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Vatican Weekend for February 4th, 2017 features a review of Pope Francis’ General Audience, an interview on migration and refugee issues that are making the headlines with a theologian from Notre Dame University and the first part of a special program exploring the history of the signing of the 1929 Lateran Pacts that brought the Vatican City State into being.

Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges: 

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Vatican Weekend for February 5th, 2017 features our weekly reflection on the Sunday Gospel reading, “There’s more in the Sunday Gospel than Meets the Eye,” plus our resident Vatican watcher Joan Lewis reviews the past week’s events in the Vatican.

Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:  

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent his greetings on Friday to the participants in the XVI World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, taking place from 2 to 5 February in Bogotá, Colombia.

Pope Francis encouraged participants “in their efforts to promote understanding and dialogue among peoples”.

He made special mention of the peace efforts in Colombia between the government and rebel forces, saying they “can inspire all communities to rise above animosity and division, for ‘when victims of violence are able to resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible promoters of nonviolent peacemaking.’”

The Holy Father concluded his message invoking ‘blessings of wisdom and strength’ on all participants.

“With prayers that nonviolence will thus become the “hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and indeed of political life in all its forms” (Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace), His Holiness cordially invokes upon all gathered for the Summit meeting the divine blessings of wisdom and strength.”

The message was written by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and sent through the Apostolic Nuncio to Colombia, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero.

Please find below the full text of the message:

Your Eminence,

The Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, on behalf of the Holy Father Francis, has sent a message to the participants in the XVI World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. I would ask you kindly to communicate what follows to all participants:

His Holiness Pope Francis was pleased to learn that the XVI World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates will be held in Bogotá from 2 to 5 February 2017, and he sends greetings to all present for the occasion. As the participants reflect on the many challenges to peace in the modern world, His Holiness encourages them in their efforts to promote understanding and dialogue among peoples. In a particular way, he trusts that the efforts in Colombia to build bridges of peace and reconciliation can inspire all communities to rise above animosity and division, for “when victims of violence are able to resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible promoters of nonviolent peacemaking”. With prayers that nonviolence will thus become the “hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and indeed of political life in all its forms” (Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace), His Holiness cordially invokes upon all gathered for the Summit meeting the divine blessings of wisdom and strength.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Secretary of State

With gratitude for your valued assistance and with every good wish,

Respectfully yours in Christ,

Ettore Balestrero

Apostolic Nuncio  

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(Vatican Radio) Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin continued his visit to Africa this week, travelling on Wednesday to the Republic of Congo for the signing of a framework agreement on Church-State relations between Brazzaville and the Holy See.

During the eleven day trip, the cardinal also visited Madagascar to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations and made a short stop in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

At the Nunciature in Brazzaville Cardinal Parolin met with the nine local bishops who spoke of the difficulties they face, including problems of violence and instability throughout the region.

On Thursday morning the Vatican Secretary of State met with Congolese foreign minister Jean Claude Gakosso who recalled the pastoral visit made by Pope John Paul II in 1980. He also expressed his government’s appreciation for the Church’s extensive work in the fields of education, health care and social services, as well as the role of the Church in promoting reconciliation in different parts of the globe. The foreign minister also announced the establishment of a resident embassy of the Republic of Congo to the Holy See.

Cardinal Parolin also met with Congolese Prime Minister Clément Mouamba, discussing the significant economic challenges, as well as the problems of migration throughout the region. The prime minister said his government was working to end political unrest, favouring dialogue over inappropriate military action. The two men also discussed the possibility of a papal visit to the country and the question of refugees from the Central African Republic, many of whom are now returning to their home country.

On Thursday afternoon the cardinal visited two charitable centres, one named after Cardinal Emile Biayenda, dedicated to people with physical and mental disabilities, and the other caring for abandoned children and adolescents. 

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Vatican City, Feb 3, 2017 / 07:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While divisions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X still exist, representatives from both sides have said the proposal of a personal prelature appears to be the best option for manifesting unity, and steps are already being taken to study it.

The SSPX believes “that the Roman authorities consider the personal prelature to be the canonical structure which best reflects our real situation,” Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society, said in an interview with Spanish magazine Vida Nueva published Feb. 3.

And when it comes to the Society themselves, he said, “we also think that the personal prelature is the most appropriate regimen for the Society in the current circumstances.”

