A Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Vatican City, Oct 29, 2022 / 08:55 am (CNA). For Christmas 2022, the Vatican has commissioned a nativity scene made of life-sized figures hand carved out of alpine cedar trees.The display will be unveiled in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 3, during a lighting ceremony for the Vatican Christmas tree.A second nativity scene, which will be displayed in the Paul VI Hall, was donated by the government of Guatemala.The Holy Family and an angel were handmade by Guatemalan artisans in the local tradition, using wood and colorful decorations.The Vatican has placed a nativity scene in front of St. Peter’s Basilica for the Christmas season since the 1980s. For about a decade, the Vatican has asked different countries or Italian regions to lend the nativity to be displayed. In 2021, the scene came from Peru.Some Vatican manger scenes in recent years have come under criticism: The ceramic figures of the 2020 display elicited a lot of strong reactions on social media, many of them negative.In 2022, the display will come from Italy’s northeastern-most region, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.The life-sized wooden figures were carved in 2021 out of cedar tree trimmings. The Vatican said no trees were cut down solely for the purpose of making the nativity scene.The scene will include a wooden grotto with an ox, donkey, angel, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. The wooden figures will also have tradesmen and tradeswomen typical of the area where the nativity was made, a shepherdess, and a family and children.The Christmas tree is an almost 100-foot-tall white fir from Rosello, a mountain village with around 182 inhabitants in the central Italian region of Abruzzo.

Pope Francis meets with the Argentine dwarf soccer team at an audience on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the Vatican. / Photo credit: Vatican Media Denver Newsroom, Oct 28, 2022 / 07:05 am (CNA). On Wednesday morning Pope Francis received the dwarf Argentine soccer team in an audience, encouraging them to continue with courage and to be themselves.Pope Francis highlighted the “courage” of those present gathered in the Vatican during the time of “opening new paths.”“You are brave, cultivate this courage, never, never throw it away: the courage to go forward in life the way you are. With your intellectual, affective, physical values, everything.”Then Pope Francis explained that “in life one can look at things with two measures: the upside or the downside. That is to say: there are the usual pessimists and whatever happens to them they look on the downside: ‘Too bad’ ... And they get depressed. And those people, the only thing they do is build bitter horizons.”“And there are the optimists, like you, who look at any difficulty from the upside: go on ahead, make progress” to keep on going “as we are now with what I have. I mean, capitalize on everything, even capitalize on what seems to be negative,” he said.The Holy Father explained that this is “human maturity” and expressed his joy at seeing that these dwarf players have chosen this path.The soccer players explained to the Holy Father all the efforts made for the inclusion of dwarves in society through sports.In addition, the players of this National All Star Team that won the America’s Cup and the European Cup championships gave Pope Francis a jersey signed by everyone, a team schedule with the image of the Virgin of Itatí and an image of the Virgin of the Valley of Catamarca on it.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Theologian Monsignor Piero Coda speaks during an Oct. 27, 2022, press conference at the Vatican to present a working document of the Synod on Synodality. / Photo credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA Rome Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 12:50 pm (CNA). The Holy Spirit is at work in the latest document of the Synod on Synodality, presenters said Thursday at a press conference on the guiding text for the next stage of the synod’s discussions.The document, or “synthesis of the syntheses,” Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., said, “is therefore not a writing emerging out of theological writings. It is the fruit of the lived synodality, the lived theology, a dimension of the life in the Church.”“And, what is very beautiful, we were able to notice that the Holy Spirit is at work,” he said at an Oct. 27 presentation of the 44-page working document that will guide the next stage of synod discussions: the Continental Assemblies to be held between January and March 2023.Hollerich, who has one of the most important positions in the Synod on Synodality as relator general, spoke at the press conference via video call from Japan.The document notes diverse challenges the Church faces worldwide, such as increased secularization, forced conversion and religious persecution, lack of structures for people with disabilities, and clericalism.The document covers issues across a broad spectrum, from the clergy sexual abuse crisis to Christian unity. The text calls for “a Church capable of radical inclusion” and says that many synod reports raised questions about the inclusion and role of women, young people, the poor, people identifying as LGBTQ, and the divorced and remarried.It also identifies the celebration of the Mass, whether according to the pre-Vatican II missal or the post-Vatican II liturgy, and access to the Eucharist as “knots of conflict” in the Church and cites a great “diversity of opinion” on the subject of priestly ordination for women, which some reports called for and others considered “a closed issue.”Present in the hall Thursday, theologian Monsignor Piero Coda of the International Theological Commission also pointed to the presence of the Holy Spirit in the document.