On his social media, President Sulyok, who is Catholic, expressed: “Pope Francis received me in a personal audience, and I had a meeting with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. As a devout Catholic, it is a great honor for me to meet the successor of Saint Peter.”

Meanwhile, the Holy See Press Office highlighted that during the cordial meeting at the Secretariat of State, the good bilateral relations were acknowledged, and the commitment of the Catholic Church to the development of Hungarian society was appreciated. Various topics of common interest were then discussed, with particular reference to family, youth, and concern for the most vulnerable Christian communities worldwide.

The conversation continued with the conflict in Ukraine, with special reference to its humanitarian consequences and efforts to promote peace.

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The announcement of the changes was made on April 10 by Argentine Archbishop Luis Montemayor, Papal Nuncio in Ireland. The number of Bishops in the western region is being reduced from six to three.

The reorganization will see the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Francis Duffy, be the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Killala, after the retirement of Bishop John Fleming. Dr Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin will also be appointed Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Achonry, whose Bishop, Dr Paul Demsey, is moving to Dublin as Auxiliary Bishop to work especially with young people.

Already in 2021, the Bishop of Clonfert took the direction of Galway and Kilmacduagh and the Apostolic Administration of Kilfenora. The metropolitan province of Tuam, which encompasses the greater part of the West of Ireland, will only have three Bishops.

The small size of some of the dioceses calls for greater service to the faithful. For example, the diocese of Achonry, with a population of 40,000 people, has only 23 parishes.

The Apostolic Nuncio said:  “In due course, and after a careful evaluation and consultation, the present dioceses of Tuam and Kilala, on one hand, and Elphin and Achonry, on the other, could be governed by a Bishop in each case, as the dioceses of Galway and Clonfert are governed today by only one. If this process evolves even more, the associated dioceses can then fuse completely under their Bishop and, in this way, the six diocese of the province of Tuam will eventually become three.”

In the Ráth Breasail Synod of the year 1111, the transition took place  of the monastic system in the government of the Church to the diocesan system. It was followed by the Kells Synod in 1152, which established four metropolitan provinces: Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam, which continue at present. Only in 1831 was the diocese of Galway established; the fusion of Ross with Cork occurred in 1958.

It’s important to point out that the western area of Ireland is very rural and sparsely populated, with the exception of the city of Galway and its suburban belt, and some larger cities, such as Sligo and Castlebar.

Instead, about 40% of the Republic’s population lives in Dublin and in the adjacent counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.

Ireland’s Catholic immigrant population has saved many parishes from extinction. The reduction of dioceses responds to the decrease of the Catholic population and the lack of priests.

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In a talk given on Wednesday, April 18 in the Arch-Abbey of Saint Peter in Salzburg, Austria, Cardinal Kasper noted that it would be good to relive the tradition of the early Church of the Provincial and Plenary Councils, to respond to the different cultures in each region. Cardinals could function as Presidents of Plenary Councils  in the region.

During his talk, entitled “Cardinals at the Service of the Church and the Papacy,” Cardinal Kasper said: “In modern times, Cardinals have become increasingly functionaries of the Curia, parallelly to the Prince-Bishops that still exist. And, he added, the opportunity given would be to “return to the origins of the College of Cardinals: evangelization and Eucharistic Celebration in communion with the Bishop of Rome.”

According to Cardinal Kasper, the Cardinals’ jurisdiction has always changed, but connected in the Liturgy with the Pope as sign of the Church’s unity. In other times, they have served as politicians, moving in the game of powerful Roman families. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Cardinals were increasingly dragged into decadence, and Rome’s decadence.”

In the symposium, whose theme was “The Benedictines as Cardinals,” he showed that the Cardinals’ leadership in the regions, for example, would establish something similar to the bicameral system of a Synod of Bishops and a Council of Cardinals.

He also pointed out that, at present, Cardinals are functionaries of the Curia and their function of ecclesiastical leadership was relegated until Pope John XXIII and Vatican Council II reinvigorated it..

Some of the Cardinal’s proposals already exist, as it’s common for Cardinals to head the Episcopal Conferences in countries and, to occupy the direction of Dicasteries in Rome, confers on them a decisive role in the vitality of the Church. Perhaps Kasper’s proposals intend to give Cardinals more evangelizing impulse above their bureaucratic role.

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“Resurrection” will show events that occurred between the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus, the intrigues, Herod’s Palace and events that happened in Jerusalem during the Sunday of the Resurrection.

The film’s release is planned for April 18, 2025, Good Friday. The production will be filmed with special events, such as the Fall of the Angels and scenes in Hell.

Mel Gibson said that his new film requires entering in “other realms” and “dimensions.” “It cannot be lineal. It’s necessary to have many things juxtaposing each other, including of different times.”

