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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOWEEKLY EDITION IN ENGLISH

Unicuique suum Non praevalebunt

Fifty-fourth year, number 3 (2.680) Friday, 15 January 2021Vatican City

Motu Proprio by Pope Francis

Ministries ofLector and Acolyte

open to women

Investing resources incare and assistance

Investing resources incare and assistance

General Audience

Time for praise

PAGE 2

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Distribution of ashes in time of pandemic

Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 2021 World Day of the SickMessage of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 2021 World Day of the Sick

In his message for the 29thWorld Day of the Sick, whichwill be celebrated on 11February, the Pontiff recalledthat “sickness always hasmore than one face: it has theface of all the sick, but alsothose who feel ignored, ex-cluded and prey to social in-justices that deny their funda-mental rights”. To approach

those in need of care, we canfind “an unfailing source ofmotivation and strength inthe charity of Christ, asshown by the witness of thosemen and women who downthe millennia have grown inholiness through service tothe infirm”

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An g e l u s

National Reconciliation

PAGE 2

Pope sends condolences

Card. Schwery dies

PAGE 7

‘Fratelli Tutti’: interview

With Archbishop Welby

GISOTTI ON PA G E 8

With a Motu Proprio Pope Francis estab-lished that from now on the ministries ofLector and Acolyte are to be open to wom-en, in a stable and institutionalized formthrough a specific mandate.

There is nothing new about women pro-claiming the Word of God during liturgicalcelebrations or carrying out a service at thealtar as altar servers or as Eucharistic minis-ters. In many communities throughout theworld these practices are already authorizedby local bishops. The Pope explains his de-cision in a letter to Cardinal Ladaria.

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The following is the English text of theNote on Ash Wednesday of the Congrega-tion for Divine Worship and the Disci-pline of the Sacraments on how Catholicpriests are to distribute ashes in the time ofpandemic.

Prot. N. 17/21

NOTE ON ASH WE D N E S D AYDistribution of Ashes in Time of

Pa n d e m i cThe Priest says the prayer forblessing the ashes. He sprinklesthe ashes with holy water, withoutsaying anything. Then he address-es all those present and only oncesays the formula as it appears inthe Roman Missal, applying it toall in general: “Repent, and be-lieve in the Gospel”, or “Remem-

ber that you are dust, and to dustyou shall return”.

The Priest then cleanses hishands, puts on a face mask anddistributes the ashes to those whocome to him or, if appropriate, hegoes to those who are standing intheir places. The Priest takes theashes and sprinkles them on thehead of each one without sayinga n y t h i n g.

From the Congregation for Di-vine Worship and the Disciplineof the Sacraments, 12 January2021.

ROBERT CA R D. SARAHP re f e c t

ARTHUR RO CHArchbishop Secretary

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOpage 2 Friday, 15 January 2021, number 3

Holy Father's catechesis on Prayer

Even dark momentsare a time for praise

National Reconciliation

GENERAL AUDIENCE

CONTINUED ON PA G E 3

As he continued his series of catech-eses on prayer at the General Audi-ence on Wednesday morning, 13 Jan-uary, Pope Francis highlighted theimportance of praising God “not onlywhen life fills us with happiness, butabove all in difficult moments”. Thefollowing is a translation of the HolyFa t h e r ’s words which he shared inItalian from the Private Library ofthe Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,Good morning!Let us continue our catechesison prayer, and today we willgive space to the dimension ofpraise.

We will take our cue from acritical passage in the life ofJesus. After the first miraclesand the involvement of thedisciples in proclaiming theKingdom of God, the missionof the Messiah undergoes acrisis. John the Baptist hasdoubts and makes Him receivethis message — John is in jail:“Are you he who is to come, or

shall we look for another?”(Mt 11:3). He feels this an-guish of not knowing whetherhe is mistaken in his proclama-tion. There are always darkmoments, moments of spiritu-al nighttime, and John is go-ing through this moment.There is hostility in the vil-lages along the lake, where Je-sus had performed so manyprodigious signs (cf. Mt 11:20-24). Now, precisely in this dis-appointing moment, Matthewrelates a truly surprising fact:Jesus does not raise a lamentto the Father but, rather, ahymn of jubilation: “I thankthee, Father, Lord of heavenand earth that thou hast hid-den these things from the wiseand understanding and re-vealed them to babes” (Mt11:25). Thus, in the midst of acrisis, amid the darkness of thesoul of so many people, suchas John the Baptist, Jesusblesses the Father, Jesus prais-es the Father. But why?

First and foremost, he prais-es Him for who He is: “Fa t h e r,Lord of heaven and earth”. Je-sus rejoices in his spirit be-cause he knows and feels thathis Father is the God of theUniverse, and vice versa, theLord of all that exists is the Fa-ther, “My Father”. Praisesprings from this experience offeeling that he is “Son of theMost High”. Jesus feels he isSon of the Most High.

And then Jesus praises theFather for favouring the little ones.It is what he himself experi-ences, preaching in the vil-lages: the “learned” and the“wise” remain suspicious andclosed; they make calcula-tions; while the “little ones”open themselves and welcomehis message. This can only bethe will of the Father, and Je-sus rejoices in this. We toomust rejoice and praise Godbecause humble and simplepeople welcome the Gospel.When I see these simple peo-

ple, these humble people whogo on pilgrimages, who go topray, who sing, who praise,people who perhaps lackmany things but whose humil-ity leads them to praise God.In the future of the world andin the hopes of the Churchthere are always the “littleones”: those who do not con-sider themselves better thanothers, who are aware of theirown limitations and their sins,who do not want to lord itover others, who, in God theFather, recognize that we areall brothers and sisters.

Therefore, in that momentof apparent failure, where ev-erything is dark, Jesus prays,praising the Father. And hisprayer also leads us, readers ofthe Gospel, to judge our per-sonal defeats in a differentway, to judge differently thesituations in which we do notsee clearly the presence andaction of God, when it seemsthat evil prevails and there is

no way to stop it. Jesus, whohighly recommended theprayer of asking, at the verymoment when he would havehad reason to ask the Fatherfor explanations, instead be-gins to praise him. It seems tobe a contradiction, but thereinlies the truth.

To whom is praise helpful?To us or to God? A text of theEucharistic liturgy invites usto pray to God in this way, it

says this: “Although you haveno need of our praise, yet ourthanksgiving is itself your gift,since our praises add nothingto your greatness, but profit usfor salvation” (Roman Missal,Common Preface IV). By giv-ing praise, we are saved.

The prayer of praise is help-ful to us. The Catechism definesit this way: it “shares in theblessed happiness of the pureof heart who love God in faithbefore seeing him in glory”(no. 2639). Paradoxically itmust be practised not onlywhen life fills us with happi-ness, but above all in difficultmoments, in moments of dark-ness when the path becomesan uphill climb. That too isthe time for praise, like Jesuswho in the dark moment prais-es the Father. Because we learnthat, through that ascent, thatdifficult path, that wearisomepath, those demanding pas-sages, we get to see a newpanorama, a broader horizon.Giving praise is like breathingpure oxygen: it purifies thesoul, it makes you look farahead, it does not leave youimprisoned in the difficult anddark moment of hardship.

There is a great teaching inthat prayer that for eight cen-turies has never lost its beat,that Saint Francis composedat the end of his life: the “Can-ticle of Brother Sun” or “of thec re a t u re s ”. The P o v e re l l o didnot compose it in a moment ofjoy, of well-being, but on thecontrary, in the midst of diffi-culty. Francis was by then al-most blind, and he felt in hissoul the weight of a solitudehe had never before experi-enced: the world had notchanged since the beginningof his preaching, there werestill those who let themselvesbe torn apart by quarrels, andin addition he was aware thatdeath was approaching evern e a re r.

It may have been a momentof disillusionment, of that ex-treme disillusionment and theperception of his own failure.But at that instant of sadness,in that dark instant Francisprays. How does he pray?“Praised be You, my Lord…”.He prays by giving praise.Francis praises God for every-thing, for all the gifts of cre-ation, and even for death,which he courageously calls“sister”, “sister death”. These

ANGELUS • Pop e’s appeal for protection of democratic values following the siege on US Capitol

In his reflection at the Angelus on Sunday, 10January, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord,Pope Francis recalled that “even before we doanything, our life is marked by the mercy thatwas laid upon us” through God’s freely givengift. “S a c ra m e n t a l l y ”, the Pope said, “this isdone on the day of our Baptism” and thus ispart of our very identity. The following is atranslation of the Holy Father’s reflection,which he shared from the library of the Apos-tolic Palace.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,Buongiorno!Today we are celebrating the Baptismof the Lord. A few days ago, we leftBaby Jesus being visited by the Magi;today we find him as an adult on thebanks of the Jordan. The Liturgy hasus take a leap of some 30 years, 30years about which we know onething: they were years of hidden life,which Jesus spent with his family —some, firstly in Egypt, as a migrant toescape Herod’s persecution, the oth-ers in Nazareth, learning Joseph’strade — with family, obeying his par-ents, studying and working. It is strik-ing that the Lord spent most of histime on Earth in this way: living anordinary life, without standing out.We think that, according to theGospels, there were three years ofpreaching, of miracles and manythings. Three. And the others, all theothers, were of a hidden life with hisfamily. It is a fine message for us: it re-veals the greatness of daily life, the impor-tance in God’s eyes of every gestureand moment of life, even the simplest,even the most hidden.

