Pope Francis told Italian President Sergio Mattarella that the religious dimension should not be limited to “personal conscience” and called for recognition of religion’s “significant role in the construction of society”.
“The Church offers everyone the beauty of the Gospel and its message of salvation. To carry out its spiritual mission, it needs conditions of peace and calm, which only public authorities can promote,” he said.
“Public authorities – who are expected to create the conditions for a just and sustainable development, so that civil society can develop all its potentialities – can find a valuable and useful support for their action in the commitment and loyal collaboration of the Church,” he added.
Irish priest/registrars could be withdrawn
At a meeting on June 8 the Irish Catholic bishops will discuss whether or not to stop 4,000 priests from acting as registrars of civil marriage. The meeting will be held two weeks after a referendum on introducing gay marriages. A spokesman for the bishops said this would be possible if the country votes for gay marriage in the referendum.
The spokesperson was repeating the position submitted last year to the constitutional commission. The bishops had stated: “If there were two totally different definitions of marriage, the Church could no longer carry out the civil element.” If the bishops take such a decision, couples who marry in Church every year would have to perform another ceremony in front of a civil registrar. But a spokesperson for Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said the archbishop’s view is that you “cross bridges when they come”.
Scottish bishops deny they are taking sides
Fr Thomas Boyle, assistant general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, denied that the bishops’ pastoral letter meant they were taking sides with the Scottish National Party (SNP) and against the Labour Party. He said it “is not an endorsement of any political party” and “was written by the bishops themselves, no one else”. On the other hand Catholic academic Prof. Tom Callagher said the document is critical, albeit in a disguised way.
The controversy was sparked by the bishops’ description of nuclear weapons as a “grave threat to the human family” and that an upgraded defence programme was “in the face of persistent moral objections, to say nothing of international agreements we have entered into which commit us to work against the proliferation of such weapons”. They also rebuked those politicians who profess a Catholic faith but “remain silent – or even surrender – in the face of grave ethical injustice”. This is a different position from that taken in their 2010 election guidance when the bishops made no specific reference to nuclear weapons.
The SNP is opposed to renewing Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent while Jim Murphy, the Catholic Labour Party leader in Scotland, has publicly defended nuclear weapons.
Remembering the persecuted Christians
Speaking on April 17 to a UN session on the persecution of Christians, Archbishop Bernardito Auza said: “As we consider in depth the details of the persecution of Christians across the globe, it’s going to be very difficult to keep our eyes dry.
“Even as we speak, thousands all across the world are being persecuted, deprived of their fundamental human rights, discriminated against and killed simply because they are believers.
“In Iraq and Syria, in Nigeria and Libya, in Kenya and in regions of the Asian subcontinent, the earth has been getting literally soaked with blood.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)