Pope Francis made a strong statement Wednesday with the permanent removal of a German bishop under fire for building a new $43 million residence.
The Pope expelled Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz van Elst, better known as the “Bling Bishop”, from the Limburg diocese on a temporary basis last October pending a church inquiry. Now, the Pope has expelled him entirely.
The Vatican said that officially, the Pope accepted the resignation of Tebartz van Elst, however sources inside the Vatican said that was only a gracious move on the part of the Pontiff.
Monsignor Manfred Grothe, an auxiliary bishop in Paderborn, Germany, will be taking over the Limberg diocese full time.
The Pope upon assuming his position called on all priests within the Catholic Church to be models of integrity in a church that “is poor and for the poor.” The Vatican and the head of the German Bishops’ Conference both called for healing, reconciliation and the power of prayer.
German Bishops’ Conference head Cardinal Reinhard Marx said it is time for leadership to show they are worthy of new trust.
The Chief Justice of the Vatican made a rare attack on a foreign leader by saying that President Obama and his administration has been the most hostile administration ever toward Christians.
Cardinal Raymond Burke told Polonia Christiana magazine that President Obama “promotes anti-life and anti-family policies.”
“It is true that the policies of the president of the United States have become progressively more hostile toward Christian civilization,” Burke said. “Now he wants to restrict the exercise of the freedom of religion to freedom of worship, that is, he holds that one is free to act according to his conscience within the confines of his place of worship, but that, once the person leaves the place of worship, the government can constrain him to act against his rightly-formed conscience, even in the most serious of moral questions.”
Burke even took issue with the Affordable Care Act, saying that a law of its nature “would have been unimaginable in the United States even 40 years ago.”
Burke did express some optimism about America, saying that he believes it’s possible that abortion could be overturned in the United States by the younger generation.
Pope Francis is taking a bold stand against Italy’s powerful mafia organizations, telling the leaders that if they don’t repent they will end up in hell.
The Pope made his comments at the end of a special mass for family members of those who have been killed by the mafia organizations. The Pope sat in silent prayer as the names of 842 victims in the last year were read aloud. He then issued a blessing to the family members before pausing and issuing his comments to the mafia members and leaders.
“I feel I cannot conclude without saying a word to the protagonists who are absent today, the men and women Mafiosi,” the Pope said. “Please change your lives. Convert yourselves. Stop doing evil.”
“There is still time to avoid ending up in hell,” the Pope continued. “That is what is waiting for you if you continue on this path. You have had a father and a mother. Think of them. Cry a little and convert.”
The Pope then expanded his comments to a wider audience, saying the trappings of wealth, power and status would not give anyone true happiness. He concluded by saying that no one will be able to take anything with them into the next life.
In a first of its kind collaboration, leaders of the Christian and Muslim faiths are banding together to take a stand against slavery.
The new Global Freedom Network has the support of Pope Francis & the Vatican, the Church of England and al-Azhar, the Cairo based center of Sunni Muslim learning. It’s the first time the leaders of all three major religious groups have worked together with a single goal.
The GFN says that over 30 million people around the world are trapped in slavery and Pope Francis said it was a “crime against humanity.”
The group has vowed to make sure no organization under its control has tied to slavery-related business or groups and they will press governments to work to eradicate slavery within their borders.
“We are struggling against evil in secret places and in deeply entrenched networks of malice and cruelty,” said Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
The Global Freedom Network will be coordinated by Australian based anti-trafficking charity Walk Free Foundation.
Pope Francis is not a fan of the cult of personality that has been generated round him over the last year.
“To depict the pope as sort of a superman, a sort of star, seems offensive to me,” Pope Francis said to an Italian newspaper. “The pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps tranquilly and has friends like everyone else, a normal person.”
The Pope also said that despite the people who hailing him as a “superman” who will bring sweeping changes to the church, the positions of the church on issues such as contraception and prohibition of gay marriage will not change.
The Pope said changes would be coming in the area of transparency and responsibility within the church, especially on issues connected to abuse of children by church authorities.
Francis said that a synod of bishops will meet in October to work on how to take the church’s positions and make them more appealing to younger generations who believe the church has grown out of touch with the world.
A piece of artwork called Homeless Jesus that features an image of Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket is drawing outrage from some residents in Davidson, North Carolina.
The sculpture in front of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church was created by the artist as “a representation that suggests Christ is with the most marginalized in our society.” The artwork shows a part of Christ’s face but shows his entire nail-scarred feet.
The sculpture is a duplicate of a piece on display in Vatican City that was blessed by Pope Francis. Reverend Dr. David Buck, rector of St. Alban’s, said the artwork is beautiful and reminds Christians their ultimate calling is to do what they can individually to take care of those in need of shelter, food and clothing.
However, some residents of the area are upset with the Sculpture.
One woman, Cindy Castano Swannack, called police when she drove past it the first time thinking a homeless person was lying on a bench in her neighborhood.
“My complaint is not about the art-worthiness of meaning behind the sculpture,” Davidson resident Jerry Dawson wrote in a letter to the editor. “It is about people driving into our beautiful, reasonably upscale neighborhood and seeing an ugly homeless person sleeping on a park bench.”
The church says they will not remove the sculpture.
The White House has announced the President Obama will hold his first meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in March.
The President is conducting a trip to Europe in late March and will meet with the Pope on March 27th.
“The President looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality,” the White House statement said.
The President quoted the Pope during speeches speaking about the income equality problems in the United States.
The Vatican released a statement refusing a claim from an Italian newspaper that the new Pope has basically abolished sin.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica published an article based on private interviews with the Pope and his public statements to claim that the Pope believed sin no longer existed because “God’s mercy and forgiveness were eternal.”
“Those who really follow the Pope daily know how many times he has spoken about sin and our condition as sinners,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. “This affirmation that the Pope has abolished sin is wrong.”
The author of the news story admitted he did not use a tape recorder for his conversations with the Pope and the conversation was reconstructed from memory later. The Vatican removed references to the article from its website claiming it was inaccurate.
An Italian prosecutor says the Christ-like ways of Pope Francis and his desire to reform the church is causing him to be viewed as a threat by at least one mafia organization.
State prosecutor Nicola Gratteri said that the ‘Ndrangheta crime organization is “very nervous” about the Pope’s attempts to reform the church.
“Those who have up until now profited from the influence and wealth drawn from the church are getting very nervous,” Gratteri told the Washington Post. “For many years, the mafia has laundered money and made investments with the complicity of the church. But now the pope is dismantling the poles of economic power in the Vatican, and that is dangerous.”
Pope Francis has spoken out against organized crime and even mentioned the ‘Ndrangheta in a speech given in May. The Pope spoke on Monday against corruption quoting the Gospel of Luke: “It would be better for (the corrupt man) if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea.”
Security officials for the Vatican are concerned about mafia action because of Pope Francis’ continual unwillingness to stick with establish protocol and go out into the masses that visit St. Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis called a meeting of experts to the Vatican to discuss the problem of forced labor and prostitution around the world and called for the church to step up in the fight against modern day slavery.
The Pope also said that organ trafficking and people smuggling were issues that needed to be eradicated.
Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, told reporters that the pope was heavily invested in the subject of fighting slavery due to his years in Latin America. The pope had invited two experts on human trafficking that he worked with in Buenos Aires to come to the Vatican.
The group that met with the Pope released a statement saying that one of the biggest worries in Latin America is children being used by drug dealers to move product.
The group also said that the church needs to have “zero tolerance” when it comes to prostitution because it is linked to other problems like drugs and violence.