After these 30 years of hidden life,Jesus’ public life begins. And it be-gins precisely with his baptism in theRiver Jordan. But Jesus is God; whydoes Jesus get baptized? John’s bap-tism consisted in a penitential rite; itwas a sign of one’s willingness to con-vert, to be better, asking forgivenessof one’s sins. Jesus surely did not

need it. In fact, John the Baptist triesto prevent it, but Jesus insists. Why?Because he wants to be with the sin-ners: for this reason he gets in linewith them and does the same thingthey do. He does so with the attitudeof the people, with their attitude [ofthe people] who, as a liturgical hymnsays, approached “with bare soul andbare feet”. A bare soul, that is, with-out anything covered, like this, a sin-ner. This is the gesture Jesus makes,and he goes down into the river to im-merse himself in the same conditionwe are in. Indeed, baptism actuallymeans “immersion”. On the first dayof his ministry, Jesus thus offers us his“programmatic manifesto”. He tells

us that he does not save us from onhigh, with a sovereign decision or actof force, a decree, no: he saves us bycoming to meet us and taking our sinsupon himself. This is how God con-quers the world’s evil: by humblinghimself, taking charge of it. It is alsothe way that we can lift up others: notby judging, not by suggesting what todo, but by drawing near, empathiz-ing, sharing God’s love. Closeness isGo d’s way with us; he himself says so

to Moses: ‘Think: what people has itsgods as close as you have me?’. Close-ness is God’s way with us.

After this gesture of compassion byJesus, an extraordinary thing hap-pens: the heavens open and the Trin-ity is finally revealed. The Holy Spiritdescends from the heavens in theform of a dove (cf. Mk 1:10) and theFather says to Jesus: “Thou art mybeloved Son; with thee I am wellpleased” (v. 11). God manifests him-self when mercy appears. Do not for-get this: God manifests himself whenmercy appears, because that is hisface. Jesus becomes the servant of sin-ners and is proclaimed the Son; helowers himself upon us and the Spiritdescends upon him. Love calls uponlove. It also applies to us: in each actof service, in every work of mercy weperform, God manifests himself; Godsets his gaze upon the world. This ap-plies to us.

But even before we do anything,our life is marked by the mercy thatwas laid upon us. We have been savedfreely. Salvation is free. It is the freelygiven gesture of God’s mercy towardus. Sacramentally this is done on theday of our Baptism; but even thosewho are not baptized always receiveGo d’s mercy, because God is there,waiting, waiting for them to open thedoors of their hearts. He draws near,allow me to say, he caresses us withhis mercy.

May Our Lady, to whom we nowpray, help us to cherish our baptismali d e n t i t y, that is, the identity of beingshown mercy, which lies at the base offaith and life.

After the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters, I offer anaffectionate greeting to the people ofthe United States of America, shakenby the recent siege on the Congress. Ipray for those who lost their life — five

— they lost it in those dramatic mo-ments. I reiterate that violence is al-ways self-destructive. Nothing isearned with violence and so much islost. I exhort the government author-ities and the entire population tomaintain a deep sense of responsibili-ty, in order to calm souls, to promotenational reconciliation and to protectthe democratic values rooted inAmerican society. May the Immacu-late Virgin, Patroness of the UnitedStates of America, help keep alive theculture of encounter, the culture ofcare, as the royal road to build thecommon good together; and may shedo so with all those who live in thatland.

And now I offer a heartfelt greetingto all of you, who are linked via themedia. As you know, due to the pan-demic, today I was unable to cele-brate Baptisms in the Sistine Chapel,as customary. However, all the same, Iwish to assure my prayers for the chil-dren who were enrolled and for theirparents, godfathers and godmothers;and I extend it to all children who inthis period receive Baptism, receivethe Christian identity, receive thegrace of forgiveness, of redemption.May God bless everyone!

And tomorrow, dear brothers andsisters, with Christmas Time conclud-ed, we will resume with the liturgy,the journey of Ordinary Time. Let usnot tire of invoking the light andstrength of the Holy Spirit, so that hemay help us to experience ordinarythings with love and thereby renderthem extraordinary. It is love thattransforms: ordinary things seem tocontinue being ordinary, but whenthey are done with love they becomeextraordinary. If we remain open,docile, to the Spirit, he inspires ourdaily thoughts and actions.

I wish you all a happy Sunday.Please, do not forget to pray for me.Enjoy your lunch. Ar r i v e d e rc i !

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOnumber 3, Friday, 15 January 2021 page 3

Pop e’s Appeal in his Message for World Day of the Sick

Investing resources incare and assistance

WORLD DAY OF THE SICK 2021

“Christ heals the man withd ro p s y ” (14th century), VisokiDečani Monastery, Kosovo

Even dark moments are a time for praiseCONTINUED FROM PA G E 2

In his message for the 29th World Dayof the Sick, which will be celebrated on 11February, Pope Francis recalled that“sickness always has more than one face:it has the face of all the sick, but alsothose who feel ignored, excluded and preyto social injustices that deny their funda-mental rights”. To approach those in needof care, we can find “an unfailing sourceof motivation and strength in the charityof Christ, as shown by the witness of thosemen and women who down the millenniahave grown in holiness through service tothe infirm”. The following is the Englishtext of the Holy Father's message.

“You have but one teacher and you areall brothers” (Mt 23:8).

A trust-based relationship to guidecare for the sick

Dear brothers and sisters,The celebration of the XXIX

World Day of the Sick on 11February 2021, the liturgicalmemorial of the Blessed VirginMary of Lourdes, is an opportu-nity to devote special attention tothe sick and to those who providethem with assistance and careboth in healthcare institutionsand within families and commu-nities. We think in particular ofthose who have suffered, and con-tinue to suffer, the effects of theworldwide coronavirus pandemic.To all, and especially to the poorand the marginalized, I expressmy spiritual closeness and assurethem of the Church’s loving con-cern.

1. The theme of this Day isdrawn from the Gospel passage inwhich Jesus criticizes thehypocrisy of those who fail topractise what they preach (cf. Mt23:1-12). When our faith is re-duced to empty words, uncon-cerned with the lives and needs ofothers, the creed we professproves inconsistent with the lifewe lead. The danger is real. That

is why Jesus uses strong languageabout the peril of falling into self-idolatry. He tells us: “You have butone teacher and you are all brothers” ( v.8).

Jesus’ criticism of those who“preach but do not practise” (v. 3)is helpful always and everywhere,since none of us is immune to thegrave evil of hypocrisy, which pre-vents us from flourishing as chil-dren of the one Father, called tolive universal fraternity.

Before the needs of our broth-ers and sisters, Jesus asks us to re-spond in a way completely con-trary to such hypocrisy. He asksus to stop and listen, to establisha direct and personal relationshipwith others, to feel empathy andcompassion, and to let their suf-fering become our own as we seekto serve them (cf. Lk 10:30-35).

2. The experience of sicknessmakes us realize our own vulnera-bility and our innate need of oth-ers. It makes us feel all the moreclearly that we are creatures de-pendent on God. When we areill, fear and even bewildermentcan grip our minds and hearts; wefind ourselves powerless, sinceour health does not depend onour abilities or life’s incessantworries (cf. Mt 6:27).

Sickness raises the question oflife’s meaning, which we bring

before God in faith. In seeking anew and deeper direction in ourlives, we may not find an immedi-ate answer. Nor are our relativesand friends always able to help usin this demanding quest.

The biblical figure of Job isemblematic in this regard. Job’swife and friends do not accompa-ny him in his misfortune; instead,they blame him and only aggra-vate his solitude and distress. Jobfeels forlorn and misunderstood.Yet for all his extreme frailty, herejects hypocrisy and chooses thepath of honesty towards God andothers. He cries out to God so in-sistently that God finally answershim and allows him to glimpse anew horizon. He confirms thatJob’s suffering is not a punish-ment or a state of separation fromGod, much less a sign of God’sindifference. Job’s heart, wound-ed and healed, then makes this vi-brant and touching confession tothe Lord: “I had heard of you byword of mouth, but now my eyehas seen you” (42:5).

