Catholic News

• Leaders of religious orders apologize for sexual abuse committed by members of their communities (International Union of Superiors General)
  “We bow our heads in shame at the realization that such abuse has taken place in our Congregations and Orders,” the International Union of Superiors General and Union of Superiors General said in a joint statement. “The strong sense of family in our Orders and Congregations—something usually so positive—can make it harder to condemn and expose abuse. It resulted in a misplaced loyalty, errors in judgment, slowness to act, denial and at times, cover-up. We still need conversion and we want to change.”
• Pope Francis approves, praises Jesuits' 4 priorities over next decade (Vatican News)
  Over the next ten years, the Society of Jesus’ four universal apostolic preferences will be discernment and the Spiritual Exercises, walking with the excluded, caring for our common home, and journeying with youth.
• Boston cardinal says Pope Francis did not approve his proposal for tribunals to hold bishops accountable on abuse (The Atlantic)
  The Pope “was convinced to do it another way,” Cardinal Seán O’Malley said in an interview with the Atlantic, following a Wall Street Journal report on signs of tension between the Pope and the cardinal over the issue. Cardinal O’Malley is president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
• 'Cost of war weighs on the weak,' Pope preaches at weekday Mass (Vatican News)
  At a Mass celebrated in the chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae on February 19, Pope Francis compared our times to the era of the biblical flood, the subject of the first reading of the day.
• French bishops firmly condemn anti-Semitism following recent incidents (CEF (French))
  The president of the Bishops’ Conference of France wrote this letter to the Chief Rabbi of France following recent anti-Semitic incidents, including the defacing of gravestones with swastikas.
• Dublin archbishop warns Vatican must own up to abuse failings (Irish Independent)
  “For a good period of time the Holy See wasn’t responding adequately and in fact, at times, was causing great difficulty,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said.
• Father Ernesto Cardenal, former Sandinista government minister, celebrates first Mass in 30 years (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis recently lifted the suspension imposed on Nicaraguan priest-poet Ernesto Cardenal, who is 94 and dying.
• French judge refuses to block movie on abuse scandal (AP)
  A French priest’s attorneys “said the picture depicted allegations against their client as facts and should have been blocked because it does not respect the presumption of innocence,” according to the report.
• Australian prelate says Church needs 'Copernican revolution' on abuse crisis (Crux)
  Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian bishops’ conference, is scheduled to preach the homily at Mass on the closing day of the upcoming Vatican summit on abuse.
• Australian Anglican body to defrock bishop over abuse inaction (AP)
  Rt. Rev. Richard Appleby “did nothing after he was told by a victim ... he had been sexually abused” by an Anglican cleric, according to the report.
• Syrians have the right to decide their own future, patriarch says (Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch)
  Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church since 2014, criticized the absence of the Syrian representatives from an international discussion on the nation’s future at the Munich Security Conference.
• Cardinal Tobin: McCarrick's actions are 'profoundly disheartening and disturbing' (Archdiocese of Newark)
  Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark issued this statement after the Vatican’s announcement of the laicization of Theodore McCarrick. Cardinal Tobin was named Archbishop of Newark in 2016; McCarrick held the same position from 1986 to 2000.
• Call on the new Congress to address hunger, USCCB and CRS urge (Catholic Relief Services)
  The heart of the suggested message to members of Congress: “I am writing to urge you to address hunger around the world and support those experiencing hunger in the new Congress by protecting poverty-focused international assistance in the FY20 federal budget.”
• Emergency declaration raises new questions about Texas border chapel (CNA)
  The Diocese of Corpus Christi has opposed the Trump administration’s efforts to build border fencing on its property.
• Central African Republic: bishop criticizes peace agreement as a farce (Fides)
  Bishop Juan José Aguirre Muños of Bangassou said that “the negotiation was imposed by the international community to save face” and that the agreement solidified gains made by pro-Islamist rebels.
• Vatican sets the stage for abuse summit (National Catholic Register)
  At a February 18 press conference (video), organizers of the upcoming Vatican abuse summit discussed the meeting’s agenda, unveiled a website (www.pbc2019.org), and fielded questions on homosexuality, the abuse of vulnerable adults, and other topics.
• Filipinos march to express concern over threats to life (UCANews)
  At the Mass for the annual walk for life, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila preached on “the mother’s womb, the womb of the family, the womb of society ... Let us pause, and thank God for life and for the mission to nurture it, promote it, defend it and share it.”
• Colombian youth murders priest who helped Venezuelan refugees (Fides)
  The murder took place in Kennedy, a section of the Colombian capital of Bogotá.
• Vatican officials decline to comment on accused priest at Apostolic Signatura (National Catholic Reporter)
  Msgr. Joseph Punderson, defender of the bond at the Apostolic Signatura (definition), was recently included on the Diocese of Trenton’s list of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. He and the future Archbishop Charles Scicluna were translators (see p. 3) of a 2001 document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the punishment of priests who sexually abuse minors.
• Pope Francis, in weekday Mass homily, asks, 'Where is your brother?' (Vatican News)
  At a Mass celebrated in the chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae on February 18, Pope Francis preached on Genesis 4:1-15, 25, the first reading of the day.
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