Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, confirmed that five Anglican bishops have decided to join the Catholic Church and step down from their current positions in the Church of England. Hesaid a “constitution” that would govern the entry of former bishops of the Anglican Communion was being studied.
Pope Benedict has established a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Catholic Church. Anglicans can be received into the Church as a group while retaining their distinctive patrimony and liturgical practices, including married priests.
Discussion on sex abuse, religious freedom
On Friday, Pope Benedict will convene a meeting of cardinals to discuss clerical sex abus, religious freedom and the liturgy, among other topics.
It will be held the day before the Pope presides over a consistory to create 24 new cardinals.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will speak about the threats to religious freedom around the world.
Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, will then open the discussion on the liturgy.
Vatican requests protection
Archbishop Carlo Vigano called for action to protect Christians from violence in the Islamic world.
The appeal was made during a meeting of Interpol in Qatar. The cardinal said that among the threats to human rights worldwide, “the most glaring is that being experienced by the Christian communities of the Middle East”.
The archbishop’s appeal was made a few days after a massacre at a Catholic church in Baghdad, which he described as “an act of unheard-of ferocity against defenceless people united in prayer”.
Pope appeals for social justice
The responsibility of lay Catholics to promote social justice and charity in a world marked by injustice was the theme of an address made by Pope Benedict. Speaking on November 4, the Pope called for “renewed evangelisation of the Church’s social doctrine”. Lay people, the Pope said, as “free and responsible citizens”, are invested with “the immediate task of working for a just social order”.
The Pope also spoke about the duties of priests and bishops to offer untiring support for a credible witness of the social doctrine of the Church. He said Catholics had their work cut out for them in a world where “lies often trap men and society” and undermine solidarity.
New investigation into Magdalene
The Irish government has directed the country’s Attorney General to investigate the treatment of women at the Magdalene Laundries, after a commission’s report called for a legal investigation and for compensation of the women who suffered abuse and mistreatment at the institutions.
The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) report said although these institutions were run by Catholic religious orders, many troubled young women were sent by courts to live and work there. Thus, the state shares responsibility for the abuses, the IHRC said.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)