Academy unveils effort to fight Mafia’s ‘deviant spirituality’ of Mary
Given the many criminal organisations and gangs worldwide that have distorted the true role and image of Mary, a pontifical academy has unveiled a new department dedicated to fighting “this deviant spirituality”.
The Pontifical Marian International Academy will be working with the Italian government and law enforcement on a number of initiatives through the department dedicated to the “analysis, study and monitoring of criminal and Mafia-related phenomena” and to promoting “a theology of liberation from the Mafia”, according to its website.
Pope Francis praised the “important initiative” in a letter sent to Franciscan Fr Stefano Cecchin, the academy’s president, on the feast of the Assumption of Mary.
“Marian devotion is a religious-cultural heritage whose original purity needs safeguarding,” the Pope wrote, according to an excerpt of the letter published by Vatican News.
Protecting the heritage includes “liberating it from superfluous elements, powers or social conditioning that do not comply with the Gospel criteria of justice, liberty, honesty and solidarity”, the Pope wrote.
Cardinal Pell speaks on maintaining his hope during prison detention
Cardinal George Pell, who was acquitted this year after becoming the highest-ranking Catholic cleric ever to be convicted of sexual abuse, spoke this week about how he maintained hope during his 400 days in prison.
“The virtue of Christian hope is different than Christian optimism. No matter what your circumstances are in this life, eventually all will be well. A good God is in charge, even though terrible things happen,” Cardinal Pell, 79, said in an interview.
The cardinal was initially convicted in Australia in 2018 of multiple counts of sexual abuse. On April 7, 2020, Australia’s High Court overturned his six-year prison sentence. The High Court ruled that he should not have been found guilty of the charges and that the prosecution had not proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He spent 13 months in solitary confinement, during which time he was not permitted to celebrate Mass.
Cardinal Pell said despite the discomfort and humiliation of being in prison, he was often surprised by the decency and professionalism of the majority of the prison officers, who conversed with him and other men in solitary confinement.
Pope Francis: make coronavirus vaccine available to all
A potential Covid-19 vaccine should be made available to all, Pope Francis said at the general audience Wednesday.
“It would be sad if, for the vaccine for Covid-19, priority were to be given to the richest! It would be sad if this vaccine were to become the property of this nation or another, rather than universal and for all,” Pope Francis said.
His comments followed a warning by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday that some countries may hoard vaccines.
Speaking in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed to world leaders to avoid what he called “vaccine nationalism”.
In his address, the Pope also said it would be a “scandal” if public money were used to bail out industries “that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, the promotion of the least, the common good, or the care of creation”. He said that governments should only help industries that met all four criteria.
The Pope was speaking in the library of the Apostolic Palace, where he has held his general audiences since the coronavirus pandemic struck Italy in March.