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Pope appoints new Holy See Permanent Observer to UN in New York

Archbishop Christophe El-Kassis
Vatican

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis as the Holy See's new Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, where he will represent the Holy See at the UN headquarters.


Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis as the Holy See's new Permanent Observer to the United Nations (UN) in New York.

The appointment was announced on Saturday by the Holy See Press Office.

Lebanese-born Archbishop El-Kassis, Titular Archbishop of Roselle, has until now served as Apostolic Nuncio to the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as Apostolic Delegate to the Arabian Peninsula.

He was ordained in 1994, and he entered the Holy See diplomatic service in 2000, working in Indonesia, Sudan, Turkey, and the Secretariat of State.

The Holy See maintains Permanent Observer status at the United Nations, enabling it to participate in the work of the General Assembly and other UN bodies.

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Pope Leo Meets Marco Rubio at Vatican Amid Growing Trump Dispute on Iran War, Immigration | AC1G

Secretary Rubio: 'There is a lot to talk about' in meeting with Pope Leo

 

WH Press Briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio: The Pope is obviously THE VICAR of CHRIST as a Roman Catholic

 

Cuba Reportedly Pleads With Vatican To Get The US Off Its Back As Energy Crisis Grows

(Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP via Getty Images)

Derek VanBuskirk

Reporter

March 30, 20266:23 PM ET

Cuban officials have reportedly petitioned the Vatican to advocate for the island nation in an effort to maintain power and secure aid as the communist country struggles amid an energy crisis.

The crisis, which has resulted in rolling blackouts, arose following a late January executive order characterizing Cuba as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and imposing a tariff on any country that provides or sells oil to Cuba.

In the two months since the de facto oil blockade was put into place, the Cuban government has conducted senior-level meetings with Holy See officials — including the pope — in the hopes that they would function as an interlocutor between Cuba and the U.S., according to The Washington Post (Post). 

On Feb. 20, the senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Mike Hammer, and the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, held meetings with Latin American ambassadors to the Vatican, according to the Post.

They spoke of “how to work with the Church to support the Cuban people’s desire for economic opportunity and freedom,” the outlet reported. The U.S. diplomats reportedly also met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

Hammer told the Latin American Church diplomats that Cuba’s regime would fall “in a matter of days,” a person familiar told the outlet.

Hammer and Burch also held a meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. A source familiar with the conversation said the Vatican hopes for a resolution that is “not as traumatic” as Trump’s arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

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Separation of Church and State: U.S. Constitutional Policy in Conflict

Unformatted Document Text: Separation of Church and State: Constitutional Policy in Conflict 29

The Opus Dei formula for success is not based upon the quantity of its converts, but the quality of its converts, e.g. “they must primarily be influential [college students and others] from very elite backgrounds” (Cocozelli 2006). Some of Opus Dei converts include CNBC economic pundit Lawrence Kudlow, Senator Sam Brownback, former Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania, Supreme Court Justices Alioto, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia; and Justice Scalia’s son is an Opus Dei priest. Further supporters of Opus Die are Chief Justice John Roberts, attorney Mary Ann Glendon, Mary Ellen Bork, wife of Judge Bork; also the former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson who argued for the Bush side in Bush v. Gore 31 in 2000 before the Supreme Court, receiving a 5-4 vote, thereby giving the 25 electoral votes from Florida and the Presidency to George W. Bush. In addition, Tom Monaghan [Domino’s Pizza boss at http://www.usdreams.com/Monaghan7677.html ], and Robert Novak well known conservative Chicago journalist often seen on Meet the Press, are cooperators, including conservative Catholics like Tim Russert of NBC news, Chris Matthews of NBC news and MSNBC, just to name a few of the important government, economic, and media personalities tied to or supporters of Opus Dei (Cocozzelli 2006; http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/ ; http://supreme.justia.com/scripts/search ). Further, a number of Opus Dei cooperators are also connected to the Neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century, and the Institute on Religion and Democracy (Cocozzelli 2006-2007). Opus Dei seeks out the elite and wealthy for leadership, with the goal of infusing the U.S. [and the world] with a pre-Vatican II morality. Opus Dei elite and supporters are Republican and staunch supporters of President George W. Bush. The Society did not find much support, however, from either Pope John XXIII nor from Paul VI, but has found enormous support and stature under Pope John Paul II and the present Pope Benedict XVI. 31 531 U.S. 98 (2000)



Authors: Oberbauer, Angela.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her Catholic faith and the urgency of a criminal justice reform

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

June 27, 2018

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, May 26, 2018. (Corey Torpie / Courtesy of the Ocasio-Cortez Campaign)

Christ came to me emblazoned on the upper arm of my beloved cousin Marc. The blue-black ink danced between the bullet scars and stretch marks that graced my cousin’s upper body. Atop this crown-of-thorns depiction was a tattooed banner with the phrase “Only God Can Judge Me.”

