosity and love. It does us good, because then we can move forward in the great commandment – the only commandment, which is the basis of all others – love; love God and love your neighbor “.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican
City, 23 October 2014 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received delegates
from the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP), addressing them
with a speech focusing on the issues in their subject area that have
recourse to the Church in her mission of evangelization and the
promotion of the human person. The
Pope began by recalling the need for legal and political methods that
are not characterized by the mythological “scapegoat” logic, that is, of
an individual unjustly accused of the misfortunes that befall a
community and then chosen to be sacrificed. It is also necessary to
refute the belief that legal sanctions carry benefit, which requires the
implementation of inclusive economic and social policies. He reiterated
the primacy of the life and dignity of the human person, reaffirming
the absolute condemnation of the death penalty, the use of which is
rejected by Christians. In this context he also talked about the
so-called extrajudicial executions, that is, the deliberated killing of
individuals by some states or their agents that are presented as the
unintended consequence of the reasonable, necessary, and proportionate
use of force to implement the law. He emphasized that the death penalty
is used in totalitarian regimes as “an instrument of suppression of
political dissent or of persecution of religious or cultural
minorities”. He
then spoke of the conditions of prisoners, including prisoners who have
not been convicted and those convicted without a trial, stating that
pretrial detention, when used improperly, is another modern form of
unlawful punishment that is hidden behind legality. He also referred to
the deplorable prison condition in much of the world, sometimes due to
lack of infrastructure while other instances are the result of “the
arbitrary exercise of ruthless power over detainees”. Pope Francis also
spoke about torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment, stating
that, in the world today, torture is used not only as a means to achieve
a particular purpose, such as a confession or an accusation—practices
that are characteristic of a doctrine of national security—but also adds
to the evil of detention. Criminal code itself bears responsibility for
having allowed, in certain cases, the legitimacy of torture under
certain conditions, opening the way for further abuse. The
Pope did not forget the application of criminal sanctions against
children and the elderly, condemning its use in both cases. He also
recalled some forms of crime that seriously damage the dignity of the
human person as well as the common good, including human trafficking,
slavery—recognized as a crime against humanity as well as a war crime in
both international law and under many nations’ laws—the abject poverty
in which more than a billion people live, and corruption. “The
scandalous accumulation of global wealth is possible because of the
connivance of those with strong powers who are responsible for public
affairs. Corruption is a process of death … more evil than sin. An evil
that, instead of being forgiven, must be cured.” “Caution
in the application of penal codes,” he concluded, “must be the
overarching principle of legal systems … and respect for human dignity
must not only act to limit the arbitrariness and excesses of government
agents but as the guiding criterion for prosecuting and punishing
behaviors that represent the most serious attacks on the dignity and
integrity of the human person.”…