Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Fifty years ago, on March 22nd 1966, a new centre was set up in the heart of Rome dedicated to the building up of Anglican-Catholic dialogue. The Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey presided at the dedication ceremony in the ancient Doria Pamphilj palace, the day before his first historic encounter with Pope Paul VI that took place in the Sistine Chapel.

Exactly half a century on, Christians of many different denominations gathered in the Anglican Centre chapel on Tuesday to give thanks for those events and to commit themselves anew to the task of reconciling their divided Churches.

Philippa Hitchen was there and sent this report….

Listen: 

For the past five decades Rome’s Anglican Centre has been a place of encounter and study, of hospitality and shared worship. Its impressive library is used by students, visiting clergy and anyone interested in finding out more about Anglican history, doctrine and ecumenical relations. Its director represents the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy See and marks a crucial point of contact between the Anglican Communion and the wider Catholic world.

The current director is New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon, who sees the principle task of the Centre as putting into practice the wealth of theological progress that has been achieved since the Second Vatican Council.

“We’re meant to be a living embodiment of that hope, a shopfront window….and that means 24/7 asking questions about how we can share each other’s gifts, how we can motivate each other and increase our mutual capacity together in the cause of the Kingdom of God…”

To celebrate the past five decades of growing together in faith, Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox, Methodists and Presbyterian priests, religious and lay people gathered in the Centre’s chapel dedicated to St Augustine of Canterbury. As part of the Holy Week celebrations, the oils to be used throughout the coming year were blessed, as men and women priests and ministers renewed their ordination vows together.

Presiding over the liturgy was Bishop Stephen Platten, chairman of the governors of the Anglican Centre. He told me why it’s so important to remember these events of 50 years ago and especially the role played by Pope Paul VI in Anglican-Catholic relations.  

“Paul VI visited England in the 1930s, he enjoyed cathedral worship…and then in the 1950s, when he was the cardinal archbishop of Milan, a group of four Anglican priests came and stayed with him, so he had a knowledge of Anglicanism that no other pope, before or since, has had.”

Speaking to leaders of the Anglican Centre half a century ago, Pope Paul stressed that “knowledge prepares the way for love: love leads to unity”. Later this year the current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will be be meeting with Pope Francis to renew their commitment to the ecumenical journey: because that vision of promoting knowledge, love and a desire for unity remains as urgent as ever, in this 50th anniversary year.

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday at the Centre for Asylum Seekers (Centro di Accoglienza per Richiedenti Asilo, or CARA) in Castelnuovo di Porto, located 25 kilometres north of Rome.

The ceremony on March 24th will involve Pope Francis washing the feet of young refugees.

The location was announced by the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, in an article in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

“We can understand the symbolic value intended by Pope Francis’ visit to the CARA in Castelnuovo di Porto and his bending down to wash the feet of refugees” – Archbishop Fisichella writes – “His actions mean to tell us that it is important to pay due attention to the weakest in this historic moment; that we are all called to restore their dignity without resorting to subterfuge. We are urged to look forward to Easter with the eyes of those who make of their faith a life lived in service to those whose faces bear signs of suffering and violence.”

Archbishop Fisichella then pointed out many of these young people are not Catholic.

“Therefore this gesture by Pope Francis takes on even more eloquence” – he continued – “It points to respect as the royal road to peace. Respect means being aware that there is another person beside me. A person who walks with me, suffers with me, rejoices with me. A person whom, one day, I may one day lean on for support. By washing the feet of refugees, Pope Francis implores respect for each one of them.”

Full Article

Vatican City, Mar 22, 2016 / 12:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending previous years washing the feet of inmates and disabled persons on Holy Thursday, this year Pope Francis will celebrate the liturgy in a welcoming center for migrants and refugees.

The Pope will say a Chrism Mass at the Vatican before heading to the Reception Center for Asylum Seekers, or CARA, in Castelnuovo di Porto, just over 18 miles outside of Rome, on the afternoon of March 24.

He will arrive to the center around 5 pm, where he will say the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and wash the feet of 12 migrants welcomed by the center, many of whom are not Catholic.