I have never known Marc as a criminal. I have only known him as the largest and funniest member of my family. As a child, I saw this tattooed arm over and over again. It appeared at family cookouts turning a lechón (roasted pig) in its fifth hour, it held me steady on Marc’s broad lap, and it was revealed during the wintertime, when our pipes would hiss until the relentless heat would force us all to roll our sleeves as far up as they would go.

I remember reading his tattoo each time I saw it, trying to understand what it meant: Only God Can Judge Me. Innocence, in its mercy, partly excuses us from having to fully reckon with the spiritual gifts of forgiveness, grace and redemption at the heart of the Catechism: I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

Marc—like several men in my family—had been caught in the webbed threads of poverty, geography and lack of opportunity during the fever pitch of 1990s mass incarceration. Baggy-pant boys like him fit the descriptions of “super-predators” and “thugs” that dominated our national discourse at the time. Marc served his time, and has been out of the system ever since—a miraculous feat, given that over 75 percent of released state prisoners in the United States are rearrested within five years. Today he is a union worker and a happily married father of three successful children.

Innocence, in its mercy, partly excuses us from having to fully reckon with the spiritual gifts of forgiveness, grace and redemption at the heart of the Catechism: I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

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Pelosi: ‘We Are, In Our View, the Eucharist, the Body of Christ’

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Asks Pope Francis to Help Release Grand Jury Report

Pennsylvania Capitol Building (Shutterstock.com) 

Jul. 26, 2018

The publication of the 800-page report detailing the handling sexual abuse by the five Pennsylvania dioceses has been blocked by legal challenges. 

Catholic News Agency/EWTN News


HARRISBURG, Pa— The Pennsylvania Attorney General has appealed to Pope Francis for help in publishing a report on clerical sexual abuse in that state.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro requested the pope’s help in a July 25 letter published Thursday by the Philadelphia Enquirer.

The 800-page report is the result of a two-year grand jury investigation, led by Shapiro, into the handling of sexual abuse cases by five Pennsylvania dioceses – Altoona-Johnstown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. It was originally scheduled for public release at the end of June this year, but legal challenges by individuals named in the report, including some priests, have delayed publication.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that the report’s release be delayed while it considered arguments that some named in the report had not been granted due process by the investigation and would have their reputations unfairly damaged.

In a letter to Pope Francis, dated 25 July, Shapiro recalled meeting the pope at an event during the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

“I am a great admirer of you and your work – especially your commitment to fighting for the defenseless,” Shapiro writes, saying that they met at a reception at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, after which Francis went on to meet with victims of sexual abuse, to whom he expressed his sadness and apologies.

“You went on to express remorse that the Church failed to hear and believe [victims] for so long but that now you, the Holy Father, ‘hears and believes [them].’ You pledged to follow the path of truth wherever it my lead.”

Shapiro wrote that he has reason to believe “at least two leaders of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania” are behind the legal challenges delaying the grand jury report’s release.


While conceding that these unnamed “leaders” are not acting directly to block the report, Shapiro suggested that they are encouraging those who are.

The letter concluded with a “respectful request” that Pope Francis instruct Church leaders in the state – presumably the bishops – to abandon their “destructive efforts to silence the survivors [of abuse].”

Earlier this week, Bishop Lawrence Persico, of the Diocese of Erie, told local media that he had seen the report and that its contents were “graphic,” “detailed,” and “sobering.” He also said that accounts of how abuse allegations were handled in previous decades would be unacceptable today.

Bishop Persico also addressed the legal challenges delaying the release of the report, saying he did not know who was behind them but that he was in favor of publication.

“I know I did not [block publication],” he said. “I’ve been calling from the very beginning that the grand jury report be released so it can be a voice for the victims. I’m not sure who all is behind this.”

Pope Francis has underscored the need for victims to be heard. In a letter to the Chilean bishops, following the national sexual abuse crisis in that country, he wrote “one of our main faults and omissions [is] not knowing how to listen to victims.”

In that instance, the pope included himself among those who had not listened, and promised to do better.

CORRECTION: This story initially included Philadelphia among the dioceses involved in the grand jury report. Philadelphia is not a subject of this investigation.

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Callista Gingrich formally begins service as U.S. ambassador to Holy See

by Cindy Wooden

posted Friday, 22 Dec 2017

Callista Gingrich (Getty images)


Mrs Gingrich presented her credentials to Pope Francis Friday morning

Callista Gingrich presented her letters of credential to Pope Francis, formally assuming her duties as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

Gingrich met privately with the Pope on December 22 after introducing her husband, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and members of her staff.

