In this weekly round up we cover the news stories we missed from the 6th to the 12th September 2021
- 12 September 2021 – Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, declared Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Mother Elżbieta Róża Czacka blessed at a Mass at the Temple of Divine Providence in Poland’s capital, Warsaw.He praised Wyszyński, the Primate of Poland who led the Church’s resistance to communism, and Czacka, a blind nun who revolutionized care for the visually impaired, for offering a “model of service.”
- 10 Septemner 2021 – The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which oversees the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, published two letters on Sept. 10, written by Cardinal Kurt Koch, who is president of both the council and the commission. The letters, dated Sept. 3, were addressed respectively to Rabbi Rasson Arussi, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for the Dialogue with the Holy See in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Rasson Arussi chair of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations in New York. Cardinal Koch said that he had consulted with Pope Francis and was replying to the rabbi at the pope’s instruction. “In the Holy Father’s address, the Torah is not devalued, as he expressly affirms that Paul was not opposed to Mosaic law: indeed, Paul observed this Law, emphasized its divine origin, and attributed to it a role in salvation history,” he wrote. “The phrase ‘The law does not give life, it does not offer the fulfillment of the promise’ should not be extrapolated from its context, but must be considered within the overall framework of Pauline theology.” “The abiding Christian conviction is that Jesus Christ is the new way of salvation. However, this does not mean that the Torah is diminished or no longer recognized as the ‘way of salvation for Jews.’”
- The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, warned that Sri Lanka’s top government officials are out to mislead Pope Francis regarding the result of the investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in the country’s capital.“A conspiracy is being carried forward in a tactful manner to save those who are behind the attack and an effort is being made to convert the situation to be favorable toward the government,” Cardinal Ranjith said in a statement during a media briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Cardinal Ranjith, said that “if the government goes international, we will do it as well as we have no other option.” He described the move as “another government campaign to cover up the truth over the Easter Sunday investigations.” The cardinal reiterated his call for a “transparent investigation, which ascertains instigators and responsibility for the Easter attacks.” He said “the Church and the entire nation, shocked by terrorism, have the right to know the truth, have the right to receive justice.”
In October 2020, five of seven suspects arrested in connection with the attacks were released by the government because of lack of evidence. The cardinal, however, said security officials had confirmed to him that there was sufficient evidence against many of the suspects who had been arrested.
- Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday said “It is still the doctrine of the Church that anyone who knows himself or herself to be in a state of serious sin which distances him from the love of God should not move forward to receive the Holy Communion simply because everybody is going. He must first avail himself of the sacrament of reconciliation with God through confession. But unfortunately, what we see is a general stream of people going for Communion at Mass, and it seems like they don’t really bother about whether they are in the right spiritual state to receive it. It is the duty of pastors to remind the faithful about this, without introducing unnecessary exaggerations in the matter. It is also the duty of pastors to make access to confession easily available for the faithful.”
- Bishop Francis Cui Qingqi, 57, is the sixth bishop to be consecrated in China since the Holy See signed a provisional agreement with the Chinese government in Sept. 2018.According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, Pope Francis appointed Cui as the bishop of the Diocese of Hankou/Wuhan on June 23 and his episcopal ordination took place on Sept. 8 in Wuhan. After studying in Beijing, Fr. Cui was appointed by provincial authorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to head a five-member “management committee” to oversee the Wuhan diocese nine years ago, according to a 2012 report in the Italian newspaper La Stampa. Cui was appointed deputy secretary of the state-sanctioned bishops’ conference in 2016 and became the president of the Catholic Patriotic Association of Hubei in January 2018.