News Briefing: global

Clash over women deacons
The time has come to ordain women deacons, Bishop Gebhard Fürst (above) of Rottenburg-Stuttgart told members of the German Catholic Women’s Association (KDFB) on its 100th anniversary on 27 March. The KDFB has been calling for women to be ordained deacons for more than 20 years. Fürst said it was more important than lifting the celibacy rule for priests or ordaining married men. The fact that Pope Francis had kept silent on the issue was a sign that he was “not totally opposed” to women deacons, he said. On 29 March, however, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer
of Regensburg said it was “impossible” to admit women to the threefold ministry of deacon, priest and bishop. He said the KDFB would be better off fighting exploitation and the trafficking of women.

Feet washing ban
The Syro-Malabar Church in India has directed its parishes to not include women in the feet-washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday. The major archbishop of the Eastern Catholic Church has said Pope Francis’ 2016 directive to include women applies only to the Latin rite, and Eastern Churches have been exempted. Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly in the Syro-Malabar Church, said that the synod had decided to maintain the tradition of washing the feet of 12 men or boys. He explained that the Last Supper commemoration is linked to the establishment of the sacramental priesthood and the Eucharist. Pope Francis last year issued a decree through the Congregation for Divine Worship saying that men and women, young and old, and the sick could be included in the feet-washing ceremony. The city of Kochi, in India’s Kerala state, will see a protest liturgy on Maundy Thursday where women’s feet will be washed.


Cardinal John Tong of Hong Kong has sent a message of congratulations to Hong Kong’s new chief executive, asking her to support democratic reform and religious freedom. His letter was sent on 28 March, two days after Carrie Lam’s election. A practising Catholic who went to Catholic schools, Ms Lam (above), 59, is widely perceived as the favoured candidate of the Chinese Government. She has generally supported its policies. In his letter, Cardinal Tong observed that Ms Lam’s election was the result of a restricted vote of an electoral committee, and urged her to “promote the democratic process” so that Hong Kong might “achieve the goal of universal suffrage” in future. He also hoped to see her support full religious freedom and pluralism.


The Archdiocese of Mexico City has described any Mexican companies that have expressed an interest in working on US President Donald Trump’s border wall as “traitors” to the country.

In a weekly editorial column, the diocese said: “Any company intending to invest in the wall of the fanatic Trump would be immoral, but above all, its shareholders and owners should be considered traitors to the homeland.” The first deadline for bids to work on the construction project was 4 April. More than 600 firms have expressed interest, reportedly including Mexican or Mexican-American-owned companies.
 

On 31 March, Catholic leaders in Venezuela spoke out against the Supreme Court’s attempt to strip the National Assembly of its powers and said that civil disobedience is necessary to stop the anti-democratic actions of the administration of President Nicolas Maduro. The opposition has controlled the Assembly since 2015, and it has consistently dissented from decisions of the Court and of Mr Maduro. The Court decision was rolled back after countries including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile as well as the Organisation of American States denounced the ruling. “Today in the Venezuelan Church there is no authentic spirituality if there is not an attitude of resistance to power,” said Archbishop Diego Padrón, bishops’ conference president.

Benedict’s 90th celebrated
The Philosophical-Theological University Benedict XVI at Heiligenkreuz Abbey outside Vienna celebrated the 90th birthday of the Pope Emeritus  from 1-2 April. In his address, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, praised Benedict as a “witness of Easterly faith” and summarised his theology under the motto “Symphony of Life and Truth in Freedom”. Joseph Ratzinger was born on Holy Saturday, 16 April 1927.

Conditions for Christians in North Korea have worsened under the dictatorship of Kim Jong-Un, while the churches still open in the communist-ruled country are “just facades for a sham religious liberty”, according to a Catholic priest.

“Refugees have long been fleeing to China to avoid death from hunger,” said Fr Philippe Blot, a French priest with the Missions Etrangères de Paris order. “Beijing shouldn’t be authorising soldiers from the North Korean secret service to cross the frontier in pursuit. Nor should the 200,000 North Koreans in China be forcibly repatriated. They all know they’ll be tortured, sent to camps and killed if this happens.” The priest was interviewed by France’s Le Monde daily newspaper as the Church in South Korea launched a beatification process for 81 Catholics martyred in the north under communist rule. Fr Blot added that Christians had been publicly executed just for keeping Bibles and rosaries.

Gay activists condemned
Sydney's Archbishop Anthony Fisher has joined his Anglican counterpart, Glenn Davies, in criticising activists who target business leaders opposed to same-sex marriage.

The two archbishops were speaking after the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission gave the Lachlan Macquarie Institute and the Australian Christian Lobby permission to keep the names of their board members private. Both organisations applied to the commission for the measure after gay rights activists targeted “marriage equality” advocate IBM Australia for employing Mark Allaby, who was on the institute’s board. In a speech to the Sydney Catholic Business Network, Archbishop Fisher, a former commercial lawyer, criticised “marriage equality-friendly” chief executives for pressuring executives of other corporations to join them in applying “pink bans’’ on companies and executives who support traditional marriage.