Pope Francis sent a message to the Queen, the members of the royal family and “all the people of the United Kingdom” on his return from Ireland to Italy on Sunday. In the brief message, signed Francisco PP, he said that he was “entrusting the nation to the providence of Almighty God” and that he “willingly invoke upon all of you the divine blessing of joy and peace”.
Bishops’ shame over abuse
English bishops last week expressed deep shame over recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse.
“I am utterly ashamed that this evil has, for so long, found a place in our house, our Church,” The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, wrote in a letter distributed to priests and parishes of his archdiocese. “As Father of this house”, he says he bore this shame in a direct way. “It is the direct responsibility of a father to protect his household from harm, no matter how difficult and complex that might be.”
Meanwhile, the Bishop of Portsmouth, Philip Egan, suggested that the Pope convene an “extraordinary synod” in Rome in response to the “world-wide phenomenon” of clerical sex abuse.
The Bishop of Leeds, Marcus Stock, said that expressions of sorrow from Church leaders were “just not enough”, and that only “the voices of the survivors of abuse” could help the Church to “understand what needs to be done”.
Twelve people have been arrested in connection with charges of historic abuse at Smyllum Park in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The accused, whose ages range for 62 to 85 and include nuns, worked at the orphanage, which was run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. A further four individuals are being investigated by Police Scotland.
Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Taylor, of the National Child Investigation Safety Unit, called on anyone with information about Smyllum Park, which closed in 1981, to come forward.
The Catholic Church’s lead bishop for prisons, Richard Moth, has described HMP Birmingham prison as “not fit for purpose” and said that “pressures on prison resources and personnel” were partly to blame.
The Government was forced to take back control of the prison from contractor G4S after an inspection found that prisoners used drink, drugs and violence with impunity and corridors were littered with cockroaches, blood and vomit.
There is no such thing as an “average” or even “normal” marriage, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Nichols, said in an address to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin last week. Cardinal Nichols said that it was impossible to speak about family life without a word about fragility and brokenness.
Church helps define hate crime
The Scottish Government has assured the Catholic Church that it will be consulted about any future legal definition of sectarianism. Last month, the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, and the Scottish Catholic parliamentary officer, Anthony Horan, met the new Justice Secretary, Humza Yousaf, to discuss the absence of an official Catholic representative on a Holyrood working group dedicated to the precise definition of hate crime.
The meeting took place in the context of a recent assault on a Glasgow priest.
A Scottish Catholic lawyer has called on the Home Office to relax the “brutal” rules on asylum seekers having to prove their religious affiliation. Jamie Kerr has also called on the Catholic Church to intervene in the case. He spoke out after press reports said that a Vietnamese priest, whose anonymity is being protected, was having difficulty seeking asylum in Scotland.
The decision to show horror films and Monty Python’s Life of Brian on a big screen in Derby’s Anglican cathedral later this month will not compromise the building’s holiness, its Dean, Dr Stephen Hance, insists. Critics of the plans have claimed that the 1970s classics The Wicker Man and Don’t Look Now, which will be shown in the nave, are inappropriate because of a graphic sex scene and themes of paganism.
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