Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle speaking at the Vatican on Oct. 21, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Rome Newsroom, Oct 25, 2022 / 07:50 am (CNA). Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has defended the Vatican’s decision to renew its provisional agreement with China on the appointment of bishops.The Filipino cardinal, considered a contender to become the Catholic Church’s first Asian pope, said that the Holy See signed the agreement “to safeguard the valid apostolic succession and the sacramental nature of the Catholic Church in China.” “And this can reassure, comfort, and enliven baptized Catholics in China,” Tagle said in an interview published on Oct. 22 on the Vatican’s official media channels.When asked in the interview for his response to critics of the agreement who say that the Holy See’s dealings with Beijing have led to the Vatican’s silence on the sufferings and problems of Chinese Catholics, Tagle said:“In dialogue, the Holy See has its own respectful style of communicating with representatives of the Chinese government, but which never ignores and indeed always makes present the situations of suffering of Catholic communities, which sometimes arise from inappropriate pressures and interference.”The Vatican announced that it had renewed its agreement with China for an additional two years on the same weekend that Chinese President Xi Jinping secured a third term as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party.China’s National People’s Congress confirmed a constitutional change eliminating term limits granting Xi the possibility of lifelong rule in 2018, six months before the Holy See first signed its deal with Beijing. Under Xi’s leadership, respect for human rights and religious freedom has deteriorated. Xi has come under mounting international condemnation for China’s brutal persecution of Uyghur Muslims in the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang, and state officials in different regions of China have removed crosses and demolished church buildings.Tagle, who was called to Rome in 2019 to head the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, said that the open channel for dialogue with Chinese government authorities has been good in itself.“Listening to the arguments and objections of the government also leads us to take into account the contexts and the ‘mindset’ of our interlocutors. We discover that things that are absolutely clear and almost obvious to us can be new and unknown to them,” he said.The cardinal cited his own Chinese heritage, saying that the memory of his maternal grandfather, whom he described as a “pragmatic Chinese Catholic,” has helped him to “consider what can be more useful in the dialogue with the Chinese government.”“Now, when I consider the dialogue with the Chinese government on ecclesial issues, I think that sometimes it is better to look for simple and direct arguments, to meet the concrete and pragmatic approach of our interlocutors,” Tagle said.The provisional agreement between the Vatican and China was first signed in September 2018 and renewed for another two years in October 2020. The terms of the deal have not been made public.The Vatican publicized the renewal of its agreement with China five days before Cardinal Joseph Zen, the bishop

Bishop-elect John-Nhan Tran / Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Atlanta Rome Newsroom, Oct 25, 2022 / 05:53 am (CNA). Pope Francis has named Vietnam-born priest John-Nhan Tran an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.Bishop-elect Tran, 56, was 9 years old when he and his family left South Vietnam on a barge at the port of Ben Bach Dang in Saigon in April 1975, according to a 2015 interview on Nola.com.After escaping Vietnam, Tran grew up in Louisiana, where he and his family were accepted as refugees. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1992.Tran will be consecrated an auxiliary bishop for Atlanta on Jan. 23, 2023.The bishop-elect told Nola.com that his mother died after being shot by friendly fire in Vietnam in 1968, when he was 2 years old. His father was also shot but survived. An older brother had been killed by a landmine.The family, which included aunts, uncles, and cousins of Tran, was rescued from the South China Sea after they had run out of water.“I think we would have perished quite soon if we hadn’t been rescued by a U.S. ship,” Tran told Nola.com. “I was so young that for me it was just, ‘Where’s the water?’ and ‘Are we there yet?’” he said. “Later, I felt the pain for my parents’ generation. I’ll never be able to know what they were feeling, how scared they must have been.”Since his ordination in 1992, Bishop-elect Tran has served as parochial vicar and pastor of several Catholic parishes.He has been the pastor of Mary, Queen of Heaven Church in Mandeville since 2015.In August 2015, Tran donated his left kidney to Father Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese priest serving in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Tran and Nguyen became friends while studying at St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana.In the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Tran will serve alongside auxiliary bishops Joel M. Konzen and Bernard E. Schlesinger III. The archbishop of Atlanta is Gregory J. Hartmayer, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual.Hartmayer said on Oct. 25 that he is “overjoyed to welcome Bishop-designate John Tran to Atlanta.”“Our archdiocese is blessed with a diverse community of Catholics from around the world. Bishop-designate Tran reflects and celebrates this diversity,” he said.Tran said he was left speechless by the news that he had been asked to become an auxiliary bishop. He received the call from the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, “with trepidation.”“After several days of prayer and trusting that God will provide, I was able to embrace the appointment by Pope Francis,” he added. “I am indeed humbled to serve as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.”New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond said Tran “has ministered faithfully to the people of the Archdiocese of New Orleans throughout his priestly ministry.”“He is a leader among our priests,” the archbishop said. “We congratulate him and assure him of our prayers as he assumes his new ministry. It is bittersweet as he will be greatly missed.”