“The Passion of Christ,” released in 2004, focused on the last hours of Jesus Christ’s life on earth. Gibson directed that film, produced it, acted in it and financed a good part of the production. The soundtrack used Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew with subtitles, to give greater authenticity to the narration, said Gibson.

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***

In recent weeks we have reflected on the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. They are the four cardinal virtues. As we have emphasized several times, these four virtues belong to a very ancient wisdom that predates even Christianity. Even before Christ, honesty was preached as a civic duty, wisdom as the rule for actions, courage as the fundamental ingredient for a life that tends towards the good, and moderation as the necessary measure not to be overwhelmed by excesses. This patrimony that is so ancient, the patrimony of humanity has not been replaced by Christianity, but focused on, enhanced, purified, and integrated in the faith.

There is therefore in the heart of every man and woman the capacity to seek the good. The Holy Spirit is given so that those who receive it can clearly distinguish good from evil, have the strength to adhere to good by shunning evil, and, in so doing, achieve full self-realization.

But in the journey that we are all making towards the fullness of life, which belongs to the destiny of every person – the destiny of each person is fulness, to be full of life – the Christian enjoys special assistance from the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus. It is implemented through the gift of three other, distinctly Christian virtues, which are often mentioned together in the New Testament writings.

These fundamental attributes, which characterize the life of the Christian, are three virtues that we often speak of together: faith, hope and charity.

Let’s say it to gether: [together] faith, hope… I don’t hear anything! Louder! [together] Faith, hope, and charity! Good job!

Christian writers soon called them “theological” virtues, insofar as they are received and lived out in relationship with God, to differentiate them from the other four, called “cardinal” insofar as they constitute the “hinge” [It., “cardine”] of a good life. These three are received in Baptism and come from the Holy Spirit. The one and the other, both the theological and the cardinal, put together in so many systematic reflections, have thus composed a wonderful septenary, which is often contrasted with the list of the seven deadly sins. This is how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the action of the theological virtues: “the theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being” (n. 1813).

While the risk of the cardinal virtues is of generating men and women who are heroic in doing good, but all alone, isolated, the great gift of the theological virtues is existence lived in the Holy Spirit. The Christian is never alone. He does good not because of a titanic effort of personal commitment, but because, as a humble disciple, he walks in the footsteps of Jesus, the Master. He goes forward on the way. The Christian has the theological virtues, which are the great antidote to self-sufficiency. How often do certain morally irreproachable men and women run the risk of becoming conceited and arrogant in the eyes of those who know them! It is a danger that the Gospel rightly warns us against, when Jesus advises the disciples: “You too, when you have done all that you have been commanded, say, ‘We are useless servants. We have done what we ought to have done’” (Lk 17:10). Pride is a poison, a powerful poison: a drop of it is enough to spoil a whole life marked by goodness. A person may have performed a mountain of good deeds, may have reaped accolades and praise, but if he has done all this only for himself, to exalt himself, can he still call himself a virtuous person? No!

Good is not only an end, but also a means. Goodness needs a lot of discretion, a lot of kindness. Above all, goodness needs to be stripped of that sometimes too cumbersome presence that is our ego. When our “I” is at the centre of everything, everything is ruined. If we perform every action in life only for ourselves, is this motivation really so important? The poor “I” takes hold of everything and thus pride is born.

To correct all these situations, which sometimes become painful, the theological virtues are of great help. They are especially so in times of falling, because even those with good moral intentions sometimes fall We all fall in life, because we are all sinners. Just as even those who practice virtue daily sometimes make mistakes; we all make mistakes in life: intelligence is not always clear, will is not always firm, passions are not always governed, courage does not always overcome fear. But if we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit – the Master of the interior life – He revives the theological virtues in us: then, if we have lost confidence, God reopens us to faith; with the strength of the Spirit, if we have lost confidence, God reopens us to faith; if we are discouraged, God awakens hope in us; and if our heart is hardened, God softens it with His love. Thank you.

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Many Chapels around the world house mosaics and works of art of Marko Ivan Rupnik, Slovenian priest expelled from the Jesuits, because of scandal and accusations of sexual abuse. Catholic newspapers in the United States are campaigning for the withdrawal of Rupnik’s artistic works.

The Council of the Knights of Columbus of Washington, DC decided to remove Marko Rupnik’s mosaics from the Redemptoris Hominis and the Luminous Mysteries Chapels in Saint John Paul II’s Shrine. A month ago they announced that they were  studying the removal of the mosaics and have now decided to do so, replacing them liturgical art appropriate to the celebration of the Sacraments.

