By Vatican Radio staff writer

Cardinal Pietro Parolin addressed COMECE’s 2020 Autumn Assembly inviting the European Bishops to put the Church in the frontline for a fairer and more solidary Europe during the long and difficult process of recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the gathering on Wednesday, the first day of the Assembly, the Vatican Secretary of State also focused on the promotion of the common good through person-centred policies in the fields of sustainable human development, migration and environment.

Pope’s ‘Letter on Europe’

The Cardinal’s discourse came in the wake of Pope Francis’ “Letter on Europe” in which he encourages the Church in the EU not to restrict her mission to the private sphere while respecting the autonomy of political life.

Quoting the Pope’s encyclical letter Fratelli tutti, he said “[the Church] cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the building of a better world.”

Inviting all EU institutions, to “rediscover the path of fraternity that inspired and guided the founders of modern Europe”, Cardinal Parolin said the Church would be in the frontline of the long and arduous recovery process from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He described the effort as “an occasion to build a fairer and more solidary Europe that shares scientific research and investments for the production of vaccines and the care for the most vulnerable.”

Care for creation and migration policies

Cardinal Parolin also participated in a dialogue with the EU bishops during which they touched on a series of topics including the need to rethink the European identity and its values, the ongoing EU environmental initiatives such as the “Green Deal” and the “Next Generation EU”, both of which aim to promote solidarity among member states and foster an ecological conversion.

Another crucial topic that was discussed regards the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum that Parolin said: “marks a step forward, but also raises many doubts”. He also supported the idea of reviewing the “Dublin Regulation” for asylum seekers that, he said, needs to be honed towards policies that “welcome, protect, promote and integrate” migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

In compliance with the health protocol established by the authorities of the Brussels Region, the COMECE Assembly was held exclusively in a digital format.

By Nathan Morley

Video footage from the region posted online showed collapsed buildings and vehicles destroyed by falling debris.

In a statement, the US Geological Survey said the shallow tremor measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale. Turkey lies on several of fault lines and is prone to earthquakes.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing in the ruins of eight buildings, despite a total of 470 aftershocks having occurred since the main tremor.

According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of Turkey, the death toll in the western province of Izmir increased to 25.

A total of 804 people were wounded by the tremor. Some 100 survivors have been pulled out alive from the debris so far.

Up to 5,000 emergency service workers and 20 search and rescue dogs have been taking part in the rescue effort.

The quake also shook Greece‘s Island of Samos where two high school students died and at least eight people were injured.

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

October 25 will forever be etched in Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory’s personal history as well as that of 13 other clerics, prelates and other local Churches.

It would have been just past 7 am in Washington, D.C., when the Holy Father announced his intention to elevate that city’s Archbishop to the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal-designate Gregory spoke with Vatican News about how he heard the news, what his first thoughts were, how he hopes to represent his fellow African-Americans and how the various places in which he has lived and work have shaped his pastoral ministry.

Life-changing telephone call

Archbishop Gregory told us it was one of his close friends who first broke the news to him that Pope Francis had chosen him to be a cardinal.

“About five minutes after the Angelus concluded, I got a telephone call from Cardinal Kevin Farrell who said, ‘I want to be the first to congratulate you on being named to the College of Cardinals’.”

The Archbishop continued saying he had no prior knowledge of Pope Francis’s decision. On hearing the news, the first thought that went through his head was:

“I thought that God is good and how grateful I was to the Holy Father for this appointment and how I look forward to working closely with him in his ministry to the universal Church.”

Bearer of the African-American legacy

With this appointment, Archbishop Gregory will become the first Cardinal in the Church in the United States of African-American descent. He hopes his appointment is received, not only by his fellow African-Americans but also by all U.S. Catholics, as a “sign of the love and the respect that the Church universal has for us in our culture, our language, our traditions.”

Specifically, regarding his fellow African-Americans, his hope is that they see in his appointment a call for them to “be more deeply invested in their local parishes and their local dioceses.”

Legacy of faith a “proven treasure”

The Cardinal-elect describes the “wonderful legacy of faith” to which he belongs as one that “stretches back from the earliest days of our arrival on these shores – in chains,” but also a legacy containing “some bright and wonderful examples of faith and holiness in the lives of a number of people whose causes for canonization are already at the Holy See.”

