According to a translation by Catholic News Service, the pope said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that “matrimony is between a man and a woman” but that moves to “regulate diverse situations of cohabitation [are] driven by the need to regulate economic aspects among persons, as for instance to assure medical care.”
Pope Francis has signaled that the Catholic Church may tolerate some forms of same-sex civil unions, though he affirmed the Church’s opposition to gay marriage.
According to a translation by Catholic News Service, the pope said in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that “matrimony is between a man and a woman” but that moves to “regulate diverse situations of cohabitation [are] driven by the need to regulate economic aspects among persons, as for instance to assure medical care.”
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Pope Francis' recent words about "little monsters" resonated in a special way with the Rev. Kevin Manion, who is working on preparing documents for the upcoming sainthood cause for Fr. Aloysius Ellacuria, CMF. Manion served as Fr. Aloysius' secretary in the 1970's. The Pope said recently that priestly formation is a "work of art, not a police action" and "we must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. When these little monsters mold the people of God, this really gives me goose bumps," said the Pope. his morning TIME magazine named Pope Francis its person of the year, hailing the head of the Catholic Church as a new voice of global conscience since taking office in March. He is the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, the first Latin American head of the Church and a leading voice for the dispossessed. TIME says he took on a Church beset by scandal and signs of deep internal dysfunction, but there are signs that his popularity is revitalizing it. TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs said they chose Francis "for pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest church to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy." First, the name “Francesco” leapfrogged to No. 1 on the list of the most popular baby names in Italy. Then, the city of Rome reported a tourism boom, mostly from Latin America. Now, there’s word Roman Catholic Church attendance is climbing throughout Italy. Blame it on “the Francis effect.” Italy’s Center for Studies on New Religions reported Sunday that around half of the 250 priests it surveyed reported a significant rise in church attendance since Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in March. Cardinal Timothy Dolan is certainly right when he says that Pope Francis “wants to shake us [Catholics] up.” But is he doing more harm than good? Among his most quoted recent statements are: “I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.” And, “The most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you. And the ministers of the Church must be ministers of mercy above all.” Of all the novelties that Pope Francis has brought to the Vatican, few have endeared him to the public—and unsettled his aides—as much as his penchant for picking up the phone and calling someone out of the blue. The pontiff with the pastor’s touch has phoned his cobbler in Argentina to inquire about a shoe repair, called to cancel his newspaper subscription and phoned a woman who was raped by a local police officer to counsel her. Just this week, Francis phoned a pregnant Italian woman whose fiance had pushed her to have an abortion. H.H. Pope Tawadros II issued a decision to provide services in Switzerland through three parishes. H.G. Bishop Yoanas said the decision to include the Italian sector under Bishop Kyrillos’ care was published in Al-Keraza magazine, the German sector to Bishop Gabriel’s, and the French sector to Bishop Luca’s. The pope also decided to specify his European deputy’s duties, as well as giving him the right to assign, transfer, and nominate priests to parishes or churches with no bishops, in addition to the right to establish new churches and investigate problems with churches that do not have bishops present. Pope Francis: 'Whom am I to Judge?' Secular Media Twists Compassion into Approval for Gay Lifestyle7/31/2013 On the plane back from Brazil's World Youth Day, Pope Francis conversed with journalists on a broad range of subjects. The next morning, his statement, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" was reported by leading media outlets as a signal for change within the Catholic Church. Generally ignored was the pontiff's reiteration that the Church teaches that homosexual acts are a sin. "This is yet another example of the mainstream media being utterly incompetent when reporting on matters of religion," says Al Kresta, author of the new book, Dangers to the Faith: Recognizing Catholicism's 21st Century Opponents and host of Ave Maria Radio's "Kresta in the Afternoon." The Bible App™ by YouVersion, which recently reached the colossal milestone of 100 million downloads, joining major brands like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter that have achieved the same landmark, has added the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), one of the most popular Catholic versions of the Bible approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Bible App, which is completely free, contains over 600 versions of the Bible in over 350 languages. Available for virtually every mobile device, the app allows people of faith to access their version of the Bible on their smart phones and tablets. Faith is the source of light, of guidance for the Christian life. "We walk by faith, not by sight," wrote St Paul. In his highly anticipated first encyclical, The Light of Faith (Lumen Fidei), Pope Francis reflects on the meaning of faith, the beginning of God's gracious salvation and the means by which man encounters the living God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Ignatius Press is slated to release the encyclical as a high-quality, hardcover, deluxe edition in August, in time for the fall celebrations of the Year of Faith. |
Walter Blackwood
Associate Pastor with The Bridge Community of Faith in Kelowna BC Canada. Archives
May 2017
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