The Council also requested the Knights’ national leaders to plan the removal of these works of art and to cover the images until their complete renovation. They urge offering a public apology to the victims for not having addressed the issue sooner.

In their statement, the Knights said: “the mosaics created by Fr Rupnik in Saint John Paul II’s Shrine are repugnant to the faith, morality and Christian piety, and they lack artistic value due to the fact that Rupnik perpetrated his sexual abuse through the creation of his work of art.”

The Knights have already eliminated Rupnik’s works of art from their evangelization leaflets and other published materials. Up to a few months ago, the Vatican’s lithography continued using them for its leaflets.

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The judges ordered the forced removal of three Palestinian families from their homes, giving the members – around twenty people in total as reported by the Palestinian agency Wafa – until mid-July to leave their homes and move elsewhere, freeing up the properties.

The decades-long dispute in Sheikh Jarrah, exploded in early May 2021, coinciding with the legal battle over the ownership of some houses, with pro-settler movements trying to evict Palestinian families.

The controversy concerns the Church of the Holy Land and three years ago also triggered violent flash fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. As explained by the former Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem of the Latins Msgr. Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, still resident in the holy city today, the issue is the result of “Israel’s plan” to “occupy as much land and houses in East Jerusalem” by strengthening the “expropriation plans”.

In March 2022 the Supreme Court itself intervened, “freezing” the expropriations and placing the entire issue back in the hands of the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Saleh Diab, a member of one of the groups interested in the eviction, reports that in May last year a hearing was held at the court of first instance in Jerusalem.

Despite the supreme judges’ decision, a magistrate decided to reopen the case under pressure from the Nahalat Shimon group, linked to the settlers; it has been fighting for some time to try to expel the 28 Palestinian families – for a total of around 500 people – from their homes through a legal battle in the courtrooms.

Diab adds that these families have been living in the disputed homes for 56 years and have been fighting eviction attempts since 2009.

According to the tribunal, there was an illegal and untitled occupation of the properties, which were owned by the Jews. In contrast, Palestinian families say they have lived in the homes for decades.

The Sheikh Jarrah complex was built on empty land that, before the 1948 war, was owned by Jewish religious associations. After the conquest of East Jerusalem, the Israeli government approved some laws that allowed the reclaiming of properties stolen from the Jordanian government in 1967. In reality, the law only allows the reclaiming of assets controlled by Amman and attributable to enemy entities.

But in case the Jordanian government has transferred ownership to private individuals, they retain the title and rights. What is certain is that this saga has become one of the symbols of the ongoing struggle between the various souls of the holy city, with inevitable political and confessional mixes.

In 2021 at the time of the protests – which later resulted in the short but large-scale conflict in Gaza – among those who played a key role was the extremist leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, at the time an opposition parliamentarian and now Minister of National Security .

The sentence of recent days comes at a time of great tension in Jerusalem due to the war in Gaza and the ongoing escalation with Iran and due to the repeated episodes of violence in the West Bank, with killings and seizures of land. In these hours the release of an Israeli army provision for the seizure of 64 thousand square meters of land in the al-Bouira area, north of Hebron, the first step towards the creation of a new residential and industrial settlement for the settlers .

The decision would lead to the forced displacement of approximately 8 thousand Palestinians living in the area. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights intervened against the policy of expropriations and forced displacements and, addressing the Israeli security forces, asked them to “immediately put an end to their active participation and support for settler attacks against the Palestinians”.

This is inked to the escalation of attacks against villages and cities, triggered by the death of a 14-year-old Israeli boy and which led to the killing of seven Palestinians and the wounding of 75 other people.

In addition to deaths and injuries, the attacks caused hundreds of homes and other buildings, as well as cars, to burn. “Israel, as an occupying power, must take all measures in its power – concludes the UN note – to restore and guarantee, as far as possible, public order and security” in the West Bank.

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(ZENIT News – BioEdge / Brussels, 04.23.2024).- The president of Belgium’s biggest health care fund, Christian Mutualities (CM), has called for a radical solution to the problem of an ageing population. Luc Van Gorp told Belgian media this week that people who are tired of life should be allowed to end it.

Like all other European countries and, indeed, the rest of the world apart from sub-Saharan Africa, Belgium faces a huge increase in its elderly. Over-80s will double by 2050, from around 640,000 today to 1.2 million. Financial pressure on healthcare, medication and nursing homes will increase.

More money is not the solution, says Van Gorp. “No matter how much you end up investing, it will still not be enough. There are simply not enough health workers to do the job,” he said. “Do we really need all those extra residential care centres? Just building up rooms without doing anything about the staff shortage is not a sustainable model. I miss the why- question in elderly care. Why do we do business the way we do them now? There is often no answer to this.”

