SCRANTON – Prior to announcing funeral arrangments for the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, the Diocese of Scranton acknowledged the “sensitive circumstances” of planning the funeral, which needed to balance Bishop Timlin’s full life of service to the Church with a clear understanding of imperfect judgements related to clergy sexual abuse.

Just prior to the funeral Mass beginning on April 18, 2023, Bishop Bambera released a video on Catholic Television as well as on Diocesan social media platforms.

In his message, Bishop Bambera prayed for all sexual abuse survivors and said he hopes they find healing and peace.

Bishop Bambera’s full comments are included below:

My friends,

In just a few moments, we will begin the celebration of a Mass of Christian Burial for Bishop James Timlin – who willingly gave more than 70 years of his life in service to our local Church as a priest and bishop.

I have heard from many of you over the last few days since the bishop passed in his sleep in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday.

Many of you have shared recollections of the bishop’s kindness, visiting sick family members in hospitals and hospice units, consoling those grieving at the loss of loved ones and expressing his deep faith and conviction in the mercy of God – a blessing that was nurtured right here in Scranton where the bishop spent his entire life which spanned close to 96 years.

But I have also heard from many of you who have been deeply wounded by the emergence of other realities over the last several years – imperfect judgments – regarding clergy sexual abuse.

While one person cannot be blamed in totality for what has transpired, the impact is clear. The Church of Scranton has been deeply wounded by the sins of some of her members – and those wounds are most deeply experienced by the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

These failings have destroyed the lives of innocent children – eroded trust and good will – and, sadly, have led many to leave the faith.

A funeral is neither the time nor the place to delve further into the details of these revelations – but I would be remiss if I let this day pass without acknowledging the past wrongs and failures that have come to light.

For all that we remember this day, my friends, one thing is abundantly clear. None of us can save ourselves. We are all imperfect, broken souls in need of God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing grace.

During today’s Mass – in the Universal Prayer – we will be praying in an intentional way for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, acknowledging their suffering and seeking their continued healing and peace.

These are not hollow words. We cannot – and will not – forget their pain.

As we begin this funeral liturgy – we give thanks and praise to God for the blessing of Easter and Jesus’ victory over sin and death – and we commend Bishop Timlin to God’s tender mercy and compassion, won for us all through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.

 

SCRANTON – Hundreds of people gathered to mourn the death of the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, eighth Bishop of Scranton, at a Mass of Christian Burial, which was held on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, tenth Bishop of Scranton, served as the principal celebrant. In addition to priests from the Diocese of Scranton and resident religious priests, three other bishops concelebrated the Mass.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, uses incense at the casket of the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, Bishop Emeritus of Scranton, during a Mass of Christian Burial at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton on April 18, 2023. (Photos/Mike Melisky)

During his introductory remarks at the beginning of the 2 p.m. liturgy, Bishop Bambera acknowledged the sensitive nature of planning the funeral Mass.

“Many of us grieve the loss of a kind and compassionate leader who worked tirelessly for others well into his nineties and some grieve the consequences of imperfect judgments and decisions that led to the suffering of some who were most vulnerable,” Bishop Bambera said. “But one thing is absolutely clear from what we do this day, at this Mass of Christian Burial, the reality that we are all desperately in need of a Savior. Saint John Paul II put it best a few years before he passed, ‘Apart from the mercy of God, there is no hope for mankind.’”

In releasing the Report of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in August 2018, then- Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro publicly criticized Bishop Timlin for his handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests of the Diocese of Scranton. That same month, Bishop Timlin was barred from representing the Diocese in the wake of the Grand Jury Report’s release.

During the Universal Prayer at the funeral Mass, mourners prayed intentionally for victims of sexual abuse.

“Many people live with the painful memories of sexual abuse by clergy,” Deacon Peter G. Smith said. “Give them healing for their pain, freedom from their fear, and hope for their future, and may all members of the Church commit themselves to protect children and the most vulnerable in our society.”

Bishop Timlin died on Easter Sunday morning, April 9, 2023, at the age of 95.

REMEMBERING A MENTOR AND FRIEND

“We come together in this great Cathedral of ours to reflect upon his life, to remember the fullness of Bishop Timlin’s remarkable 95 year pilgrimage homeward, and lastly, we’re here this day to pray for his eternal peace,” Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, V.F., pastor, Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Clarks Summit, said at the beginning of his homily.

For more than 40 years, Msgr. Quinn said that Bishop Timlin had “been a faithful mentor, friend and inspiration in my own life.”

Msgr. Quinn extended his sympathies to the extended family of Bishop Timlin, saying the late prelate had a special ability to remember every detail of his loved one’s lives.