3. Sickness always has morethan one face: it has the face of allthe sick, but also those who feelignored, excluded and prey to so-cial injustices that deny their fun-damental rights (cf. Fratelli Tutti,22). The current pandemic hasexacerbated inequalities in our

healthcare systems and exposedinefficiencies in the care of thesick. Elderly, weak and vulnerablepeople are not always granted ac-cess to care, or in an equitablemanner. This is the result of polit-ical decisions, resource manage-ment and greater or lesser com-mitment on the part of thoseholding positions of responsibili-ty. Investing resources in the careand assistance of the sick is a pri-ority linked to the fundamentalprinciple that health is a primarycommon good. Yet the pandemichas also highlighted the dedica-tion and generosity of healthcarepersonnel, volunteers, supportstaff, priests, men and women re-ligious, all of whom have helped,treated, comforted and served somany of the sick and their fami-lies with professionalism, self-giv-ing, responsibility and love ofneighbour. A silent multitude ofmen and women, they chose notto look the other way but to sharethe suffering of patients, whomthey saw as neighbours and mem-bers of our one human family.

Such closeness is a preciousbalm that provides support andconsolation to the sick in theirsuffering. As Christians, we expe-rience that closeness as a sign ofthe love of Jesus Christ, the GoodSamaritan, who draws near withcompassion to every man andwoman wounded by sin. Unitedto Christ by the working of theHoly Spirit, we are called to bemerciful like the Father and tolove in particular our frail, infirmand suffering brothers and sisters(cf. Jn 13:34-35). We experiencethis closeness not only as individ-uals but also as a community. In-deed, fraternal love in Christ gen-erates a community of healing, acommunity that leaves no one be-hind, a community that is inclu-sive and welcoming, especially tothose most in need.

Here I wish to mention the im-portance of fraternal solidarity,which is expressed concretely inservice and can take a variety offorms, all directed at supporting

our neighbours. “Serving meanscaring … for the vulnerable ofour families, our society, our peo-ple” (Homily in Havana, 20September 2015). In this out-reach, all are “called to set asidetheir own wishes and desires,their pursuit of power, before theconcrete gaze of those who aremost vulnerable… Service alwayslooks to their faces, touches theirflesh, senses their closeness andeven, in some cases, ‘suffers’ thatcloseness and tries to help them.Service is never ideological, forwe do not serve ideas, we servep eople” (ibid.).

4. If a therapy is to be effective,it must have a relational aspect,for this enables a holistic ap-proach to the patient. Emphasiz-ing this aspect can help doctors,nurses, professionals and volun-teers to feel responsible for ac-companying patients on a path ofhealing grounded in a trusting in-terpersonal relationship (cf. NewCharter for Health Care Workers[2016], 4). This creates a covenantbetween those in need of care andthose who provide that care, acovenant based on mutual trustand respect, openness and avail-ability. This will help to overcomedefensive attitudes, respect thedignity of the sick, safeguard theprofessionalism of healthcareworkers and foster a good rela-tionship with the families of pa-tients.

Such a relationship with thesick can find an unfailing sourceof motivation and strength in thecharity of Christ, as shown by thewitness of those men and womenwho down the millennia havegrown in holiness through serviceto the infirm. For the mystery ofChrist’s death and resurrection isthe source of the love capable ofgiving full meaning to the experi-ence of patients and caregiversalike. The Gospel frequentlymakes this clear by showing thatJesus heals not by magic but asthe result of an encounter, an interper-sonal relationship, in which God’sgift finds a response in the faithof those who accept it. As Jesusoften repeats: “Your faith hassaved you”.

5. Dear brothers and sisters, thecommandment of love that Jesusleft to his disciples is also kept inour relationship with the sick. Asociety is all the more human tothe degree that it cares effectivelyfor its most frail and sufferingmembers, in a spirit of fraternallove. Let us strive to achieve thisgoal, so that no one will feelalone, excluded or abandoned.

To Mary, Mother of Mercyand Health of the Infirm, I en-trust the sick, healthcare workersand all those who generously as-sist our suffering brothers andsisters. From the Grotto of Lour-des and her many other shrinesthroughout the world, may shesustain our faith and hope, andhelp us care for one another withfraternal love. To each and all, Icordially impart my blessing.

Rome, Saint John Lateran,20 December 2020,

Fourth Sunday of Advent

examples of saints, of Christians,and also of Jesus, of praising Godin difficult moments, open to usthe gates of a great road towardsthe Lord, and they always purifyus. Praise always purifies.

The Saints show us that we canalways give praise, in good timesand bad, because God is the faith-ful Friend. This is the foundationof praise: God is the faithfulFriend, and his love never fails. He

is always beside us. He alwaysawaits us. It has been said that “heis the sentinel who is close to youand keeps you going forward withconfidence”. In difficult and darkmoments, let us have the courageto say: “Blessed are you, O Lord”.Praising the Lord. This will do usmuch good.

SPECIAL GREETINGS

I cordially greet the English-

speaking faithful. May the Feast ofthe Baptism of the Lord, which wehave just celebrated, remind us ofour own baptism and inspire us tofollow Jesus Christ more faithfullyeach day. Upon you and your fam-ilies I invoke the joy and peace ofthe Lord. God bless you!

Lastly, as usual my thoughtsturn to the elderly, to young people, tothe sick and to newlyweds. Each day,draw strength from the Lord tomove forward and to be witnessesof peace and love.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOpage 4, number 3, Friday, 15 January 2021 number 3, Friday, 15 January 2021, page 5

Ministries of Lector and Acolyte open to women

SpiritusD omini

ACCESS OF WOMEN TO THE MINISTRIES OF LECTOR AND ACOLY TE

Letter to the Prefect of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Pope Francis’ decision to modify the “forms of exer-cise of non-ordained ministries is not the simple con-sequence, on the sociological level, of the desire toadapt to the sensibility or to the culture of periodsand places”, but rather, seeks to enable each localand particular Church “to live the liturgical action,service to the poor and the proclamation of theGospel in fidelity to the mandate of the Lord JesusChrist”. The following is a translation of his letteron the subject to the Prefect of the Congregation forthe Doctrine of the Faith and to the Ministries ofLectors and Acolytes.

To my Venerable BrotherC a rd i n a l LUIS F. LADARIA, S J,

Prefect of the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith

The Holy Spirit, the bond of Love be-tween the Father and the Son, builds upand innervates the communion of the en-tire People of God, bringing forth in it awealth and variety of gifts and charisms(cf. Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evan-gelii Gaudium, n. 117). Through the Sacra-ments of Baptism, Confirmation and theEucharist, the members of the Body ofChrist receive from the Spirit of the RisenOne, in various measures and with a di-versity of expressions, those gifts that al-low them to offer the necessary contribu-tion to the edification of the Church andto the proclamation of the Gospel to everyb eing.

In this regard, the Apostle Paul distin-guishes between gifts of grace — charisms(“charismata”) and services (“diakoniai” —“minsteria” [cf. Rom 12:4ff and 1 Cor12:12ff]). According to the tradition of theChurch the diverse forms that charisms as-sume when they are publicly recognizedand are made available to the communityand to its mission in stable form are calledministries.

In some cases a ministry has its originin a specific sacrament, the Sacred Order:it pertains to the “o rd a i n e d ” ministries, ofthe bishop, the priest, the deacon. In othercases the ministry is entrusted, with a litur-gical act of the bishop, to a person whohas received Baptism and Confirmationand in whom specific charisms are recog-nized, after an appropriate journey ofpreparation: we then speak of “instituted”ministries. Many other ecclesial services oroffices are in fact exercised by many mem-bers of the community, for the good of theChurch, often for a long period and withgreat efficacy, without the expectation of aparticular rite for the bestowal of thero l e .

In the course of history, with the chang-ing of ecclesial, social, cultural situations,the exercise of ministries in the CatholicChurch has assumed different forms, whilethe distinction, not only of degree, re-mains intact between “instituted” (or“lay”) ministries and the “o rd a i n e d ” min-istries. The former are particular expres-sions of the priestly and royal condition ofevery baptized person (cf. 1 Pt 2:9); thelatter are proper to certain members of thePeople of God who as bishops and priests“receive the mission and capacity to act inthe person of Christ the Head” or as dea-cons “are empowered to serve the Peopleof God in the ministries of the liturgy, theword and charity” (Benedict XVI, Apos-tolic Letter Motu Proprio Omnium inMe n t e m , 26 October 2009). To indicate thisdistinction expressions such as baptismalpriesthood and ordained priesthood (or ministe-rial) are used. In any case it is good to re-iterate, with the Dogmatic ConstitutionLumen Gentium of the Second VaticanCouncil, that they are “interrelated: each

of them in its own special way is a partic-ipation in the one priesthood of Christ”(LG, n. 10). Ecclesial life is nourished bythis reciprocal reference and is fostered bythe fruitful tension of these two poles ofthe priesthood, ministerial and baptismal,which despite the distinction are rooted inthe one priesthood of Christ.

In line with the Second Vatican Coun-cil, the Supreme Pontiff Saint Paul VIwished to review the practices relative tonon-ordained ministries in the LatinChurch — until then called “minor orders”— adapting them to the needs of the times.This adaptation, however, must not be in-terpreted as surpassing prior doctrine, butas the implementation of the dynamismthat characterizes the nature of theChurch, always called with the aid of theSpirit of Truth to respond to the chal-lenges of every era, in obedience to Reve-lation. The Apostolic Letter Motu ProprioMinisteria Quaedam (15 August 1972) config-ures two offices (duties), that of the Lectorand that of the Acolyte, the first strictlyconnected to the ministry of the Word, thesecond to the ministry of the Altar, with-out excluding that other “offices” may beinstituted by the Holy See upon the re-quest of the Episcopal Conferences.

