In a modest structure located under the shade of large oak trees in what used to be a French military compound, hardly betokening the seriousness of purpose that lies within, the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) runs a global operation to provide support to impoverished and persecuted Christians everywhere.
One year after Pope Francis’ visit to Colombia, where he urged forgiveness and reconciliation in a nation seeking to end its 50-year civil war, U.N. delegates attending an annual prayer vigil for the opening of the General Assembly were reminded that peace, while challenging, is achievable.
According to Egyptian authorities, there are 5 million refugees and immigrants who are mostly Sudanese that live in Egypt. While Egypt faces economic malaise, Sudanese refugees face a grim situation amid discrimination and violence, and moreover poverty.
A priest who was once a national hero in Chile, and who now finds himself another casualty of that country’s massive clerical sexual abuse crisis, has been expelled from the priesthood by Pope Francis after being found guilty of abusing minors and vulnerable adults.
Amid what hasn’t exactly been the best run for Pope Francis lately, Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio brought the pontiff a bit of happy news last week: His ecological vision in “Laudato Si’” is flowering in America in the form of three new “green” affordable housing projects for seniors in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The U.S. Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, announced this week that the Administration will set the Presidential Determination, the level of refugees allowed into the United States, at 30,000 refugees for 2019.
Recent revelations and accusations related to clerical sexual abuse have been “a disaster, one crisis after another” for the Catholic Church, according to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, and have jeopardized its moral authority to speak on other issues such as the sanctity of human life, immigration and the environment.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio led a group of Catholic and Buddhist leaders from Brooklyn, Chicago, Ill., and Los Angeles, Calif., at a meeting with Pope Francis Sept. 12. The delegation presented the Holy Father with sustainable projects they are working on that will provide affordable housing to serve vulnerable populations, like the elderly and formerly homeless.
Members of the Vatican’s commission for protecting young people in the Church have been listening to victims and survivors of abuse in Rome, while also pointing out they have no remit to investigate individual allegations of abuse.
Pope Francis’ silence about allegations by his former ambassador to the U.S. that he knew of abuses against seminarians by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is, for some, no more disconcerting than his silence regarding Chile, where three bishops have been subpoenaed by the prosecutor’s office to give testimony about possible abuse cover-ups.