Pope Francis and Emmanuel Macron at the Vatican, Oct 24, 2022 / Vatican Media CNA Newsroom, Oct 24, 2022 / 07:04 am (CNA). Pope Francis received French President Emmanuel Macron for nearly one hour at the Vatican on Monday. The Holy See Press Office said the conversation centered on the war in Ukraine.“During the cordial discussions, which took place in the Secretariat of State, the parties focused on matters of an international nature, starting from the conflict in Ukraine, with special attention to the humanitarian situation,” according to Vatican News.The meeting also covered “the region of the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Africa,” the Holy See said.The French president’s papal audience on Oct. 24 was the third with Francis. In February, Catholic bishops across Europe had expressed “deep concern” at Macron’s proposal for abortion to be added to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.Group of abuse victims raises concernBefore the meeting on Monday, a group of victims of sexual abuse urged Macron to directly raise the issue of whether the Church in France is too slow in reacting to the landmark investigation of sexual abuse released one year ago.“It’s about protecting the most vulnerable, especially children,” Olivier Savignac, a former abuse victim and co-founder of the Parler et Revivre association (Talk and Live Again) told Reuters. The almost 2,500-page document said that an estimated 216,000 children were abused by French priests, deacons, monks, or nuns from 1950 to 2020.Ahead of the meeting, Macron’s office said the subject had been addressed with the pope in the past and that it was not likely to be brought up, Reuters reported.‘Constructive’ discussion with MeloniThe French president also met up with Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Sunday. Their private discussion — “constructive,” “frank,” and “open,” according to Macron — covered the challenges Europe currently is facing, from the support for Ukraine and high energy costs to mass migration and economic problems, according to an AP report. Before meeting Meloni, the French president also spoke about Russia’s war on Ukraine at the opening of the Cry for Peace conference, sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community. Macron said an end to the conflict should not mean the “consecration of the law of the strongest.” Ukraine should decide if and how there could be peace terms with Russia. Italy’s new leader has described herself in speeches as a Christian and has publicly expressed her admiration for St. John Paul II and her desire to meet Pope Francis in person.Pope Francis, who offered a prayer for Italy on Sunday, is scheduled to conclude the peace event on Tuesday, joining other religious leaders at a prayer service at Rome’s Colosseum.

Pope Francis and Emmanuel Macron at the Vatican, Oct 24, 2022 / Vatican Media CNA Newsroom, Oct 24, 2022 / 07:04 am (CNA). Pope Francis received French President Emmanuel Macron for nearly one hour at the Vatican on Monday. The Holy See Press Office said the conversation centered on the war in Ukraine.“During the cordial discussions, which took place in the Secretariat of State, the parties focused on matters of an international nature, starting from the conflict in Ukraine, with special attention to the humanitarian situation,” according to Vatican News.The meeting also covered “the region of the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Africa,” the Holy See said.The French president’s papal audience on Oct. 24 was the third with Francis. In February, Catholic bishops across Europe had expressed “deep concern” at Macron’s proposal for abortion to be added to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.Group of abuse victims raises concernBefore the meeting on Monday, a group of victims of sexual abuse urged Macron to directly raise the issue of whether the Church in France is too slow in reacting to the landmark investigation of sexual abuse released one year ago.“It’s about protecting the most vulnerable, especially children,” Olivier Savignac, a former abuse victim and co-founder of the Parler et Revivre association (Talk and Live Again) told Reuters. The almost 2,500-page document said that an estimated 216,000 children were abused by French priests, deacons, monks, or nuns from 1950 to 2020.Ahead of the meeting, Macron’s office said the subject had been addressed with the pope in the past and that it was not likely to be brought up, Reuters reported.‘Constructive’ discussion with MeloniThe French president also met up with Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, on Sunday. Their private discussion — “constructive,” “frank,” and “open,” according to Macron — covered the challenges Europe currently is facing, from the support for Ukraine and high energy costs to mass migration and economic problems, according to an AP report. Before meeting Meloni, the French president also spoke about Russia’s war on Ukraine at the opening of the Cry for Peace conference, sponsored by the Sant’Egidio Community. Macron said an end to the conflict should not mean the “consecration of the law of the strongest.” Ukraine should decide if and how there could be peace terms with Russia. Italy’s new leader has described herself in speeches as a Christian and has publicly expressed her admiration for St. John Paul II and her desire to meet Pope Francis in person.Pope Francis, who offered a prayer for Italy on Sunday, is scheduled to conclude the peace event on Tuesday, joining other religious leaders at a prayer service at Rome’s Colosseum.