Despite risks, Iraqis want Pope Francis to go ahead with visit
- Mar 4, 2021
In a message for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Pope Francis issued a strong call that disabled persons must not be denied the sacraments.
In a recent virtual meeting, the heads of European bishops’ conferences discussed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both the Church and society, highlighting new forms of poverty and reduced numbers at Sunday Masses as key areas of concern.
Robert K. Merton, a famous American sociologist, was, by all accounts, a smart guy. Among other things, he popularized the expression “law of unintended consequences” to refer to situations when a person does something for one reason, but he or she finds that it produces all sorts of other unexpected results.
The Archdiocese of Detroit is seeking to contact anyone who may have received invalid sacraments after a priest of the archdiocese learned his own baptism as an infant 30 years ago was invalid.
On Thursday the Vatican issued a response to a question about the validity of baptisms using a modified formula, insisting that any baptisms celebrated with a formula other than the one approved and in the Church’s liturgical books are invalid.
Although he said, “I would never go to war” over the proper age to administer the sacrament of confirmation, Archbishop Rino Fisichella said too often it seems that the sacrament is delayed to “blackmail” young people into continuing to come to church.
In a set of updated guidelines for catechesis released Thursday, the Vatican weighed in on what has long been a debate among theologians, insisting that the Church’s sacraments are a gift, and as such, they cannot be denied to disabled people.