The modification of the forms of exer-cise of non-ordained ministries, moreover,is not the simple consequence, on the so-ciological level, of the desire to adapt tothe sensibility or to the culture of periodsand places, but is determined by the needto allow each local/particular Church, incommunion with all the others and havingas the centre of unity the Church which isin Rome, to live the liturgical action, ser-vice to the poor and the proclamation ofthe Gospel in fidelity to the mandate ofthe Lord Jesus Christ. It is the duty of the

APOSTOLIC LETTERISSUED “MOTU PROPRIO”

SPIRITUS DOMINIBY THE SUPREME PONTIFF

FRANCIS

Modifying Canon 230 § 1 of theCode of Canon Law

Regarding access of Women to theMinistries of Lector and Acolyte

The Spirit of the Lord Jesus, theperennial source of the Church’s lifeand mission, distributes to the mem-bers of the People of God the giftsthat enable each one, in a differentway, to contribute to the edificationof the Church and to the proclama-tion of the Gospel. These charisms,called ministries because they arepublicly recognized and institutedby the Church, are made availableto the community and to her mis-sion in a stable form.

In some cases this ministerialcontribution has its origin in a spe-cific sacrament, Holy Orders. Othertasks, throughout history, were insti-tuted in the Church and entrustedthrough a non-sacramental liturgicalrite to individual members of thefaithful, by virtue of a particularform of exercise of the baptismalpriesthood, and in aid of the specif-ic ministry of bishops, priests anddeacons.

Following a venerable tradition,the reception of “lay ministries”,which Saint Paul VI regulated in theMotu Proprio Ministeria Quaedam (17August 1972), preceded in a prepara-tory manner the reception of theSacrament of Holy Orders, al-though such ministries were con-ferred on other suitable male faith-ful.

A number of Assemblies of theSynod of Bishops have highlightedthe need to deepen the subject doc-

trinally, so that it may respond tothe nature of the aforementionedcharisms and the needs of the times,offering appropriate support to therole of evangelization that is incum-bent upon the ecclesial community.

Accepting these recommenda-tions, a doctrinal development hastaken place in recent years whichhas highlighted how certain min-istries instituted by the Church arebased on the common condition ofbeing baptized and the royal priest-hood received in the Sacrament ofBaptism; they are essentially distinctfrom the ordained ministry receivedin the Sacrament of Orders. A con-solidated practice in the LatinChurch has also confirmed, in fact,that these lay ministries, since theyare based on the Sacrament of Bap-tism, may be entrusted to all suit-able faithful, whether male or fe-male, in accordance with what is al-ready implicitly provided for byCanon 230 § 2.

Consequently, after having heardthe opinion of the competent Dicas-teries, I have decided to modifyCanon 230 § 1 of the Code of CanonL a w. I therefore decree that Canon230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law shallin future have the following formu-lation:

“Lay persons who possess the age andqualifications established by decree of theconference of bishops can be admitted on astable basis through the prescribed liturgicalrite to the ministries of lector and acolyte.Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministriesdoes not grant them the right to obtain sup-port or remuneration from the Church”.

I also order the amendment ofthe other provisions having theforce of law which refer to thiscanon.

I order that the provisions of thisApostolic Letter issued Motu Pro-prio have firm and stable effect,notwithstanding anything to thecontrary, even if worthy of specialmention, and be promulgated bypublication in L’Osservatore Romano,entering into force on the same day,and then published in the officialcommentary of the Acta ApostolicaeSedis.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, onthe tenth day of January in the year

2021, Feast of the Baptism of theLord, the eighth of my Pontificate.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOpage 4, number 3, Friday, 15 January 2021 number 3, Friday, 15 January 2021, page 5

ACCESS OF WOMEN TO THE MINISTRIES OF LECTOR AND ACOLY TE

Letter to the Prefect of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Pastors of the Church to recognize thegifts of each baptized person, also toguide them toward specific ministries, pro-moting and coordinating them, in order toensure that they contribute to the good ofthe communities and to the mission en-trusted to all disciples.

The commitment of the lay faithful,who “are, put simply, the vast majority ofthe people of God” (Francis, ApostolicExhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 102), can-not and certainly must not exhaust itself inthe exercise of non-ordained ministries (cf.Francis, Apostolic Exhortation EvangeliiGaudium, n. 102), but one of their best con-figurations and a more precise reference tothe responsibility that arises, for eachChristian, from Baptism and from Confir-mation, will be able to help the Church re-discover the meaning of the communionthat characterizes her and to implement arenewed commitment in the catechesis andthe celebration of the faith (Francis, Apos-tolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, n. 102).And it is precisely in this rediscovery thatthe fruitful synergy born of the reciprocalordination of ordained priesthood andbaptismal priesthood can find a bettertranslation. This reciprocity, from serviceto the sacrament of the altar, is called toflow back, in the distinction of tasks, inthat service to “make of Christ the heart ofthe world” which is the particular missionof the whole Church. Precisely thisunique, although distinct, service in favourof the world, expands the horizons of theecclesial mission, preventing her fromwithdrawing into sterile logic aimed aboveall at claiming spaces of power and help-ing her to experience herself as a spiritualcommunity that “goes forward togetherwith humanity and experiences the sameearthly lot which the world does” (Paul VI,

Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, n.40). In this dynamic one can truly under-stand the significance of a “Church thatgoes forth”.

In the horizon of renewal outlined bythe Second Vatican Council, one feels evergreater today the urgency to rediscover theco-responsibility of all the baptized in theChurch, and particularly the mission ofthe laity. The Special Assembly of theSynod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Re-gion (6-27 October 2019), in the fifthchapter of the final document indicatedthe need to think of “new paths forChurch ministries”. Not only for theChurch of the Amazon, but rather for theentire Church, in the variety of situations,“it is urgent for the Church in the Amazonto promote and confer ministries for menand women.... It is the Church of baptizedmen and women that we must consolidateby promoting ministries and, above all, anawareness of baptismal dignity” (Final Doc-ument, n. 95).

In this regard, it is known that the Mo-tu Proprio Ministeria Quaedam reserves theministries of Lector and Acolyte to menonly and thus as a result establishes can.230 § 1 of the CIC. However, in recent timesand in many ecclesial contexts, it has beenobserved that dissolving such a reservationcould help to better manifest the commonbaptismal dignity of the members of thePeople of God. Previously on the occasionof the XII Ordinary General Assembly ofthe Synod of Bishops on The Word ofGod in the Life and Mission of theChurch (5-26 October 2008) the SynodFathers hoped “that the ministry of theLector would also be open to women (cf.P ro p o s i z i o n e n. 17); and in the Post-SynodalApostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (30September 2010), Benedict XVI explained

that the exercise of the munus of reader inliturgical celebrations, and particularly theministry of Lector as such, is a lay ministryin the Latin Rite (cf. n. 58).

For centuries the “venerable tradition ofthe Church” has considered those thatwere called “minor orders” — including,precisely, the Lector and the Acolyte — assteps on a path that was to lead to the“major orders” (Subdiaconate, Diaconate,Presbyterate). Being that the Sacrament ofOrders is reserved to men only, this was avalid fact for the minor orders as well.

A clearer distinction between the re-sponsibilities of those that today are called“non-ordained (or lay) ministries” and the“ordained ministries” allows a loosening ofthe reservation of the former to men only.While, with regard to the ordained min-istries, the Church “does not consider her-self authorized to admit women to priestlyo rd i n a t i o n ” (cf. Saint John Paul II, Apos-tolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 22 May1994), for the non-ordained ministries it ispossible, and today it seems opportune tosurpass this reservation. This reservationhad its meaning in a specific context butmay be reconsidered in new contexts,however, always having as a criterion fi-delity to the mandate of Christ and thewill to live and proclaim the Gospel im-parted by the Apostles and entrusted tothe Church so that it may be religiouslyheeded, devoutly safeguarded, faithfullypro claimed.

Not without reason, Saint Paul VI re f e r sto a v e n e ra b i l i s tradition, not a v e n e ra n d a tra-dition, in the strict sense (namely, it“must” be observed): it can be recognizedas valid, and for a long time it has beenso; however it does not have a bindingcharacter, since the reservation to men on-ly does not pertain to thenature proper to the min-istries of Lector andAcolyte. To offer lay peopleof both genders the oppor-tunity to enter the ministriesof Acolyte and Lector, byvirtue of their participationin the baptismal priesthood,will increase recognition, al-so through a liturgical act(institution), of the preciouscontribution that for a longtime many, many lay people,including women, have of-fered to the life and missionof the Church.