The news came in a March 22 article from the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano explaining the reason why the location was chosen. The article was written by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

In previous years Pope Francis has offered the Lord’s Supper Mass on Holy Thursday at a youth detention center, a rehabilitation center for the disabled, and a large prison in Rome. This marks the first year he will celebrate the liturgy at a migrant center.

More than 900 asylum seekers are housed at the center, virtually all of whom come from sub-Saharan Africa. CARA is one of the most demanding asylum centers in all of Italy.

In 2015 alone more than 1.1 million migrants fleeing war and violence poured into Europe, and the influx has continued. Many Syrians seeking to escape the civil war which has devastated their country for the past five years enter Europe through Turkey, taking boats to the Greek isles.

With leaders perplexed as to how to handle the migrant flow, last week a new deal was struck between the E.U. and Turkey stipulating that all migrants and refugees who cross into Greece illegally by sea will be sent back to Turkey once they have been registered and their asylum claims processed.

In return, the E.U. agreed to take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey, giving the country early visa-free travel and advancing talks regarding their E.U. membership negotiations.

The Pope’s decision to celebrate the Holy Thursday liturgy at the center comes after he has repeatedly pled on behalf of migrants’ rights in past few weeks.

In his March 16 general audience Francis appealed to world leaders to open their doors to migrants, lamenting that many are “living a real and dramatic situation of exile.”

“Far away from their homeland, with their eyes still full of the rubble of their homes,” these migrants often find “closed doors” when attempting to enter another country, he said.

The Pope said that “I like it a lot when I see nations, governments, who open their hearts and open their doors” to the migrants and refugees seeking to enter.

Similarly, on Palm Sunday Francis said that when Christ suffered from the indifference of political leaders in being sent from Pilate to Herod and then back to the Roman governor, he was thinking in particular “of so many other people, so many marginalized people, so many asylum seekers, so many refugees.”

“There are so many who don't want to take responsibility for their destiny.”

He also offered special greetings to some 6,000 migrants and refugees during his Jan. 17 Angelus address, which fell on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The day was also celebrated as a special Jubilee of Migrants as part of Francis’ larger Jubilee of Mercy.

In his address, the Pope told the migrants that “each one of you carries within yourself a story, a culture, of precious value; and often unfortunately experiences of misery, oppression and fear,” and encouraged them not to give up in the face of difficulties.

During his Sept. 6, 2015 Angelus Francis made an appeal to all the parishes, to religious communities, to monasteries, and sanctuaries of all Europe to “to express the concreteness of the Gospel” and welcome a family of refugees.

The Vatican's two parishes – St. Anne's and St. Peter's – have already welcomed two refugee families.

The first family, housed by St. Anne's, consists of a father, mother and two children. Syrian Christians of Catholic Greek-Melkite Church, the family fled their war-torn city of Damascus and arrived to the Vatican Sept. 6, the same day as the Pope’s appeal.

The second family, provided for by St. Peter's, is an Eritrean family, consisting of a mother and her five children who arrived earlier this year.

 

Full Article

Brussels, Belgium, Mar 22, 2016 / 02:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Holy Week terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday led the city's bishops to mourn and reflect on the deadly crimes in light of Jesus Christ's Passion.

“Good Friday has come three days early with these totally absurd actions,” Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Mechelen-Brussels said March 22. “I weep with those who weep, wherever they are. The first reaction, completely normal, is to condemn these totally absurd actions.”

“The reaction of Christians ought to be first of all one of compassion with those affected, with those who are grieving,” he continued. “I am thinking of the victims and their families, we are together in prayer, in friendship.”

The bishop spoke in an audio statement on the website of the Belgian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

At least two men detonated bombs at Brussels Zaventem international airport about 8 a.m. local time. About 80 minutes later, one explosion struck a city metro station near the European Union headquarters.

At least 30 people were killed and another 230 injured in the three explosions, CNN reports. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Salah Abdeslam, the primary fugitive in the November 2015 Paris attacks, was arrested in Brussels on Friday. Belgian officials are working on the assumption that the same network is involved in the latest attacks.