“The theological value of this document, of this text, is derived from the fact that, as we read, it is laden with the treasure contained in the account of the experience of hearing the voice of the Spirit from the People of God,” he said. “This is its significance.”“The text that we have in our hands,” Coda continued, “has this precise purpose: to offer to the local Churches, to the diverse dioceses of the world, the opportunity to listen to each other’s voices in view of the Continental Assemblies.”The working document released Oct. 27 was described by presenters as an intermediate document to be used for reflection and as a guide to the discussions to take place in the Continental Assemblies from January to March 2023.After the synod’s Continental Assemblies, organizers of the gatherings will produce short reports that will be used to create the “instrumentum laboris” in June 2023.The first of

The opening day of the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican Synod Hall on Oct. 3, 2018. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Rome Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 04:20 am (CNA). At the heart of the synodal process is “a Church capable of radical inclusion,” according to a key document released by the Vatican on Thursday to guide the Synod on Synodality.Titled “Enlarge the space of your tent,” the 44-page working document for the Synod on Synodality’s Continental Phase is meant to spark dialogue and arouse feedback.“It is not a conclusive document because the process is far from being finished,” it says.Catholic dioceses around the world have been asked to respond to the document by highlighting what intuitions resonate and what divergences emerge with the reality of the Church in their continent.Here is what the document has to say about the ordination of women, LGBT inclusion, and the liturgy:Ordination of Women64: “After careful listening, many reports ask that the Church continue its discernment in relation to a range of specific questions: the active role of women in the governing structures of Church bodies, the possibility for women with adequate training to preach in parish settings, and a female diaconate. Much greater diversity of opinion was expressed on the subject of priestly ordination for women, which some reports call for, while others consider a closed issue.”The document says that “almost all reports raise the issue of full and equal participation of women. … However, the reports do not agree on a single or complete response to the question of the vocation, inclusion and flourishing of women in Church and society.”61: “The Church faces two related challenges: women remain the majority of those who attend liturgy and participate in activities, men a minority; yet most decision-making and governance roles are held by men. It is clear that the Church must find ways to attract men to a more active membership in the Church and to enable women to participate more fully at all levels of Church life.”The document also quotes the Holy Land’s report: “In a Church where almost all decision-makers are men, there are few spaces where women can make their voices heard. Yet they are the backbone of Church communities, both because they represent the majority of the practicing members and because they are among the most active members of the Church.”LGBTQ and polygamous inclusion39. "Among those who ask for a more meaningful dialogue and a more welcoming space we also find those who, for various reasons, feel a tension between belonging to the Church and their own loving relationships, such as: remarried divorcees, single parents, people living in a polygamous marriage, LGBTQ people, etc."The document also includes a quotation from the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference report, which summarizes the challenge facing the synod of reducing many different views on Church teaching within a community into “a definitive community stance”:“Southern Africa is also impacted by the international trends of secularization, individualization, and relativism. Issues such as the Church’s teaching on abortion, contraception, ordination of women, 

The Synod of Bishop at the Vatican, Oct. 5, 2018. / Vatican Media. Rome Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 04:15 am (CNA). The Vatican revealed on Thursday a key document to guide the next stage of discussions in the Synod on Synodality. The working document, titled “Enlarge the space of your tent,” covers issues across a broad spectrum, from the clergy sexual abuse crisis to Christian unity. The text calls for “a Church capable of radical inclusion” and says that many synod reports raised questions about the inclusion and role of women, young people, the poor, people identifying as LGBTQ, and the divorced and remarried.The 44-page working document is officially called the DCS (Document for the Continental Stage). It summarizes the reports shared with the Vatican by bishops’ conferences, religious congregations, departments of the Roman Curia, lay movements, and other groups and individuals.Published on Oct. 27, the document aims to be “the privileged instrument through which the dialogue of the local Churches among themselves and with the universal Church can take place during the Continental Stage.”The text notes diverse challenges the Church faces worldwide, such as increased secularization, forced conversion and religious persecution, lack of structures for people with disabilities, and clericalism.It identifies the celebration of the Mass, whether according to the pre-Vatican II missal or the post-Vatican II liturgy, and access to the Eucharist as “knots of conflict” in the Church and cites a great “diversity of opinion” on the subject of priestly ordination for women, which some reports called for and others considered “a closed issue.”