Neither the Vatican nor the U.S. embassy provided details about their private discussion.

In a statement, the embassy said, “Ambassador Gingrich looks forward to working with the Holy See to defend human rights, advance religious freedom, combat human trafficking and to seek peaceful solutions to crises around the world.”

But in the weeks before her papal audience, Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump had very public disagreements on other issues. Pope Francis had asked Trump to respect the “status quo” of Jerusalem by not recognizing it as the capital of Israel until the city’s status was determined by a peace process.

Also, the Vatican expressed disappointment that the Trump administration pulled out of the U.N. process for drafting global compacts on migration and on refugees and that the administration withdrew U.S. support for the Paris Accord on reducing climate change.

Meeting Pope Francis, Gingrich gave him a collection of sacred music recorded by the choir she was a longtime member of at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, the embassy said. She also gave him a donation for the charity of his choice.

After meeting the Pope and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, the new ambassador was accompanied to St Peter’s Basilica by Mgr Francis Kelly, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, and a canon of St. Peter’s Basilica.

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San Diego bishop says gun control is a social justice issue

Inés San Martín

November 13, 2017

VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego passes a banner showing Pope Francis before the start of a conference on building a world free from nuclear weapons, at the Vatican Nov. 10. The conference brought together 11 Nobel laureates, top officials from the United Nations and NATO, diplomats from around the world, experts in nuclear weapons and the disarmament process, scholars, activists and representatives of bishops' conferences. (Credit: CNS photo/Paul Haring.)

Bishop Robert McElroy says gun control is a social justice issue of interest to the US Catholic bishops, and criticized the gun lobby for its "organized opposition to gun control, taking the position that any limitation against guns is a limitation on the core rights of individuals." He also said American military action cannot have any positive role in resolving the current crisis around North Korea.


ROME- Gun control is a social justice issue of concern to America’s Catholic bishops, according to Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, who was recently at a Vatican conference to talk about the contributions the Catholic Church can make regarding nuclear disarmament.

“One of the problems is the organized opposition to gun control, taking the position that any limitation against guns is a limitation on the core rights of individuals,” McElroy told Crux on Friday.

65th Annual Red Mass 2017

OCTOBER 1, 2017

65th Annual Red Mass Supreme Court Justices attend the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC.

Five justices attend Red Mass with homily addressing immigration, religious freedom

Five justices attend Red Mass with homily addressing immigration, religious freedom

Posted Sun, October 1st, 2017 7:15 pm by Andrew Hamm


This morning Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito attended the Red Mass, a Roman Catholic liturgy held annually the Sunday before the Supreme Court’s new term to invoke God’s blessing on those responsible for the administration of justice. The justices sat – by seniority, as always – in the first two pews at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington. Noel Francisco, the newly confirmed solicitor general, and Jeffrey Wall, the former acting solicitor general, also attended the mass.

The homilist for the mass, Jose Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles, indirectly referred to two issues before the justices this term – immigration and religious freedom.

In introducing himself at the start of his homily, Gomez noted that Los Angeles has the largest Roman Catholic congregation in the United States, which he described as an “immigrant church” with masses in over 40 languages. Although “the American dream is still a work in progress,” Gomez argued, “America is still a beacon of hope for refugees and all who long for freedom and equality under God.” “God doesn’t see color, the country we come from, or the language we speak,” Gomez preached.

Gomez also argued that “religious freedom is essential to America” because believers have led movements for justice and social change through America’s history – including movements for abolition, women’s suffrage, civil rights, farm workers, peace and the right to life.

Gomez is vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has taken positions on Supreme Court cases pertaining to both issues Gomez addressed. The USCCB filed an amicus brief in support of the challengers to the Trump administration’s entry ban in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, which Wall argued in the lower courts and which was recently removed from the justices’ October calendar. The USCCB filed an amicus brief in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission supporting a devout Christian baker who claims that Colorado’s requirement that he create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple violates the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. Last term the USCCB also filed an amicus brief for the church in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. In an opinion written by Roberts, the court in that case held that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ policy of denying grants to applicants controlled by religious entities violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

Gomez was not the only priest at the altar with involvement in recent Supreme Court cases. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, was the plaintiff in Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Burwell, one of the cases consolidated as Zubik v. Burwell, a recent challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate. When he was still an attorney at Jones Day, Francisco was the counsel of record for the archbishop and the other challengers in that case.

The Supreme Court’s October 2017 term begins Monday at 10 a.m., with oral argument in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis.

