Vatican Report. JT: We’re in the midst of a very busy week at the Vatican. 38 archbishops from around the world came to Rome for a special Mass with the Pope on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. It’s …More
Vatican Report.
JT: We’re in the midst of a very busy week at the Vatican. 38 archbishops from around the world came to Rome for a special Mass with the Pope on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. It’s an annual moment of Church communion, but this year it came as the Vatican was embroiled in major disputes on the world stage. This is the Vatican Report. I’m John Thavis, Catholic News Service Rome bureau chief.
CW: And I’m Cindy Wooden, CNS Rome correspondent. At his Mass this week with new archbishops, the pope handed each of them a woolen cloth called a pallium. It’s a liturgical vestment made from the wool of lambs that were blessed by Pope Benedict earlier this year, and it symbolizes the archbishop’s special connection with the Pope. The pallium is also a sign of their ministry as pastors -- it’s worn around the shoulders to evoke the image of the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep back to the fold.
JT: Four bishops from the U.S. and Canada received palliums from the pope. They’re from Cincinnati, Miami, Milwaukee and Saint-Boniface, Manitoba. They joined others from 24 countries. Now, these are the kinds of liturgies that show the universal church united in a special way around the pope. And there is a very strong feeling here this year that the pope needs their moral support. The Vatican has been involved recently in a series of crises in various countries, and it all seemed to hit home this week.
CW: Right, the police raid on church offices in Belgium has left Vatican officials stunned. The police were seeking evidence of alleged sexual abuse, and they raided the archdiocesan offices and residences near Brussels. The country’s bishops were meeting there at the time, and they were held for nine hours. The police even drilled into the tombs of two dead cardinals, apparently to look for hidden documents, but didn’t find any. The Pope called the raid “surprising and deplorable” for the heavy-handed way it was carried out.
JT: The Vatican got more bad news when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop a sex abuse lawsuit against the Vatican. The suit argues that an abusive priest was essentially a Vatican employee, and so the Vatican is liable. That question now has to be argued in court, but just the fact that the Vatican must answer to the court is unusual. In the past, U.S. judicial authorities have said the Vatican, as a sovereign state, has immunity from such lawsuits.
CW: Meanwhile, the Vatican has been dragged into a financial scandal in Italy. An Italian cardinal who once headed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has been formally placed under investigation by Italian magistrates. The speculation is that he may have sold property below market value to a government minister in exchange for favors. The cardinal has denied all wrongdoing, and being investigated in Italy is not the same as being charged with a crime. But in the popular imagination, it left a bad impression.
JT: Now, it should be pointed out that Pope Benedict has worked for greater …
JT: We’re in the midst of a very busy week at the Vatican. 38 archbishops from around the world came to Rome for a special Mass with the Pope on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. It’s an annual moment of Church communion, but this year it came as the Vatican was embroiled in major disputes on the world stage. This is the Vatican Report. I’m John Thavis, Catholic News Service Rome bureau chief.
CW: And I’m Cindy Wooden, CNS Rome correspondent. At his Mass this week with new archbishops, the pope handed each of them a woolen cloth called a pallium. It’s a liturgical vestment made from the wool of lambs that were blessed by Pope Benedict earlier this year, and it symbolizes the archbishop’s special connection with the Pope. The pallium is also a sign of their ministry as pastors -- it’s worn around the shoulders to evoke the image of the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep back to the fold.
JT: Four bishops from the U.S. and Canada received palliums from the pope. They’re from Cincinnati, Miami, Milwaukee and Saint-Boniface, Manitoba. They joined others from 24 countries. Now, these are the kinds of liturgies that show the universal church united in a special way around the pope. And there is a very strong feeling here this year that the pope needs their moral support. The Vatican has been involved recently in a series of crises in various countries, and it all seemed to hit home this week.
CW: Right, the police raid on church offices in Belgium has left Vatican officials stunned. The police were seeking evidence of alleged sexual abuse, and they raided the archdiocesan offices and residences near Brussels. The country’s bishops were meeting there at the time, and they were held for nine hours. The police even drilled into the tombs of two dead cardinals, apparently to look for hidden documents, but didn’t find any. The Pope called the raid “surprising and deplorable” for the heavy-handed way it was carried out.
JT: The Vatican got more bad news when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop a sex abuse lawsuit against the Vatican. The suit argues that an abusive priest was essentially a Vatican employee, and so the Vatican is liable. That question now has to be argued in court, but just the fact that the Vatican must answer to the court is unusual. In the past, U.S. judicial authorities have said the Vatican, as a sovereign state, has immunity from such lawsuits.
CW: Meanwhile, the Vatican has been dragged into a financial scandal in Italy. An Italian cardinal who once headed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has been formally placed under investigation by Italian magistrates. The speculation is that he may have sold property below market value to a government minister in exchange for favors. The cardinal has denied all wrongdoing, and being investigated in Italy is not the same as being charged with a crime. But in the popular imagination, it left a bad impression.
JT: Now, it should be pointed out that Pope Benedict has worked for greater …
mrsreneoriordan
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Such troubles were to be expected if Christ Himself established the Church. And Christ Himself did establish the Church. The Pope has his finger on the problem when he says it's the sin within the Church that is most worrying. "If salt lose it's flavour it is worth for nothing but to be trampled underfoot" and so in His love and Mercy for His beloved Church the Lord is allowing us to be trampled …More
Bob Jones papist
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yah, gonna be kinda hard to sue the Vatican City State..best stick with suing the local Diocese said alleged molesters are from.but the Bishops pas the buck..so round round it goes..
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www.vaticanstate.va/…/General_informa…'
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yah, gonna be kinda hard to sue the Vatican City State..best stick with suing the local Diocese said alleged molesters are from.but the Bishops pas the buck..so round round it goes..
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www.vaticanstate.va/…/General_informa…'
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www.vaticanstate.va/…/General_informa…'
thomas papineau
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How Dair the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop a sex abuse lawsuit against the Vatican. The Vatican is a country on its own and is not liabul to eny law other then Gods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Church is above the laws of Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
