Posts Tagged Francis
Pope Francis to Meet Irish Abuse Survivors in Vatican / The Irish Catholic
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful on June 26, 2014
Irish survivors of clerical abuse will travel to Rome next week for a key meeting with Pope Francis, The Irish Catholic has learned. It will be the first time since his election that the Pontiff has met with those who have been abused by priests and religious to hear of their experiences. Francis has promised to continue a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to abuse.”
By Michael Kelly, The Irish Catholic — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Francis’ Words on Sex Abuse Bolster Hope for Action / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on June 3, 2014
The directness and urgency with which Pope Francis addressed the problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy during his May 26 talk with journalists is encouraging. His decision to meet with victims of clergy sex abuse is also a clear signal that Francis understands the gravity of this issue in a way that was not clear earlier. While we understand, and to some extent share, the concerns of victims’ groups that the meeting and Mass with victims could be little more than media theater, we have more hope for the gathering. Francis has given us reason to believe that his pastoral instincts will guide him and that the outcome of this encounter will bring the church to a new place in this decades-long tragedy.”
Editorial by National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this editorial.
Pope Abuse Panel Will Address Accountability / Associated Press
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on May 4, 2014
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said Saturday that Pope Francis’ sexual abuse advisory board will develop ‘clear and effective’ protocols to hold bishops and other church authorities accountable if they fail to report suspected abuse or protect children from pedophile priests.
“Victims groups have long criticized the Vatican for refusing to sanction any bishop or superior who covered up for priests who raped and molested children. They have listed accountability as one of the key issues facing Francis and a key test for his new advisory board.
“Francis announced the creation of the commission last December and named its members in March after coming under initial criticism for having ignored the sex abuse issue. The commission’s eight members — four of whom are women — met for the first time last week at the pope’s Vatican hotel to discuss the scope of their work and future members.”
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, in The Boston Globe — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Pope Francis’ Plan for Reform: Convert the Church / Religion News Service
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful on March 6, 2014
As the media continue to size up Pope Francis’ papacy at the one-year mark, David Gibson of Religion News Service writes about Francis’ plan for reform. He says Francis wants to overhaul and upend “the institutional culture of Catholicism” by leveling the hierarchy, teaching Catholic leaders to teach and to trust and evangelizing the world. Read his article, “Pope Francis’ Plan for Reform: Convert the Church,” by clicking here.
Pope Wants ‘Capillary and Incisive’ Role for Women in Church / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on January 28, 2014
In an address Saturday to an Italian women’s group, Pope Francis once again expressed a “vivid hope” that women will play a ‘more capillary and incisive’ role in the Catholic church as well as in all the venues in which ‘the most important decisions are adopted.’
“Francis made the comment in an address to the Centro Italiano Femminile, originally founded in 1944 to promote the involvement of women in Italy’s post-World War II reconstruction and inspired by the Christian tradition.
“Though reaffirming the ban on female priests, Francis has voiced a desire for a greater role for women in the church on a number of occasions, including his airborne press conference in July while returning from Brazil and in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium.
“Francis did not offer any new specifics Saturday in terms of what those roles might look like, but the repetition of the point arguably suggests that it’s a papal priority.”
By John L. Allen, Jr., National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this article.
Voice of the Faithful® Sees Its Reform Language Echoed in Pope Francis’ Rhetoric — Transparency, Accountability, Clericalism as Evil
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clericalism, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 14, 2014
For 12 years, Voice of the Faithful® has touted structural reform of the Church as a starting point for healing and renewal. The language we’ve used during this time sounds very much like rhetoric that reform-minded Pope Francis has employed since being elected. Read this from today’s National Catholic Reporter editorial “Francis’ Advice Is Good for the Church”:
From the moment he walked onto the world stage as pope less than a year ago, Francis set the world spinning with speculation over what exactly he was doing and where he was leading the church … From the start, the pope has been slowly dismantling that portion of the clerical culture that has led to destructive secrecy, corruption and lack of accountability … While the exchange (with leaders of men’s religious orders) was clearly directed at religious leaders and bishops, Francis is certainly savvy enough to know that his plainspoken and sometimes blunt assessments are balm to those in the pews who have held such thoughts themselves but never expected to have them represented at the top levels of church leadership … He emphasized the need for dialogue in several spots in his conversation and he issued a stern condemnation of the kind of hypocrisy — thinking one thing but saying another to get ahead – ‘that is the result of clericalism, which is one of the worst evils.’”