A personal prelature, which is a Church jurisdiction without geographical boundaries designed to carry out particular pastoral initiatives, has been on the table for the SSPX for years. At present, the only personal prelature in the Church is Opus Dei, so should they take the offer, they would become the second entity to embrace such a structure.

Despite past hesitancy to accept the prelature in the past, Bishop Fellay seems to imply that the Society’s opinion on the matter is changing.

In an interview with Vida Nueva released simultaneously with that of Bishop Fellay, Archbishop Guido Pozzo, head of Ecclesia Dei – the Vatican office responsible for doctrinal discussions with the SSPX – said a “profound examination” is being made of the legal text.

Once this is done a draft of the constitutions will then be presented to the Holy Father, he said, but stressed that on the Vatican side, “the necessary condition for the canonical recognition is adherence to the contents of the Doctrinal Statement that the Holy See presented to the SSPX.”

The SSPX was founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 to form priests, as a response to what he described as errors that had crept into the Church following the Second Vatican Council. Its relations with the Holy See became particularly strained in 1988 when Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II.

The illicit consecration resulted in the excommunication of the six bishops; the excommunications of the surviving bishops were lifted in 2009 by Benedict XVI, and since then, negotiations “to rediscover full communion with the Church” have continued between the Society and the Vatican.

In remitting the excommunications, Benedict also noted that “doctrinal questions obviously remain and until they are clarified the Society has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers cannot legitimately exercise any ministry.”

The biggest obstacles for the Society's reconciliation have been the statements on religious liberty in Vatican II's declaration Dignitatis humanae as well as the declaration Nostra aetate, which it claims contradict previous Catholic teaching.

However, in a sign of goodwill, Pope Francis during the Jubilee of Mercy extended to the priests of the SSPX the faculty to validly hear confessions and absolve penitents. He has since extended this faculty until further notice.

In his interview, Bishop Fellay said there are still hurdles that need to be jumped before full unity is reached, and that “both today and yesterday, the main obstacle is the degree of obligation of adherence to the Second Vatican Council.”

An “important step” was taken when Archbishop Pozzo made a previous declaration that “certain texts of the Council did not constitute criteria for Catholicity.” Among these, he said, are texts related to religious freedom, relations with non-Christian religions, ecumenism, and liturgical reform.

“If we were able to determine that this is the line of the whole Church and not of one person or another, that would be decisive,” he said, but cautioned that there are still several “red lines” the Society isn’t yet willing to cross.

These lines, he said, are drawn when it comes to documents outlining “the way in which ecumenism is practiced, including statements very dangerous for the faith, that make you think all have the same faith; the liturgical question or the relationship between the Church and the State.”

“All these are issues on which we will not yield. This is not a matter of a position or personal point of view, or only peculiar to our congregation,” he said, adding that the Society upholds “what the Church has already taught and defined on those issues.”

“We could summarize by saying that the conditio sine quae non (condition without which it is not) is that Rome accept us the way we are.”

Bishop Fellay noted that another point that makes unity difficult the fact that there is currently “a deep division in the Church between conservatives and progressives, which reaches to the highest levels.”

“In a certain measure, we are the victims of this dispute, since the official declaration for our communion with the See of Peter will hardly be satisfactory for both positions,” he said, but noted that while it’s hard to place a date when reconciliation will take place, Rome seems to be more open to a public recognition of “our status as Catholics.”

Responding to labels frequently associated with the Society such as “ultraconservative” and “sectarian,” Fellay said that if a person wants to “disqualify” the SSPX with these labels, “then you have to condemn the entire Catholic Church, throughout its entire history.”

“We simply follow and apply what was practiced by the Church in the entire world for centuries,” he said, but noted that while “they wanted to change the Church” in both the pre and post Council era, “we did not abandon the rich heritage of our Holy Mother the Church.”

“This simple fact is enough to give us a conservative look,” he said, adding that the Society’s attempts to “defend and protect” themselves from these type of attacks since the 1970s have been “misunderstood.”

Bishop Fellay also said that despite ongoing points of division, the process of unification has sped up under Pope Francis. While things began with St. John Paul II and continued with Benedict XVI, who played “a very important role,” it seems that “the most important steps were taken in Francis' pontificate.”

Noting the uptick in priestly vocations within the SSPX, Fellay said what makes their understanding of the priesthood unique is “the spirit of the sacrifice of the Cross, of the sacrifice of the altar, which the priests renews in intimate union with Our Lord, and with which he must identify himself.”

In his interview, Archbishop Pozzo said that when it comes to the question of Vatican II, “it’s a false problem to ask if a Catholic can accept the Council or not.”

