What happened?
Pope Francis has intervened in a dispute between the Bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria, and the priests of the diocese. Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke was appointed by Benedict XVI in 2012. The priests have been protesting on the grounds that their bishops should be from the diocese. Now Francis has written to all the priests, asking them to write a letter promising obedience to him and accepting the bishop. Priests who do not write the letter will be suspended.
What commentators are saying
At Crux, John Allen said the situation in Ahiara had been “toxic” for a while. Bishop Okpaleke is “an outsider who doesn’t belong to the Mbaise ethnic group that dominates the diocese”. The Mbaise have “long complained that their fidelity goes unappreciated” and that Nigeria’s bishops are too close to a rival ethnic group. The Vatican sometimes appoints a bishop from another ethnic group to show that “the universality of the faith … transcends conventional tribal loyalties”. This time, that strategy hasn’t gone entirely to plan.
At Breitbart, Thomas Williams said that the Pope’s comments to a delegation from Ahiara diocese were “perhaps the most strongly worded address of the Francis pontificate”: he accused the priests of “an attempted taking of the vineyard of the Lord”.
What the local press is saying
Iheoma Hendy reported at buzznigeria.com: “The diocesan priests have claimed that the Pope was misinformed about the goings-on in the diocese.” The priests say that they are not against the Pope’s authority, but are worried at the speed with which the dispute has moved after Nigerian bishops advised the Vatican. The priests claimed they “had over time made frantic efforts to make their case known to the Pope, but regretted that those efforts were nipped in the bud by the Nigerian representatives of the Church in Rome.”
The priests also argued that there is no shortage of suitable candidates from the diocese – it has, according to Fr Augustine Ekechuwu, the president of the Mbaise priests’ association, the highest number of priests in Nigeria with good academic degrees.
✣Leading pro-life MPs lose their seats
What happened?
Several Catholic MPs, and others with a record of defending the unborn, traditional marriage and conscience rights, lost their seats in the general election.
Julian Brazier and Rob Flello, both Catholics, lost their seats. Other defeated MPs included Caroline Ansell, David Burrowes and Stewart Jackson, all three of them Christians.
Why was it under-reported?
These were not high-profile MPs. Compared with Nick Clegg and Alex Salmond, two former party leaders, being defeated – not to mention the shock of Jeremy Corbyn’s success – this was a minor story for most of the press.
But not for Catholics, who have often been grateful for these representatives’ efforts. Flello in particular, a Catholic convert, had been an outspoken campaigner for the rights of the unborn. This courage did not help his political career: he had at one stage been a minister.
What will happen next?
The next five years will probably see debates on life issues. For instance, there is a strong campaign for the total decriminalisation of abortion, which has received some Commons support already. Assisted suicide may well come back on to the agenda. Anti-extremism laws could have an effect on all religious believers.
Meanwhile, the Tories wish to extend “relationships education” to four-year-olds. Sir Edward Leigh wants to affirm parents’ rights to withdraw their children. The Catholic ex-MPs may be missed.
✣The week ahead
On Saturday, ordinations in the Extraordinary Form will take place in England for the first time in decades . Deacons Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra are to be ordained priests at St Mary’s, Warrington. They are members of a traditionalist institute, the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), which is made up of about 420 priests and seminarians around the world.
Pope Francis will celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi (right) on Sunday. The procession, traditionally held on Thursday in Rome, was moved in order to “strengthen the participation of the faithful” and to cause “less inconvenience” in the city.
The Day For Life is celebrated on Sunday in England and Wales. This year focuses on those who have lost a child during pregnancy. The resources describe how one mother, Caroline, lost her sixth child in a miscarriage. Having a priest conduct a funeral was “so healing”, she said. “The way we see it we have a child ahead of us in heaven praying for us.”
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