“Enlarge the space of your tent” is “not a conclusive document” but is meant to spark dialogue and arouse feedback on what should be the priorities for discussion during the first session of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.The text will operate as an outline for the next stage of synod discussions: The Continental Assemblies, to be held on different continents between January and March 2023.In particular, the document presents three reflection questions to which Continental Assemblies will need to respond after people have read and prayed over its content:Which intuitions resonate most strongly with the lived experiences and realities of the Church in your continent? Which experiences are new or illuminating to you?What substantial tensions or divergences emerge as particularly important in your continent’s perspective? Consequently, what are the questions or issues that should be addressed and considered in the next steps of the process?Looking at what emerges from the previous two questions, what are the priorities, recurring themes, and calls to action that can be shared with other local Churches around the world and discussed during the First Session of the Synodal Assembly in October 2023?All Catholic dioceses are asked to provide feedback on these questions. Diocesan feedback will be collected and synthesized by bishops’ conferences, who will share responses with the Continental Assembly.The Continental Assemblies will meet between January and March 2023. According to the document, they should be made up of representatives from the entire People of God, with particular

A Vatican delegation sent to China between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2, 2022, visited 92-year-old Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen, seen here in a photo taken on May 24, 2015. The visit was a strong signal from the Holy See that despite the desire to carry on a dialogue, the situation of Catholics in China has not been forgotten. / GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images Vatican City, Oct 26, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA). The renewal of the agreement between China and the Holy See for the appointment of bishops was expected. Between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2, a Vatican delegation was sent to Xinjiang to carry out talks. The location was symbolic, since it was formally without an official bishop.The delegation also visited the underground Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen, who is 92 years old. The visit was a strong signal from the Holy See that despite the desire to carry on a dialogue, the situation of Catholics in China has not been forgotten.An announcement released by the Holy See following the visit reads: “The Vatican side intends to continue the respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese side, for fruitful implementation of the aforementioned agreement and further development of bilateral relations, to promote the mission of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people.”Since the agreement was signed, this is a novelty. But it is a novelty well rooted in the Vatican’s diplomatic practice in recent years. Two aspects are key to understanding this approach.Dialogue and bishopsPope Francis described the first aspect in the homily of the consistory of Aug. 27. He recalled “the example of Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, rightly famous for his openness to promoting, through farsighted and patient dialogue, the new prospects that opened up in Europe following the Cold War — may God prevent human shortsightedness from closing anew those prospects that he opened!”The pope explained how Casaroli was known for visiting young inmates and pointing out how the cardinals had to maintain that kind of attitude.By mentioning Casaroli on the eve of the departure of the Vatican’s mission in China, the pope appeared to signal the approach he favored and expected.The second aspect was given by the interview with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, on the occasion of the announcement of the agreement’s renewal.Tagle noted that “the intervention of civil authorities in the bishops’ choices has manifested itself several times and in various forms throughout history. Even in the Philippines, my country, the rules of the ‘Patronato Real’ were in force for a long time, with which the organization of the Church was subjected to the Spanish royal power. Even St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuits conducted their mission in India under the patronage of the Portuguese crown.”The cardinal added that “these are certainly different things and contexts, since each case has its specificity and historical explanation. But in such situations, the important thing is that the procedure used for episcopal appointments guarantees and safeguards what the doctrine and

Pope Francis arriving for the general audience on St. Peter's Square, Oct. 26, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA Rome Newsroom, Oct 26, 2022 / 04:02 am (CNA). Pope Francis explained on Wednesday how times of spiritual desolation — described by St. Ignatius of Loyola as feelings of unquiet, temptation, sadness — can also help bring us closer to God.“No one wants to be desolate, sad. We would all like a life that is always joyful, cheerful, and fulfilled. Yet this, besides not being possible — because it is not possible — would not be good for us either,” the pope said during the general audience on Oct. 26.In fact, he added, feelings of sadness or remorse can be the impetus for turning away from a life of vice.Pope Francis continued his lessons on discernment with a reflection on spiritual desolation at his weekly gathering with the public in St. Peter’s Square.Quoting from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s spiritual exercises, he said desolation is defined as “darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to things low and earthly, the unquiet of different agitations and temptations, moving to want of confidence, without hope, without love, when the soul finds itself all lazy, tepid, sad, and as if separated from its Creator and Lord.”He said one thing to know about desolation is that it is an invitation to self-reflection.