For these reasons, I foundit opportune to establishthat not only men but alsowomen — in whom, throughthe discernment of pastorsand after an appropriatepreparation, the Church rec-ognizes “the steadfast will tofaithfully serve God and theChristian people”, as writtenin the Motu Proprio Ministe-ria Quaedam, by virtue of theSacrament of Baptism andof Confirmation — may be instituted asLectors and Acolytes.

The choice to confer also to womenthese offices, which entail stability, publicrecognition and a mandate on the part ofthe Bishop, renders more effective in theChurch everyone’s participation in thework of evangelization. “This would alsoallow women to have a real and effectiveimpact on the organization, the most im-portant decisions and the direction ofcommunities, while continuing to do so ina way that reflects their womanhood”(Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Querida

Am a z o n i a , n. 103). The “baptismal priest-ho o d” and “service to the community”thus represent the two pillars on which theinstitution of the ministries is founded.

In this way, in addition to respondingto what is required for the mission in thepresent time and to welcome the witnessgiven by many, many women who have at-tended to and attend to service to theWord and to the Altar, it will appear moreevidently — also for those who are orientedtoward the ordained ministry — that theministries of Lector and Acolyte are rootedin the sacraments of Baptism and Confir-mation. As such, on the path that leads todiaconal and priestly ordination, thosewho are instituted as Lectors and Acolyteswill better understand they are partici-pants in a ministry shared with other bap-tized, men and women. Such that thepriesthood proper to every faithful (com-mune sacerdotium) and the priesthood of or-dained ministers (sacerdotium ministeriale seuh i e ra rc h i c u m ) may be seen even more clearlyinterrelated (cf. LG, n. 10), for the edifica-tion of the Church and for the witness tothe Gospel.

It will be the responsibility of the Epis-copal Conferences to establish appropriatecriteria for the discernment and prepara-tion of men and women candidates for theministries of Lector or Acolyte, or for oth-er ministries that may be deemed to be in-stituted, according to what has alreadybeen provided for in the Motu ProprioMinisteria Quaedam, subject to the approvalof the Holy See and according to the ne-cessities of evangelization in their territo-r y.

The Congregation for Divine Worshipand the Discipline of the Sacraments shallprovide for the implementation of the

aforementioned reform with the amend-ment of the Editio typica of the Pontificale ro-manum or of the “De Institutione Lectorum etAc o l y t h o r u m ”.

In renewing to you the assurance of myprayers, I impart my heartfelt ApostolicBlessing to Your Eminence, which I will-ingly extend to all the Members and Col-laborators of the Congregation for theDoctrine of the Faith.

From the Vatican, 10 January 2021,Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

FRANCIS

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOpage 6 Friday, 15 January 2021, number 3

Indiana execution

US Bishops condemnthe death penalty

Australia changes national anthem

VAT I C A N BULLETINAUDIENCES

Friday, 8 JanuaryBishop José Ornelas Carvalho,

S C J, of Setúbal, Portugal, Presidentof the Portuguese Episcopal Confer-ence, with Bishop Virgílio do Nasci-mento Antunes of Coimbra, VicePresident, and Fr Manuel JoaquimGomes Barbosa, S C J, Secretary Gen-eral

Hon. Mr Nicola Zingaretti, Presi-dent of the Lazio region

Hon. Ms Virginia Raggi, Mayorof Rome

Saturday, 9 JanuaryCardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Pre-

fect of the Congregation for BishopsH.E. Mr Guzmán Miguel Car-

riquiry Lecour, Ambassador ofUruguay to the Holy See, for thepresentation of his Letters of Cre-dence

Bishop Stefano Russo, Bishopemeritus of Fabriano-Matelica, Sec-retary General of the Italian Episco-pal Conference

H.E. Mr Miodrag Vlahović, Am-bassador of Montenegro to the HolySee

Monday, 11 JanuaryCardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect

of the Congregation for the OrientalC h u rc h e s

Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Arch-priest of Saint Peter’s Basilica; VicarGeneral of His Holiness for VaticanCity State

Archbishop Gabriele GiordanoCaccia, titular Archbishop of Sepino,Permanent Observer of the Holy Seeto the United Nations in New York(UN)

Bishop Fabio Fabene, titular Bish-op of Montefiascone, Undersecretaryof the Synod of Bishops

H.E. Ms Grace R. Princesa, Am-bassador of the Philippines, on afarewell visit

CHANGES IN EP I S C O PAT E

The Holy Father appointed BishopPaul Martin, SM, as Coadjutor Arch-bishop of the Metropolitan Archdio-cese of Wellington, New Zealand.Until now he has served as Bishop ofChristchurch, New Zealand (1 Jan.).

Bishop Martin, 53, was born inHastings, New Zealand. A memberof the Society of Mary, he was or-dained a priest on 4 September 1993.He was ordained a bishop on 3March 2018, subsequent to his ap-

pointment as Bishop of Christ-c h u rc h .The Holy Father appointed BishopIgnace Bessi Dogbo as MetropolitanArchbishop of Korhogo, Côted’Ivoire. Until now he has served asBishop of Katiola, Côte d’Ivoire (3Jan.).

Bishop Bessi Dogbo, 59, was bornin Niangon-Adjamé, Côte d’I v o i re .He was ordained a priest on 2 Au-gust 1987. He was ordained a bishop

on 4 July 2004, subsequent to his ap-pointment as Bishop of Katiola.The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation presented by MetropolitanArchbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewiczfrom the pastoral care of theMetropolitan Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus, in accordance withcanon 401 § 1 of the CIC, at the sametime appointing Bishop KazimierzWielikosielec, O P, titular Bishop ofBlanda and Auxiliary Bishop of Pin-sk, as Apostolic Administrator sedevacante of the same Metropolitan See(3 Jan.).The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation presented by Cardinal JohnNjue from the pastoral care of theMetropolitan Archdiocese of Nairo-bi, Kenya (4 Jan.).The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation presented by Bishop HenrykMarian Tomasik from the pastoralcare of the Diocese of Radom,Poland (4 Jan.).The Holy Father appointed BishopMarek Solarczyk as Bishop ofRadom. Until now he has served asAuxiliary Bishop of Warszawa-Pra-ga, Poland, and titular Bishop ofHólar (4 Jan.).

Bishop Solarczyk, 53, was born inWo łomin, Poland. He was ordaineda priest on 28 May 1992. He was or-dained a bishop on 19 November2011, subsequent to his appointment

as titular Bishop of Hólar and Auxil-iary of Warszawa-Praga.The Holy Father appointed BishopMichael Miabesue Bibi as Bishop ofthe Diocese of Buéa, Cameroon. Un-til now he has served as titular Bish-op of Amudarsa and Auxiliary Bish-op of the Metropolitan Archdioceseof Bamenda, Cameroon (5 Jan.).

Bishop Miabesue Bibi, 49, wasborn in Bamessing, Cameroon. Hewas ordained a priest on 26 April

2000. He was ordained a bishop on25 March 2017, subsequent to his ap-pointment as titular Bishop of Amu-darsa and Auxiliary of Bamenda.The Holy Father, in response to therequest made by Bishop AdolfoGonzález Montes of Almería, Spainfor a coadjutor bishop, appointedBishop Antonio Gómez Cantero asCoadjutor. Until now he has servedas Bishop of Teruel y Albarracín,Spain (8 Jan.).

Bishop Gómez Cantero, 64, wasborn in Quijas, Spain. He was or-dained a priest on 17 March 1981. Hewas ordained a bishop on 21 January2017, subsequent to his appointmentas Bishop of Teruel y Albarracín.The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation presented by Bishop MichelSantier from the pastoral care of theDiocese of Créteil, France (9 Jan.).The Holy Father appointed BishopDominique Blanchet, Ist. del Prado,as Bishop of Créteil. Until now hehas served as Bishop of Belfort-Montbéliard, France (9 Jan.).

Bishop Blanchet, 54, was born inCholet, France. He was ordained apriest on 27 June 1998. He was or-dained a bishop on 12 July 2015, sub-sequent to his appointment as Bish-op of Belfort-Montbéliard.The Holy Father appointed Fr Lizar-do Estrada Herrera, OSA, as titularBishop of Ausuccura and Auxiliary

Bishop of the Metropolitan Archdio-cese of Cuzco, Peru. Until now hehas served as episcopal vicar for con-secrated life in the Archdiocese ofTrujillo, and President of the Federa-tion of Augustinians of the Vicariatesof Peru (9 Jan.).

Bishop-elect Estrada Herrera, 47,was born in Cotabambas, Peru. Amember of the Order of Saint Au-gustine, he was ordained a priest on 7August 2005. He holds a licence inmoral theology, a licence in educa-tion, and a doctorate in pastoral the-ology; he studied pedagogy, and in2020 he attended a postgraduatecourse in the social doctrine of theChurch and social pastoral ministry.The Holy Father accepted the resig-nation presented by ArchbishopJean-Pierre Cattenoz from the pas-toral care of the Archdiocese of Avi-gnon, France (11 Jan.).The Holy Father appointed BishopBernabé de Jesús SagastumeLemus, OFM Cap., as Bishop of SanMarcos, Guatemala. Until now hehas served as Bishop of the Dioceseof Santa Rosa de Lima, Guatemala(11 Jan.).

