Speaking during the presentation of the book Pope Francis: This Economy Kills by Italian journalists Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis, said: “The economy is not a god. We have to have the courage to put it in its place.” The cardinal added that as the economy is a human creation and that humans have the responsibility to manage the economy in a way that benefits the most people.
The book, which includes a long interview with the Pope, takes its title from the Pope’s apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, which says: “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.” In the interview, the Pope answers his critics who say he is a Marxist by stressing that “I did not say anything that is not in the social teaching of the Church”.
Bishops issue synod questionnaire
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited dioceses to prepare for the worldwide synod of bishops with a set of questions on marriage and family life, but the conference said any questionnaire results will remain private. Mgr Patrick Powers, conference general secretary, stressed that the questionnaire is not a survey or poll of Catholic opinion, but a way for bishops to share pastoral insights with Pope Francis and to help bishops plan for their dioceses.
The Canadian bishops reworked the order of the questions found in the document sent by the Vatican and revised the wording, “to provide dioceses with a set of questions rephrased and rearranged in a way that more easily facilitates any consultations dioceses may undertake”.
Bishops say ‘non’
While the heads of France’s main Muslim, Protestant and Buddhist groups signed a declaration proposed by the group Reporters without Borders, the French Catholic Church decided not to sign it. The declaration challenges the different religions to commit themselves to unreservedly support free speech or to face public pressure to do so.
The reporters proposed the declaration because religious leaders condemned the attack on Charlie Hebdo but said free speech should be exercised responsibly. The reporters said opinions cannot be limited even if they are irreverent or offensive. A number of intellectuals who back France’s laïcité policy of Church-State separation are supporting the declaration.
Georges Pontier, president of the bishops’ conference and Archbishop of Marseille, said: “This declaration seems to suspect religions of being not very active in supporting free speech, if not opposed to it.” He added that the Church supports free speech but will not sign declarations it has not helped draft.
Christians in Middle East urged to stay
Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan of Antioch encouraged Christians to stay in the Middle East. The patriarch is head of the Syriac Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See. His appeal was made during Mass in a Baghdad parish.
He thanked his “little flock” for remaining faithful to the Gospel and compared those remaining in the Middle East to leaven. He encouraged those deciding whether to emigrate to ask themselves whether they are seeking an earthly kingdom or a heavenly one, and to ponder Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)