Vatican Report. CG: Pope Benedict has gone on summer vacation after a flurry of activity at the Vatican. This week’s Vatican Report looks at recent developments and what to expect over the next two …More
Vatican Report.
CG: Pope Benedict has gone on summer vacation after a flurry of activity at the Vatican. This week’s Vatican Report looks at recent developments and what to expect over the next two months. I’m Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service Rome correspondent.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. The last few weeks has seen some major events and some big appointments at the Vatican. The Pope named Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec to head the Congregation for Bishops. Now this is a very significant nomination. The Congregation manages the selection process for new bishops around the world, and it’s considered one of the most powerful agencies of the Roman Curia. This is the first time it’s been headed by a North American. The Pope chose someone who is very much on his theological wavelength, and who shares his concern about restoring Church unity in troubled times.
CG: Another major appointment came at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where German Cardinal Walter Kasper was replaced by Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch -- another theologian. Here, too, the Pope chose carefully. He wanted Bishop Koch because of his experience in dealing with Protestant churches. The Pope also announced the creation of a Vatican agency to promote “new evangelization” in traditionally Christian countries, and he named Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella to head that office. So we had a real changing of the guard in three big areas: selection of bishops, ecumenism and evangelization.
JT: Still to come sometime this month is a revision of the norms governing how priestly sex abuse cases are handled around the world. That will be a big story even though our sources tell us don’t expect earth-shaking changes. And at least three other papal documents are in the pipeline, too. All are expected sometime before the end of the summer. Meanwhile, after his general audience on Wednesday Pope Benedict went to his summer villa outside Rome at Castel Gandolfo, where he’ll spend most of the next three months.
CG: Normally the Pope goes to the Italian alps for a couple of weeks. Not this year. Some say his doctors want the 83-year-old pope to avoid higher altitudes. But it may simply be that the Pope knows his alpine vacation has always created a lot of work for his hosts and others. He doesn’t really do any mountain hiking, preferring to write and play piano -- something he can easily do at Castel Gandolfo, with a lot less fuss.
JT: Right, I think it was his secretary who once said of Pope Benedict, if he isn’t writing, he isn’t relaxing. In the past, the Pope has used his summer vacations to work on two major books about Jesus of Nazareth. There’s a rumor going around that a third book project is in the wings.
CG: The Pope will certainly be working on the talks he plans to give during his four-day trip to England and Scotland in September. This is going to be a challenging trip, and according to Vatican officials, the most important of the year according to Vatican …
CG: Pope Benedict has gone on summer vacation after a flurry of activity at the Vatican. This week’s Vatican Report looks at recent developments and what to expect over the next two months. I’m Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service Rome correspondent.
JT: And I’m John Thavis, CNS Rome bureau chief. The last few weeks has seen some major events and some big appointments at the Vatican. The Pope named Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec to head the Congregation for Bishops. Now this is a very significant nomination. The Congregation manages the selection process for new bishops around the world, and it’s considered one of the most powerful agencies of the Roman Curia. This is the first time it’s been headed by a North American. The Pope chose someone who is very much on his theological wavelength, and who shares his concern about restoring Church unity in troubled times.
CG: Another major appointment came at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where German Cardinal Walter Kasper was replaced by Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch -- another theologian. Here, too, the Pope chose carefully. He wanted Bishop Koch because of his experience in dealing with Protestant churches. The Pope also announced the creation of a Vatican agency to promote “new evangelization” in traditionally Christian countries, and he named Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella to head that office. So we had a real changing of the guard in three big areas: selection of bishops, ecumenism and evangelization.
JT: Still to come sometime this month is a revision of the norms governing how priestly sex abuse cases are handled around the world. That will be a big story even though our sources tell us don’t expect earth-shaking changes. And at least three other papal documents are in the pipeline, too. All are expected sometime before the end of the summer. Meanwhile, after his general audience on Wednesday Pope Benedict went to his summer villa outside Rome at Castel Gandolfo, where he’ll spend most of the next three months.
CG: Normally the Pope goes to the Italian alps for a couple of weeks. Not this year. Some say his doctors want the 83-year-old pope to avoid higher altitudes. But it may simply be that the Pope knows his alpine vacation has always created a lot of work for his hosts and others. He doesn’t really do any mountain hiking, preferring to write and play piano -- something he can easily do at Castel Gandolfo, with a lot less fuss.
JT: Right, I think it was his secretary who once said of Pope Benedict, if he isn’t writing, he isn’t relaxing. In the past, the Pope has used his summer vacations to work on two major books about Jesus of Nazareth. There’s a rumor going around that a third book project is in the wings.
CG: The Pope will certainly be working on the talks he plans to give during his four-day trip to England and Scotland in September. This is going to be a challenging trip, and according to Vatican officials, the most important of the year according to Vatican …