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America needs ‘a new sense of our common humanity,’ @ 65th annual Red Mass homilist says

Kelly Sankowski


Sunday, October 01, 2017 6:27 PM




CS PHOTOS BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN

Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez delivers the homily at the 65th annual Red Mass Oct. 1 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in northwest Washington.

CS PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN

Cardinal Donald Wuerl talks with John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States and one of five members of the Supreme Court to attend the Red Mass, as they leave the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.


During the 65th annual Red Mass in the nation’s capital, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez asked the Supreme Court justices, government officials, lawyers and other members of the judiciary gathered at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington to renew a commitment to a government that “serves the human person.”

The annual Mass, which is held the Sunday before the opening of the Supreme Court’s term, invokes the Holy Spirit upon those who are responsible for the administration of justice. The Mass is sponsored by the John Carroll Society, a network that aims to enhance fellowship among Catholic leaders in the Washington area and serve the archbishop of Washington.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl was the main celebrant at the Oct. 1 Mass, and the concelebrants included Washington Auxiliary Bishops Barry Knestout, Mario Dorsonville and Roy Campbell Jr.; Archbishop Gómez; Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge; Bishop Richard Higgins, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA; and Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria.

The distinguished guests at the Mass included five members of the Supreme Court: John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States; and Associate Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer, and Samuel A. Alito Jr.; and also U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco.

In his homily, Archbishop Gomez spoke about St. Junípero Serra, the newest American saint who was one of the founding missionaries of Los Angeles and was canonized by Pope Francis during the pontiff’s 2015 visit to Washington. By doing so, Archbishop Gomez said Pope Francis was making a point that “we should honor St. Junípero Serra as one of the founding fathers of the United States,” since the missionaries came here before the pilgrims and began their outreach before the nation’s first president was inaugurated.

Vice President at Catholic Prayer Breakfast: ‘Continue to Be Hands, Feet of Our Savior’

Vice President Mike Pence addresses the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington June 6. (@VP Twitter) 

Nation | Jun. 6, 2017

Mike Pence spoke of Catholic legacy in America, said Trump administration is committed to protecting life and liberty June 6.

Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena


WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence exhorted those in attendance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday to continue to be a “voice for the voiceless,” after proclaiming that “life is winning” in the nation.

“Life is winning in America. Life is winning through the steady advance of science that continues to illuminate more and more when life begins,” Pence told the audience in Washington, D.C., June 6.

He added that the pro-life cause is advancing also “through the generosity of millions of adoptive families” and “through the compassion of caregivers and volunteers at crisis-pregnancy centers and faith-based organizations.”

Pence addressed an estimated crowd of 1,300 at the 13th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast attended by many Catholic leaders, including Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A., and Bishop Mario Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of Washington.

The vice president stated: “I believe we’ve come to a pivotal moment in the life of our nation, and, indeed, the life of the world. The Catholic community in America has made an enormous difference in the life of this nation.” 

Trump Is Expected to Relax Tax Rules on Churches Taking Part in Politics

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR, LAURIE GOODSTEIN and MAGGIE HABERMAN

 MAY 3, 2017



President Trump speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in February. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to mark National Day of Prayer on Thursday by issuing an executive order that makes it easier for churches and other religious groups to actively participate in politics without risking their tax-exempt status, several administration officials said.

Taking action as he hosts conservative religious leaders Thursday morning, Mr. Trump’s executive order would attempt to overcome a provision in the federal tax code that prohibits religious organizations like churches from directly opposing or supporting political candidates.

The move is likely to be hailed by some faith leaders, who have long complained that the law stifles their freedom of expression. But the order falls short of a more sweeping effort to protect religious liberties that has been pushed by conservative religious leaders since Mr. Trump’s election.

Many clergy members say they do not want to endorse political candidates from the pulpit because it could split their congregations and distract from their religious messages. This appears to be the case even among evangelicals, although it is Mr. Trump’s conservative evangelical advisers who encouraged him to address the issue.

It was unclear Wednesday whether Mr. Trump also planned to issue a separate order that would exempt some religious organizations like churches from Obama-era regulations requiring protections for gay men, lesbians and others.

A coalition of evangelicals, Roman Catholics, Mormons and Orthodox Jews has been eagerly awaiting a so-called religious liberty order, which they also hope will exempt religious entities from providing their employees with coverage for contraception in their health care plans.

COMECE Secretary general met with Mairead McGuinness

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COMECE Secretary general met with Mairead McGuinness

Fr Olivier Poquillon OP met with Mairead McGuinness, for the first time after her election as the new Vice President of the European Parliament in charge of the dialogue with Religions. They exchanged views on their main points of interest and discussed the best way to allow a positive contribution of the Church to on-going debates in accordance with Article 17 TFEU.

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