News/International

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI joined a chorus of criticism of a raid on Belgian Church headquarters by police seeking evidence of alleged clergy sexual abuse.

In a June 27 letter of solidarity to Belgian bishops, he called the blitz on the Mechelen-Brussels archdiocese “surprising and deplorable” for the heavy-handed way it was carried out. However, the Pope also reiterated his position that accusations of abuse of minors within the Catholic Church should be pursued by civil as well as Church authorities.

A $7.3 billion pledge — $5.0 billion from G8 countries and another $2.3 billion from foundations and non-G8 countries — is not enough to stop millions of needless deaths among pregnant women and children under five, and not enough for the G8 countries to say they've lived up to their responsibilities, say Catholic aid groups.

"We're disappointed with the G8 leaders," said Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace executive director Michael Casey.

MADRID - On June 11, Spanish soccer fans gathered at Blessed Manuel Domingo Sol Catholic Church in Madrid to watch host nation South Africa play Mexico in the first game of the FIFA World Cup.

The church’s pastor, Fr. Esteban Diaz, says that bringing parishioners together for the games promotes good will and friendly relationships in his community. On a larger scale, he believes the quadrennial event is an opportunity to fight for peace.

ROME - In the basement of an Italian insurance company’s modern office building, Vatican archeologists, armed with lasers, discovered important historical evidence about the development of Christian devotion to the apostles.

At Rome’s Catacombs of St. Thecla, in the burial chamber of a Roman noblewoman, they have discovered what they said are the oldest existing paintings of Sts. Peter, Paul, Andrew and John.

Technicians working for the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology discovered the painting of St. Paul in June 2009 just as the Year of St. Paul was ending.

Barbara Mazzei, who was in charge of the restoration work, said June 22 that she and her team members knew there were more images under the crust of calcium carbonate, but excitement over the discovery of St. Paul in the year dedicated to him led them to announce the discovery even before the rest of the work was completed.

Presenting the complete restoration of the burial chamber to reporters a year later, Msgr. Giovanni Carru said that the catacombs “are an eloquent witness of Christianity in its origins.”

Into the fourth century, Christians in Italy tried to bury their dead near the tomb of a martyr. The walls of the tombs of the wealthy were decorated with Christian symbols, biblical scenes and references to the martyr.

At the Catacombs of St. Thecla, the noblewoman’s burial chamber — now referred to as the Cubicle of the Apostles — dates from late in the fourth century. The arch over the vestibule features a fresco of a group of figures the Vatican experts described as “The College of the Apostles.” The ceiling of the burial chamber itself features the most typical icon found in the catacombs, Christ the Good Shepherd, but the four corners of the ceiling are decorated with medallions featuring the four apostles, said Mazzei.

DUBLIN - After seeking justice for 38 years, Ireland’s bishops welcomed the finding of a commission that concluded the 1972 killing of 14 unarmed Catholics by British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday in Derry was unjustified.

Two of the bishops were from Derry, Northern Ireland, where the incident, widely known as Bloody Sunday, occurred.

“We share the joy and relief of the families of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday,” the bishops said in a statement June 16, the day after the release of the long-awaited Saville Report.

“We acknowledge the hurt and pain of the many people who lost loved ones on these islands during the course of the Troubles. We continue to carry them all in our thoughts and prayers.”

Speaking in the House of Commons, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.

Many countries have a memorial to The Unknown Soldier. As our Year for Priests draws to a close, this story is my memorial to all The Unknown Priests.

Those are the priests who with a word, a challenge or a smile effect a radical change in our way of loving and perceiving God. One such priest was a Franciscan Friar who gave a weekend retreat for married women several years ago.

I had taken some overdue time out from my hectic life as the mother of five and the wife of a busy politician. I was so eager for some spiritual refreshment that I didn’t even care who the priest would be. I only knew I needed a couple of nights of solitude and quiet, with time to reflect on my spiritual life that was often neglected due to my exhaustion.

Once at the convent, we were assigned to our rooms and then directed to the dining room for a light supper. We were informed that this was a silent retreat, so meals were to be eaten with no conversation. What a change from Friday night supper at home.

Editor’s Note: As the Year for Priests comes to a close, Catholic Register reader Rappai J. Nedumpara, president of Family Prayer Mission (Ontario), shares the thoughts of a young priest whose petition from India has universal meaning.

The Catholic world is reeling under the huge storm of scandals and it pains me to see such things happening. One person went to the extent of saying that “I don’t feel like going to Church any more to hear the great and lofty ideals that these people preach.”

We have reached a stage where people are thinking of giving up on the Church, and priests in general are being blamed for it. Many of us Catholics are joining this outcry. Priests are being looked at with different eyes now — eyes of suspicion, and understandably so. This hurts and pains me as I am a priest.

Yes I am ashamed, I must admit, about what has happened. A priest is supposed to be one who is trusted, at times trusted even more than one’s own parents. A priest is meant to heal and to care and when a priest fails to do that it is saddening.

VATICAN CITY - Catholics expect a lot from their priests and Pope Benedict XVI is no exception.

Some people might have thought the Pope convoked the June 2009-2010 Year for Priests as a praise-fest for the Church’s collared class, but instead he highlighted the importance of priests in the life of the Church by exhorting them to live up to their calling.

In hundreds of speeches throughout the year and in a special three-part series during his weekly general audiences in April and May, Pope Benedict described the identity and mission of priests, asked Catholics to pray for their ministers and asked the men in black not just to be good priests, but to be holy.

The fact that the Church’s handling of cases of priestly sex abuse came to the fore in Ireland and other European countries and then was back in the news in North America made it impossible during the Year for Priests for the Pope or anyone else to ignore that a problem existed, even if it involved just a small portion of the world’s priests.

WARSAW, Poland - A martyred Polish priest was praised for standing against the oppressive forces of communism when he defended human rights in his sermons during a beatification Mass in the Polish capital.

More than 140,000 people listened intently during the June 6 ceremony in Pilsudski Square as Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes, recalled how Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko "did not yield to temptation to survive in this death camp" under communist rule.

VATICAN CITY  - The president of the Turkish bishops' conference, Bishop Luigi Padovese, was stabbed to death June 3 at his home in Iskenderun, said the Vatican nuncio in Turkey.

Archbishop Antonio Lucibello confirmed the death of the 63-year-old bishop, reported Vatican Radio.

The bishop's driver was arrested as the prime suspect in the murder and confessed, Vatican Radio said.