We look at some of the news stories that we missed during the week of the 8th to the 14th August 2021
- 9 August 2021 – The results of an apostolic visitation of Germany’s troubled Cologne archdiocese have been sent to the Vatican, local media reported on Monday. Pope Francis ordered the apostolic visitation amid fierce criticism of the archdiocese’s handling of abuse cases.The apostolic visitation was carried out by Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm and Bishop Johannes van den Hende of Rotterdam, the president of the Dutch Catholic bishops’ conference.
- Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke confirmed on the evening of Tuesday, August 10, that he has tested positive for COVID-19 but that he is doing well. In a tweet, Cardinal Burke wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Thanks be to God, I am resting comfortably and receiving excellent medical care. Please pray for me as I begin my recovery. Let us trust in Divine Providence. God bless you.” Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has been placed on a ventilator as he battles COVID-19, according to an update on his condition published on the cardinal’s Twitter account Saturday evening 14 August 2021.
- Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, a former camerlengo of the Catholic Church, died at his home in Rome. Martínez’s death on the morning of Aug. 10 was confirmed to Spanish news agency Europa Press by the Diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño. The 94-year-old Martínez suffered a heart attack last month. He had a history of cardiovascular disease and had undergone a triple bypass surgery in 2003, according to Spanish magazine Vida Nueva. Originally from the Rioja province of Spain, Martínez managed the administration of the Holy See as camerlengo between the death of St. Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. His duties also included overseeing the preparations for the papal conclave. The cardinal had a long career in the Roman Curia under the papacy of John Paul II, whom he joined on his many trips in Italy and abroad.
- Pope Francis has appointed the co-inventors of the CRISPR genome editing technology to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who discovered CRISPR fewer than ten years ago, were appointed to the Vatican’s scientific academy consecutively Aug. 10-11.Their discovery sparked research into new treatments for cancer and other diseases, earning the two female scientists the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but it also poses a host of bioethical questions.
- The actor who plays Jesus in the internet series “The Chosen” met Pope Francis on Wednesday August 11, fulfilling a lifelong dream as he visits Rome this week to view pilgrimage sites related to the Gospels. Jonathan Roumie, a Catholic who since 2019 has brought Christ to the screen for the evangelical Christian-produced series, told CNA that meeting the pope was “a childhood dream realized.”“From the time I was a kid, I always wanted to meet the pope and go to World Youth Day, and I never knew how to do that. My parents were immigrants, so that wasn’t something that they knew about,” Roumie said after meeting the pope on Aug. 11.