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), speaks at a press conference at the party electoral headquarters overnight on Sept. 26, 2022. in Rome. Italy’s national elections on Sept. 25 saw voters poised to elect Meloni, a Catholic mother, as the country's first female prime minister. / Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images Rome Newsroom, Oct 24, 2022 / 05:15 am (CNA). Pope Francis offered a prayer for Italy on Sunday as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni became the country’s first female leader.“And today, at the start of a new government, let us pray for unity and peace in Italy,” the pope said at the end of his Angelus address on Oct. 23.Hours after the handover ceremony between Meloni and her predecessor Mario Draghi in Rome’s Chigi Palace, the new prime minister thanked Pope Francis for his comments.Meloni wrote on social media: “I thank His Holiness #PopeFrancis for his thoughts on Italy on this very important day for the government I have the honor to preside over.”Ringrazio Sua Santità #PapaFrancesco per il pensiero che ha voluto rivolgere all'Italia in questa giornata così importante per il Governo che ho l'onore di presiedere. @Pontifex_it— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 23, 2022 Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops’ conference, sent his “sincerest congratulations” to Meloni after the new government’s swearing-in ceremony at the Quirinal Palace.“With you also opens a historic page for our country: the new government is the first led by a woman in the role of prime minister,” Zuppi said.The cardinal highlighted the many challenges that Italy is facing, listing what he described as the Italian bishops’ main concerns: “poverty, the demographic winter, the protection of the elderly, regional disparities, the ecological transition and the energy crisis, employment and job opportunities for young people, the reception and integration of migrants, the streamlining of bureaucratic procedures, and reforms of state democratic structures and electoral law.”Zuppi added: “Looming over all these is the tragedy of the ongoing war that requires the commitment of all, in full harmony with Europe, in the inescapable and urgent search for a just path that can finally lead to peace.”The cardinal promised that the Catholic Church in Italy “will not fail to engage in a constructive dialogue inspired solely by the desire to contribute to the pursuit of the common good of the country and to the protection of the inviolable rights of the person and the community.”Meloni has described herself in speeches as a Christian and has publicly expressed her admiration for St. John Paul II and her desire to meet Pope Francis in person.“I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian, and you can’t take that away from me,” she said in a speech in 2019.Meloni’s party won the general election on Sept. 25 with a platform that supports traditional families, tax cuts, cracking down on illegal immigration, and Italy’s Christian roots. In a speech earlier this year, she said, “no to the LGBT lobby,

Pope Francis invited young people from Portugal to join him in the window of the Apostolic Palace for the World Youth Day announcement. / Vatican Media Vatican City, Oct 23, 2022 / 07:05 am (CNA). With a click on a tablet in front of the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis became the first person to register for the next World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.The pope announced that registration is now open for World Youth Day 2023, the largest international Catholic youth gathering scheduled to take place Aug. 1–6.“Dear young people, I invite you to register for this meeting in which, after a long period of staying at a distance, we will rediscover the joy of the fraternal embrace between peoples and between generations, which we need so much,” Pope Francis said on Oct. 23.Pope Francis asked young people from Portugal to join him in the window of the Apostolic Palace for the announcement at the end of his Angelus address.World Youth Day is targeted at people between the ages of 16 to 35, according to its organizers. The international event is typically held on a different continent every three years but was postponed to 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. St. John Paul II established the week-long youth gathering in 1985. At some past World Youth Days, attendance has reached into the millions.Lisbon, the Portuguese capital set to host World Youth Day 2023, is just 75 miles from Fatima, one of the most visited Marian pilgrimage sites in the world. In Fatima, the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917 with a message of peace and a request for prayer.The theme of Lisbon’s World Youth Day is “Mary arose and went with haste.” In his message for the event, Pope Francis urged young people not to “not postpone all the good that the Holy Spirit can accomplish in you.”“Now is the time to arise! Like Mary, let us ‘arise and go in haste.’ Let us carry Jesus within our hearts and bring him to all those whom we meet,” the pope said.

