Catholic News 2

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By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Without commenting on the authenticity of alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Pope Francis has appointed a Polish archbishop to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the town each year.

The pope chose Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Warsaw-Praga as his special envoy to Medjugorje, the Vatican announced Feb. 11.

"The mission has the aim of acquiring a deeper knowledge of the pastoral situation there and, above all, of the needs of the faithful who go there in pilgrimage, and on the basis of this, to suggest possible pastoral initiatives for the future," the Vatican announcement said.

Archbishop Hoser's assignment has "an exclusively pastoral character," the Vatican said, making it clear his task is separate from the work of a commission set up in 2010 by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI to investigate the claims of six young people who said Mary had appeared to them daily beginning in 1981. Some of the six say Mary still appears to them and gives them messages each day, while others say they see her only once a year now.

Pope Benedict had named retired Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini to chair the group studying the apparitions. In June 2015, Pope Francis told reporters that Cardinal Ruini had given him the group's report and that it would be studied by the cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. At the time, Pope Francis said, "We're close to making decisions," although nothing was announced until the appointment of Archbishop Hoser about 20 months later.

Thousands of pilgrims travel to the small town each month to meet the alleged seers and to pray. Because the apparitions have not been approved, the Vatican has said dioceses should not organize official pilgrimages to Medjugorje. However, it also has said Catholics are free to visit the town and pray there, and that the Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and the Franciscans who minister in the town should organize pastoral care for them.

The Vatican's February announcement said that Archbishop Hoser "is expected to finish his mandate as special envoy by summer of this year."

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By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Obeying the true spirit of the commandments and not just a literal interpretation of them is what makes Christians become authentic witnesses, Pope Francis said.

As seen through Mary's example, following the commandments "is possible with the grace of the Holy Spirit which enables us to do everything with love and to fully carry out the will of God," he said Feb. 12 before reciting the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"May the Virgin Mary, woman of docile listening and joyful obedience, help us to approach the Gospel not just having a Christian 'facade,' but being Christian in substance," he said.

The pope reflected on the Sunday Gospel reading from Matthew, in which Jesus explains to his disciples the Mosaic law and warns that "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

This righteousness, the pope said, must be "animated by love, charity and mercy" in order to fulfill the true purpose of the law and "avoid the risk of formalism," which is strict adherence to prescribed laws.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus focused on three specific commandments: against murder, adultery and swearing.

While insulting someone "does not have the same gravity and culpability as murder," the pope said, Jesus affirms that the commandment is violated by behavior "that offends the dignity of the human person."

"We are used to insulting; it's like saying 'good morning,'" the pope said. "One who insults his brother, kills his brother in his heart. Please, do not insult! We gain nothing."

Just like murder, theft, corruption and other sins, the pope said, adultery "is first conceived in our innermost being and, once the mistaken choices are carried out in the heart, they are acted out in concrete behavior."

Finally, swearing in God's name "is a sign of insecurity" and using God's authority to "guarantee our human affairs," the pope said.

Christians are called to build trust in their families and communities, he said "rather than resorting to higher interventions in order to be believed."

After reciting the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis once again reminded the pilgrims to fulfill the commandments as Christ did.

"Don't forget: don't insult; don't look with evil eyes, with eyes of possession at your neighbor's wife; don't swear," he said. "Three things Jesus says. It's so easy!"

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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

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By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The sexual abuse of children by those who have vowed to serve Christ and the church is a horrendous monstrosity that represents "a diabolical sacrifice" of innocent, defenseless lives, Pope Francis said.

The church, which must protect the weakest, has a duty "to act with extreme severity with priests who betray their mission and with the hierarchy -- bishops and cardinals -- who protect them," the pope wrote in the preface to a new book written by a man raped as a child by a Capuchin priest.

The book, "My Father, I Forgive You" ("Mon Pere, Je Vous Pardonne"), was written by Daniel Pittet, 57, in an effort to describe how he fell victim to a predator abuser when he was 8 years old growing up in Fribourg, Switzerland, and the challenges he faced when came forward two decades later with the accusations. The book, currently published only in French, was to be released Feb. 16. News outlets released the text of the pope's preface Feb. 13.

Pittet -- who had been a monk, but later married and had six children -- had met the pope at the Vatican during the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015.

In the course of their conversation, Pittet said he told the pope he had been raped as a child by a priest. Tears welled up in the pope's eyes, and the two embraced, Pittet said in an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica.

Pope Francis said in his preface that Pittet's personal testimony about his abuse "is necessary, invaluable and courageous" because often it is very difficult for survivors to talk about what happened and the trauma that lingers for years.

"His suffering moved me. I saw once again the frightful damage caused by sexual abuse and the long and painful journey that awaits the victim," the pope wrote.

The suffering and suicides of people who were abused by clergy and religious "weigh on my heart, on my conscience and on that of the whole church. To their families, I offer my feelings of love and pain, and humbly ask forgiveness," Pope Francis wrote.

