News Briefing: Church in the World

Abbot Jean Scarcella’s return to the Swiss Abbey of Saint Maurice, after the Vatican dropped an investigation of allegations that he covered up sexual abuse, met a lukewarm reaction from the Swiss bishops’ conference and protests from victims’ groups. 

The Dicastery for Bishops said this month that Scarcella, who stepped aside 17 months ago when he was accused of sexually harassing a young man, could resume his role because the case was beyond the statute of limitations. 

An initial report in 2023 commissioned by the conference identified 1,002 cases of abuse and 510 perpetrators since the 1950s and said these figures were only the “tip of the iceberg”. Scarcella and five other members of the bishops’ conference were rebuked last October for “not correctly” addressing various cases of sexual abuse, but they were not subject to a canonical inquiry. Scarcella and two others gave only vague responses when asked for a comment. 

A bishops’ conference statement “took notice of the authorisation” by the dicastery and said the Vatican had given no further details. “Conference members have no other information … and therefore cannot provide any further explanation,” it said. 

“Trust cannot be built this way!” said a joint statement by the main victims’ associations in the country’s German, French and Italian language areas.  “Abbot Scarcella could have sent a signal of trust by not resuming his duties.”

Scarcella said: “I welcome with serenity the confidence of the Holy See … and I thank my community for its unwavering support.”

Work began at Saint Denis Cathedral, the pioneer Gothic church in northern Paris and resting place of almost all French kings, to rebuild its north tower and spire which were dismantled in 1846 after a lightning strike. It is due to be completed in 2029.  

The project is funded by private and public funds and money from admissions to visit the construction site. When finished, it will have a tower similar to the existing south tower but topped with a taller spire. Architects tried to rebuild it at the time, but further storms weakened the structure and it was finally dismantled. 

The site, now across a highway from the Stade de France, was chosen because Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris, is believed to be buried there. According to legend, the third-century martyr was decapitated on Montmartre but walked several kilometres north with head in hand until he reached the spot where the cathedral now stands.

Notre-Dame restored – a glimpse of the numinous

Out of the flames, into the light – Notre-Dame restored

Spanish police arrested a priest of the Legionaries of Christ on charges of abusing five girls at a school where he was chaplain.

Fr Marcelino de Andrés Núñez, a former secretary to the serial abuser Marcial Maciel who founded the order, was accused of abusing one girl at the Highlands El Encinar School in Madrid, but hours after announcing his arrest on 6 March the school received four further complaints. 

In a subsequent statement it said de Andrés, a prolific author, had been hired in 2022 despite his known links to Maciel “because there was no history of inappropriate behaviour against minors that would prevent him from carrying out his work in an educational centre”.

Religious joined anti-mining campaigners calling for the restoration of a law against metal mining in El Salvador. Mining had been banned since 2017, but a law passed last December allowed it to resume. Organisations representing religious life, including the Conference of Religious of El Salvador, as well as local congregations, backed a statement from El Salvador’s bishops’ conference calling on the president and lawmakers to respect “the will of the people”.  

Sr Marta Dolores Pineda of the Servants of the Mercy of God said the campaign was inspired by Pope Francis’ call “to take care of our common home”. They have collected petition signatures, which the bishops promise to present to the government, asking for a repeal of the new law. Church opponents fear large-scale extraction will contaminate the country’s key water sources and harm people’s health.

The Mexican bishops’ conference expressed outrage after the discovery of an extermination camp operated by a drug cartel, calling it “one of the cruellest expressions of evil and human misery that we’ve seen in the country”.  

They denounced the fact “that many places like this exist in our nation, sites where the most serious crimes against humanity have been committed”, in a statement on 12 March signed by the conference’s president, Bishop Ramón Castro of Cuernavaca and secretary-general Bishop Héctor Pérez, and auxiliary in Mexico City. 

A collective of families of missing people discovered the camp in Teuchitlán, approximately 40 miles west of Guadalajara. They found ovens for cremating victims, bone fragments, clothing and more than 200 pairs of shoes. Reports said the camp was used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel since 2012, one of many drug cartels battling over crime territories. 

The bishops criticised “the irresponsible failure of government authorities at all three levels to address one of the most critical problems facing the country: the disappearance of persons.” They called for “an immediate, decisive and coordinated response from the Mexican state”, and recognised the efforts of families “making decisive discoveries that keep the cry for justice alive” which “challenges us all as a society”.

Mexican bishop asks new president to meet mothers of ‘disappeared’

Postcard from Mexico City

Cardinal Robert McElroy was installed as the eighth Archbishop of Washington on 11 March, with dozens of bishops from across the United States and several thousand people in attendance. 

In his homily, McElroy pointed to the Jubilee Year of Hope. “We are called to be pilgrims of hope in a wounded world, not ignoring the suffering that abounds, but seeing it as a call to strive even more deeply to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into our lives and our nation and our world,” he said.