“A good Catholic cannot reject it,” he said, “because it is a universal assembly of bishops gathered around the Pope.”

The real problem, then, is with the interpretation of conciliar documents. Pointing to an idea that came from Benedict XVI, Archbishop Pozzo said the correct interpretation is that the documents be read “one in the line of renewal in continuity with tradition.”

“Vatican II must be understood and read in the context of the tradition of the Church and of her constant magisterium,” he said, but stressed that “the magisterial authority of the Church cannot stop in 1962.”

“Neither is the magisterium above the Word, written or transmitted, nor progress, in the best understanding of the mysteries of faith,” he said, adding that teachings of the Vatican II “have a different degree of authority, which corresponds to a different degree of adherence.”

Once full reconciliation between the Vatican and the SSPX is reached, further discussion could take place on certain issues “that are not proper to the matter of the faith, but of themes that refer to the pastoral application of conciliar orientations and teachings,” he said, pointing to the relation between Church and state, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and liturgical reform as examples.

“A deeper discussion of these themes could be useful for greater precision and clarification, in order to avoid misunderstandings or ambiguities which, unfortunately, are widespread,” he said, explaining that it’s important to “avoid being rigid” or stuck on “maximum positions” while claiming to be open to discussion.

However, he said that ongoing dialogue with the SSPX “can increasingly help to specify the correct interpretation, to avoid misunderstandings, errors or ambiguities that are present in a certain way of understanding and interpreting some conciliar teachings.”

Archbishop Pozzo said he is “confident” in the path the Vatican is taking with the SSPX, explaining that “I am not an optimist nor a pessimist, but a realist (and) I have confidence we are going in the right direction.”

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By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When religious orders focus on survival rather than on sharing the joy and hope of faith in Jesus, they end up being "professionals of the sacred, but not fathers and mothers," Pope Francis said.

"The temptation of survival turns what the Lord presents as an opportunity for mission into something dangerous, threatening, potentially disastrous," the pope told consecrated men and women who joined him Feb. 2 for Mass on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day for Consecrated Life.

Speaking as a fellow member of a religious order, Pope Francis urged religious to keep alive the faith, hope and audacity of the men and women who founded the orders to which they belong.

"We are heirs to those who have gone before us and had the courage to dream," he said during the Mass, which began with the blessing of candles celebrating the presentation of Christ as the light of the world.

The feast day Gospel reading from St. Luke tells the story of Mary and Joseph bringing the newborn Jesus to the temple in fulfillment of the law. The elderly and pious Simeon and Anna are in the temple and rejoice when they see Jesus, recognizing him as the Messiah.

Simeon and Anna, the pope said, testified that "life is worth living in hope because the Lord keeps his promise."

The pope said religious have inherited Simeon and Anna's hymn of hope from their founders and elders, who "had the courage to dream."

Hope in the Lord and the prophetic announcement of his presence "will protect us from a temptation that can make our consecrated life barren: the temptation of survival" and of preserving institutions above all else, said the pope, a member of the Jesuit order.

"The mentality of survival makes us reactionaries, fearful, slowly and silently shutting ourselves up in our houses and in our own preconceived notions," he said. "It makes us look back to the glory days -- days that are past -- and rather than rekindling the prophetic creativity born of our founders' dreams, it looks for shortcuts in order to evade the challenges knocking on our doors today.

"A survival mentality robs our charisms of power, because it leads us to 'domesticate' them, to make them 'user-friendly,' robbing them of their original creative force," Pope Francis continued. "It makes us want to protect spaces, buildings and structures, rather than to encourage new initiatives."

The temptation of survival, he said, "turns us into professionals of the sacred but not fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of that hope to which we are called to bear prophetic witness."

Like Mary and Joseph, religious are called to bring Jesus into the midst of his people, the pope said. "Only this will make our lives fruitful and keep our hearts alive."

All Christians, but especially those consecrated with the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, are called to be the leaven of the Gospel in the world, he said.

"Perhaps there are better brands of flour, but the Lord has called us to be leaven here and now, with the challenges we face. Not on the defensive or motivated by fear," he said, "but with our hands on the plow, helping the wheat to grow, even though it has frequently been sown among weeds."

"Putting Jesus in the midst of his people," he said, "means taking up and carrying the crosses of our brothers and sisters. It means wanting to touch the wounds of Jesus in the wounds of a world in pain, which longs and cries out for healing."

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