Bishop Kockerols interpreted the attack in light of the Christian observance of Holy Week.

“We have adopted the courageous attitude of Mary who was with the disciples,” he said. “She remained there at the foot of the Cross. Scripture records none of her words, but tells us she was there. This is the attitude of Christians who remain, who live in a still hidden hope in face of the incomprehensible.”

The bishop encouraged work for the common good and for public order. He said people should avoid controversies and accusations about guilt and failure to prevent the attack.

Bishop Kockerols later joined Archbishop Josef de Kesel of Malines-Brussels in a statement announcing the cancellation of the Chrism Mass scheduled for that day at the Brussels cathedral. The Mass is traditionally held during Holy Week. The bishops cited “obvious security reasons.” A small delegation will celebrate the Chrism Mass tomorrow night at the Collegiate Church of St. Gertrude.

The two bishops said “we are invited to stay with Mary at the foot of every cross today. By our prayer and friendship, we must surround the victims and their loved ones, their families.”

In the United States, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia was among the Catholic leaders who responded to the attacks.

“We join with the Church in Belgium and the entire nation in this moment of intense pain,” he said. “Each life lost was a precious gift from God that has been torn from all those whom it touched.”

The archbishop encouraged prayers for the victims. Noting the passion, death and resurrection of Jess Christ, he said: “let us remember that God is the source of love and life and ask Him to bring peace to our troubled world.”

E.U. leaders also spoke out.

“These attacks have hit Brussels today, Paris yesterday – but it is Europe as a whole that has been targeted. The European Union and its Institutions stand united in the face of terrorism,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission.

President Donald Tusk of the European Council voiced his “sincerest sympathies” for the victims of the attack. He said the European Union will work “to help Brussels, Belgium and Europe as a whole counter the terror threat which we are all facing.”

“I am horrified by the despicable and cowardly attacks which took place in Brussels today,” said European Parliament President Martin Schulz. “They are born from barbarism and hatred which do justice to nothing and no one.”

Pope Francis had responded earlier on Tuesday. He offered prayers for the victims, condemned the acts as “blind violence” and said he's praying for peace.

“Upon learning of the attacks in Brussels, which have affected many people, His Holiness Pope Francis entrusted to the mercy of God the people who have lost their lives and joins those close to them in prayer for the death of their relatives,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin March 22.

The Vatican’s Secretary of State signed the letter, which was addressed to the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Jozef De Kesel, on behalf of the Pope.

He said that Francis expresses “deep sympathy for the wounded, for their families and for all those contributing to relief efforts,” and prayed that the Lord would bring them comfort and consolation.

Pope Francis, he said, “again condemns the blind violence which has caused so much suffering, and he implores God for the gift of peace, invoking upon the grieving families and on all Belgians the benefit of divine blessings.”

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS photo/ Tony Gentile, Reuters

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper with young refugees in Castelnuovo di Porto, about 15 miles north of Rome.

"Washing the feet of the refugees, Pope Francis is asking for respect for each one of them," wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the main organizer of the Vatican's Year of Mercy initiatives.

Announcing the location for the pope's celebration March 24, Archbishop Fisichella noted that many of the young people at the Center for Asylum Seekers are not Catholic, which makes Pope Francis' decision to wash their feet "even more eloquent."

"It indicates respect as the main path to peace," he said March 22. Respect means recognizing the other as a person, one who "walks with me, suffers with me, rejoices with me."

"Pope Francis will bow down and wash the feet of 12 refugees as a sign of service and attention to their condition," the archbishop said.

With tens of thousands of people fleeing persecution and violence in many parts of the world, too many countries seem to think the best solution "is to close their borders to feel safer or to build new walls," the archbishop said.

But one of the traditional "corporal works of mercy" is to welcome the stranger, Archbishop Fisichella wrote in an article for the Vatican newspaper. "Welcoming refugees then becomes for Christians a tangible expression of living the Jubilee of Mercy."

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS photo/Justin Lane, EPA

By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Women, especially among Christians around the world, generally are more devout than men when standard measures of religious commitment are considered, a Pew Research Center study found.