Recalling the Gospel passage about Mary Magdalene going to the tomb on Easter morning, he added: “In the light of the Resurrection, we as a local Church must unswervingly understand our vocation as disciples of hope.” McElroy said Catholics must see each other as God sees us, to overcome the “divisions of race and gender and ideology and nationality [that] flourish in the world of politics, religion, family life and education.”

Four cardinals and more than thirty bishops attended a conference on Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli tutti at Fordham University last week.  

The fourth annual “Way Forward” ecclesial gathering brought together members of the hierarchy with academics, journalists, philanthropists and other Catholic leaders to examine the magisterium of Pope Francis and discuss ways to strengthen its reception in the US. In addition to Fordham’s Centre on Religion and Culture, the event was co-sponsored by Boston College’s Boisi Centre, the Centre for Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University and Loyola University Chicago’s Hank Centre. 

This year, both the formal and informal discussions grappled with the intense polarisation that afflicts US politics and has seeped into the Church as well. Among the presenters were Prof Anna Rowlands from Durham University, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, Kerry Robinson, the president and chief executive of Catholic Charities USA, and Stephen Schneck, chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

We must not be ‘naive’ about how faith can be deployed in politics

The American detox

Arlington National Cemetery removed pages from its website recording notable Black, Hispanic and women veterans, as well as information about the American Civil War and Black history. The removal followed a campaign by President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the military and throughout the federal government.  

Some information was removed outright, while other items are now filed under categories that do not mention race or gender. Page links for African American History, Hispanic American History and Women’s History have disappeared.  Approximately 400,000 veterans are buried in the army-run cemetery, which was established after the Civil War at the home of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee.  

Over two million people serve in the US military on active duty or in reserves, with 30 per cent identifying as part of a minority group such as Black or Native American and 18 percent as Hispanic or Latino.

The Cameroonian priest and intellectual Fr Humphrey Tatah Mbuy decried the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy as a contradiction of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In his weekly recorded sermon distributed on social media, the cleric said Vice President J.D. Vance’s use of Catholic teaching on the ordo amoris – “ordered love” – to justify mass deportation in a Fox News interview completely missed the meaning of the phrase. 

Vance said the compassion of American leaders and citizens belonged first to fellow Americans, noting that “you love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then, after that, you can focus and prioritise the rest of the world”. 

Quoting Pope Francis, Mbuy said the true ordo amoris “is to be found in the parable of the Good Samaritan, where true love builds a fraternity open to all without exception”. He accepted that each country has the right and duty to secure its borders and control the flow of immigrants, but said that to treat immigrants as disposable elements was contrary to God’s order to love each other.

“In everything we say or do towards others, we must show respect for the sacredness and dignity of their humanity,” Mbuy said. “This respect entails the decent treatment of others, avoiding inhumane detention conditions, and providing basic needs before deportation.”

Angola’s President João Lourenço received a Church delegation from the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo and the Church of Christ in Congo on 10 March, where they presented their initiative for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

As president of the African Union, Lourenço could have a key role in ending violence in the east of the country.  Catholic bishops joined an ecumenical delegation that met leaders in the DR Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya to discuss possible solutions for achieving “lasting peace” throughout the region.  

On 11 March, Angola announced that it would mediate in the crisis in eastern DR Congo, hosting negotiations in Luanda on 18 March between the Kinshasa government and the M23 rebels. This had previously been ruled out by DR Congo’s president, Félix Tshisekedi, but his own visit to Luanda last week seemed to open the way to Angola establishing contact with the Rwanda-backed rebels.

Charities report ‘apocalyptic’ violence in eastern DR Congo

Pleas for ‘dialogue’ as Rwanda-backed forces advance into Congolese territory

Malawian bishops told priests not to take sides in national politics ahead of elections scheduled for later this year. “We order all our priests not to take sides or favour any candidate or political party. Any such action on the part of our priests using church structures for political purpose will not be tolerated,” the bishops said. 

The direction came in the bishops’ Easter pastoral letter, where they raised concerns about the state of the country. The bishops also warned that poverty levels had increased on the back of “lies” by politicians. 

The bishops called on all Malawians “to reflect and act on their socio-economic reality so that they can challenge the prevailing political and state structures and forms of governance that oppress them and keep them poor and hungry forever”. They added that “poverty and suffering will not be rolled away until citizens take a united stand”.

Further violence broke out after four months of relative calm in the norther-eastern Indian state of Manipur.  Clashes broke out on 8 March, leaving one Kuki protester dead and 16 seriously injured, on the first day of “free movement” in Manipur.  

