Commenting on the issue of clerical celibacy, Bishop Edward Daly, who led the Irish diocese of Derry from 1974 until 1993, said:
“I ask myself, more and more, why celibacy should be the great sacred and unyielding arbiter, the paradigm of diocesan priesthood? (Clerical celibacy) is an obligation that has caused many wonderful potential candidates to turn away from a vocation and other fine men to resign their priesthood at great loss to the Church.
“There is certainly an important and enduring place for celibate priesthood. But I believe there should also be a place in the modern Catholic Church for a married priesthood and for men who do not wish to commit themselves to celibacy.”
Pope returns to a very different Germany
Next Thursday Pope Benedict will embark upon his third visit to his homeland, Germany, since he became Pope. But the country is today very different from when he left it for a Vatican appointment many years ago.
There are today four million Catholics less than there were at that time, although the overall population has increased by about one million. The number of children under seven baptised annually has dropped to about 170,000 from just above 290,000 in 1991. And the number of marriages performed annually in Catholic parishes has dropped from almost 111,000 in 1991 to less than 50,000 in 2009.
The Pope is looking at this as a pastoral visit aimed at strengthening German Catholics in their faith. The theme of the visit that will take the Pope to Berlin, Erfurt, Freiburg and Eichsfeld is: ‘Where there is God, there is a future’.
ETA urged to disband
Bishop Jose Ignacio Munilla of San Sebastian, Spain, has appealed to the Basque separatist group, ETA, to “disband and to clearly acknowledge the evil it has committed”.
Mgr Munilla exhorted the members of his diocese to pray for ETA leaders to take this courageous decision to move along the road to peace.
Hate crimes against Christians increasing
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States, drew attention to “warning signs” indicating a rising trend in hate crimes directed at Christians in Europe. The Vatican foreign minister was speaking at a conference on anti-Christian discrimination, organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Mgr Mamberti referred to “irrefutable proof of a growing intolerance against Christians” in Europe. He said that though there is no violent persecution, the rights of Christians are being negatively impacted. “Acts motivated by bias against Christians are fast becoming a reality also in countries where they constitute a majority,” he said.
Call for reflection on the root cause of unemployment
L’Osservatore Romano editor Gian Maria Vian, commenting on the Pope’s speeches at Ancona at the 25th National Eucharistic Congress, said the Pontiff had touched the root cause of unemployment.
He said the Pope went to the “root of the matter”, urging people “to think about the historical consequences of ideologies ‘aimed at organising society with the force of power and of the economy’”.
The Pope had called for re-establishing the primacy of God, because “man needs bread to live, but above all he needs the true bread which is Christ himself”.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)