New Vatican Secretary of State may be appointed soon

Rumors have emerged that Archbishop Pietro Parolin, apostolic nuncio to Venezuela, will shortly be appointed as the Vatican's Secretary of State.

The move could take place as soon as June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.

As the Secretary of State must technically be a cardinal, he would first be appointed pro-secretary of State, retaining his status as archbishop. He would, however, be the acting Secretary of State until a new appointment is made or until receiving the red “biretta” of the cardinal, thus taking officially the post.

A skilled diplomat, Archbishop Parolin, 58, served as Vatican undersecretary for relations with States from 2002 to 2009.

Suggestions of a possible “important appointment” for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul emerged from a couple of different Vatican sources who spoke to CNA at the beginning of this week on the condition of anonymity.

“The Pope knows that he cannot have an outgoing secretary of state for so long,” one of them said June 26.

After the first 100 days of his pontificate, the source maintained, “Pope Francis is now in a hurry to have his own staff carry out the reform of the Curia.”

The appointment of a new secretary of State is not to be considered a rejection of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who has been in the post until now.

A second source explained to CNA on June 27 that “Pope Francis is asking a lot of recommendations of Cardinal Bertone” and that the relationship between the cardinal and Pope Francis is said to be “good.”

“Bertone seemingly also recommended Cardinal Raffaele Farina as the head of the Pontifical Commission,” appointed on June 26 to report to Pope Francis about the so-called Vatican Bank, the Institute of Religious Works.

The choice of Archbishop Parolin for the post of Secretary could come to some as a bit of a surprise.

“Until now, everybody has been thinking that Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello would be the new secretary of State. Now, all the signals are going toward the appointment of Pietro Parolin,” an official of a Vatican body told CNA on June 28.

Cardinal Bertello is the number one of the Vatican City State administration.

Following the appointment of the new Secretary of State, sources say that Pope Francis would also change several of the top-ranking officials of the Curia.

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras could be appointed prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (the so-called “Propaganda Fide”).

Cardinal Maradiaga is also the coordinator of the Pope-appointed Commission of Cardinals now studying a reform of the Roman Curia.

At the same time, the current prefect, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, would be appointed Archbishop of Palermo, in Southern Italy.

A new prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments should soon be appointed, as well.

The current prefect, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, would be appointed as the successor to Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela as the Archbishop of Madrid, Spain.

To cover his post, Pope Francis would call Archbishop Piero Marini, who was Pontifical Master of Ceremonies during Bl. John Paul II’s Pontificate and now heads the Vatican’s commission for Eucharistic Congresses.

A source from Spain who works in the archdiocesan curia in Madrid confirmed to CNA on June 28 that Cardinal Rouco Varela has left for Rome. He also said that “the usual reception” held in the nunciature in Madrid for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul has been canceled.

It would be very significant if Pope Francis made the appointments public on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He could, however, sign the appointments without officially announcing them by way of Holy See Press Office bulletin.

On June 29, the Pope delivers the “pallium” to the new appointed metropolitan archbishops, in St. Peter’s Basilica.

This year, 34 archbishops will receive the woolen vestment from the hands of Pope Francis.

A source explained to CNA on June 27 that “the feast of Saints Peter and Paul is an important moment of magisterium. The Pope will show that he has taken the situation into his own hands.”

Other minor appointments are expected in the coming days.

The final goal is the reform of the Curia, but, the source asserted, “alternatively to the approach of Pope Benedict who tried to reform the Curia without the Curia, Pope Francis has understood that without the Curia, his reforms will die.

“This is also one key to understanding the appointment of the Pontifical Commission, full of members of the Roman Curia, to report to the Pope about the Institute of Religious Works,” he concluded.

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Charity's rapid growth could be due to Pope's influence

The founder of a charity that feeds nearly one million children worldwide said its rapid growth could be partly due to Pope Francis' particular emphasis on caring for the impoverished.

“The work of Mary's Meals is growing very fast and I’m sure that the hugely encouraging words of Pope Francis and the fact that he keeps pointing us back to the poor and our obligation to serve the poor is making us all think of those things more than we did before,” said founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow.

MacFarlane-Barrow met Pope Francis June 25 in Saint Peter's Square during his last general audience before he heads to Rio di Janeiro next month for World Youth Day.

The pontiff had heard about the charity through its supporters and MacFarlane-Barrow was invited to attend the general audience and receive a personal blessing.

Alongside his wife, the charity founder presented the Pope with the blue Mary's Meals mug. “It was wonderful and a very, very special moment for my wife and I,” he told CNA.

“It was really special and he was very interested in our family and asked how many children we had,”  MacFarlane-Barrow added. “He was very pleased to hear we have seven children and was very interested in our work of Mary’s Meals.”

The founder said when he met the pontiff he felt he was representing the “family of Mary’s Meals,” which includes thousands of people worldwide.

“I feel more encouraged than ever now to go on with this mission of feeding hungry children” he said. “Even in the last ten minutes I received so many calls from people of all over the world who really feel so excited and really feel this was a blessing for them as well.”

