In today’s weekly round up, we cover the news we missed from the 1st to the 7th November 2021
Nov 2, 2021 – Archbishop Franco Coppola, the apostolic nuncio to Mexico, said that to date there are 12 bishops being investigated by the Catholic Church for allegedly covering up cases of cases of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults in the country, but that nothing has been determined so far.
The investigations, carried out on the basis of the norms established by Pope Francis in his motus proprios “Come una madre amorevole” and “Vos estis lux mundi” are in various phases. While some cases are still being studied in Mexico, others have already been referred to the Vatican.
Nov 3, 2021 – The Vatican’s historic library has created a new space for hosting temporary art exhibitions. The Vatican’s librarian Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said in a Nov. 3 press release: “The Vatican Apostolic Library inaugurates a new exhibition hall to support the culture of encounter.”
“Our challenge is to strengthen the cultural role of the Vatican in the contemporary world,” he added, describing the contrast between ancient works and contemporary art as “history meet[ing] the present.” Pope Francis will inaugurate the gallery and visit its first exhibit on Nov. 5.
Nov 3, 2021 – A pioneer of faith-based feminism and a Catholic priest who ministered tirelessly during the Second World War will be beatified in April. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will preside at the beatification of Armida Barelli and Fr. Mario Ciceri at Milan Cathedral, northern Italy, on April 30, 2022.
Nov 4, 2021 – Pope Francis on Thursday appointed Franciscan Sister Raffaella Petrini to the second-ranking position in the government of the Vatican City State. Petrini is the first woman and non-clergy member to be secretary general of the Vatican’s governorate.
The appointment makes her one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican, alongside Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, “ad interim” secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Sr. Natalie Becquart, an under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
Petrini replaces Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, who was promoted to president, effective Oct. 1.
Nov 5, 2021- After Italian media reported this week that Vatican prosecutors had fulfilled a court order to hand over missing evidence in a major finance trial, a group of lawyers of the defense complained on Thursday that portions of the video files of depositions were missing. The joint statement was released on Nov. 4 by lawyers representing six of the 10 defendants facing trial on fraud and other financial charges related to the Vatican Secretariat of State’s 350 million euro ($404 million) purchase of a London investment property.
The lawyers said they received news that prosecutors — also called promoters of justice — had filed “an impressive amount of recordings, spread across 52 DVDs,” but “we found that excerpts of statements were omitted from the recordings.” “The deposited material is therefore still incomplete,” they commented. The material included the videotapes of at least five separate interviews with Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the former director of the administrative office at the Secretariat of State. Perlasca, once a major suspect in Vatican investigations, has not been charged with any crimes since voluntarily submitting himself to extensive questioning in 2020 and earlier this year.
Nov 5, 2021 / 15:34 pm – A report detailing sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Nebraska has found credible allegations against 57 Church officials, involving 258 documented victims, since the 1930s. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson released the report Nov. 4, after a three-year investigation that began with an invitation for victims of abuse to call one of two available hotlines. “We acknowledge with sadness that so many innocent minors and young adults were harmed by Catholic clergy and other representatives of the Church,” Nebraska’s bishops wrote in a Nov. 4 joint statement. “It is clear that the hurt is still felt, even if the abuse was perpetrated many years ago.” “We apologize to the victims and their families for the pain, betrayal and suffering that never should have been experienced in the Church.”
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