Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing visited to the Diocese of Hong Kong on 13-15 November, the first visit by a bishop from the Chinese mainland since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.
The 58-year-old archbishop, who heads the state-sponsored Chinese Patriotic Chinese Association, was invited by the Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, who had visited Beijing in April. Li Shan said he was impressed by “the development of the Church in Hong Kong, from which we can learn a lot” and said he wanted “to take this experience home and work hard to ensure that the Catholic Church in Beijing grows for the better”.
He also, however, used the occasion to emphasise the need to combine the Catholic faith and Chinese culture more closely. The Church ought “to be able to promote the work of evangelisation and spirituality along the direction of ‘sinicisation’”, he told a theological conference.
The seventh Buddhist-Christian Colloquium, held in Bangkok last week, issued a statement calling for Buddhists and Christians to work together to bring hope and compassion to the world.
Organised by the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, together with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand and Buddhist organisations, around 150 Buddhists and Christians from 12 Asian nations, the UK and the Vatican participated.
“We believe that now more than ever, we need to work together and with a great sense of responsibility,” it said, listing points of “shared action”. These included continued prayer, education, dialogue, cooperation, acknowledging suffering and cultivating empathy.
They also called for innovation in making their religious texts and “centuries of experience and wisdom” relevant to today’s world “with the goal of helping religious movements to alter how they perceive, think and conceive of the other as well as the planet”.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that Catholic are forbidden from Freemasonry, in response to a query from a Filipino bishop.
A document from the dicastery signed by its prefect, Cardinal Victor Fernández, said that Bishop Julito Cortes of Dumanguete had voiced his concern at “the continuous increase in the number of members of Freemasonry” in his diocese and asked for doctrinal and pastoral guidance.
The DDF affirmed “the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry” as detailed in a 1983 declaration which said that Catholics affiliated with Masonic lodges are “in a state of grave sin”. It advised that any pastoral response should be coordinated by the bishops’ conference, suggesting they hold popular catechises sessions and consider making a public declaration.
The Filipino bishops issued a “clarification” in March this year on the “unacceptability” of Freemasonry, following allegations that Masons were participating in Catholic liturgies and the diocesan consultations for the universal synod.
Indonesia’s bishops called for “a peaceful Indonesia” in a statement marking the start of the three-month presidential election process. They warned of the dangers of “identity politics based on ethnicity, religion, race and small groups, exploited by political competitors”, and said they feared that “social conflicts will arise given the ‘heated’ political climate”.
The statement defended the “essence” of the Indonesian nation, founded on its motto “unity in diversity”. They called for particular attention to the ongoing conflict between rebels and government forces in the Papua region.
The bishops called on the current and future governments to “engage in dialogue” and to negotiate with all groups in Papua, including “religious leaders, traditional leaders, women’s leaders, Church leaders and tribal leaders”.
The winner of the election will replace President Joko Widodo on 14 February 2024.
Peru’s parliament has passed a law putting the rights of unborn children into its constitution. A majority of 72 passed Law 785 for “the rights of the conceived” in the Peruvian Congress, with 26 voting against and six abstentions. The new law defines an unborn child as an entity separate from its mother from conception onwards.
The amended constitution will now state: “Human life begins with conception. The human person is a subject of law from his conception. The Peruvian state recognises and guarantees respect for the dignity of the conceived child, as well as its right to life, individual identity, mental and physical integrity, as well as to develop freely in the womb [i.e., without external interference].” The sole exception to the law is where the life of both mother and child are in danger.
The Church in Costa Rica has voiced its opposition to a bill which would remove the seal of the confessional in cases of sexual abuse of minors. The bill, first introduced in September, prompted the country’s bishops to assert the “inviolable” character of the seal.
Speaking at the end of October, Bishop Daniel Blanco, an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of San José, emphasised that “‘breaching’ the inviolability of the sacramental seal would constitute an unacceptable offence” against the freedom of the Church and broader religious freedom. Fr Alejandro Jiménez, judicial vicar of the archdiocese’s ecclesial tribunal, said that eliminating the seal “is not going to provide the solution to anyone’s suffering”.
Jesuits in El Salvador and around the world marked the thirty-fourth anniversary of the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and daughter on 16 November 1989. Soldiers broke into the Central American University campus in San Salvador, where the Jesuits lived, assassinating the university’s rector Ignacio Ellacuría SJ and seven others.
In August, the Archbishop of San Salvador Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas announced that a canonisation process has begun for some of the martyrs killed in the country’s bloody civil war, Fr Ellacuría among them.
French reports anticipated the appointment of Bishop François Touvet of Châlons en Champagne as coadjutor bishop to the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, where the 71-year-old Bishop Dominique Rey has caused controversy by his reception of novel ecclesial groups and lax standards for candidates for the priesthood.
All ordinations in the diocese were suspended in July last year following an apostolic visitation. Commentators believed Touvet’s appointment would allow Rey to retire discreetly, ending what the Catholic daily La Croix called his “atypical, missionary and reckless episcopate”.
Daily liturgies were markedly reduced in Paris last week as around three-quarters of the archdiocese’s 477 active priests left for a three-day assembly in Lourdes. It amounted to five days away – 12-16 November – as the trip to the sanctuary near the Spanish border can take up to seven hours.
The archdiocese traditionally assembles most of its priests every six months in Paris for a day of talks, but this was often found to be too rushed. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich, appointed to Paris last year, felt a longer break was needed.