Bishop de Jesús SagastumeLemus, 59, was born in San Esteban,Guatemala. A member of the Orderof Friars Capuchins, he was or-dained a priest on 31 January 1987.He was ordained a bishop on 6 Oc-tober 2007, subsequent to his ap-pointment as Bishop of Santa Rosade Lima.

VICAR APOSTOLIC

The Holy Father appointed FrKhalid Rehmat, OFM Cap., as VicarApostolic of Quetta, Pakistan. Untilnow he has served as Custos of theOrder of Friars Minor Capuchin inPakistan (1 Jan.).

APOSTOLIC NUNCIO

The Holy Father appointed Archbish-op Kurian Mathew Vayalunkal, titu-lar Archbishop of Ratiaria, as Apos-tolic Nuncio to Algeria. Until now hehas served as Apostolic Nuncio toPapua New Guinea and the SolomonIslands (1 Jan.).The Holy Father appointed Archbish-op Eugene Martin Nugent, titularArchbishop of Domnach Sechnaill, asApostolic Nuncio to Kuwait and toQatar. Until now he has served asApostolic Nuncio to Haiti, (7 Jan.).

NECROLO GY

Archbishop Floribert SongasongaMwitwa, Archbishop emeritus ofLubumbashi, Democratic Republicof Congo, at age 83 (31 Dec. 2020)

Cardinal Henry Schwery, Bishopemeritus of Sion, Switzerland, at age88 (7 Jan. 2021)

Bishop Cástor Oswaldo AzuajePérez, O CD, of Trujillo, Venezuela, atage 69 (8 Jan.).

Advance Australia Fair, front coverof sheet music (The Institute of

Australian Culture)

By proclamation of theGovernor-General in con-sultation with the FederalExecutive Council, as of 1January 2021, Australiansare singing a slightly dif-ferent version of their na-tional anthem, “Ad v a n c eAustralia Fair”.

Prime Minister ScottMorrison made the an-nouncement on NewYe a r ’s Eve. The anthemwill no longer refer to Aus-tralia as “young and free”.“While Australia as a mod-ern nation may be relative-ly young, our country’sstory is ancient, as are thestories of the many FirstNations peoples whosestewardship we rightly ac-knowledge and respect”,he said. This acknowledge-ment is reflected in the de-cision to change the verse,

“For we are young and free”to “For we are one andf re e ”, recognising thatAustralia had been inhab-ited for tens of thousandsof years before it wascolonised in the 18th cen-tury by the British.

Mr Morrison added thathe hopes the change willcreate a “... spirit of unity,it is only right that we alsonow acknowledge this andensure our national an-them reflects this truth andshared appreciation.Changing ‘young and free’ to‘one and free’ takes nothingaway, but I believe it addsmuch,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Sydney MorningH e ra l d . “It recognises thedistance we have travelledas a nation. It recognisesthat our national story isdrawn from more than 300

national ancestries and lan-guage groups”, he contin-ued.

Mr Ken Wyatt, the firstIndigenous Australianelected to the Federal Par-liament, said the one-word

change was “small in na-ture but significant in pur-p ose” ... “it is an acknowl-edgement that Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islandercultures date back 65,000years”.

In December, rugbyplayers for the nationalteam sang the national an-them in an indigenous lan-guage for the first time.The team sang in the lan-guage of the Eora nation —a group of peoples fromthe Sydney area — b eforeperforming the anthem inEnglish.

Advance Australia Fair wascomposed by Scottish-born Peter Dodds Mc-Cormick and first per-formed in 1878. It replacedGod Save the Queen as the of-ficial national anthem in1984.

At approximately 1:30 a.m. onWednesday, 13 January, Lisa Mont-gomery, 52, became the first womanin the United States to be executedby the US federal government since1953. On Tuesday her death bylethal injection had been brieflystayed by the US Court of Appealsfor the Eighth Circuit for issues re-lated to Montgomery's mental ca-pacity, an order that was lifted laterthat evening by the US SupremeCourt, which also rejected a finalstay petition filed on Mont-gomery’s behalf.

Montgomery had been sen-tenced to death after being convict-ed of the particularly odious mur-der of Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Skid-more, Missouri in 2003. The 23-year-old Stinnett was 8 monthspregnant at the time. After stran-gling Stinnett, Montgomery re-moved her victim’s live foetus, in-tending to raise the child as herown.

In the lead up to Tuesday’s finallegal maneuverings, on Monday, 11January, an appeal to abolish thedeath penalty was submitted in ajoint letter to the Senate and Houseof Representatives by ArchbishopPaul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City,OK, Chairman of the Committee onDomestic Justice and Human De-velopment, and Archbishop JosephF. Naumann of Kansas City, KS ,Chairman of the US Conference ofCatholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Com-mittee on Pro-Life Activities. In aseparate joint statement, in re-sponse to three executions expect-ed to be carried out by the US fed-eral government this week, theprelates called on the current ad-ministration to halt the proceed-ings, and asked the incoming ad-ministration to deliberate, alongwith Congress, the abolition of thedeath penalty.

The Archbishops noted that2020 marked the first year in which“the federal government executedmore people than all fifty statescombined. Unfortunately”, theycontinued, “there are three morefederal executions scheduled thisweek”. The request was thus madeto outgoing President Trump andActing Attorney General JeffreyRosen to block the executions, andto the incoming administration ofPresident-elect Joseph R. Biden,who will be inaugurated as Presi-dent of the United States on 20January, to make the abolition ofthe death penalty a priority of hismandate. In this regard, the twoArchbishops called on President-elect Biden to “declare a moratori-um on federal executions and tocommute current federal death sen-tences to terms of imprisonment”by way of the Federal Death Penal-ty Prohibition Act.

The letter also recalled PopeFr a n c i s ’ words as he spoke outagainst the death penalty in aspeech to the US Congress duringhis Apostolic Journey in 2015, aswell as the thoughts expressedmany times by Saint John Paul IIand by Benedict XVI. In addressingthis issue, the appeal emphasizes,“the terrible loss suffered by vic-tims’ families must be considered aswell”. Thus, the prelates state, “weencourage lawmakers to redirectthe energy and resources that cur-rently go towards executions toprovide compassionate and profes-sional assistance to the families ofvictims”. Recalling that “every per-son is created in the image and like-ness of God”, the prelates “encour-age everyone to work to rid thedeath penalty from our state andfederal laws and to develop greaterappreciation for the sacred dignityof every human life”.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOnumber 3, Friday, 15 January 2021 page 7

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOWEEKLY EDITION IN ENGLISH

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Pop e’s Interview with Canale 5

The world needsunity and fraternity

Remembering Cardinal Henri Schwery

Pope Francis sendscondolences

After receiving the news of the passing of Cardinal Henri Schwery, Bishopemeritus of Sion, on Thursday, 7 January, Pope Francis sent a telegram ofcondolences to Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion, Switzerland. The following isa translation of the Pope’s telegram which was written in French, accompaniedby a short biography of the late Cardinal.

Having learned with sadness of the death of Cardinal HenriSchwery, Bishop emeritus of Sion, I extend my deepest condo-lences to you and his family, to Bishop emeritus Norbert Brun-ner and to the faithful of the diocese of Sion. I ask the Father ofall mercy to welcome into his peace and his light this man of sci-ence and this Pastor who was deeply dedicated to guiding hisdiocese. Attentive to the pastoral needs of the faithful, he wascommitted to priestly vocations and to the formation of priests.He was also engaged in the search for unity in the Church onvarious occasions. As a token of comfort, I impart my ApostolicBlessing to you, as well as to Bishop Emeritus Norbert Brunner,to the priests, to consecrated persons, to the family of the de-ceased Cardinal and to his loved ones, to the diocese of Sion,and to all those who will participate in the celebration of the fu-neral services.

FRANCIS P P.

Congregation for the Causes of Saints

Promulgation of Decrees

Cardinal Henri Schwery, Bish-op emeritus of Sion, Switzer-land, was born on 14 June 1932in Saint-Léonard, Diocese ofSion, a small agricultural cen-tre in the Rhone Valley, a fewkilometres from the city ofSion.

The last of 11 children, hestudied theology at the majorseminary of Sion, then contin-

ued his studies in Rome at theFrench seminary of SaintClare and the Pontifical Gre-gorian University. He re-turned to Switzerland in 1957to continue his formation, andwas ordained a priest on 7 Julyof the same year.

He was then sent to contin-ue his studies in Fribourgwhere he obtained a universitydegree in mathematics and inphysics, after which he re-turned to Sion, and in 1961 be-gan teaching physics, mathe-matics, history of science andre l i g i o n .

In 1958 he began eightyears of service as diocesanchaplain of the Young Catho-lic Students organization. Thesame year he also began serv-ing as a military chaplainwhich he continued to do un-til 1977. Also, in 1958 he waschaplain to Our Lady of Sionc h i l d re n ’s choir and councillorof the Swiss Committee ofchildren choirs.

