Pope Francis faces trial over abortion, gay rights

German Catholic bishops and leaders are to vote this week on a proposal to bless gay couples despite the Vatican’s ban on the practice. In November, US bishops are expected to vote on whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, such as President Biden, should be denied communion despite warnings from the Vatican that such statements can be divisive.

Meanwhile, the Vatican trial of the once powerful cardinal will test the strength of the Pope’s long-running financial reform, a key element of his agenda, and therefore the efficacy of his tenure as supreme leader of the Catholic Church.

The Pope’s efforts to promote change in the Church have strained its unity, while his encouragement of decentralization of decision-making has led to periodic steps to assert his will.

The Pope has encouraged Catholics to speak on taboo topics such as sexual ethics, clerical celibacy and women’s place in the Church, without contradicting traditional doctrine. This has encouraged bishops and laymen to test the limits of Rome’s authority. Now the Pope is trying to rein in some of them.

“He has let these energies come out as a strategy,” said Massimo Fagioli, professor of theology at Villanova University. But recently, “he has become more concerned about the unity of the church. They fear the church will not stick together,” Mr Fagioli said.

Critics say the Pope’s Delphic declarations on sensitive matters such as whether Protestants can receive communion in Catholic churches have made it easy for conservatives and progressives to violate their authority.

“One effect of Pope Francis’ ambiguity is that everyone in the church does what he wants,” said Vatican expert Sandro Magister, who writes for Italy’s L’Espresso magazine. His way of ruling.”

The German Synod’s vote this week on the blessing of same-sex relations and more than a dozen other announcements will show whether the assembly, expected to end in October of 2022, intends to pursue its broader agenda of change despite concerns from the Vatican. Is.

Bishop Georg Batzinga of Limburg, president of the German Episcopal Conference, said on Monday that the Vatican’s ban on the blessing of same-sex relations had caused “outrage and head tremors”, provoked understanding among many theologians and exemplified Gave. internal strife of the Catholic Church.”

Thomas Soding, a biblical scholar at the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum and a member of the synod, said, “We are now at the point whether it is clear in that direction or the meaning of that direction, yes or no.” At synod meetings next year, he hopes a resolution will be taken to appoint women as deacons and to reduce the need for celibacy for priests.

The German Synod is part of a ecclesiastical process that includes meetings of bishops and commoners in Australia and Mexico in October and November respectively. Although the Pope has encouraged that process, he may have raised hopes of change that would prove unrealistic.

Since February 2020, when the pope disappointed progressive supporters by not approving the ordination of married men as priests or women to address the shortage of clergy in the Amazon region of Latin America, “we have noticed that some On issues they don’t think it’s wise to move into new territory,” Mr Fagioli said.

Pope Francis has experienced a different kind of tension with US bishops, who will vote in November on a document that is expected to set the criteria by which Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, including Mr. can be denied.

Pope Francis has indicated a more conciliatory approach towards Biden. The Pope’s strongest allies among US bishops opposed the document at a meeting in June, but a large majority voted to go ahead with drafting the document.

“We are not opposed to the Pope,” said Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Wash., who supports the proposed document. “The Pope asks to speak the truth in charity and always keeps the door open to conversion but not to avoid the truth.”

US bishops are also considering how to implement Pope Francis’ July order directing bishops around the world to ban the traditional Latin Mass in parishes where most Catholics worship, and encourage them to ban its celebration elsewhere.

The Pope said that the Latin Mass had become a rallying point for Catholics to protest the modernizing changes following the Second Vatican Council, which took place between 1962 and 1965, and therefore a source of division in the Church. But several American bishops have said they are leaving the status quo while studying the papal document.

Chieko Noguchi said, “Where bishops are abandoning existing liturgies, this should not be seen as a resistance to the request of the Holy Fathers, but rather a careful conscience, where the bishops determine whether they follow the instructions of the Holy Fathers.” How can you accomplish that,” Chieko Noguchi said. Spokesperson of the American Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In the coming months, beginning in October, the Vatican trial of the once powerful Cardinal Giovanni Bacciu for embezzlement and other alleged crimes will unfold. This is the first time a cardinal has been tried in Vatican City criminal court. Cardinal Bekiu has denied wrongdoing.

Prosecutors’ case focuses on the Vatican’s investment in an expensive piece of London real estate, which they say was a reckless reckless use of church funds for charity. Pope Francis has pointed to his investigation as evidence that he has carried out effective financial reforms, as mandated by the cardinals he was elected in 2013. Cardinal Baqiu and some of his co-defendants are expected to argue that the transactions were made with approval. High Vatican officials who have not been charged, possibly including the Pope himself.

The trial could also shed light on the Vatican justice system, inviting comparisons on matters such as the papal absolute monarchy and the rights of the accused between neighboring European democracies.

Pope Francis removed Cardinal Baquiu from his Vatican job and his rights as cardinal without any public explanation, an extraordinary fall from grace in September last year. Last month the Pope told Spanish radio network COPE: “I sincerely hope he is innocent.”

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed