Cardinal Kurt Koch / Daniel Ibañez/CNA Rome Newsroom, Jan 19, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA). Under the shadow of the war in Ukraine, this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an opportunity for Christians to work together to achieve peace, according to a Vatican cardinal.Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that he is praying this week that “we can re-find peace between Christians in Ukraine.”In an interview with EWTN News on Jan. 18, the cardinal explained how the Ukraine war has created a “very difficult situation” for ecumenical dialogue because there are “many tensions and divisions in the Orthodox world.”“I think we have, with this war in Ukraine, a very difficult situation, because Christians kill Christians, and above all Orthodox kill Orthodox. And this is a very bad and sad message for the world because the Christians have the duty and the responsibility to be engaged for peace,” Koch said.“Religion cannot be part of the problem of war but must be part of reconciliation and peace.”Cardinal Koch said the Catholic Church is working to “re-find unity” amid the tensions and divisions in the Orthodox world through dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox.“And now we have many, many tensions and divisions in the Orthodox world, and this is a difficulty. For instance, we have an international and mixed commission between the Catholic Church and all the Orthodox churches, but the Russian Orthodox Church doesn’t participate in this dialogue,” he said.Koch explained that the Russian Orthodox Church pulled out of commission after the Orthodox Church of Ukraine declared its autocephaly, or hierarchical independence, in 2019.“And when the Russian Orthodox Church doesn’t participate in this dialogue, this is a challenge,” he added.The cardinal underlined that the Vatican is working to keep the door open for dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate, despite the difficulties.“But for us, it is very important that we can continue the relations with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate in Moscow. But it is a very difficult situation, because we have the impression that the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate sustains this war, and we have another vision, as said by the Holy Father … that this is nonsense, this war. But we must keep open the door for relations and to deepen what is possible,” he said.The Catholic Church dedicates one week each January to prayer for unity among all Christians. The theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taken from Isaiah 1:17: “Do good; seek justice.”The 56th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began Jan. 18 and will continue with daily ecumenical prayers until the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on Jan. 25, when Pope Francis will preside over an ecumenical prayer service in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.In an interview with EWTN News on Jan. 18, 2023, Cardinal Kurt Koch explained how the Ukraine war has created a “very difficult situation” for ecumenical dialogue because there are “many tensions and

Pope Francis meets a Buddhist delegation from Cambodia on Jan. 19, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Jan 19, 2023 / 07:20 am (CNA). Pope Francis spoke with Buddhist monks from Cambodia on Thursday about the need for “ecological conversion.”In a meeting at the Vatican on Jan. 19, the pope defined “ecological conversion” as “true repentance” that leads to the end of “ideologies and practices that are hurtful and disrespectful to the earth.”Francis said that it requires people to commit to “promoting models of developments that heal wounds inflicted by greed, excessive search for financial profits, lack of solidarity with neighbors, and disrespect for the environment.”He commended the delegation, which included civil society from Cambodia, for choosing “ecological conversion” as the theme of their visit to Rome focused on interreligious cooperation.Pope Francis underlined “the profound richness that our respective religious traditions offer in  sustaining efforts to cultivate ecological responsibility.”The pope said: “In following the tenets that the Buddha left as a legacy to his disciples (Pratimoksa), including the practices of metta, which involves not harming living things (cf. Metta Sutta sn 1.8) and living a simple lifestyle, Buddhists can achieve a compassionate protection for all beings, including the earth, their habitat.”Francis continued: “For their part, Christians fulfill their ecological responsibility when, as trustworthy stewards, they protect creation, the work God has entrusted to them ‘to till and to keep’” (Gen 2:15; cf. Laudato Si’, 95; 217).Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, the apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, also traveled to the Vatican for the meeting. The bishop from Strasbourg has served as a missionary in Cambodia for 25 years and speaks Khmer.Pope Francis thanked the Cambodian delegation for their visit to the Vatican, where they will continue to meet with Vatican offices dedicated to interreligious dialogue.“I am also certain that your meeting with the officials of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue will provide an opportunity to explore further ways to promote ecological conversion through the initiatives undertaken by Buddhist-Christian dialogue both in Cambodia and in the whole region,” the pope said.“Upon you and upon all in your noble country I invoke an abundance of blessings from on high.”