Mary's Meals began in 2002 in the southeastern African country of Malawi feeding a small number of children in a local school.

“We gave this work very specially to Our Lady and called it 'Mary’s Meals,'” said MacFarlane-Barrow.

Today the charity feeds over 750,000 children every day in schools worldwide. “We always link the meal to education and use the meal to draw it into school,” he explained.

The charity is based in Scotland where MacFarlane-Barrow resides, but has offices for fundraising and support across Europe including Bosnia and Herzegovina and New York.

Countries where the children are fed include India, Africa, Haiti and the Philippines.

“Our vision for the future is that every child in the world should be able to receive at least one good meal every day,” he said.

“And we really believe that it is possible in this world of plenty so that’s always what draws us on.”

The founder said the major challenge to the organization is raising awareness “and funds to feed those next children on the waiting lists because there is always more to feed.”

He also recalled that Mary’s Meals began “by accident” after he drove a truck of food to refugees in the town of Medjugorje during the war in the Balkans with his brother.

They had been moved after watching the news on television of the ongoing conflict, especially since MacFarlane-Barrow had visited the Marian shrine when he was 14.

“Over the years we came to believe that providing daily meals for the poorest children in school was the most effective way of helping them,” he said.

“And when we started that particular work we felt it was Our Lady’s work particularly and we gave it to her.”

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Pope Francis bestows pallium on 34 new archbishops

At a Mass during the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis gave a pallium to the 34 men who were made archbishops in the last year, highlighting their fidelity to Rome and to the papacy.

“May you see in this Pallium a symbol of unity and a sign of communion with the Apostolic See,” Pope Francis told the archbishops June 29.

“May it be a bond of charity and a source of strength, so that on the day of the coming and revelation of our great God and the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you may obtain, together with the flock entrusted to you, the robe of immortality and glory.”

The pallium is a white wool vestment, emblazoned with six black silk crosses. Dating back to at least the fifth century, the wearing of the pallium by metropolitan archbishops symbolizes authority as well as unity with the Holy See.

Of the 34 recipients of the pallium, four were Americans: Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco; Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis; Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland; and Archbishop Michael O. Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa.

A pallium has also been sent to Archbishop Francois Xavier Le Vang Hong, of Hue in Vietnam, who was unable to attend the Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

CNA spoke to the U.S. archbishops at the North American College where they gathered after the Mass to greet family, friends and members of their local archdioceses that had traveled with them to Rome. 

“I’m literally on cloud nine,” said Archbishop Sample. “It was just incredible.”

“The experience from receiving this incredible gift from the Holy Father, the pallium, this sign of my communion with him and with the universal Church, is an overwhelming experience,” he said in the courtyard of the college.

The archbishop recalled that “it was a surreal moment” when the procession began and the choir began singing the “Tu es Petrus” (You are Peter).

“I just got the chills realizing I was processing into Saint Peter’s Basilica with the successor of Saint Peter,” Archbishop Sample added.  

Archbishop Cordileone called the ceremony a “moving experience,” adding that it was “hard to believe that it was happening to me.”

“I was waiting for Pope Francis to tell me 'pax tecum' (peace be with you) and if he said it, I didn’t hear him but he was smiling at me so I thought he was waiting for me to say something,” said the archbishop of San Francisco.

“So I thanked him for his service to the Church and he mentioned San Francisco because before the Mass I introduced myself as being from the archdiocese which bears his name and he remembered that,” he said.

Archbishop Cordileone said he then invited the Pope to visit San Francisco, that he seemed willing to do so and that it would be “a great blessing to receive him in the archdiocese that bears his name.”

The archbishop told how before the Mass he had been reflecting with Archbishop Sample on when he was a seminarian and on his uncertainty of being a good priest.

“I never imagined this state would arrive in my life but it shows how God takes care of us when we try to do his will as best we can,” he said, smiling.

Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin said he felt “a little dazed.”

“It was an emotional experience to be there and to be with my people, about a hundred, that came from Indianapolis,” he said, adding that “the pallium is a sign of my responsibility to them.”

Archbishop Tobin believes the biggest challenge people currently face in his archdiocese is proclaiming the faith “in a credible way and in a language that people understand.”

The feast day of Saints Peter and Paul is one of the two days of the year in which the ancient bronze statue of St. Peter in the Basilica is dressed with a red silk cope and crowned with the triple tiara.

Pope Francis told the archbishops during the Mass “faith in Christ is the light of our life as Christians.”

“To confess the Lord by letting oneself be taught by God, to be consumed by love for Christ and his Gospel, to be servants of unity,” he said.

“These, dear brother bishops, are the tasks which the holy apostles Peter and Paul entrust to each of us, so that they can be lived by every Christian.”

The palliums given to the archbishops Saturday were made from the wool of lambs who had been blessed by Benedict XVI on Jan. 21, marking the feast of St. Agnes.

St. Agnes, whose name means “lamb” in Latin, was a Roman virgin-martyr who at the tender age of 12 gave up her life for the sake of Christ and her consecrated virginity.

