Pope Francis prays for Philippine typhoon victims
Reciting the Angelus with thousands of people in St Peter’s Square the day after Christmas, Pope Francis asked them to join him in reciting the Hail Mary for the victims of Typhoon Phanfone in the Philippines.
The Pope told the crowd that he shared the suffering of the Filipino people, “whom I love very much”.
“I pray for the numerous victims, for the injured and for their families,” he said.
The Associated Press said the typhoon, which made landfall on December 24, caused at least 20 deaths. Many people were still missing by December 26 and tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes.
Catholic group sings carols for George Pell at Christmas
A group of local Catholics gathered outside Melbourne prison on Christmas Eve to sing carols for Cardinal George Pell, currently incarcerated in the facility, and to pray for him, as well as the other inmates and prison staff.
At 8pm on December 24, about two dozen local Catholics gathered outside Melbourne Assessment Prison on the west side of the city centre to sing Christmas carols and to pray for the cardinal and others in the jail.
After the caroling, Melbourne’s Vietnamese Catholic Youth Group led a Rosary procession around the perimeter of the prison, which houses more than 300 inmates.
Cardinal Tagle expresses shock at upsurge in suicide rates
In the wake of rising suicide rates in the Philippines, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has issued a Christmas statement expressing his shock at the trend and calling for cultural renewal. “The mystery of Christmas is contrary to the drive, the desire and the impulse to destroy people, lives, families, societies and creation,” said Cardinal Tagle in a statement.
The cardinal is serving his final weeks as Archbishop of Manila. Earlier this month he was appointed by Pope Francis as the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
The cardinal also alluded to rising trends in bullying, including via social media, as contributing factors in rising suicide rates.
German prelate supports blessing homosexual couples
Cardinal Reinhard Marx has expressed the view that homosexual couples can receive a Church blessing “in the sense of a pastoral accompaniment” in the Catholic Church, but not in a manner that resembles marriage.
In an interview with the German magazine Stern, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising was asked: “What do you do when a homosexual couple asks you for an episcopal blessing?”
Marx responded: “I can bless them both in the sense of pastoral accompaniment, we can pray together. But theirs cannot be a marriage-like relationship.”
While there is room for differing interpretations of Marx’s comments, the website katholisch.de, funded by the German bishops, has reported on the matter using the headline ‘Marx: Homosexual couples can receive a blessing’.
Russian Orthodox church breaks with Alexandria patriarch
The Russian Orthodox church has cut ties with the head of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria following his decision to recognise Ukraine’s new independent Orthodox church.
The Russian church’s Holy Synod ruled late Thursday to rupture all links with Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa.
It noted, however, that it will remain in communion with those clerics of his church who didn’t support the decision.
The Holy Synod also decided that its parishes in Africa will be removed from the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s jurisdiction and made directly subordinate to the Russian Orthodox church’s head, Patriarch Kirill.