Archbishop Gregory mentioned three of these people in particular: Pierre Toussaint, a slave who, after gaining his freedom in New York, performed numerous works of charity for those less fortunate than he; Father Augustus Tolton, a former slave and convert to Catholicism who, after his ordination, served in the Chicago area as well; Sr Thea Bowman, whom Archbishop describes as a “wonderful, wonderful, woman religious, whose presence and enthusiasm and whose vibrancy still resonate throughout the Church in the United States.”

“We’ve produced holy, generous, zealous Catholics from our cultural and racial tradition. And I hope they get more attention in many respects than I do because their contribution to the life of the church is already a proven treasure.”

Formed by people and places

Cardinal-elect Gregory’s pastoral ministry has been honed in varied places: the sprawling Midwest metropolis of Chicago; the rural diocese of Belleville, Illinois; the southern Archdiocese of Atlanta, home to one of the fastest-growing centers of Catholicism in the U.S.; and the nation’s capital.

He has “been blessed”, he says, “in each of those environments”. He is proud of his Chicago heritage that blessed him with his “entrance into the Church.” Serving in Southern Illinois for almost eleven years introduced him “into the wonderful world and faith traditions of rural Catholics, small-town Catholic communities.” In Atlanta, he “learned much about the heritage of the Church in the South and the great contributions that the people in Atlanta and the environs made to the Civil Rights Movement, the wonderful heritage of Dr King and so many of his colleagues whose lives enriched the Church in Atlanta.”

Since his appointment to the nation’s capital in April 2019, Archbishop Gregory is “finding out more about the wonderful legacy of faith of the people who have made Washington and its territory rich with their fidelity, their love, their generosity, and their endurance.”

Cardinal-elect Gregory wholeheartedly states that in all these places in which has had the “privilege” of serving, he has “found wonderful, loving people.”

Notwithstanding all the positive aspects each place with its people has presented, he has also been exposed and shaped by what he calls “the unseemly issues of racism and exclusion and inequity that are also a part of the legacy that I found in those variety of pastoral services.”

Looking forward to the new ministry

“I’m looking forward to finding out how the Holy Father intends to celebrate this consistory,” given the current health crisis, the Cardinal-delegate said in concluding his interview. “And I will do whatever the Holy Father asks not only at this moment but throughout my ministry as one of his cardinals.” 

By Devin Watkins

Father Michael J. McGivney is set to be beatified in a special Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, on Saturday.

The celebration takes place at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford, in the US state of Connecticut.

Though the beatification occurs on American soil, Catholics around the world have reason to be grateful for the life and witness of Fr. McGivney.

He founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882, at his parish in New Haven, Connecticut. The fraternal charitable organization now counts over two million members organized into some 16,000 local chapters spread throughout the world.

Timely event for US Church

In an interview with Vatican News, Supreme Knight Sir Carl Anderson expressed Catholics’ gratitude to Pope Francis for recognizing the Christian witness of Fr. McGivney.

“I think this is precisely the type of event that’s so important to happen in America today,” he said, adding that during Fr. McGivney’s time, the US was missionary territory.

“Fr. McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus because he was very concerned that Catholics were leaving the faith. Men were leaving to join secret societies, which often in the US were anti-Catholic, and families were being broken up on the death of the bread-winner—the father—because of poverty.”

Fraternity and mutual support

So, he set up the organization to provide fraternal support for men and financial aid to their families in case of their death, through life-insurance policies. This provided a life-line for working class and immigrant Catholics, who had weak support networks.

“Fr. McGivney wanted to keep his parishioners and parish families strong in the faith.”

In 19th century America, added Mr. Anderson, anti-Catholic sentiment was very strong, so there was a risk that Catholics would withdraw from society and form ghettos.

“But instead, Fr. McGivney’s idea was, ‘No, we’re going to go into society. We’re going to make a difference. And we’re going to do it in terms of charity and unity, under the idea of brotherhood.’”

Similar circumstances

Mr. Anderson drew a parallel between the challenges facing the American Church today and back then.

“The crisis now,” he pointed out, “is the lockdown of parishes, the reduced number of parishioners who attend Mass. Church services are drastically reduced. When those restrictions are lifted, we’re going to have to bring people back.”

Getting Catholics to return to Mass, he said, will likely prove somewhat difficult. “We’re going to need a way of renewing parish life.”

Missionary example of parish renewal

Mr. Anderson said Fr. McGivney has already laid out a path, by making every parish missionary, “evangelizing his parishioners, finding ways to keep his parishioners active in his parish.”

That’s why, said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, Fr. McGivney’s idea of “Christian and missionary witness of the ordinary believer is so important today.”