Bishops at the Second Vatican Council. / Lothar Wolleh/wikimedia. CC BY SA 3.0 Rome Newsroom, Oct 23, 2022 / 07:00 am (CNA). The 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council is not the only notable anniversary currently being celebrated by the Church. Almost to the day 80 years ago, on Oct. 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the Church and the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a radio message to Portugal on the occasion of the Jubilee of the apparitions of Fatima.Ten years later, in 1952, Pius XII consecrated the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. However, few today remember that the request to renew the consecration actually came from the Second Vatican Council and was accepted by Pope Paul VI.Official Portrait of St. Paul VI / Public Domain.During the Second Vatican Council, 510 archbishops and bishops from 78 countries signed a request to the pope to consecrate the whole world, especially and explicitly Russia and the other nations dominated by communism, to the Immaculate Heart. Pope Paul VI, at the end of the third session of the Second Vatican Council on Nov. 21, 1964, entrusted the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In his speech at the end of the third session of the council, he said: “To your Immaculate Heart, O Virgin Mother of God, we recommend the whole human race; lead him to recognize Christ Jesus, the only and true Savior; preserve him from the misfortunes that sins attract and give him peace, which is founded on truth, justice, freedom, and love. “That act of consecration was also significant in another sense. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Mary was subject to debates and openly contested at Vatican II. Some council fathers considered it an ancient, almost superstitious practice. In his “Diary of the Council,” Father Yves Congar (1904–1995) noted: “I am doing the maximum possible campaign against a consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because I see the danger of a movement in this sense being formed.”The devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary spread widely after the apparitions of Fatima in 1917.The request to consecrate the world to the immaculate heart of Mary was expressed in the second of the three secrets of Fatima.“When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you that he is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, and persecution against the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent it, I will come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the reparative Communion on the first Saturdays. If they accept My requests, Russia will be converted, and they will have peace; if not, she will spread her mistakes around the world, promoting wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be destroyed.

Pope Francis delivers the Angelus address on Oct. 23, 2022. / Vatican Media Vatican City, Oct 23, 2022 / 06:05 am (CNA). In his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis warned that “spiritual arrogance” can lead to adoration of one’s ego instead of God.Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 23, the pope said that there is a temptation to “concern ourselves with how we appear rather than how we are” and to be “trapped by narcissism.”“Where there is too much ‘I,’ there is too little God,” Pope Francis said.He explained that with true humility, on the other hand, “we become capable of bringing what we are to God, without pretense: the wounds, the sins and the miseries that weigh on our hearts, and to invoke his mercy so that he may heal us, restore us and raise us up.”“It will be he who raises us up, not us. The more we descend with humility, the more God raises us up," he said.Reflecting on Sunday’s Gospel from chapter 18 of the Gospel of Luke, Pope Francis said that everyone should look closely at the parable of the Pharisee and the publican and ask themselves whether they are judgemental and convinced of their own righteousness, like the Pharisee.Pope Francis said: “To rise towards Him we must descend within ourselves: to cultivate the sincerity and humility of the heart that give us an honest outlook on our frailties and interior poverty.”“Let us ask the intercession of Mary Most Holy, the humble servant of the Lord, the living image of what the Lord loves to accomplish, overthrowing the powerful from their thrones and raising the humble,” he said.After praying the Angelus with the crowd, Pope Francis invited Catholics to sustain missionaries with prayer and concrete solidarity on World Mission Sunday, which he said is "an important occasion to awaken in all the baptized the desire to participate in the universal mission of the Church, through witness and proclamation of the Gospel."The pope also appealed for dialogue and reconciliation in Ethiopia and offered his condolences to all who are suffering from the severe flooding that has affected many countries in Africa. "I am following the continuing state of conflict in Ethiopia with trepidation. Once again I repeat with heartfelt concern that violence does not resolve discord, but only increases its tragic consequences. I appeal to those with political responsibility to end the suffering of the unarmed population and to find equitable solutions for lasting peace throughout the country," he said."May our prayers, solidarity, and necessary humanitarian aid not be lacking for our Ethiopian brothers and sisters, so sorely tried," he added.After inviting young people from Portugal to join him in the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis clicked on a tablet and became the first person to register for World Youth Day, which will take place in Lisbon in August 2023."Dear young people, I invite you to register for this meeting in which, after a long period of separation, we will