Since she is mentioned in the Roman Canon, her association with the pallium is an important symbol of unity with the successor of St. Peter.

The lambs were cared for by Benedictine nuns, who sheared them on Holy Thursday, and then wove the palliums. Since being made, they have rested in an urn at St. Peter's tomb, underneath the altar of his basilica.

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2 popes praying: Egyptian Copt and Pope Francis

Pope Francis, right, and Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt Pope Tawadros II pose for photographers during their private audience in the pontiff's library at the Vatican on Friday.

Two popes prayed together Friday at the Vatican, one Catholic and one Orthodox, in a sign of improving ties following the election of new leaders for both churches.

Pope Francis welcomed the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, in the first such meeting at the Vatican in 40 years, saying his visit "strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood" between the two churches.

The Coptic and Catholic churches split in the fifth century over theocratic differences.
Christians comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's population. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt counts about 10 million faithful, while the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt — whose faithful are loyal to Pope Francis — counts about 165,000.

Both, however, have complained about increased discrimination and attacks against them since the 2011 overthrow of longtime Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, especially with the rise of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

With Francis in white and Tawadros in black, the two prayed together for peace Friday in the modern, mosaic-covered Redemptoris Mater Chapel inside the Apostolic Palace. Arabic chants dominated the simple ceremony.

The occasion was to mark the 40th anniversary of a declaration for improving ties signed in 1973 at the Vatican by Pope Paul VI and Tawadros' predecessor, Pope Shenouda III, who died last year. The late Pope John Paul II visited Shenouda in Cairo in 2000.

Francis on Friday referred to the "suffering" of Christians, saying their shared suffering can be a source of strength and unity.

"From shared suffering can blossom forth forgiveness, reconciliation and peace, with God's help," he said.
Since taking office last year, Tawadros has reached out to Egypt's Catholic community, attending the installation of the new Catholic patriarch and helping form a council of Christian churches in Egypt.

Francis, for his part, has made several overtures to the Orthodox Church. The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, attended Francis' installation ceremony in an important gesture of unity.

In his remarks, Tawadros said he had wanted to come to Rome to congratulate Francis on his election, invite him to Egypt and to try to build both unity between the churches and peace in the region.

"Working together to promote ecumenical dialogue and peace on earth will be our mutual aim," he said in English.

Tawadros' presence inside the Apostolic Palace meant there were actually three popes inside the Vatican on Friday: Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was in his retirement home in a monastery inside the Vatican gardens.

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John Paul moves a step closer to sainthood

In this May 2, 2001, file photo, Pope John Paul II waves at St. Peter's Square, the Vatican.

Pope John Paul II has moved a step closer to sainthood.

A Vatican official says a commission of theologians approved a miracle attributed to his intercession, clearing a key hurdle. The case now goes to a commission of cardinals and then Pope Francis. John Paul's canonization is possible in autumn to coincide with the 35th anniversary of his election, though the official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to reveal details about the case that it may be too soon.

The Polish-born pope has been on the fast track for sainthood ever since retired Pope Benedict XVI waived the traditional five-year waiting period and allowed the investigation into his life and virtues to begin just weeks after his 2005 death. John Paul was beatified in 2011.

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Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's health deteriorating

Pope Francis, right, greets Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, Benedict's new residence, upon his arrival at the Vatican from Castel Gandolfo on May 2.

Vatican officials admit Benedict has weakened but deny physical condition has become critical.

Just months after becoming the first pontiff in nearly 600 years to resign, reports are surfacing that Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is in poor health with diminished stature and energy.

After a brief hiatus at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Benedict returned to live in a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens last month. Already, some of his visitors have commented on the former pope's physical deterioration.
"Benedict is in a very bad way," said Paloma Gomez Borerro, a veteran Vatican correspondent for Spain's Telecino who visited the former pope in late May. "We won't have him with us much longer."
Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, Germany, and a personal friend of Benedict's, visited the former pope in April.

"I was shocked at how thin he had become," Meisner said at the time. "Mentally, he is quite fit, his old self. But he had halved in size."

Vatican officials have admitted Benedict has weakened since stepping down, but they deny his physical condition has become critical.
Though the physical deterioration of Pope John Paul II from 2003 to 2005 was well documented, the fact that no pope has resigned from office since Gregory XII in 1415 means there is no protocol for dealing with or reporting on the physical state of a former pontiff, especially one who has vowed to stay out of the public eye so as not to encroach on his successor, Pope Francis.

"There haven't been many popes to resign, but in the previous instances the popes did not live long after abdicating," says Alistair Sear, a priest and church historian. "Gregory XII didn't even live long enough to see his successor named."

But the lack of visibility does not mean he is out of the thoughts of the faithful.

"He is in our prayers every day," said Maria Paoloa Santo Stefano, part of a community of Sisters of Mercy nuns based in Rome. "Pope John Paul suffered in public, and Benedict chose to suffer in private. But that does not make his mission less important and less brave."

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