Gloria.TV News on the 15th of January 2016

Irreversible Facts: Pope Francis has changed the atmosphere in the Church according to the radical bishop Manfred Scheuer of Linz, Austria. According to Scheuer the Synod on the Family has opened doors and focused on certain points in a way that is irreversible.

Not the Property of the Pope: On his blog Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has criticized alleged plans of the Vatican to hand over the appointment of new bishops to the state controlled Patriotic Association. The Cardinal quotes Benedict XVI: “The authority of the Pope to appoint bishops is given to the church by its founder Jesus Christ, it is not the property of the Pope, neither can the Pope give it to others". And: “Signing such an agreement means to deliver the authority to appoint bishops into the hands of an atheist government.”

Obligation to Kill? Nadine Engelen, the daughter of a 74 year-old female cancer patient who wanted to commit suicide is suing Catholic Sint-Augustinus rest home in Diest for refusing to let a doctor give the woman a lethal injection on Church-run premises. Engelen is now claiming that the care home caused her mother unnecessary “physical and mental suffering” by refusing her request to die within its walls. The suicide was delayed by just a matter of days by the refusal.

Conversion or Downfall: Father John Zuhlsdorf has published a prayer for the conversion or downfall of the National Catholic Reporter. He writes: “Pray that all the writers and staff of that heterodox and destructive publication either covert to orthodox Catholicism or else that they are driven to closure. Pray also that the bishops of these United States of America develop the courage to strip that publication of the word “Catholic” in their title.”