Clerical kidnappings, elections, and COVID dominate Catholic news in Americas
- Apr 13, 2021
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.
Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals met virtually Oct. 13, discussing the updated draft of a constitution reorganizing the Roman Curia and steps to implement it, the Vatican press office said.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2020, this year could see several major Vatican shakeups as Pope Francis’s reform of the Roman Curia rolls out and several current department heads have already reached the age of retirement.
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.
The two spokespersons for Pope Francis, veteran American journalist Greg Burke and Spaniard Paloma García Ovejero, have resigned their posts.
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.
With clerical abuse scandals rocking the Catholic Church from all corners of the globe, Scottish Archbishop Leo Cushley said that as someone who has given his life to the institution, he is ashamed of the crisis, but believes that progress is being made.
In wake of recent abuse scandals which have scarred the Church and his own papacy in recent months, Pope Francis has asked all presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world to travel to Rome for a special meeting to address the crisis.