“It is important to learn how to read sadness,” Francis said. “We all know what sadness is — everyone. But do we know how to read it? Do we know what it means for me, this sadness of today?”“In our time, [sadness] is mostly considered negatively, as an ill to avoid at all costs, and instead it can be an indispensable alarm bell for life, inviting us to explore richer and more fertile landscapes that transience and escapism do not permit,” he added.The pope also pointed to St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of sadness in the Summa Theologica as a “pain of the soul: like the nerves for the body, it redirects our attention to a possible danger, or a disregarded benefit.”He compared the feelings to a red traffic light warning us to stop.Pope Francis said we should also be aware of how the devil may try to use feelings of sadness or desolation to tempt us away from intentions to live with virtue.“For those, on the other hand, who have the desire to do good, sadness is an obstacle with which the tempter tries to discourage us,” he explained.“Think of work, study, prayer, a commitment undertaken: if we abandoned them as soon as we felt boredom or sadness, we would never complete anything,” he continued. “This is also an experience common to the spiritual life: the road to goodness, the Gospel reminds us, is narrow and uphill, it requires combat, self-conquest.”He described a common experience: “I begin to pray, or dedicate myself to a good work, and strangely enough, just then things come to mind that need to be done urgently.”“It is important, for those

Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, a nurse and professor of nursing education from Botswana, has played a leading role in HIV/AIDS prevention and other health causes. Her appointment to the Pontifical Academy for Life was announced on Oct. 15, 2022. / Screenshot from 2022 YouTube video Denver, Colo., Oct 25, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA). A new appointee to the Pontifical Academy for Life is a technical adviser for a group whose work includes improving the market for “safe abortion” supplies.Sheila Dinotshe Tlou, a nursing professor who is a former health minister in Botswana and a leader in HIV/AIDS prevention and other health causes, also is an outspoken advocate of contraception, a position at odds with the Catholic Church’s teaching that artificial birth control is morally unacceptable.On Oct. 15, the Pontifical Academy for Life announced her appointment as one of several new members whose expertise and background will help provide “a constant and fruitful interdisciplinary, intercultural, and interreligious dialogue.”“This is absolutely the most humbling of all my appointments and awards,” Tlou said on Twitter Oct. 17. “With your prayers and support, I will give it my best. God bless.”CNA sought comment and clarification from Tlou about her abortion views but she declined to comment until after February 2023. That is when the Pontifical Academy for Life is set to hold its next inaugural meeting, Tlou said.Tlou served as minister of health for Botswana from 2004–2008. The country bars abortion except in cases where the mother’s life or mental or physical health is endangered by the pregnancy or in cases where the unborn child was conceived in rape or incest or has a fetal abnormality.However, she is on the oversight committee providing strategic and technical guidance for SEMA Reproductive Health, a partnership launched in 2021 to help improve the market for “sexual and reproductive health products,” the group’s website says. These products include contraceptives, medicine to treat pregnancy complications, and “supplies for safe abortion and post-abortion care.”According to SEMA Reproductive Health, these products are “critical to saving lives and advancing gender equality.”“They can dramatically improve people’s health and well-being by reducing unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal deaths,” the group’s website says.CNA sought comment from SEMA Reproductive Health but did not receive a response by publication.Tlou currently has multiple roles. She is chancellor of Botswana Open University, a special ambassador for the African Leaders Anti-Malaria Alliance, a co-chair of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition, and a co-chair of the NursingNow Campaign, which seeks to promote the profession of nursing.Her comments on Twitter can be wide-ranging, voicing opposition to sexual violence against women and forced sterilization. However, she is a clear advocate of contraceptive access, which Catholic authorities have often criticized. Her statements on social media seem ambiguous about the proper response to “unsafe abortions.”“With access to sexual and reproductive health, we can end unsafe abortions that kill millions of women every day,” she said in a Sept. 28, 2017, Twitter post linking to a World Health Organization report estimating 25 million “unsafe abortions”