From 1968 to 1972 he servedas director of the minor semi-nary of Sion and then rectorof the College in Sion from

1972 until 1977. He was ap-pointed Bishop of Sion on 22July 1977 and was ordained abishop the following 17 Sep-tember. In addition to servingas a member of the Congrega-tion for Catholic Education(1978-1983), he participated innumerous meetings on voca-tions and evangelization inEurope and in the extraordi-

nary Synod of 1985. He wasalso Canon of honor of theterritorial Abbey of SaintMaurice d’Agaune.

Cardinal Schwery alsoserved in the Bishops’ Confer-ence, in school committees,seminaries and university de-partments, military chaplain-cies, health-care ministry, rela-tions with dioceses outsideSwitzerland and EuropeanBishops’ Conferences. From 1January 1983 to 31 December1988, he served as President ofthe Swiss Bishops’ Confer-ence.

He was a created a Cardinalby Pope John Paul II in 1991and participated in the con-clave of April 2005, whichelected Pope Benedict XVI.

For health reasons, he re-tired as bishop of Sion in 1995at the age of 62, but he contin-ued to participate as a mem-ber of several Vatican dicas-teries.

Cardinal Schwery’s funeraltook place on 11 January inSion without the presence ofthe faithful due to the ongo-ing Covid-19 pandemic.

On 21 December 2020, the Holy Father receivedin audience Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefectof the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Dur-ing the audience the Supreme Pontiff authorizedthe said Congregation to promulgate Decrees re-g a rd i n g :

— the martyrdom of the Servant of GodRosario Angelo Livatino, a faithful lay-man, born on 3 October 1952 in Canicat-ti, Italy, and killed in hatred of the faithon the road between Canicatti and Agri-gento, Italy on 21 September 1990;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Vasco de Quiroga, Bishop of Mi-choacán, Mexico, born circa 1470 inMadrigal de las Altas Torres, Spain, anddied in Pátzcuaro, Mexico on 14 March1565;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Bernardino Piccinelli (in the world:Dino) of the Order of the Servants ofMary, titular Bishop of Gaudiaba andAuxiliary of Ancona, Italy, born on 24January 1905 in Madonna dei Fornelli, afraction of San Benedetto Val di Sambro,Italy, and died in Ancona on 1 October1984;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Antonio Vincenzo GonzálezSuárez, a diocesan priest, born on 5 April1817 in Agüimes, Spain, and died in LasPalmas, Spain on 22 June 1851;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Antonio Seghezzi, a diocesanpriest, born on 25 August 1906 in Premo-lo, Italy, and died in Dachau, Germany

on 21 May 1945;— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Bernardo Antonini, a diocesanpriest, born on 20 October 1932 inCimego, Italy, and died in Karaganda,Kazakhstan on 27 March 2002;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Ignazio Stuchlý, a professed priestof the Society of Saint Francis de Sales,born on 14 December 1869 in Bolesła w,now Poland, and died in Lukov, CzechRepublic on 17 January 1953;

— the heroic virtues of the Servant ofGod Rosa Staltari, a professed nun of theCongregation of the Daughters of MaryMost Holy Co-Redemptrix, born on 3May 1951 in Antonimina, Italy, and diedin Palermo, Italy on 4 January 1974.

In an interview with ItalianTe l e v i s i o n ’s Canale 5, whichaired on Sunday evening, 10January, Pope Francis shared

his views on several current issuesand highlighted the importance ofrediscovering unity, closeness tothose who suffer, and fraternity inorder to overcome the global crisiscaused by the pandemic. He point-ed out once again that we are neverthe same after a crisis: we eitheremerge better or worse. Althoughthere are always great values in theworld, he said, these should betranslated into the historical contextof the time. The Holy Father thenlisted a series of tragic situations in-cluding children who suffer fromhunger, children who cannot attendschool, the many wars ragingthroughout the world, describingUN statistics on these matters as“frightening”. If we emerge from thecrisis “without seeing these things”,he noted, then we would be emerg-ing in defeat and things will beworse.

Vaccination: an ethical actionResponding to a question on vac-

cination against Covid-19, PopeFrancis said he believes everyoneshould agree to be vaccinated froman ethical point of view. “It is notan option; it is an ethical action, be-cause you are playing with yourhealth, you are playing with yourlife, but you are also playing withthe lives of others”. Now is the timeto think about “us”, rather than ourindividual selves, he stressed,adding that the Vatican wouldshortly begin administering vaccinesand that he was scheduled to receiveone.

It is the “time for ‘we’” in order toovercome the crisis

“Indifference kills us because itdistances us”, he said. The keywordto emerge from the crisis is “close-ness”. Lack of unity and of close-ness creates social tensions withinStates. At this time, “a politician, apastor, a Christian, a Catholic evena bishop, priest who does not have

the capacity to say ‘we’ instead of“I” is not rising up to the chal-lenge”. Although “conflicts in lifeare necessary”, he continued, at thistime they must make room for unity“of the country, the Church, soci-ety”.

Abortion is first a human issuethen a religious one

The Holy Father stressed that thecrisis created by the pandemic hasexacerbated the “throwaway culture”with regards to the weakest ones in-cluding the poor, migrants and theelderly and especially children whoare victims of abortion. “The prob-lem of abortion is not a religiousproblem, it is a human problem,pre-religious, it is a problem of hu-man ethics”, he said. “Is it right toerase a human life to resolve a prob-lem, any problem? Is it right to hirea hitman to solve a problem?”.

Capitol Hill, lessons from history:never violence

Asked to comment on the tragicevents that occurred at the USCapitol on Wednesday, 6 January,the Holy Father said he had been“astonished” considering the disci-pline of the people of the UnitedStates and the maturity of their

democracy. However, he added,there is always something wrongwhen “people take a path againstthe community, against democracy,against the common good”. Franciscondemned the violence andwarned, “we have to reflect and un-derstand well” in order not to repeatbut rather “to learn from history”.

Faith, a gift to be asked fromthe Lord

Lastly, the Holy Father spokeabout his personal experience of therestrictions resulting from the pan-demic. He said he feels “caged in”,citing trips that were cancelled toprevent large gatherings, and ex-pressing his hope that he will beable to visit Iraq. He added thatthese days he dedicates more time toprayer and speaking on the tele-phone. He then offered a reflectionon faith. “For me faith is a gift; nei-ther you nor I nor anyone can havefaith by their own strength: it is agift that the Lord gives you”. Refer-ring to a passage from Deuterono-my, he said we should invoke the“closeness of God”. Pope Francisconcluded the interview by express-ing his hope that “there will be noselfish attitudes” in 2021, and thatunity may prevail over conflict.

L’OSSERVATORE ROMANOpage 8 Friday, 15 January 2021, number 3

FRATELLI TUTTI

Interview with Archbishop of Canterbury

May Christiansface pandemic in unity

Anglican Archbishop Justin Welbyspeaks with Vatican Media aboutthe challenges facing Christians dueto the pandemic, the ecumenical im-portance of the encyclical “Fra t e l l iTu t t i ”, and his hopes for peace inSouth Sudan.

ALESSANDRO GISOTTI

J ust over one year ago,on 13 November 2019,the Archbishop of Can-terbury, Justin Welby,

met Pope Francis in the Vati-can for a private audience.

In that short space of time,the global situation has dras-tically changed due to thepandemic. However, the dra-matic arrival of Covid-19 hasonly reinforced the impor-tance of those themes — soli-darity, ecology, religious free-dom, and peace — which havefound particular resonancewith both the Bishop ofRome and the Primate of theAnglican Communion. Oneyear after their most recentmeeting, and one month afterthe publication of Fratelli Tutti,

Archbishop Justin Welbygranted a wide-ranging inter-view to Vatican News andL’Osservatore Romano to talkabout the issues currently fac-ing the world. He focused hisreflection on the contributionChristians can make in thismoment, which is so deeplyaffected by suffering.

Your Grace, the last time you metthe Holy Father was just over ayear ago, on November 13, in theVatican. Yet the world has changedradically since then due to the out-break of the pandemic. What canChristian leaders like you and thePope do to foster hope in a time ofglobal fear and suffering?

Fundamentally, our hope isin Jesus Christ, ‘the same yes-terday, today and forever’(Hebrews 13:8). Whilst theworld may change the love ofGod through Jesus Christ isunchanging. ‘The steadfastlove of the Lord endures forever’ (Lamentations 3:22).The task of those who leadthe Church is to testify tohope in difficult times. Jesusdidn’t come to bring hope toa world where things were go-ing well, but to a fragile andbroken world — one full offragile, damaged and sinfulpeople. And what Jesus saysto us is ‘do not fear’. He isour hope.