Christian women are more likely to attend weekly religious services, be involved in daily prayer and consider religion important in their lives at higher rates than men, according to the study's findings, released March 22.

However, among Muslims, religious practice by men was significantly higher than by women when using the same standards, researchers discovered.

The findings correspond to the cultural norm in most Islamic societies that Muslim men are expected to attend communal Friday midday prayer in the mosque. Women can fulfill the Friday prayer requirement individually, either inside or outside the mosque.

The findings were are part of a comprehensive look at religious practices by gender among Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated in 192 countries and territories.

Overall, 83.4 percent of women around the world identify with a faith group while 79.9 percent of men do so. The study utilized census data, surveys and population registers from recent years in analyzing religious practices.

The comprehensive study includes data on gender and religion not previously analyzed from Middle Eastern, Latin American and some Asian countries, said Conrad Hackett, a demographer with the Pew Research Center who was the primary researcher on "The Gender Gap in Religion Around the World."

"We did find that on many measures, particularly Christian women are more religiously committed than men," Hackett told Catholic News Service.

"But one of the interesting things, the same pattern does not hold among Muslims. There really is not a measure by which Muslim women are more religious than Muslim men," he added.

In the United States, women of all religions are more likely than men to say they pray daily (64 percent to 47 percent); attend religious services at least once a week (40 percent to 32 percent); and consider religion "very important" in their lives (60 percent to 47 percent).

The study found that while the U.S. was more religious than some of the world's most developed countries -- specifically Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and France -- the gender gap between women and men in their religious commitment was larger than in those same countries.

Hackett noted that while the study did not address why the U.S. was more religious than other developed countries, he said some sociologists point to countries -- Western European nations in particular -- where material needs of the poor, unemployed and elderly are met by government and that people in countries whose needs are not fully met may to turn to prayer or worship more frequently.

The study cited the work of several sociologists who for decades have worked to explain gender differences in religious commitment. Theories include the "nature" factor, which attributes the differences to physical or physiological causes such as hormones, genetics or biological predisposition.

Other studies point to "nurture," in which factors such as socialization into traditional gender roles, lower rates of female workforce participation and national economic structures are seen as reasons for the higher religious commitment of women.

Hackett said, however, that no one factor can be pinpointed to explain why women are more religious than men.

Worldwide, the study found a mixed attendance pattern at worship services among the 81 countries analyzed. In 30 countries, mostly with Christian majorities or large Christian populations, women attended weekly services at higher levels than men. In 28 countries, most with large Muslim majorities or large Muslim populations, men attended weekly services at a higher rate. In the remaining 23 countries, there was no significant difference in attendance.

The largest average gender gap existed among people who offer daily prayer. In 84 countries from which data were available, the average share of women who reported praying daily is 8 percentage points higher than the average share of men.

Substantially more women than men said they pray daily in 43 of the countries. Only in Israel, where about 22 percent of adults identified as Orthodox Jews, did a higher percentage of men than women report praying daily. Men and women are equally likely to say they pray daily in the remaining countries.

In nearly two-thirds of the 54 countries for which data on Christian prayer practices are available, a larger share of women than men reported praying daily, according to the study. Among Muslims, women and men pray about equally -- 72 percent versus 71 percent -- in 34 of the 40 countries in which data was available.

Information about the importance of religion in daily life was available in 84 countries.

In 36 countries, women were more likely to say religion was very important in their lives than men. Men responded at a higher rate than women about the importance of religion in their lives only in Israel and Mozambique. In the remaining 46 countries men and women responded at similar rates about the important role of religion.

Among Christians in 24 of the 54 countries studied, religion was more important to women than men while the opposite was true in just one country: Liberia. In 29 of the countries, the gender gap was insignificant.

The study also found that in 64 countries where survey data were available men and women were about equally likely to believe in heaven, hell and angels.

In addition, men are more likely to be atheists than women, researchers found. In the U.S., 68 percent of atheists were men, second only to Uruguay where 69 percent of atheists were men.

- - -

Editor's Note: The full report is available online at www.pewforum.org/2016/03/22/the-gender-gap-in-religion-around-the-world.

 - - -

Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article