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller (left) and Cardinal George Pell / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/ACI Press and Matthew Rarey/CNA Rome Newsroom, Jan 18, 2023 / 09:13 am (CNA). Cardinal George Pell was the best theologian on Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals and a good papal counselor, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, former head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, said on Wednesday.Müller commented on the Australian cardinal’s theological prowess following Pell’s sudden death in Rome at age 81 from cardiac arrest.The pope’s former economy chief will be buried in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 2 following a requiem Mass in St. Mary’s Cathedral. His funeral was held at St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 14.Pope Francis is surrounded more by politicians than by good theologians, Müller said in a Jan. 18 interview with EWTN. “I think [Pell] was the best counselor of Pope Francis.”“I hope that we have in him a good intercessor in heaven for all the needs of the Church and all the challenges that we have,” said the prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.Pell was an inaugural member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals, a group of originally nine cardinals established in September 2013 to advise the pope. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller. Alan Koppschall/EWTNThe other original members of the council were Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Seán Patrick O’Malley, Reinhard Marx, Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, Oswald Gracias, Giuseppe Bertello, Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, and Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.Müller, who lived in the same apartment as Pell in Rome, noted the cardinal’s strong intellectual formation in Oxford and his knowledge of patristic and systematic theology.After his ordination as a priest in 1966 in Rome, Pell earned a licentiate degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical Urban University. He then took up doctoral studies at the University of Oxford and earned a doctorate in 1971 in Church history.Pell “met us regularly after he came back from Australia, where he was in a very brutal way, against all the evidence, sentenced for six years in prison,” Müller said, and “suffered 400 days and more in the prison, isolated.”The cardinal “has testified with his life, and his great patience, to salvation in Jesus Christ,” Müller said, “because Jesus Christ redeemed us by his suffering on the cross; he didn’t protest it, he didn’t make a revolution with arms.”“He is a very good witness and example for Christian life, in the intellectual dimension, but also in his suffering of this injustice” of trial and imprisonment, Müller said, adding that in his suffering, Pell imitated Jesus Christ and the martyred apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (left) and Archbishop Georg Gänswein, longtime personal secretary for Pope Benedict XVI. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA CNA Newsroom, Jan 18, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA). Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn on Wednesday confirmed he was the person who encouraged Joseph Ratzinger to accept the conclave’s decision — if elected — to become the successor to Pope John Paul II as supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church.Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, revealed Schönborn’s identity in his book titled “Nothing but the Truth” (“Nient’altro che la verita”), which was published in Italy last week.CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported that Schönborn on Jan. 18 confirmed Gänswein’s assertion that Schönborn had written Cardinal Ratzinger “a little letter just in case.” At the same time, the archbishop of Vienna accused Gänswein of committing an act of “unseemly indiscretion” with his book by publishing “confidential things,” according to the Archdiocese of Vienna’s website.Schönborn said he had “so far deliberately kept silent” about his note to Benedict, noting “it happened within the context of the meeting of the cardinals, and not at the conclave itself.” Benedict’s ‘guillotine speech’Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the letter on April 25, 2005, during an audience with pilgrims from Germany. The address is famous among German Catholics as the “guillotine speech” — in German Fallbeilrede. In it, Benedict compared the experience of his election to that of having the axe of a guillotine dropping down on him. The guillotine blade in German is called a fallbeil.Speaking just as openly about what swayed him to accept his election, the then newly elected pope revealed he had been “very touched by a brief note written to me by a brother cardinal.” Benedict said: “He reminded me that on the occasion of the Mass for John Paul II, I had based my homily, starting from the Gospel, on the Lord’s words to Peter by the Lake of Gennesaret: ‘Follow me!’ I spoke of how again and again, Karol Wojtyła received this call from the Lord, and how each time he had to renounce much and to simply say: ‘Yes, I will follow you, even if you lead me where I never wanted to go.’”“This brother cardinal wrote to me: Were the Lord to say to you now, ‘Follow me’, then remember what you preached. Do not refuse! Be obedient in the same way that you described the great pope, who has returned to the house of the Father. This deeply moved me. The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness.”Benedict added: “Thus, in the end I had to say ‘yes.’”In his book, Gänswein also addressed the fact that Schönborn and Ratzinger were on a first-name basis. Apart from Benedict’s childhood friends, Cardinal Schönborn, a member of Ratzinger’s circle of students, was one of the few who addressed his former teacher as “Du” (the informal “You”), Gänswein wrote.Another episode covered in Gänswein’s book — a brief but very personal conversation between the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI and Schönborn