Christians are called to bepeople of hope demonstrated

in how they live together ascommunities. The message ofhope in Christ looks beyondthe here and now to thatwhich is to come — to eternityand the promise of eternallife. Human life is fragile, andwidespread sickness anddeath brings this home to usin a stark and tragic way. Buteternal life is just that, eternal.God calls us also to make lifeon earth reflect better the lifeof heaven for the one leads in-to the other. In following theexample of Jesus and histeaching to love our neigh-bour we can help to do this.If we live out our faith inChrist and put the vulnerable,the poor and the marginalisedat the centre then we are liv-ing out the message of hope.

During this time of pandemic, PopeFra n c i s ’ latest Encyclical, “Fra t e l l iTu t t i ’” was published. What im-pressed you about the message thePope wishes to convey with this doc-ument whose focus is fraternity andsocial friendship?

Fratelli Tutti is a deeply mov-

ing document and offers asystematic, ambitious andbrave vision for a better fu-ture world. It is groundedthroughout in Christology —with Christ at the centre. It isalso a letter which takes seri-ously the breadth and com-plexity of humanity. ThePop e’s references to his meet-ings with such figures as theEcumenical Patriarch and theGrand Imam, the inspirationhe draws from MahatmaGandhi and his references toDr Martin Luther King Jrand Archbishop DesmondTutu emphasize that his vi-sion is not a vision only forthe Catholic Church but forthe whole of humanity — thisis one of the reasons why hisvision is both ambitious andcomp elling.

The Holy Father takes veryseriously all aspects of humanlife from the individual to themulti-national, from the fami-ly to the world of commerceand industry or the world ofpolitics. He sets out the twindangers of communitarianismand individualism, the Scyllaand Charybdis of politics andphilosophy. Both lead totyranny and anarchy.

In his contacts with thosesuch as the Grand Imam,whom I also know, he demon-strates that there is no in-evitability in inter-religious orcultural conflict. The clash of

civilizations is a notion thatignores the cosmos transform-ing reality of the birth, life,death, resurrection and ascen-sion of Christ: a transforma-tion which enables the cre-ative work of the Fatherthrough the Son to be contin-ued in the power of the Spiritmaking God’s Kingdom visi-ble.

“Fratelli Tutti” concludes with an ec-umenical prayer. What contributioncan the ecumenical movement give tobuild a better future in a fragmentedworld, shaken by wars and acts ofterrorism such as those we have wit-nessed recently in Europe?

One of the problems thatmany Christians suffer from isthe notion that their Churchis the only Christian body outthere or, if they do acknowl-edge the presence of otherChristians, they consider thatthey are generally wrong. Thisis true, from time to time, ofAnglicans as well as others.When we look out at brotherand sister Christians fromwhom we are separated byhistorical accident or doctri-nal questions, we see truepeople of Christ, fellow pil-grims on the way and people,loved by God and served byGod, from whom we canlearn. An English hymn saysthis:

In Christ there is no east or west,in him no south or north,but one great fellowship of lovethroughout the whole wide earth.

In him shall true hearts everywheretheir high communion find;his service is the golden cordclose-binding humankind.

Join hands, then, children of thefaith,whate’er your race may be;who serves my Father as his childis surely kin to me.

(Hymn by John Oxenham,1908)

Human beings have a ten-dency to build barriers anddemarcate territory. This hap-pens in the church and it hap-pens in the political realm.Frontiers imply, or sometimesfalsely impose, difference.What the ecumenical move-ment has done and continuesto do is to chip away slowly atthose frontiers. Occasionallythere is a major step forwardas we found with the Catholic— Lutheran ‘Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justifica-tion’ to which Anglicans,Methodists and the Reformedhave now signed up. Fromtime to time the frontier isopened up and the border be-comes permeable.

One of the real and tangi-ble benefits of the ecumenicalmovement is that, at an indi-vidual level, relationships oftrust and friendship havebeen built up across denomi-national divides — barriershave been broken down byfriendship (or ‘fraternity’). I

live day to day in an ecumeni-cal community as, from earlyon in my time at LambethPalace we have had a residentgroup from the Chemin NeufCommunity living with us.There have been Catholics,Anglicans and Lutheransamong them over the years. Ihave a Catholic spiritual di-rector, with whom I recentlycollaborated on a preface fora French publication of Fra t e l l iTu t t i . In all these relation-ships, the other is not astranger, but a fellow pilgrim;a friend; a sister or brother.

You wrote in a recent letter to theBritish nation that there are threeanswers to the questions that thepandemic has posed to all of us: let’sbe calm, let’s be courageous, let’s becompassionate. Why did you empha-size these three aspects?

There is something aboutan unseen enemy that inspiresfear. But fear is not defeatedby panic, rather it is amplifiedby it. Calm, however, gives usthe space to take stock and toact deliberately. It links to theHebrew term ‘shalom’ andcalls to mind the ‘great calm’after Jesus has calmed thestorm in Matthew 8:26. Theabsence of calm in theirhearts leads to his rebuke. Butwe do need to be courageous.There were many headlinesduring the periods of lock-down that said that theChurches were closed. Thebuildings may have been, andthe sacramental life of thechurch was disrupted, but theChurch itself was open.Christians of all denomina-tions were seeking out andhelping others — their neigh-bours and others in need. It isclear that, in the face of acoronavirus pandemic we areall in it together.

Pope Francis has said many timesthis year that we will emerge fromthis crisis only if we take care of theother and acknowledge that we areall in the same boat. Yet in Europe,and not only in Europe, we see pop-ulism and nationalism gainingground. What is the Christian re-sponse to this selfishness fueled bythe fear we are experiencing?

I, too, have said that we arein the same boat (or, even ifwe are in different boats, weare on the same sea and fac-ing the same storm) and thatwe should seek to look afterourselves and our communi-ties, drawing strength andcourage from one another andwalking together. Fear causesus to put up the barriers thatI was talking about earlier.The more people are grippedby fear, and the more thosefears are played on and ma-nipulated by political leaders,the more the Church is calledto demonstrate somethingelse: hospitality, service andlove.

Throughout Fratelli TuttiPope Francis weaves togetherthe individual and the social,rejecting the extremes of both

and stressing their interde-pendence. The seventeenth-century Anglican priest andpoet John Donne famouslywrote that ‘No man is an is-land, entire of itself.’ Eachperson is connected to othersand when one suffers so oth-ers suffer with them. TheHoly Father shows through-out the encyclical that this isjust as true now as it was fourhundred years ago, andthroughout human history.

In the Encyclical, there is avery moving section lookingat the parable of the GoodSamaritan. The Good Samar-itan overrode nationalism andprejudice with unconditionallove. In that relationship oflove and care there was noJew or Samaritan but two hu-man beings — one in needand one providing for thatneed. The Christian responseto selfishness is love — a mes-sage that weaves through HisHoliness’s letter.

You said in an interview that youpray every day for the British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson. During aMass in Santa Marta, Pope Francisasked for prayers for political leaderswho have to make difficult decisionsduring this period. In your opinion,what place does prayer have today,or a relationship with God, for thatmatter, in an increasingly secularizedw o rl d ?

I do pray daily for thePrime Minister and for every-one else who has to make al-most impossible political de-cisions every day. Some socialmedia headlines in the after-math of that interview saidthat I ‘admitted’ that I prayedfor the Prime Minister. Idon’t admit it as if it is aguilty secret, it is my duty andsomething that I readily andhappily do for him and forothers.

Prayer is the lifeblood ofour relationship with God.Prayer is beautiful, intimateand always surprising. Prayeris participation in creationand recreation: in prayer weare changed and the world is

changed. But if we want tosee things change, we startwith prayer — not sending alist of requests to the sky, butallowing God to change us —to make us more like Christ.

Peace, ecology and social justice areamong the points to which you andPope Francis are most committed.What is your hope for the future ofyour relationship with the Popewhom you have met many times,and with whom you share the desireto travel together to South Sudanexpressed after the meeting with theSouth Sudanese leaders in SantaMarta in April 2019?

I value very deeply myfriendship with Pope Francis.We came into office at almostthe same time and we sharemany of the same concerns.For both of us peace and rec-onciliation are central. The re-treat in which the Holy Fa-ther and I took part with thevarious political leaders ofSouth Sudan was one of themost profoundly moving ex-periences of my life to date. Itremains a real hope that wewill be able to travel togetherto South Sudan. This has notbeen possible so far, but thechurches, Catholic, Anglicanand Presbyterian in South Su-dan and internationally havecontinued to work for peaceand a lasting and just futurefor that country. My hope isthat, once travel is possibleagain, there will have beensuch progress in the SouthSudan peace process that wewill be able to visit to cele-brate this and to encourage adeepening of peace andgrowth in society there.

At the end of one of mymeetings with the Pope hetold me to remember the“‘three Ps’: prayer, peace andp overty’”. I hope that as ourfriendship continues so these‘three Ps’ can continue tobind us together — mutualprayer for each other and forthe world, and a commitmentboth to peace and reconcilia-tion and to striving to im-prove the lives of the poor.

Jesus didn’t come to bring hope to a world wherethings were going well, but to a fragile andbroken world — one full of fragile, damaged andsinful people.And what Jesus says to us is ‘do not fear’.He is our hope.