He is in favour of “a radically different approach” – not asking “how long can I live?”, but “how long can I live a quality life?”. He proposes euthanasia for people who believe that their lives are complete. “Suicide is too negative a term,” says Van Gorp. “I would rather call it: giving life back. I know it is sensitive, but we really have to dare to have that debate.”

In an interview with Nieuwsblad, Van Gorp declared:

“Everyone wants their parents and grandparents to stay as long as possible, right? But do those people want that themselves? And what do they need for that? These questions are asked too little. Some people over 80 will not need anything at all to age well. They will even be able to support others, for example by keeping them company. Others need a lot of care, and – just to be clear – we must continue to provide it.

“But what about the category of elderly people who receive maximum care, but who still do not have the quality of life they desire? That question is asked far too little.”

A number of politicians supported Van Gorp’s call to make “a completed life” a justification for euthanasia. However, Christian democrat leader Sammy Mahdi criticised the comments. “This makes me angry,” he wrote on X. “If someone is tired of life and feels they are in the way or don’t get visitors anymore, aren’t we just failing as a society?”

Van Gorp doubled down on the sentiments expressed in his interview with Nieuwsblad. In an op-ed for the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, he wrote: “The demand for care will only increase in the coming years. If we just keep doing the way we are doing today, we’re going for an outright care crash. We can only prevent this if we choose a radically different approach, from a healthy society that puts quality of life first instead of quantity.”

There simply are not enough carers or space for the elderly to live, he says: “Numerous healthcare providers have long indicated that it is not possible to continue in this way. There are simply not enough professional hands left to provide all the care. And as a society, we create too little space to take care of those who are most dear to us ourselves.”

Van Gorp calls for an urgent national debate about the issue: “As delicate as it is, we must dare to enter into the debate about quality of life, including at the end of life. Better today than tomorrow.”

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The lifeless body of Edouard Yougbare was discovered at the Saatenga parish on the morning of Friday, April 19th, according to local reports received by the Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

John Pontifex, ACN (UK) Head of Press and Public Affairs, said: “Edouard gave his life on the front line of persecution. He is a martyr who offered his life for God and in service of his community.

“At a time when Burkina Faso has become one of the world’s worst hotspots of persecution, where nobody can feel truly safe, we at Aid to the Church in Need stand in solidarity with all those suffering.”

Mr Pontifex asked for prayers for the victims’ families and all the people of Saatenga.

Two months ago another catechist was killed in Dori Diocese while leading a Sunday morning celebration in a chapel.

The security situation in Burkina Faso has deteriorated drastically over the past few years, with Christians particularly targeted by militant extremists.

Jihadist insurgent groups control around 40 percent of the country’s territory, and more than two million people – about 10 percent of the population – have been displaced because of the ongoing armed conflict.

ACN has provided emergency aid – including food – to hundreds of people driven out of their homes by terrorists.

In 2023, ACN supported 56 projects in Burkina Faso with more than one million euros in funding.

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Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo 21st April received the appeal from Catholics in his diocese calling for the slaughtered Christians to be beatified – a step along the way to being declared saints.

Father Gregory Vajira Silva of St Sebastian’s Church, Katuwapitiya, said his parishioners are martyrs because they died for choosing to come to Mass on Easter to proclaim their faith in the risen Christ.

Father Silva lost 115 parishioners – including 27 children.

On Easter Sunday 2019, nine suicide bombers murdered a total of 264 people and injured more than 500 at six different locations – three churches and three luxury hotels.

Katuwapitiya, where the worst massacre took place, is nicknamed “Little Rome” because of its large Catholic population and numerous religious monuments.

Father Silva told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were bodies everywhere.

“Everything happened so quickly, unexpectedly, and brutally.”

The priest added that “the owner of the local cemetery donated a plot of land” because his parish did not have enough space to bury all the dead.

He said: “The man who did this to us lived here for three months, like just another villager…

“People believed and trusted in him – they treated him like a brother.

“But he simply betrayed the love they had shown him.”

He added that the terrorist act exposed “an ideology” threatening the very fabric of Sri Lankan society. The jihadist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings.

He explained that the churches in Katywapitiya were closed for security reasons after the attack, but the faithful kept calling and asking about Mass times.

Father Silva said that he and other priests celebrated Mass in people’s homes: “We realised that we have no life without the Eucharist.”

He underlined that the atrocity left the community deeply traumatised – “many people lost family members…

“We need a great miracle of healing. Everyone was affected.”

Father Silva explained that priests were assigned groups of families to offer emotional and practical support in the aftermath of the massacre.

He concluded: “We didn’t preach at that time – we were simply there for them, and they could feel it.

“We helped them, listened to them, cried with them, shared what they were experiencing at that time.”

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