The statutes for the two-year German synodal procedure for church reform, which is due to begin in December, have been published. Sixty-nine bishops, 69 members of the Central Committee of German lay Catholics/ZdK and 82 further members who do not belong to the ZdK – from the religious orders and representatives of the new movements to young Catholics – will discuss key church issues for two years as of December. Fifteen of the other members are under 30 and the 82 include at least 30 women. “The pivotal emphasis will be on the question of God and the path he wants to accompany us on today”, the preamble underlines. Four forums will discuss power in the Church, priestly lifestyle, women in the Church, and love and relationships. In order to pass as a reform, a two-thirds majority of all those present, will be necessary. The local bishop will always have the last say before a resolution is put into practice in his diocese. Resolutions which affect the World Church will be forwarded to the Vatican as a “German synodal procedure vote”, as the German Church will not embark on an independent path.
At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis said he was “saddened” by news of “the violence” in Ethiopia, which has among its victims Christians of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahado Church. Unrest in Ethiopia in October led to the deaths of more than 70 people. The troubles began with tensions between security forces and a prominent political activist, and were focused in the Oromia region of the country.
Pope Francis has prayed for Iraq, where 18 more people were killed and hundreds wounded the during anti-government protests in October. More than 250 people died in clashes with security forces during October. My thoughts turn to beloved Iraq, where protests during this month have caused numerous deaths and injuries,” the Pope said. “I pray that those battered people will find peace and stability”.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, New York, announced he had completed his apostolic visitation of the diocese of Buffalo, New York. The diocese has been embroiled in controversy since last year when a whistleblower accused Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone of covering up allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy.
Next week, from 11 to 14 November, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops holds its annual plenary in Baltimore. The top of their agenda is the election of new officers. Current conference Vice President Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles is expected to ascend to the top spot. He will be the first Mexican-American to lead the conference.
Pope Francis has approved adding the 10 December Feast of Our Lady of Loreto to all calendars and liturgical books for the celebration of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Putting the celebration of the feast day on the universal calendar “will help all people, especially families, youth and religious to imitate the virtues of the perfect disciple of the Gospel, the Virgin Mother, who, in conceiving the head of the Church also accepted us as her own,” the decree said.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has officially received an émigré archdiocese in western Europe that spurned Moscow’s authority after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and set up its own church network and seminary in Paris. ROC Patriarch Kirill presented the official documents on 3 November in Moscow to Archbishop Jean Renneteau, a 76-year-old Frenchman who championed the transfer after the group’s previous authority, the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, abolished the archdiocese and told its priests to transfer loyalty to the local Greek Orthodox prelate. The transfer of the western European diocese follows Istanbul’s recognition of an autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church despite Moscow’s opposition, a step that led to the ROC to break communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and with the Greek Orthodox Church, which has also recognised the new Ukrainian hierarchy.
Almost eight out of ten French people think their country's trademark separation of church and state is endangered by Islam, according to a recent opinion survey, a level equal to that after two bloody Islamist attacks in 2015 and far above the 58 per cent recorded in 2005. The survey came after a Muslim radical working in the police intelligence section killed four colleagues on 3 October before being shot to death. The shocking knife attack within the Paris police prefecture has brought tension between religion and society back into the headlines.
A First Nations Catholic church in Edmonton, Alberta, hosted the launch of a letter and video last week acknowledging injustices against Canada’s indigenous people and the historic loss of their language and cultural roots through the government’s enforced residential schools. Some were run by Catholic and other religious organisations until the mid 1990s. The launch was organised by Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle, a new Catholic coalition. Circle member Archbishop Murray Chatlain of Keewatin-Le Pas, in Manitoba, hopes it will show that the Catholic Church is dedicated to healing its relationship with indigenous people.
The oldest Sister of Mercy in the world has passed away at the age of 111. Sr Mary Aidan Donaldson died on 25 October at the Convent of Mercy retirement home in Mobile, Alabama. She worked in education for almost 50 years, after arriving in Mobile from her native Northern Ireland during the Great Depression in 1929.
A Catholic bishop is calling for a more health-centred approach to tackling the drug problem in the Philippines. Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan has said that killings during President Rodrigo Duterte’s drugs crackdown, that began three years ago, will not be effective. At least 6,660 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings, but the death toll could be upwards of 27,000, according to human rights groups.
Centre-left Broad Front coalition candidate Daniel Martínez won 37.5 per cent of the vote in Uruguayan presidential elections on 27 October. He will face Luis Lacalle Pou of the conservative National Party in a run-off on 24 November. Under the Broad Front, Uruguay has legalised gay marriage and created the first national marketplace for legal marijuana. The archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, published an editorial on 26 October saying important issues facing Uruguay include the defence of life, the environment and security. “Liberty does not exist without responsibility,” he wrote.
Spain's governing socialists have pledged to renounce a series of agreements with the Vatican and tighten fiscal controls on the Catholic Church, if victorious in upcoming parliamentary elections. “We will recover assets improperly registered by the Church and conduct a review of past property operations", the PSOE said in its electoral programme. "We will also promote a new bilateral agreement based on the principle of secularism, in order to maintain a modern co-operative relationship with the Catholic Church". The programme was published in the run-up to the 10 November ballot, in which premier Pedro Sanchez is seeking re-election after 18 months in power.
An Austrian pro-life activist confessed to having stolen indigenous statues from the church of Santa Maria in Transportina in Rome during the Amazon Synod on 21 October and throwing them in the Tiber. On Youtube on 4 November, the man introduced himself with the words: “Hallo, my name is Alexander Tschugguel and I’m the chap who threw the ‘Pachamama’ statues into the Tiber.” In his eyes, the statues were a sin against the first commandment, Tschugguel said. Tschugguel is a fairly well-known pro-life activist both in Austria and Germany. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has described the theft of the statues as “scandalous” and “outrageous”.
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