It is good for people to read Pittet's testimony and see how "evil can enter the heart of a servant of the church," the pope said. "How can a priest, at the service of Christ and his church, end up causing so much pain?"

Instead of leading children to God, the pope said, abusive priests "devour them" in "a diabolical sacrifice that destroys both the victim and the life of the church."

The abuse of children at the hands of religious, Pope Francis said, is "an absolute monstrosity, a horrendous sin, radically contrary to everything Christ teaches us."

The church must take care of and lovingly protect the weakest and most defenseless, he said, and to act with "extreme severity" toward abusers and toward bishops and cardinals who protect them, "as it has already happened in the past."

The pope wrote that he was also moved by the fact that Pittet had forgiven his abuser, Capuchin Father Joel Allaz, even meeting with him face-to-face 44 years later.

"The wounded child is today a man standing on his feet, fragile, but standing," the pope said.

"I thank Daniel because all testimony like his breaks down the wall of silence that hushes up scandals and suffering, sheds light on a terrible area of darkness in the church's life. They open a path to a just reparation and the grace of reconciliation and also help pedophiles become aware of the terrible consequences of their actions," he wrote.

According to a press release by the Catholic bishops' conference of Switzerland, accusations were made against Father Allaz by at least 24 victims.

The first two civil court cases in 1995 and 2002 were thrown out because the statute of limitations had run out. Only when Father Allaz admitted to abusing two minors between 1992 and 1995 was the court able to prosecute and hand down a suspended two-year sentence.

The Capuchins acknowledge that their way of handling accusations against Father Allaz over the years, including transferring him to ministry in France, only allowed for further abuse, according to the press release Feb. 13. The religious order, the conference said, recognizes that by trying to protect the church's reputation, they worked alone to resolve the problem, did not inform receiving employers and did not take victims' claims seriously enough.

The conference said the book shows "the sad mechanisms that gave free rein" to manipulative and malicious pedophiles -- mechanisms that were built on individual behaviors and mentalities as well as structures.

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By Valerie Schmalz

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- The Trump administration's apparent endorsement of parental school choice could present a "huge opportunity" for Catholic school parents, the president of the National Catholic Educational Association told a group of Catholic high school teachers in San Francisco.

"This could be a huge opportunity for parents wanting to choose the right school for their children," Thomas Burnford, NCEA president, told participants at the Archdiocese of San Francisco's annual high school teachers' consortium Feb. 3.

"Whatever your politics, the current administration proclaims some understanding or belief in support of school choice," Burnford said in his talk at Archbishop Riordan High School. In his remarks, he did not mention President Donald Trump directly, saying in later comments he did not want to politicize the subject of parental choice.

His speech was given four days before Betsy DeVos was confirmed by the Senate as the nation's education secretary following a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as president of the Senate. DeVos, former chairman of the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group, has long been an advocate of school choice. She told the senators during her confirmation hearing: "Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning fits the needs of every child."

When he was running for president, Trump endorsed parental choice both in an October letter to the Catholic Leadership Conference and on his campaign website where he promised to "establish the national goal of providing school choice to every one of the 11 million school-age children living in poverty."

Currently, at least 27 states have some form of parental school choice and although the programs affect a relatively small percentage of children, Burnford said that in areas with school choice programs, Catholic school enrollment tends to be stable or on the rise.

The U.S. bishops advocate tax credit and voucher programs that allow public education funding to follow the child to private, parochial or public schools and have made it one of their priorities for the current 115th Congress.

"The church has been very clear" that it is "parents who have the primary and inalienable right to educate their children," Burnford said, but to do so, they "must enjoy true liberty in their choice of schools," which he said does not happen in most of the country.

He said that choice is only real when the funding is made available for everybody and follows the student to the school of their choice, which he said occurs in other countries.

Burnford noted that tuition remains an obstacle for many parents to enroll their children in Catholic schools.

Since 2006, 20 percent of Catholic schools have closed, and while there are bright spots, and innovations that are working such as the Cristo Rey work study high schools, the situation is serious, Burnford said, noting that there has been a 27 percent decline in Catholic school enrollment since 2000. About 1.9 million of the 55 million school-age children in the U.S. attend Catholic schools.

About 60 percent of school-age Catholic children are Latino, while just 3 percent are in Catholic schools, Burnford said. That is "clearly a funding issue," he said.

The NCEA president said the track record of Catholic schools in educating children of every background is outstanding, pointing out that 99 percent of Catholic high school students graduate and 86 percent attend four-year colleges. "A child who is black or Latino is 42 percent more likely to graduate from high school and two and a half times more likely to graduate from college if they attend Catholic school," he said.

Burnford stressed that Catholic schools "need a growth mindset in this day and age."

"It is a matter of faith and knowing that God will deliver," he said.

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Schmalz is assistant editor of Catholic San Francisco, newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

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