Pope Francis speaks at his general audience in Paul VI Hall on Jan. 18, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA Vatican City, Jan 18, 2023 / 06:05 am (CNA). Pope Francis invited Christians on Wednesday to pray for the grace to have a “pastoral heart” like Jesus that “suffers and takes risks” out of love for others.At his weekly public audience on Jan. 18, the pope said that Jesus provides “the unsurpassed model of evangelization.”“Christ not only has the words of life, but he makes his life a Word, a message: that is, he lives always turned toward the Father and toward us,” Pope Francis said in Paul VI Hall.Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience in Paul VI Hall on Jan. 18, 2023. Vatican Media“Indeed, if we look at his days as described in the Gospels, we see that intimacy with his Father — prayer — occupies the first place. … Specifically, within this relationship in prayer which connects him to the Father in the Spirit, Jesus discovers the meaning of his being human, of his existence in the world as a mission for us,” he said.After praying each day, Jesus dedicated his time to proclaiming the Kingdom of God and serving people, especially the poorest, the most vulnerable, the sinners, and the sick, the pope added.Pope Francis said that one of the best images to represent Jesus’ style of life is that of “the Good Shepherd” who “lays down his life for his sheep” (Jn 10:11).“By being with Jesus, we discover that his pastoral heart always beats for the person who is confused, lost, far away,” he said.In this, Jesus the Good Shepherd provides a model against which “to evaluate our pastoral care,” Francis added.A religious sister reads the Gospel of Luke at the pope's general audience in Paul VI Hall on Jan. 18, 2023. Daniel Ibanez/CNAThe pope recommended rereading often chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, which contains the parable of the lost sheep, to come to truly understand apostolic zeal.“There we discover that God does not contemplate the sheep pen, nor does he threaten them so they won’t leave. Rather, if one leaves and gets lost, he does not abandon that sheep but goes in search of it. He does not say, ‘You got up and left — it’s your fault — that’s your business!’ His pastoral heart reacts in another way: It suffers and takes risks,” Pope Francis said.“Yes, God suffers for those who leave, and while he mourns over them, he loves even more. The Lord suffers when we distance ourselves from his heart. He suffers for all who do not know the beauty of his love and the warmth of his embrace. But, in response to this suffering, he does not withdraw, rather he risks. He leaves the 99 sheep who are safe and ventures out for the lost one. … This is God’s zeal.”The pope’s general audience message was the second in a new weekly series of catechesis, or teachings, on evangelization

Pope Francis prays at the general audience, Oct. 19, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA Vatican City, Jan 18, 2023 / 03:05 am (CNA). At the end of his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis asked for people to join him in praying for persecuted Christians around the world.The pope said on Jan. 18 that he was praying for Father Isaac Achi, a Catholic priest who died after bandits set fire to his parish rectory in northern Nigeria.Armed bandits attacked the parish residence at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Kafin Koro, Nigeria, at 3 a.m. on Sunday. Another priest at the rectory, Father Collins Omeh, escaped the building but sustained gunshot wounds. The Diocese of Minna has said that Omeh is responding to treatment.Speaking to pilgrims in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis said: “I ask all of you to join me in praying for Father Isaac Achi, of the Diocese of Minna in northern Nigeria, who was killed last Sunday in an attack on his rectory.” “So many Christians continue to be the target of violence: let us remember them in our prayers!”Pope Francis also extended a special greeting to French-speaking pilgrims from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he will be visiting at the end of this month. On the same day that the priest was killed in Nigeria, the Islamic State bombed a church service at a Pentecostal church in the eastern Congolese town of Kasindi, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60.In a message of condolence after the bombing, Pope Francis expressed his “compassion and closeness to all the families so hard hit by this tragedy.”The pope’s upcoming trip to Africa will provide an opportunity for him to further highlight the ongoing violence against Christians in the region.On his second day in Kinshasa, Pope Francis is scheduled to meet with victims of violence from the eastern region of the DRC, where more than 5.5 million people have been displaced from their homes.

Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. / Alan Koppschall/EWTN Vatican City, Jan 17, 2023 / 12:20 pm (CNA). St. Peter’s Square was filled with horses, cows, donkeys, dogs, goats, geese, and rabbits on Tuesday for the feast of St. Anthony Abbot.Farmers and pet owners alike brought their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on Jan. 17.While many American Catholics associate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi with a blessing of animals, in Italy farmers traditionally celebrate the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals.Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTNSt. Anthony Abbot was a fourth-century hermit known for his asceticism and as a father of monasticism. His holy life in the Egyptian desert was recorded by St. Athanasius in “The Life of St. Antony.”The annual Vatican tradition had been canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Credit: Alan Koppschall/EWTNDespite the cold and rainy weather, many people showed up to celebrate again with their furry friends.Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, greeted many of the animals after offering the blessing.Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, individually greeted many of the animals after offering a blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTNThe cardinal kicked off the day’s celebration with a Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, where farmers brought up cheese, eggs, and other farm products as part of the offertory.After Mass, a mounted police band led a parade of horses down the main street leading to Vatican City.Farmers and pet owners alike brought out their beloved animals to the Vatican for a special blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTNIn his homily, Gambetti recalled how St. Anthony was sought after for his wisdom: “He said that in addition to Scripture, his book was Creation in which he read the thoughts of God.”Acknowledging that farmers have faced difficulties this year with a rise in production costs linked to the energy crisis in Europe, Gambetti said that “the Lord never fails to provide his providential help.”“The fruit of the earth that turns into good food that nourishes life is the caress of God,” the Italian cardinal said.Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, individually greeted many of the animals after offering a blessing on the feast of St. Anthony Abbot, Jan. 17, 2023. Alan Koppschall/EWTN

Pope Francis prays in front of a crucifix during his general audience on Oct. 26, 2022. / Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Jan 17, 2023 / 09:00 am (CNA). Pope Francis expressed his closeness on Tuesday to the victims of a church bombing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 60.“In prayer, the Holy Father entrusts the deceased and the wounded to the mercy of God. He implores Christ, the Lord of Life, that the afflicted may find consolation and trust in God, invoking upon them the gift of peace,” a telegram sent Jan. 17 on behalf of the pope said.The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of a Sunday church service at a Pentecostal church in the eastern Congolese town of Kasindi on the border with Uganda.Congolese authorities said the day after the attack that the death toll had risen to at least 14 people, according to The Associated Press.Pope Francis sent the condolence message two weeks before he is set to travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo.The pope is scheduled to visit the Congolese capital of Kinshasa from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, where he will meet with victims of violence from the country’s eastern region.Pope Francis was originally scheduled to also visit Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in addition to Kinshasa in his July itinerary before the trip was postponed to February. The stop was removed from the 2023 schedule, likely due to security concerns in the eastern DRC.The violence in eastern Congo has created a severe humanitarian crisis with more than 5.5 million people displaced from their homes, the third-highest number of internally displaced people in the world.Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege has said that he hopes the pope’s January visit will shed light on the “crimes against humanity” occurring in the DRC’s eastern region.The Allied Democratic Forces, an African affiliate of the Islamic State, attacked a Catholic mission hospital in the country’s northeast province of North Kivu in October 2022 and killed six patients and Catholic Sister Marie-Sylvie Kavuke Vakatsuraki.Another armed rebel group, the M23, executed 131 people “as part of a campaign of murders, rapes, kidnappings, and looting against two villages,” the U.N. reported Dec. 8, 2022.Pope Francis’ condolence message after the bombing was addressed to Rev. Andre Bokundoa-Bo-Likabe, the president of the Church of Christ in Congo, who has called for “credible investigations to establish responsibility” for the attack and for the government to ensure proper care for “all the wounded scattered in different hospitals.”Congolese Catholic Bishop Melchisedec Sikuli Paluku also condemned the “heinous” attack on the Protestant church and reassured the families affected of his diocese’s “fervent prayers in this time of trial.”Paluku, the bishop of Butembo-Beni in eastern Congo, stressed that authorities have the obligation to “to protect citizens as well as their property” and “to scrupulously enforce the principle of the sacredness of life and the inviolability of places of worship.”“Anyone who kills is against

Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L'Aquila, Italy. / Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L'Aquila, Italy. Vatican City, Jan 16, 2023 / 07:55 am (CNA). Pope Francis offered his condolences after at least 69 people died in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday.The pope sent a condolence telegram to Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Jan. 16 after Yeti Airlines flight 691 crashed as it was attempting to land in the Nepalese city of Pokhara.The plane was carrying 72 passengers from Kathmandu to Pokhara, a popular base for trekkers in the Annapurna mountain range in the Himalayas. Fifteen foreign nationals were on board, coming from India, Russia, South Korea, Argentina, France, Ireland, and Australia. At least 69 of the passengers have been confirmed dead, according to The Associated Press.The telegram sent on the pope’s behalf by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said: “Saddened by the crash of the Yeti Airlines aircraft near Pokhara, His Holiness Pope Francis sends his condolences to you and to all affected by this tragedy, together with his prayers for those involved in the recovery efforts.”“Commending the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty, His Holiness invokes upon those who mourn their loss the divine blessings of healing and peace.”

Pope Francis presides over the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square on Jan. 5, 2023. / Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Jan 15, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA). It was widely anticipated that a major reform of the Diocese of Rome was coming, as Pope Francis has been thinking about it for some time.But no one expected it to come when it did: On Jan. 6, one day after the funeral of Francis’ predecessor as Bishop of Rome, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.With the reform, Pope Francis firmly took over the reins of the vicariate, or hierarchy, of the diocese. Everything is centralized, and everything must pass, at least formally, under the control of the pontiff.Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the pope's vicar for the diocese, sees his role deeply diminished. The diocese’s auxiliary bishops strengthen their direct link with the pope. In the end, the pope has made it clear that he is the one who also formally presides over the Episcopal Council, a new body established as an "expression of synodality."Cardinal Angelo De Donatis. . Daniel Ibanez/CNAThe backstoryBefore going into some details of the new decree, however, some background is necessary. The last reform of the structure of the Vicariate of Rome was outlined by John Paul II in 1908, with the apostolic constitution Ecclesia In Urbe. For the new reform, Pope Francis copied and pasted several passages from that document. In some cases, these have been minimally rewritten to emphasize some details instead of others. In other cases, greater changes were made but these do little to alter the basic substance of things.The reform presents two general characteristics of Pope Francis' way of legislating: using councils or commissions and requiring those bodies to report directly to him.It is clear that the pope is the bishop of Rome and that the pope's vicar for the diocese is his auxiliary. Pope Francis, however, in this case, goes further, including with the constitution a decree that directly defines the areas of competence of the auxiliary bishops.Pope Francis shows, in this way, a willingness to exercise greater personal control over everything that happens in the vicariate. At the same time, this choice also testifies to a "break" in the relationship of trust with his vicar, Cardinal de Donatsi.Although Francis called de Donatis to preach retreats to the Roman Curia in 2014, he was never the pope’s candidate to succeed Cardinal Vallini as vicar. That was Cardinal Paolo Lojudice.Pope Francis, however, wanted to first consult the parish priests of Rome, 80% of whom preferred de Donatis. It was impossible, therefore, for the pope not to listen to them. He appointed De Donatis vicar (and cardinal) and made Lojudice archbishop of the prestigious Diocese of Siena, and a cardinal, as well.Last May, at the general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference, it seemed clear that Pope Francis preferred the appointment of Cardinal Lojudice as the new president of the CEI. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice. Francesco Pierantoni via Wikimedia (CC BY