Is 2017 the year for a Vatican-China deal?
Negotiations between the Holy See and China “are on course for a landmark breakthrough in 2017”, wrote Victor Gaetan at National Catholic Register. Reconciliation “has been a top priority for Pope Francis from the start of his pontificate.”
Of 110 bishops in China, about 70 are jointly approved by Rome and Beijing, some 30 are solely endorsed by the Holy See, and eight are state-appointed bishops whose status is now under review by the Vatican.
“The Vatican’s objective is not yet full diplomatic relations between China and the Holy See, but normalising the process for selecting bishops,” Gaetan wrote. But there is opposition from “Hong Kong’s indomitable 84-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen”, who says Pope Francis is inexperienced at dealing with communist governments and has, “in his goodwill . . . done many things which are simply ridiculous.”
Three papal decisions to watch out for
“Trying to predict what this maverick Pope will do is a fool’s errand,” wrote John L Allen at Crux. “Yet we can at least say that in 2017, he’ll have the chance to continue doing something arguably more important than almost anything else in terms of framing his legacy and shaping culture in the Church, which is naming bishops.”
According to Allen, “the drama of 2017 probably pivots on the possibility of a transition in three places: Durban, Mexico City and Milan”.
All three are tone-setting archdioceses for the Church on an entire continent, he wrote, “and they’re all places where the incumbent is conventionally seen as not quite the dictionary definition of a ‘Francis bishop’”. If Francis puts in people “in sync with his own outlook”, he’ll be “nailing down his legacy in various parts of the world”. But if he appoints more traditional men, “it might be taken as a gesture towards unity, trying to reassure those groups he still wants to be their Pope, too”.
Jesuits learn to accept a wayward ex-pupil
Irish writer James Joyce was “permanently influenced” by his Jesuit education, wrote Ray Cavanaugh at America magazine. He went to two Jesuit schools and graduated from University College Dublin (then Jesuit-run) before splitting from the Church.
He had been attracted to the priesthood, but “had chosen individualism and literary creation over religious devotion and the restrictions of the priesthood”.
The Jesuits took this badly, said Cavanaugh. Neither school magazine would mention him until the mid-1950s. “Generally, though, the alma maters have come to accept a maverick alum whose rebellion could never dispel those Jesuits who so influenced his formative years, and whom he generally admired – albeit from a distance.”
✣Meanwhile…
✣ The lead guitarist of Black Sabbath has written the music for a short choral piece based on Psalm 113 for Birmingham’s Anglican cathedral.
Tony Iommi, who was raised Catholic, said: “It’s great to be involved with the cathedral and doing something for it . . . it felt like a nice thing to do, to be able to give something to the city.” He said the music was “just a little bit different to Sabbath”.
And he explained about Black Sabbath: “People used to think we were Satanists but we weren’t. The songs were the opposite and all about the dangers of black magic and Satanism. The closest we came was Black Magic chocolates.”
✣ Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said that religion is important to him. “I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important,” he wrote on Facebook.
Previously he has described Buddhism as an “amazing religion and philosophy”. His wife Priscilla has described herself as a Buddhist.
After visiting Pope Francis last August he wrote: “We told him how much we admire his message of mercy and tenderness, and how he’s found new ways to communicate with people of every faith around the world.”
✣The week in quotations
If Westerners in irregular situations can receive Communion, are we to tell polygamists . . . that they too are allowed? Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban Twitter
I thought it was a puppy Nathan Leonhardt on finding a baby at the door of St Paul’s Cathedral, Minnesota Twincities.com
A factory of torture that creates monsters A bishops’ official on Brazil’s prison system Catholic News Service
There is an urgency [for] a new vocational culture Pope Francis Address to a conference
✣Statistic of the week
93 Deaths in Brazil’s prisons this year Source: New York Times
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