Vatican Watch May 2024

By Matthew Trojacek with CNA Reports – Grzegorz Galazka and CNA photos

February

Tuesday 6

Clergy conference held in Rome

Meeting of Pope Francis with priests (Photo OSV).

Today about 1,000 priests from 60 countries around the world gathered in Rome for a conference on clerical formation.

“Rekindle the Gift of God That Is Within You” was the theme of the meeting, held on February 6-10, which was sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicasteries for the Clergy, Evangelisation, and Eastern Churches.

Cardinal Lazarus You Heungsik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the clergy, opened the conference by recalling the moment Pope Francis appointed him to his current role.

“On that day,” he said, “a bishop friend of mine told me: ‘Now you are responsible for ensuring that all the priests in the world are happy.’”

Many priests today, he noted, are “tired and discouraged, caught off guard by the challenges of today’s society and the burdens they carry.” Thus, he said, “the importance of providing priests with the necessary support and accompaniment, and thus the need for ongoing formation, has increasingly come to the forefront.” (VaticanNews)

Saturday 10

Cardinal Tagle celebrates Lunar New Year with Chinese in Rome

The Church does not shine with its own light. It can only give the world the light of Christ, reflecting it on its opaque body, as the moon does with the sunlight. Cardinal Louis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for the Evangelization, offered this powerful image drawn from the Fathers of the Church to explain again what is the source and the true nature of the missionary work entrusted by Christ to His Church.

The Filipino Cardinal here referenced what the Fathers of the Church called the Mysterium Lunae, on Saturday, February 10, during the Mass he offered for the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The Cardinal recalled that the moon has “a special place” in the writings of the early Fathers of the Church, as it is something that has to do “with the mission of the Church, with our mission. The sun, the light, is Jesus Christ, and the Church, like the moon, must depend on the light that comes from Jesus.” (VaticanNews)

Monday 12

Pope Francis and Argentine President share amicable meeting

Pope Francis met with Argentine President Javier Milei in a highly anticipated private audience on February 12, showcasing a possible rapprochement after the South American politician voiced sharp criticisms of the pontiff in 2023.

According to Francisco Sánchez, the undersecretary of Argentina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade, and Worship — who was part of the country’s official delegation to the Vatican — the meeting was full of “surprising aspects” and “took place in a very cordial way, with a lot of sympathy, with a lot of friendship between the two,” Italian News outlet ANSA reported.

Sánchez observed that the two met for over an hour, “which is not generally granted to international delegations received by the pontiff.” (CNA)

Thursday 15

World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly highlights “loneliness,” “throwaway culture”

The theme for the fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will be celebrated on July 28, has been chosen by Pope Francis.

According to the Holy See Press Office, this year’s theme is “Do Not Cast Me Off in My Old Age,” which comes from Psalm 71. The February 15 press release noted that in choosing this verse it was the Holy Father’s desire “to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly persons, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.”

The press release said that “by cherishing the charisms of grandparents and the elderly, and the contribution they make to the life of the Church, the World Day seeks to support the efforts of every ecclesial community to forge bonds between the generations and to combat loneliness.” (CNA)

March

Friday 1

Vatican launches social media campaign to rediscover “Christus Vivit”

In 2024, the Church celebrated the 5th anniversary of the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit. On March 25, 2019, at the Holy House in Loretto, Italy, Pope Francis signed a “letter” to young people that sealed the work of the Synod of Bishops on Young People, which had been held in the Vatican the previous year.

This year, the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life offered its support to the group of young communicators participating in the Dicastery for Communication’s “Faith Communication in the Digital World” program through the design and production of a social media campaign for the official Facebook and Instagram accounts of World Youth Day (WYD). (VaticanNews)

Monday 4

Vatican on France’s abortion amendment: there cannot be a “right” to take a human life

On March 4, France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in its basic law, a move that has been staunchly opposed by the French bishops and by the Vatican: “The Pontifical Academy for Life reiterates that precisely in the era of universal human rights, there cannot be a ‘right’ to take a human life.”

The Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) went on to appeal to “all governments and all religious traditions to do their best so that in this phase of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority, with concrete steps in favor of peace and social justice, with effective measures for universal access to resources, education, and health.”

While noting that “the protection of human life is humanity’s first objective,” the Vatican academy acknowledged the myriad socioeconomic and personal difficulties that some families and women face. These “life situations and difficult and dramatic contexts of our time” must be addressed by governments and civil society but in a way that is “at the service of the human person and of brotherhood” and protects “the weakest and most vulnerable.” (CNA)

Wednesday 20

Pope Francis changes statues of Papal Basilica, emphasizing work of canons

On March 20, Pope Francis issued new regulations for the administration of the papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, placing new emphasis on spiritual work and pastoral care and appointing a coadjutor archpriest of the West’s oldest Marian shrine.

In the papal decree, the Holy Father explained that he sought to “free” the “canons,” (members of the group or “chapter” of clergy he designates to serve the basilica) “from all economic and administrative duties, so that they may dedicate themselves, fully and with renewed vigor, to the spiritual and pastoral accompaniment” of pilgrims. (CNA)

Thursday 28

Pope during Holy Week urges Catholics to feel a little more “guilt” 

Pope Francis dedicated his homily for his March 28 Chrism Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica to a healthy living of compunction, which he said is not an “obsession” with feeling unworthy, but a genuine acknowledgement of wrongdoing and sorrow for its repercussions.

The Pope focused on the image of Peter who, in the Gospels, refused to accept Jesus’s prediction that he would deny Jesus three times.

As a result, Francis said, Peter “lost sight of Jesus and denied him at the cock’s crow,” prompting him to weep at his own failure.

Jesus’s words in all of his years of preaching had not altered Peter’s expectations of the Messiah, the Pope continued, saying that Peter “was expecting a political Messiah, powerful, forceful and decisive,” and was scandalized to see Jesus “powerless and submitting passively to his arrest.”

Peter only began to truly know Jesus “when, at the dark moment of his denial, he yielded to tears of shame and repentance,” the Pope said, adding that Peter was healed when he allowed himself to be forgiven amid tears of sorrow and a renewed sense of love.

The origin of the word compunction is related to “piercing,” Francis said, explaining that it entails a “piercing of the heart” that is painful and evokes repentance.

This, Francis said, “is what compunction is: not a sense of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial ‘piercing’ that purifies and heals the heart.” (Crux)

St Peter’s Basilica, March 29, Pope Francis celebrates the Passion of the Lord by the Adoration of the Cross (Photo Grzegorz Galazka)

Saturday 30

Pope Francis to visit Indonesia and Timor-Leste (East Timor) in September

The Indonesian government’s confirmation of Pope Francis’ visit has sparked enthusiasm among Catholics in the Muslim-majority nation.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Indonesia on September 3, Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Quomas said in a March 30 statement, referring to a Vatican confirmation of the date. “This is certainly an honor for the Indonesian people,” he added.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo invited the Pope for a visit in June 2022, the minister said.

The upcoming visit has also been confirmed by the Secretary General of the Jakarta Archdiocese, Father Adi Prasojo. (UCANews)