“The programme has deliberately been kept light to allow the priests to have time with each other and with the archbishop,” a diocesan official told Famille Chrétienne. Over 100 priests stayed behind to tend to parishioners, who were informed in advance of the reduced schedule.
The Swiss bishops’ conference has received Vatican permission to set up an ecclesiastical criminal and disciplinary court for breaches of canon law.
“We have received the green light and can now begin work”, the conference president Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel told the outlet kath.ch on 17 November. He said the Pope had immediately understood that the Swiss Church was in need of such a court, so they could now proceed to look for suitable personnel.
Swiss criminal law will continue to have precedence and it would remain compulsory to involve the criminal prosecution authorities in all cases of abuse connected with the Church, but the new criminal court would also be able to issue sanctions for breaches of canon law.
Sexual abuse in the Church has been the subject of intense debates in Switzerland since a major abuse report was published in September and the accompanying revelation that the Vatican had ordered a canonical investigation of four active and two retired members of the bishops’ conference.
The Vatican has announced plans to have a “carbon-neutral” vehicle fleet by 2030. It is part of a broader initiative – promoted by Pope Francis – to save energy and protect the environment.
The Vatican has partnered with the manufacturer Volkswagen as part of its “Ecological Conversion 2030” project. The first two electric vehicles were delivered last week and around 40 more are due in early 2024.
The Vatican is also constructing its own network of charging stations for electric vehicles and planning to import energy exclusively from renewable sources.
The president of Ghana’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference has condemned corruption and called for political revitalisation, as the south-east of the country suffered serious flooding.
In his speech at a bishops’ meeting on 13 November, Bishop Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi of Sunyani warned that “massive uncontrolled corruption is suffocating the nation” and that the country’s political and economic situation is worsening despite its wealth in mineral resources.
He said the country’s democracy favours only a few with political and financial power, “leaving behind the majority” and thereby contributing to corruption as some politicians act “with impunity and arrogance.” He also faulted the country’s legal system for not meeting its mandate of representing the people but sacrificing the people’s interests “for personal and party interests”.
On 16 November, the bishops joined other religious leaders in the National Peace Council (NPC) – which included the Christian Council of Ghana and the Office of the National Chief Imam – to caution Ghanaian social media users from creating “destructive” content which would “disunite” the country as it prepares for elections in December 2024.
“The NPC…has observed with great concern some insinuations and publications on electronic and social media seeking to inflame religious passion into the 2024 General Elections,” the council said in a statement.
More than 300 bishops, priests, religious and lay Catholics in Nigeria have called for the canonisation of Christians killed in odium fidei – in hatred of the faith. Participants at the fifth National Missionary Congress, with the theme “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41: 10), also backed strategies to protect the Church from given widespread violence.
The conference is organised every four years by the Pontifical Mission Societies of Nigeria and the Department of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria.
The concluding resolution said the gathering aimed to “remind every Christian of the missionary responsibility of every baptised person, despite the trials that this entails”. The resolution also spoke of the daily security challenges in Nigeria “which hinder missionary works and dampen missionary enthusiasm”.
Archbishop Philip Subira Anyolo of Nairobi encouraged partnerships to fight hunger, as he opened a Church-run dairy in the Limuru area of central Kenya. The archbishop said food security was a pressing issue that demanded concerted effort, with many citizens still suffering from hunger.
“It is imperative that we, as a community and in partnership with the government, explore avenues to enhance agricultural practices, support local farmers, and ensure that no one in our nation goes to bed hungry,” said Anyolo.
The factory, constructed by Caritas Nairobi, will process milk from 4,000 farmers in the region. It is the product of 13 years’ cooperation between the aid agency and three local farmers’ communities. Catholic Relief Services, Trocaire and Caritas Italiana, are among other supporters of the dairy.
Archbishop Anyolo also called for more youth employment, tree-planting and environmental care and education for all. “As custodians of this planet, we have a shared responsibility to address environmental challenges. By promoting sustainable practices and environmental conservation, we can safeguard our natural resources for future generations,” he said.
Burundi’s bishops have welcomed the establishment last month of a joint commission and six subcommittees to develop lasting cooperation between the Bishops’ Conference of Burundi and the government on issues of common interest.
The conference president, Archbishop Bonaventure Nahimana of Gitega, said last week that “this is a further step with which the state recognises the importance of the Church”.
Education, healthcare and support for the poor and prisoners are among the areas of discussion, as the Church runs an extensive network of kindergartens, schools, healthcare facilities and hospitals in Burundi, and is currently considering opening a Catholic university.
South African religious leaders at a summit on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), signed a public statement of commitment to strengthen prevention and response efforts.
The Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the South Africa Council of Churches were among the signatories of the statement, aligned with commitments in the South African National Strategic Plan to tackle GBVF. The government has called on faith-based organisations to recognise the crucial role they play in reshaping societal norms and values for a more just society.
Under the banner of the Faith Action to End GBVF Collective, religious leaders and organisations have undertaken to educate and equip their communities to understand the causes and impact of gender-based violence and femicide. Participants noted their important role in protecting victims and bringing perpetrators to account.
Fr Benezet Bujo, a pioneer of “African Theology”, died on 5 November aged 83. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bujo studied in Germany and Switzerland after his ordination, developing his idea of a distinct African theology drawing on a Christian ethic that recognised relationships between human beings, including between descendants and ancestors, as conceived in African traditions.
His work on inculturation and African ethics at the University of Fribourg won him widespread recognition. He died in Switzerland after a long illness.
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