“A well-conceived and comprehensive plan of action is needed, beginning with the return of weapons and rebuilding dialogue,” Archbishop Linus Neli of Imphal, the state capital, said last week. “These people are still traumatised by the violence and living in a state of poverty.” 

Over the past two years, conflict between predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribal people and the Hindu-majority Meitei group have claimed over 250 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people. All roads linking Manipur with other Indian states had remained closed. The federal government ordered the reopening of the highway between Senapati and Imphal, to restore a semblance of normality and facilitate traffic and trade.  

However, the Kuki-Zo Council, an group representing predominantly Christian tribal people, rejected “free movement” through the area, fearing more violence. Kuki protesters blocked the reopening, saying they would not allow it until the Kuki demand for an autonomous territory is met. The clashes followed security forces’ intervention.

Why the global community must hold India to account for atrocities in Manipur

Indian Catholic prelates meet PM, express concern over increasing hate crimes

Soldiers of the Myanmar junta burned down St Patrick’s Cathedral in Banmaw on the eve of its patronal feast.  Columban missionary Fr Eamon Sheridan, who is based in Myitkyina, wrote on social media on Monday: “On this feast of St Patrick, news that the cathedral of St Patrick in Banmaw, built by the Columbans, was burnt down yesterday.”  

The adjacent priest’s house, as well as a three-storey building housing the diocesan offices and a nearby secondary school, had already been set on fire on 26 February. The Diocese of Banmaw, which was established in 2006 and is led by Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam, borders China to the east and covers a largely mountainous area with a population of more than 407,000, of whom roughly 27,000 are baptised Catholics. 

The Columbans began missionary work in what was then Burma in 1936 among the Kachin tribal people in Myitkyina, in the country’s north, and Banmaw. Following the military-socialist takeover in 1964, all foreign missionaries were forced to leave the country. The Columbans began to return in 2016.

Catholic clergy and religious joined a protest of hundreds of people on 12 March demanding a halt to a geothermal project on the predominantly Catholic island of Flores in Indonesia. They said it violated villagers’ land rights and would damage the environment.  They marched to the Ngada Regency government offices demanding that the permit for the project in Mataloko – to be run by the state electricity company – be revoked.

“This project is killing us, it is only supporting the investors and their friends,” said the Alliance for Flores Geothermal Victims, which coordinated the protest. Fr Felix Baghi SVD, the alliance’s chairman, said the project has encroached on nearly 1,000 hectares of indigenous people’s agricultural land. Drilling holes have created mudflows which damage farmlands, the primary source of villagers’ livelihoods.  

Joining the protest were Catholics from two parishes of the Archdiocese of Ende’s Commission for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation. Priests and seminarians of Franciscan and Divine Word congregations were there too. Fr Yohanes Wahyu OFM participated in a coordinated protest the same day in Jakarta outside the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources office, where demonstrators presented a statement demanding the revocation of geothermal permits.

The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) created a new Commission for Synodality and elected Filipino Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David as its chair.

The FABC, the Bangkok-based association of Asian episcopal conferences, said the new commission “is dedicated to advancing the principles of synodality across Asia”. Its statement on 14 March continued: “This commission aims to foster the ongoing formation of bishops in the area of synodality, providing avenues for sharing resources between the conferences within the FABC.” 

It said the appointment of 65-year-old David “underscores his extensive experience and unwavering commitment to the synodal process”. David is the vice president of FABC. He is also the Bishop of Kalookan, a diocese in northern Metro Manila, and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. 

The Jesuit-educated cardinal is known for having sheltered victims of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, earning him the ire of the populist leader. He is also remembered for establishing “mission stations” or makeshift chapels to reach his diocese’s poorest communities.

Pope Francis and the permanent revolution

The next conclave could turn to the East

The Spanish Claretian Fr Bernardo Blanco, who was kidnapped by extremists in the southern Philippines in 1993, died at the age of 97 on 10 March. He was buried on 15 March, having served in the country as a missionary for nearly 50 years. 

Blanco, born in Zamora, lived a storied life that included expulsion from Equatorial Guinea by its dictatorship in 1954. He arrived in the Philippines in 1977 and was sent to the restive south. In 1993, he fell into the hands of abductors linked to the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan province. Blanco escaped after 49 days of captivity. 

Seven years later, the Abu Sayyaf Group would be responsible for the abduction of another Claretian priest, Fr Rhoel Gallardo, who was tortured and martyred, refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. The plight of Blanco and Gallardo, whose sainthood is now being pushed, highlighted the lives of Catholic missionaries in places of conflict. 

“Fr Bernardo Blanco CMF, faced expulsion and abduction, yet he remained unwavering in his missionary commitment. His deep devotion to the Blessed Mother gave him the fortitude necessary to navigate the numerous challenges he faced throughout his life,” said the Filipino Claretians, officially the Father Rhoel Gallardo Province, in an obituary.

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