Francis has made some big changes to the IOR. First, he fired the bank's longtime director. Then, he replaced four of the five board members overseeing the bank. But despite speculation that Francis was going to close it down, the Vatican announced in April that the IOR would remain open. Francis later accepted the Bishop's formal resignation on March 26, As Francis has made clear, he considers himself a "son of the Church.
One comment Francis made in an interview for America is important here. He said that although "many think changes and reforms can take place in a short period of time," he cautions that that "real, effective change" takes time. So while he hasn't made any doctrinal changes yet, the shifts in tone he has made may actually be his way of laying the groundwork for later changes.
At the same time, it's important to note that a strict dichotomy between style and substance isn't clear within Catholic theology. It's possible to communicate the substance of the Gospel through subtle gestures and words. Though Francis' gestures — washing women's feet, kissing a disfigured man — are unaccompanied by commentary, there is a theological depth to them shouldn't go unnoticed.
Rush Limbaugh doesn't care for Francis' critique of the global economy, which the Pope called an "economy of exclusion and inequality. Langone told Cardinal Timothy Dolan that Francis needs to "be careful about generalities. There is also a more traditional segment of the Church that is extremely critical of Francis. Charles Caput, Archbishop of Philadelphia, said he was " disappointed " that Francis hasn't spoken much about abortion. Francis confirmed this and other behind-the-scenes criticism when he said he was " reprimanded " for not talking enough about gay marriage, abortion, and contraception.
Some traditional Catholics are also attached to the the idea of conducting Church services in Latin. They see Francis' less formal style as a threat to the the Latin liturgy — the words and rituals customarily used for public worship services.
Francis isn't opposed to traditional liturgy — it's just not the priority of his papacy. According to a February Pew poll , more than 8 in 10 Catholics have a "favorable view" of Francis.
These findings echo a similar poll conducted in October Taking as its starting point the experience of the poor, this new theology interpreted Scripture through the lens of poverty. In , a meeting of the Second Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellin, Colombia proved pivotal to the increasing momentum of the movement.
After the conference, the bishops published a collection of documents — Justice , Peace , and Poverty — that outlined for the first time the major themes of Liberation Theology. One of the most important concepts institutionalized at Medellin was the phrase " the preferential option for the poor ," which is the belief that the commandments of God and Jesus give preference to society's poorest members.
Several years later, a Peruvian priest named Gustavo Gutierrez wrote a book called A Theology of Liberation , expounding on themes from Medellin. Though it's never been condemned by the Church, liberation theology has remained a fringe movement.
Ratzinger's main objection was that some theologies in the movement were utilizing Marxist class analysis, which is a philosophy Catholicism rejects. There was also a concern in Rome that certain priests were advocating violence - they weren't. Some of them, though, were sympathetic to certain movements that sought to overthrow the power structures of the ruling elite.
Rome also felt that liberation theology put too much emphasis on sin as a social condition, and too little emphasis on sin as an individual spiritual state. Since Francis is the first pope from Latin America, some have speculated that the Church is entering a new era of openness to liberation theology.
Francis invited Gutierrez to the Vatican last September for a private meeting, which many took as a symbolic gesture that liberation theology was now welcome in Rome. Francis is also friendly to the idea of a " decentralization " of the Church, which is a concept articulated early on in the liberation movement.
To be clear, Francis has never fully endorsed liberation theology. In the book El Jesuita , Bergoglio said that there are both pros and cons to it. Beginning in May , the military junta ruling Argentina began arresting left-leaning individuals with the intention of purging Argentina of communists and other subversives. This purge, which lasted from to , is known as the Dirty War.
The main accusation against Bergoglio is that during this time, he was involved with the arrest and torture of two left-leaning Jesuit priests named Orlando Yorio and Francisco Jalics. According to James Carroll's New Yorker profile on Pope Francis, the two priests "embraced a profound solidarity with the poor," which earned them the suspicion of the military junta. Francis tried to rein in the priests, and when they continued to disobey his orders, he threatened them with expulsion.
Yorio and Jalics were eventually arrested. Since their brush with Bergoglio happened around the same time, the two Jesuits thought he had betrayed them to the military. However, Francis denies the accusation, saying that he " set the ball rolling " to ensure their release "the very night" of the arrest. Whatever happened behind the scenes, the fact remains that the two priests were eventually released after five months of torture.
Yorio died in , convinced that Bergoglio was responsible for his arrest. Jalics, however, has since denied Francis' involvement with his and Yorio's arrest, saying his original assumption of Francis' complicity was "unfounded. According to Andrew Sullivan , though the details remain murky, "it is fair to say that during this period, Bergoglio was no hero. My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative.
When the time comes for the current Pope to resign or die, a new Pope must be chosen to take his place. As well as doing this, they are in charge of the Pope election, with each cardinal voting anonymously until one member of the group receives two-thirds of the vote to be Pope. The end of the voting will be the burning of the ballots with chemicals to produce a cloud of white smoke, which is set off in the city to signal to Vatican City citizens the end of the election.
