Christopher R. Altieri, Author at Catholic Herald

Christopher R. Altieri

The gaps in the Vatican’s draft constitution

May 02, 2019

The talk last week was all about the impending reform of the Roman Curia, to be accomplished – on paper, at any rate – by way of an apostolic constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, the contents of which were previewed in an article published Saturday by Spain’s leading Catholic weekly, Vida Nueva. The major development was pride

Why you can’t always rely on papal transcripts

April 25, 2019

There was a pretty big stink in certain quarters earlier this month over some very selective editing of off-the-cuff remarks Pope Francis made to the students, faculty and staff of the San Carlo Institute of Milan. Here is the essence of what happened. The April 6 event with San Carlo’s folks was a typically Franciscan

When it comes to curial reform, one dicastery must always reign supreme

April 24, 2019

A senior papal adviser let slip that the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy with which his electors tasked Pope Francis at the start of his pontificate will come soon — possibly as soon as June 29 — setting off a round of parsing, commentary, and speculation. The senior adviser was the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Cardinal

Why has the global response to abuse been so sluggish?

April 18, 2019

The crisis of leadership in the Catholic Church resulting from the exposure of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up is protracted, pandemic and entrenched. By now it is clear to anyone paying the slightest attention that the crisis is not going away. Even churchmen are coming around to the idea that we are in this for

The crisis is about more than a disintegration of moral theology

April 12, 2019

When Pope Benedict XVI renounced the Petrine office, he promised to retreat into a secluded – essentially monastic – life of prayer. He has, with rare exceptions, kept to that promise. His public interventions have been few, and have mostly regarded theological questions. With the publication of his essay on “The Church and the scandal

The Pope’s latest picks face a near-impossible task

April 11, 2019

Pope Francis has made several appointments over the past few weeks, some of them of a very high profile. One is the nomination for Santiago de Chile – where Bishop Celestino Aós Braco OFM Cap is apostolic administrator sede vacante et ad nutum sanctae sedis, in place of the embattled Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati. The second

Even after the Apuron verdict, there’s still a transparency problem

April 11, 2019

The case of the former Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron is now closed. Nearly 10 years after allegations of abuse of minors surfaced against the long-serving prelate of the Pacific island archdiocese, a Vatican court has upheld his conviction and confirmed the penal sentence against him. Apuron is deprived of his office, permanently exiled from the

How Lucetta Scaraffia lost the battle over the Vatican women’s magazine

April 04, 2019

A kerfuffle erupted last week when the editor of the Vatican newspaper’s monthly women’s magazine supplement abruptly quit, claiming she would be taking the whole editorial board with her. The move was a shock: Lucetta Scaraffia, the editor of the monthly Donna Chiesa Mondo insert – published in English as Women Church World – started

Pope Francis’s words are being drowned out by the abuse crisis

April 03, 2019

Pope Francis can’t seem to gain traction in the press this week, several major media events notwithstanding, in which he made several quotable statements. There was no shortage of controversial issues from which to choose, either. It’s just that — with rare pertinent exceptions — we’ve heard it all before. Despite being hailed as, “Magna

Pope Francis orders Vatican officials to report suspected child abuse

March 29, 2019

(ROME—29 March 2019) Pope Francis issued new child protection legislation on Friday, a little more than a month after promising the new measures at the conclusion of the recent child protection “summit” at the Vatican. A statement from the interim Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Alessando Gisotti, says, “A month after

Why did the Pope accept one cardinal’s resignation but not another’s?

March 28, 2019

Last week in Rome was the story of two resignations: one long since submitted and at long last accepted; the other, submitted and shelved on the same day. The former resignation belonged to the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati. The latter came from the Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of Gaul –

Will there ever be a Pope from the US?

March 26, 2019

A lengthy excerpt from a soon-to-be-released book by America’s Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, made some waves at the weekend. Among other things, the excerpt detailed the tallies from the first round of voting in the 2013 conclave that eventually elected Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, who took the regnal name of Francis. Titled, The Election of

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