In Utah, Catholics, Mormons have long had ‘positive, cordial relationship’
SALT
LAKE CITY — The March 3 meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and
Russell M. Nelson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, drew great interest from members of both faiths and
was covered extensively in the media in Utah. The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon Church, has its
headquarters in Utah. This historic meeting, the first between the
leaders of the two churches, came about while Nelson and other leaders
of his faith were in Rome to dedicate a church temple, the first in
Italy. Church temples are where the sacred ordinances, or sacred rites
and ceremonies, of the faith are conducted. The temple was built in
order to give the church’s nearly 27,000 members in Italy access to
those ordinances and because Rome has historically been “the heart and
center of the Christian world,” said John Taylor, director of interfaith
relations for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Vatican
leaders, in particular Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who was president of
the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue until his death last
year, have been very supportive of his church’s efforts to build the
temple in Rome, Taylor told the Intermountain Catholic, newspaper of the
Diocese of Salt Lake City. While historically the two churches have
interacted positively, some see the meeting as the beginning of a new
chapter in their relationship.
Pope recognizes martyrdom of Romanian bishops, Italian missionary
VATICAN
CITY — Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of an Italian missionary
killed in Myanmar and seven Romanian Catholic bishops — one of whom was
secretly named a cardinal by St. Paul VI — persecuted during the
communist era. Pope Francis also advanced the sainthood causes of six
other candidates during a meeting March 19 with Cardinal Angelo Becciu,
prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Among the decrees the
pope signed was one recognizing the miracle needed for the beatification
of Mother Maria Emilia Riquelme Zayas, who founded the Missionary
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Mary Immaculate. She was born in
1847 in Granada, Spain, and died there in 1940. The pope recognized the
martyrdom of Father Alfredo Cremonesi, a member of the Pontifical
Institute for Foreign Missions, who worked nearly 30 years in the
mountains of Myanmar, then known as Burma, despite periods of intense
hardship and conflict. Born in 1902, the priest went by boat to Burma to
serve the Karen people living in isolated villages. He survived the
same difficulties as the people when Japanese troops occupied the nation
during World War II and he refused to leave when Karen guerillas
launched a rebellion against the new government formed when the nation
achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.
Spain sees jump in ordinations to priesthood from 2017 to 2018
MANCHESTER,
England — Ordinations to the priesthood in Spain have soared by 24
percent in the last year. In 2018, a total of 135 men were ordained
priests compared to 109 in 2017, according to statistics released March
12 by the Spanish bishops’ conference. The Archdiocese of Madrid
recorded the highest number of ordinations, with 14. The Diocese of
Valencia recorded 10 ordinations, followed by eight in the Diocese of
Toledo, seven each in the dioceses of Seville and Alcala de Henares and
six each in the Cartagena and Zaragoza dioceses. In addition, fewer
seminarians dropped out of classes during the last year — 123 compared
with 152 the previous year — but there has been an overall decrease in
the number of men entering seminaries in the same period, down from
1,263 to 1,203. Father Julio Gomez, a priest who runs four parishes in
the Diocese of Palencia, said the rise in ordinations was accidental
rather than the result of a deliberate policy. “I think it’s a casual
growth, as there is no a national vocational strategy in the Church in
Spain, which could explain these growing numbers,” he said in an email
to Catholic News Service.
Nigerian bishops urge government to stop ‘culture of death’
LAGOS,
Nigeria — Nigeria’s Catholic bishops denounced a resurgence in killings
and destruction of property in parts of the country and urged
government action to stop the carnage. “We have received with deep
sorrow the tragic news of the resurgence of further horrific killings in
some parts of Kaduna state, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Edo, Rivers, Zamfara,
Adamawa and other states,” the bishops said in a statement after their
March 10-16 meeting in the capital, Abuja. The bishops urged Nigeria’s
government to strengthen the electoral laws, noting systemic failings in
recent elections. A presidential poll in February, in which Muhammadu
Buhari won a second term, and March elections for local governors and
state legislatures were marred by factional violence, organizational
breakdowns, delays and low voter turnout. “Elections should not be
turned into a battle between warriors fighting to capture power and
conquer territory and people at all cost,” said the statement, signed by
Archbishop Augustine Akubeze of Benin City and Bishop Camillus Umoh of
Ikot Ekpene, the conference president and secretary, respectively.
“Against the backdrop of the violence and bloodshed that characterized
the last elections, we are pained that the culture of death is becoming
embedded into our daily lives,” the bishops said. “This persistent
devaluation of human life and property poses an existential threat to
our personal survival and that of our nation.”
— Catholic News Service