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., Archbishop of Luxembourg, speaks at a Vatican press conference, Aug. 26, 2022 / Vatican News YouTube Channel Vatican City, Oct 25, 2022 / 11:05 am (CNA). In an interview with Vatican media, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., said he believes Church blessings for same-sex unions, which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ruled against, is not a settled matter.The cardinal’s answer came in response to an interview question about the decision last month by Belgium’s Catholic bishops to support the possibility of blessings for unions of same-sex couples — in defiance of the Vatican.“Frankly, the question does not seem decisive to me,” Hollerich, archbishop of Luxembourg, told L’Osservatore Romano in an interview also published on Vatican News Oct. 24.The Vatican’s doctrine office weighed in on the issue in March 2021, clarifying that the Church does not have the power to bless the unions of same-sex couples.In defiance of this declaration, Catholic bishops in Belgium published Sept. 20 a text for blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples in their dioceses. The bishops of Flanders — the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium — also published a liturgy for the celebration of homosexual unions.In the interview, Cardinal Hollerich pointed to the etymology of the Italian words for “to bless” and “to curse”: benedire and maledire.“If we stay with the etymology of ‘bene-dire,’ [‘say good’] do you think God could ever ‘dire-male’ [say bad] about two people who love each other?” Hollerich said.“I would be more interested in discussing other aspects of the problem,” he continued. “For example: what is the conspicuous growth of homosexual orientation in society driven by? Or why is the percentage of homosexuals in ecclesial institutions higher than in civil society?”The cardinal did not cite any source for the claim that there are more people with same-sex orientation in Church institutions than in civil society.Hollerich is also president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union and relator general of the Synod on Synodality.The cardinal specified that he does not think “there is room for a sacramental marriage between persons of the same sex,” because same-sex unions lack the procreative character of marriage.“But that does not mean that their affective relationship has no value,” he added.“Pope Francis often recalls the need for theology to be able to originate and develop from human experience, and not remain the fruit of academic elaboration alone,” he said. “Then, so many of our brothers and sisters tell us that, whatever the origin and cause of their sexual orientation, they certainly did not choose it. They are not ‘bad apples.’ They are also fruits of creation.”The archbishop of Luxembourg also said he has a lot of contact with young people in his ministry, and “for young people today, the highest value is nondiscrimination.”“[What] I constantly see is that young people stop considering the Gospel, if they have the impression that we are discriminating,” he said, recalling a recent encounter with a woman in her 20s who said she

A hearing in the Vatican finance trial on May 20, 2022. / Vatican Media. Vatican City, Oct 25, 2022 / 09:34 am (CNA). A key witness in the so-called Vatican finance “trial of the century” will be heard at the end of November.His role — and testimony — is considered so vital to the corruption trial that some are calling him a ”super-witness.”Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, for 11 years a senior official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, will testify at the Vatican tribunal on Nov. 23, 24, and 25 in what is expected to be a crucial moment of the trial.Primarily, the trial revolves around the Secretariat of State’s investment in luxury real estate in London.However, it also explores further criminal allegations.Cardinal Angelo Becciu, for instance, also faces charges for allocating money from the Secretariat of State to Caritas in his native region.Investigations were carried out in June 2021 on the island of Sardinia. The searches took place at the offices of Spes Cooperative, a limited liability corporation owned and legally represented by Becciu’s brother Antonino as well as at the Diocese of Ozieri and its diocesan charity, Caritas.Ozieri is the former diocese of Becciu, who is from Sardinia.The cardinal furthermore is called to answer for the engagement of Cecilia Marogna as a consultant to the Secretariat of State.The most recent hearings shed light on how investigations were undertaken: The Vatican trial is based on documents, and the declarations of the witnesses during the investigation are already part of the proceedings.For this reason, Giuseppe Pignatone, president of the state court of Vatican City, ruled that from now on, witnesses will be questioned only on matters not covered by written statements already documented. This reflects the documentary processes in force in the Vatican.With this in mind — where is the trial at?The Sardinian connectionGianluigi Antonucci is the Vatican policeman who participated in the searches in the Diocese of Ozieri in connection with a Vatican investigation into accusations of embezzlement by Cardinal Becciu.Antonucci said that the contributions of the Secretariat of State to the Spes Cooperative, led by Antonino Becciu, the cardinal’s brother, came “from an account of the Secretariat of State” with 44 subaccounts and “significant figures destined for Peter’s Pence.”The detail about Peter’s Pence is important.The question of whether this could also be a case of “mistaken identity” has been raised previously. The Secretariat of State has had an account since 1939 called the “Conto Obolo” (Obolo is the Italian word for “pence”).Among the transfers were also 100,000 euros from the Secretariat of State to the Sardinian Spes Cooperative, of which Becciu had also requested an annual report on social initiatives.There were no reports, though, apparently because the money had not yet been spent.The funds were earmarked for the renovation of a bakery run by the cooperative, acquired in 2004 and renovated after a fire in 2015. A further 25,000 euros was intended for purchasing machinery in the bakery, which cost 98,000 euros.The funds ended up in the account used