Clerical kidnappings, elections, and COVID dominate Catholic news in Americas
- Apr 13, 2021
Cardinal-designate Marcello Semeraro did not have to look far for a heavenly patron to assist him when he took on a new job at the age of 72 and then found out 10 days later that he would be made a cardinal.
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Marcello Semeraro as the replacement for Cardinal Angelo Becciu as head of the Vatican’s saint-making office after Becciu was fired last month over allegations of embezzlement.
Bishop Marcello Semeraro, who serves as secretary to Pope Francis’s council of cardinal advisors, said Thursday that, doctrine alone is no longer enough to reach an increasingly post-Christian world.
Pope Francis’s call for a missionary church that is focused on preaching the Gospel will be the guiding principle of the apostolic constitution that will govern the Roman Curia, the secretary of the pope’s international Council of Cardinals said.
Pope Francis’s exhortation on the family should prompt discussion and even debate, but accusing him and others of heresy is completely out of place, said German Cardinal Walter Kasper.
Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, who’s the secretary of Pope Francis’s Council of cardinal advisers, told his priests Friday that “fitting” divorced and remarried Catholics can play roles such as being godfathers and godmothers, religion teachers and lectors at Mass.
Reform of the Vatican Curia aims to emphasize pastoral care, and should not be seen as a reform that will overturn the whole Curia, a bishop involved in Rome’s Curia reform process has explained.
Bishop Marcello Semeraro said the Council of Cardinal’s work in advising Pope Francis on the reform of the Vatican’s organization and church governance – describing it as a three-step process of “listening” to the contributions from the bishops, the Roman Curia and “many people who have written,” reflecting on those proposals and checking them over – is almost done.