Eucharistic adoration following Pope Francis' Corpus Christi Mass on June 14, 2020. / Vatican Media. Vatican City, Oct 22, 2022 / 08:45 am (CNA). It is good to “waste time adoring” Christ present in the Holy Eucharist, Pope Francis said on Saturday.“I urge you to especially devote yourselves to the prayer of adoration — this is important,” he told a group of religious sisters at the Vatican Oct. 22.“It is good to adore in silence before the Most Blessed Sacrament,” he said, “to be in the consoling presence of Jesus and there to draw the apostolic impetus to be instruments of goodness, tenderness and welcome in the community, the Church, and the world.”Francis said the world today has lost the sense of what it means to engage in the form of prayer known as adoration or worship; “to waste time adoring.”“This prayer is not often done: I ask you to do it. Adore, immerse yourself in divine love and give it with full hands to those you meet on your path,” he urged.Pope Francis met Saturday religious women belonging to two communities: The Comboni Missionary Sisters and the Order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as the Bridgettines.He said the sisters’ mission of hospitality is improved with time spent contemplating Christ.“Welcoming, one of the characteristic aspects of your mission, will be more fruitful to the extent in which the prayer of contemplation will make you come out of yourself and focus your life on Jesus Christ, letting him do things in you, letting him act in you,” he said.“This inner movement,” Francis added, “will make possible a service to others that is not philanthropy or welfarism, but openness to the other, closeness, sharing; in a word: charity.”

Pilgrims wave a Chinese flag at the general audience with Pope Francis, Oct. 12, 2022. / Vatican Media. Vatican City, Oct 22, 2022 / 04:05 am (CNA). The Vatican announced Saturday it has renewed its 2018 deal with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for an additional two years.“After appropriate consultation and assessment, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend for another two years the Provisional Agreement regarding the appointment of Bishops,” the Vatican said in an Oct. 22 press release.“The Vatican Party,” it continued, “is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of bilateral relations, with a view to fostering the mission of the Catholic Church and the good of the Chinese people.”The provisional agreement between the Vatican and China was first signed in September 2018 and renewed for another two years in October 2020. The terms of the deal have not been made public.Pope Francis said in July that he hoped the agreement would be renewed for a second time.In an interview with Reuters published July 5, the pope defended the Vatican-China deal against its critics, saying, “Diplomacy is the art of the possible and of doing things to make the possible become a reality.”He compared today’s critics and those who spoke negatively about the Vatican’s diplomatic decisions during the Cold War, when the popes struck deals with Eastern European communist governments in an attempt to protect the interests of the Catholic Church.“Diplomacy is like that. When you face a blocked situation, you have to find the possible way, not the ideal way, out of it,” the pope said.Speaking to Vatican News Oct. 22, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Vatican-China deal is “still in the experimentation phase.”“As is always the case, such difficult and delicate situations require adequate time for implementation in order to then be able to verify the effectiveness of the result and identify possible improvements,” he said in the new interview.After the China deal was signed in 2018, state officials in different regions of China removed crosses and demolished church buildings, and underground Catholics and clergy have reported harassment and detention.A 2020 report from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China found that Chinese Catholics suffered “increasing persecution” after the agreement came into effect.While introducing more restrictive rules on religious practice, China’s President Xi Jinping has been outspoken about his goal of the “sinicization” of religions.Chinese authorities have sought to diffuse “religious theories with Chinese character” into the five official religions supervised by the government, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. This has included instructing Christian churches to remove images of the Ten Commandments and replace them with the sayings of Chairman Mao and Xi.Parolin said “Pope Francis — with determination and patient foresight — has decided to continue along this path not under the illusion of finding perfection in human rules, but in the concrete hope of being able to