Click here to read the rest of the editorial and click here to read Antonio Spadaro’s La Civilta Cattolica interview to which the editorial refers, “Wake Up the World: Conversation with Pope Francis about the Religious Life.”
Pope Francis Changing the Church?
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on December 11, 2013
Vatican: Bishops Must Consult ‘Grass Roots’ on Family Synod
“In responding to a Vatican directive to listen ‘as widely as possible’ to Catholics’ views on issues like contraception, same-sex marriage and divorce, bishops globally must gather information from the ‘grass roots’ of the faithful, the Vatican official overseeing the process said Friday. The consultation, being taken in preparation for a 2014 Vatican meeting of Catholic bishops from around the world on issues of family life, cannot be limited only to the bishops’ advisers, Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri told NCR.” By Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of McElwee’s report.
To help ensure your voice heard, Voice of the Faithful® and 14 other organizations are conducting a survey based on the original survey sent out by the Synod of Bishops to collect Catholics’ opinion in preparation for the 2014 synod on the family. The deadline for submitting this survey is Dec. 15, so you still have a few days to submit yours. Click here to go to the survey.
Editorial: Things Are Different Under Pope Francis
“In Francis, we see a great deal of discontinuity with Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II. And it is about time. How can Francis’ Nov. 24 apostolic exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel,’ be seen as anything but a clarion call for discontinuity?” Editorial in National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this editorial.
A Pope’s New Path on Child Abuse
After decades of Vatican indifference and evasion, Pope Francis has ordered the creation of a commission to study the rape and intimidation of schoolchildren by priests and to recommend measures for effective reform. The new commission, long overdue, will be composed of international experts, both lay and religious, reflecting the global scope of the scandal. Its task is to propose concrete recommendations for firmer safeguarding of schoolchildren and better training of Roman Catholic priests.
“A comparable study panel of laity and clergy was created over a decade ago by the American hierarchy to report on the abuse of schoolchildren in the United States, a scandal in which 700 priests had to be dismissed in a three-year period. The panel’s pointed recommendation was that “there must be consequences” for diocesan leaders who shielded offending priests from criminal prosecution and authorized hush money to victims. But no effective mechanism to make powerful diocesan offenders accountable was devised by the bishops, and only a few diocesan leaders faced criminal investigation.” Editorial, The New York Times — Click here to read the rest of this editorial.
Francis Is the Exclamation Point on Vatican II / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican II, Voice of the Faithful on October 23, 2013
I already hear concerns that the reformist church of 76-year-old Pope Francis might not survive his pontificate. I hear talk that the anti-reformists who took back the Second Vatican Council will likely do it again once Francis is gone from the scene.
“We ask: Will a church groomed by compassion and mercy, as Francis would have it, be the church of our future? Will our church be guided, as if with a compass, by the lives and needs of marginalized people? Can a pastoral Catholicism, embedded in the Beatitudes, be the Catholicism we offer the world?
“Viewed solely as a moment in church history, the Francis moment might not last. Post-Vatican II history teaches us that entrenched forces have ways of enduring. In this view, Francis could be a passing fancy. However, from the long view of history, the Francis pontificate could well be the exclamation point on Vatican II — change and reform is the default mode of operation, not a one-time activity.” By Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of Fox’s column by clicking here.
Francis: ‘Women Called to Service, Not Servitude’ / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on October 16, 2013
In his first address entirely focused on the topic of women, Pope Francis on Oct. 13 said ‘women are called to service, not servitude.’ His remarks came before approximately 150 people gathered at a two-day Vatican event organized by the women’s section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. It marked the 25th anniversary of the apostolic letter ‘Mulieris Dignitatem,’ written by Pope John Paul II. ‘I suffer — speaking truthfully! — when I see in the church or in some ecclesial organizations that the role of service that we all have, and that we must have — but that the role of service of the woman slips into a role of servitude,’ Francis said.” By Thomas Fox, National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of Fox’s story by clicking here.
Francis: Papal Court is ‘Leprosy of Papacy’ / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Pope Francis, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on October 1, 2013
Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican’s troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide church.
“As the talks begin with the cardinals, Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ published a long interview conducted by its atheist editor last week in which the Argentine pope spoke frankly about the problems facing the Vatican administration, known as the Curia.
“He reportedly said too many previous popes in the church’s long history had been “narcissists” who let themselves be flattered by “courtier” aides in the Curia instead of concentrating on the wider mission of the universal church.
“‘The (papal) court is the leprosy of the papacy,’ Francis is reported to have said.'” By Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter
Read the rest of the story by clicking here.
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A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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