The Vatican Palace, as the name suggests, is massive. Home to a series of apartments, museums, offices, public and private chapels, an observatory, and numerous libraries. It is not just the Pope that resides here, with officials and other members working within its walls to serve a number of jobs relating to the church. It serves both religious and administrative functions of the Vatican. The Vatican Palace is not just one, but many buildings and museums to choose from, so you have a range of sites to see both inside and out.
After visiting parts of the Palace, you can see the Pope on one of his many public appearances. I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion. The provision I had made in this regard, limited to the duration of the Extraordinary Holy Year, is hereby extended, notwithstanding anything to the contrary.
I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life.
May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation. In November , Pope Francis visited Myanmar amid a humanitarian crisis that had sparked the exodus of more than , Rohingya Muslims from the country. The pope first met with powerful military General Min Aung Hlaing, who refuted reports of ethnic cleansing by claiming there was "no religious discrimination in Myanmar.
He then made a joint appearance with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to deliver a highly anticipated speech in which he called for tolerance, but also avoided using the delicate term "Rohingya" and stopped short of condemning the persecution, drawing criticism from those who wanted to see a more forceful stance.
The Pope also met with other religious leaders, after which he headed to Bangladesh to show support for Rohingya refugees. During a television interview in early December, Pope Francis suggested a small but meaningful change to "Our Father," commonly known as the "Lord's Prayer.
After expressing support of breastfeeding in public during the annual Holy Mass on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord in , the Pope made similar comments during the ceremony. Noting how one baby crying would spark others to follow suit, he said that if the babies in attendance were "starting a concert" of crying because they were hungry, then mothers should feel free to feed them right there as part of the "language of love.
In August , the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had approved a change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church that now considers the death penalty "inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. Not all of the Pope's decisions were designed to bring about change: A papal letter made public in February revealed his rejection of a proposal to allow the ordination of married men in remote areas underserved by priests, an outcome that pleased Catholic conservatives who worried about the weakening of church traditions.
In October , Pope Francis expressed his support for same-sex civil unions as seen in the documentary Francisco. Normally greeted by adoring crowds, Pope Francis faced hostility ahead of his three-day trip to Chile in January , stemming from lingering anger over his appointment of a bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse by another priest.
At least five churches were attacked in the days leading up to his visit, with vandals leaving a threatening message directed at the Pope in one case. Upon his arrival, Pope Francis delivered a speech in which he asked for forgiveness for the pain caused by some ministers of the church and promised to do his best to make sure such abuse never happened again.
However, he subsequently angered sexual abuse victims by claiming he had yet to learn of any "proof" of an alleged cover-up by the bishop in question. Shortly after the Pope returned to Rome in late January, the Vatican announced that it was dispatching Archbishop Charles Scicluna — the church's " Eliot Ness " of sex abuse investigations—to Chile to look into the issue and "hear those who have expressed the desire to provide elements in their possession.
The archbishop's investigation, which included interviews with dozens of witnesses and produced a 2,page report, had a powerful effect on Pope Francis. In April, the Vatican announced that Chilean bishops were being summoned to Rome for emergency discussions, and released a letter in which the Pope acknowledged "serious mistakes" in his handling of the matter, saying he felt "pain and shame" for the "crucified lives" of victims.
Late in the month, it was announced that the Pope would host three of the victims from Chile. The Vatican said that the Pope would meet with each man individually, "allowing each one to speak for as long as they wish. In August , a Pennsylvania grand jury report described the actions of more than "predator priests" and their 1,plus underage victims, as well as attempts to cover up their misdeeds. Initially silent, the Pope weighed in with a letter released by the Vatican nearly a week later, in which he acknowledged "with shame and repentance" the church's failure to properly act in response to the longstanding allegations.
McCarrick of Washington, D. After defrocking McCarrick in February , the Pope convened a four-day summit at the Vatican devoted to the longstanding problem of sexual abuse.
Titled "The Protection of Minors in the Church," the summit drew church leaders from around the world. On a farewell visit to Italy, the outgoing German chancellor spoke to the pontiff about climate change and the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. Pope Francis spoke of "sadness and pain" over the sexual abuse of children by the French Catholic clergy, which was revealed this week in a devastating report.
Authorities in Missouri have proceeded to execute a man who its claimed was intellectually disabled. Ernest Lee Johnson murdered three people in a robbery in The senior cleric was accused of protecting priests suspected of sexual abuse. Archbishop Stefan Hesse was on leave after being accused of neglecting his duty in a report on sexual abuse at the diocese of Cologne.
Pope Francis meets with Roma in a notorious housing project on day three of his Central Europe trip. The visit comes after he met with Holocaust survivors in Bratislava Monday. Pope Francis met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis' call for countries to welcome refugees.
Francis then called for less division in Slovakia. Pope Francis cited Angela Merkel's greatness before echoing her feelings about the situation in Afghanistan.
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