Pope Francis sets up commission to study women deacons
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has established a new "Study Commission on the Female Diaconate" as a follow-up to a previous group that studied the history of women deacons in the New Testament and the early Christian communities.
Luke Stocking: Voice of Sr. Dorothy echoes in exhortation
Fifteen years ago, on Feb. 12, a 73-year-old nun walked along a rural road in the Amazon region of Para state in Brazil. She was followed by two men with guns — Clodoaldo Carlos Batista and Raifran das Neves Sales. Both men worked for a livestock company. They asked her if she had any weapons. In response she showed them her Bible and began to read, “Blessed are the poor in spirit ….”
Editorial: Focus on dreams
Reaction ranged from anger to relief after the Pope dodged a contentious debate about ordaining married men to the priesthood in his reflection on the recent Amazon synod.
Peter Stockland: No quick fixes on this long road
Esteemed theological thinkers will doubtless spend the coming months scratching their parses on the latest exhortation from Pope Francis, Querida Amazonia.
‘Beloved Amazon’: Canadians can draw many parallels in exhortation
In his apostolic exhortation “Beloved Amazon” Pope Francis is talking about much more than just the Amazon.
Pope Francis shares frustration with reaction to Amazon document
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops that, like them, he is accused of not being courageous or not listening to the Holy Spirit when he says or does something someone disagrees with -- like not mentioning married priests in his document on the Amazon.
Brazilian bishops 'surprised' at Amazon post-synodal document
SAO PAULO -- Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the pan-Amazonian synod surprised many church workers who live in the region and elicited a range of reactions.
Don't try to 'clericalize' women in Amazon church, Pope Francis says
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis released his document on the Amazon region on the 15th anniversary of the assassination in Brazil of U.S. Notre Dame Sister Dorothy Stang, a missionary who defended the poor and the environment.
Pope Francis: No 'quick fix' to priest shortage in Amazon
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis acknowledged the serious shortage of priests in remote areas of the Amazon, but he insisted not all avenues have been exhausted to address the issue.
Pope Francis releases apostolic exhortation on Amazon synod
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said he dreams of an Amazon region where the rights of the poor and indigenous are respected, local cultures are preserved, nature is protected, and the Catholic Church is present and active with "Amazonian features."
U.S. bishops ask Pope Francis about Amazon synod
VATICAN CITY -- Talking about debates, differences and discernment, Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops that people focused on the possibility of ordaining some married men and women deacons for service in the Amazon will be disappointed in his apostolic exhortation.
Amazon synod opens ‘a new chapter’
OTTAWA -- Respect for the Earth and different cultures and Indigenous communities go hand-in-hand as the Catholic Church moves forward after an historic synod that focused on the Amazon region.
‘Hear the cry of the Earth’
Canadian Josianne Gauthier is General Secretary of CIDSE, an international network of Catholic social justice organizations, and was one of the delegates to last month’s Synod on Pan-Amazon Region. Here is what she told the Synod in an address:
Synod gives hope to Canada’s north
The recent Amazon synod gave voice to Indigenous worldwide and that can only bode well for northern Canadian dioceses with parallel realities, agreed Archbishop Murray Chatlain and Bishop Gary Gordon.
VATICAN CITY -- Following a proposal made during the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, Pope Francis restructured several dioceses in the Brazilian Amazon to better address the needs of local Catholics.