Vatican watchdog raised concerns about Amoris Laetitia
Just days after the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) insisted there was no threat of a ‘fraternal correction’ of Pope Francis in connection with his exhortation Amoris Laetitia, it has emerged that the Congregation itself had raised issues relating to the document which were dismissed by the Pontiff.
After Cardinal Gerhard Muller was interviewed by Italian television and insisted that Amoris Laetitia “is very clear in its doctrine”, The National Catholic Register revealed that the CDF “had clear misgivings about the document before it was published”. The newspaper goes on to state that “one informed official recently told the Register that a CDF committee that reviewed a draft of Amoris Laetitia raised ‘similar’ dubia to those of the four cardinals. Those dubia formed part of the CDF’s 20 pages of corrections [while] another senior official went further, revealing to the Register last week that Cardinal Müller had told him personally that the CDF ‘had submitted many, many corrections, and not one of the corrections was accepted’. He added that what the cardinal states in the interview ‘is exactly the contradictory of everything which he has said to me on the matter until now’ and he had the ‘impression of someone who was not speaking for himself but repeating what someone else had told him to say’.”
The claims made are set to add fuel to the row surrounding Amoris Laetitia in relation to the question of offering communion to divorced-and-remarried Catholics, and may keep alive the threat issued by Cardinal Raymond Burke to pursue a formal correction of the Pontiff in relation to it.
‘Vatileaks’ figures publish new books
Two figures who were at the heart of the so-called ‘Vatileaks II’ scandal have separately promised further Vatican revelations in forthcoming books.
Former consultant Francesca Chaouqui, who received a suspended sentence in July for conspiracy to leak Vatican documents while she served on an economic reform commission at the Vatican is currently promoting a book that deals specifically with the drive to reform the Vatican’s finances, in which she claims to offer documentation proving wasteful spending and bureaucratic intrigue.
Meanwhile, journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, who was cleared of all charges in connection to the leaks, has turned his attention to the legacy of clerical sexual abuse in a book released in Italy today.
The other prominent personality at the heart of ‘Vatileaks II’, Spanish Msgr Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, received an 18-month sentence from a Vatican tribunal for his part in the case. He was released in December after Pope Francis opted to commute his sentence.
Synod to focus on youth
The young will be the focus of the 2018 Synod of Bishops, the Vatican has confirmed. The 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will work to the theme ‘Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment’, and towards this, both Pope Francis and the organisers have called on young Catholics to become actively involved in the consultation process that precedes the actual Rome gathering.
Speaking at the press conference to announce the synod, Bishop Fabio Fabene of the Synod of Bishops said: “It is important to involve the young in the preparatory stage of the Synod Assembly because the next Synod wishes…to listen to the desires, plans and dreams that the young have for their lifes, as well as the difficulties they encounter in realising their plans in the service of society, in which they ask to be active agents.”