“I think we have all marveled at his consistent thoughtfulness throughout his life, his ever humble and kind ways. To the very end, he was always handwriting notes, always notes of thanks, most of them forever expressing his gratitude for the thoughtfulness and kindness of others,” Msgr. Quinn said. “You might have received a note simply because you remembered his birthday, an anniversary or a special event along the way but it was amazing how many notes he sent out in any day.”

Msgr. Quinn explained how he was privileged to witness Bishop Timlin’s great depth of faith and his hope to share and live the peace and joy of the Risen Christ.

“He understood well the truthfulness of the words of Scripture today as in the First Reading where it was said, God’s dwelling is with the human race and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There shall be no more weeping or pain for the old order has passed away,” Msgr. Quinn said.

In his 72 years as a priest, Msgr. Quinn said Bishop Timlin “joyfully counted each day” but did not do everything perfectly.

“With his genuine sense of humility he would be the first to tell you that he was far from perfect,” Msgr. Quinn explained. “He was always reminding all of us that we’re not called to be perfect, we’re called to be holy, so that we might be humble enough, human enough, and happy enough to live merciful lives rooted in Christ.”

As he concluded his homily, Msgr. Quinn said Bishop Timlin never lost sight of his primary role as a parish priest – “helping people come to know, love and serve God” – by always being available to console the grieving, visit the sick or care for the suffering.

“As we gather today to mourn Bishop Timlin’s death, to truly remember the fullness of his life and to pray for his eternal peace, let us remember all that he did throughout his 95 year journey homeward,” Msgr. Quinn stated. “All he did to come and know and live out God’s will in his life in humble and selfless fashion and let us pray for the same merciful graces we need to do the same in our own.”

PARISHIONERS MOURN LOSS

In the five hours leading up to the funeral Mass, the public was invited to pay their respects to the late Bishop Emeritus of Scranton.

“He was a good man,” former Scranton mayor Jimmy Connors said as he entered the Cathedral shortly after the public visitation began at 9 a.m. Connors worked with Bishop Timlin during his entire tenure as mayor which lasted from 1990 to 2002.

“He was very kind to me before I was mayor, while I was mayor and after I was mayor,” Connors explained. “He had a good heart, totally dedicated to God and the people. He loved every neighborhood here.”

William Nolan, who has been a member of the Cathedral parish since 1974, remembered the day Timlin was ordained a Bishop and thousands filled the streets.

“I thought the world of him,” Nolan said. “He was a very, very holy man. He loved people.”

Patrick Williams, President of Pennsylvanians for Human Life in Scranton, remembered Bishop Timlin as being unapologetically pro-life.

“We would always go to Bishop Timlin or Bishop Dougherty when we had issues that needed attention. Both of them were fantastic,” Williams explained.
While he didn’t know Bishop Timlin personally, Mike Stevens of Dallas, said it was clear that Bishop Timlin was humble.

“He cared deeply about the Church and deeply about the parishioners and I think that example of humility is terrific especially in this crazy world that we live in,” Stevens said.

OUR NEED FOR MERCY

With the funeral services taking place shortly after the Second Sunday of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, the theme of “mercy” played a significant role in the reflection of Monsignor Vincent Grimalia, who offered reflections during a private Vespers service on Monday, April 17, 2023, at Villa Saint Joseph in Dunmore.

At Bishop Timlin’s request, a private viewing for family members was held the day before his burial Mass.

“After celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday yesterday, during these 50 days of Easter, we have a context for our gathering, that reminds us of the loving mercy of God, that challenges each of us to live a life of mercy,” Monsignor Grimalia said.

Msgr. Grimalia said Bishop Timlin lived a “spirituality of mercy.”

“I think one of his favorite parables was the parable of the Good Samaritan,” Msgr. Grimalia related. “He regularly visited local hospitals and hospice units when able. He also would read the obituary column and visit funeral homes, to pray for the deceased and console their family and friends.”

During the private Vespers service, Msgr. Grimalia asked the crowd of roughly 50 to pray for Bishop Timlin and the good that he did.

“Let us also pray for all who touched his life and all the lives he touched,” Msgr. Grimalia ended.

Before being taken to his final resting place at Cathedral cemetery, Bishop Bambera echoed those same sentiments.

Bishop Bambera also reflected on a conversation he had with the late Bishop Emeritus of Scranton just hours before his passing.

“On Holy Saturday afternoon about 2 p.m., I visited with Bishop Timlin to wish him a Happy Easter. Although I have visited him regularly during his stay at Marywood Heights, I found him during this particular visit to be far more buoyant than he had been for quite some time. He told me that he had a plan to return toward his residence,” Bishop Bambera said. “He said, ‘I’m feeling pretty good right now, I think I can live to be 100,’ and he said, ‘But whatever God wants is what I’ll do.” A few hours later, in the early morning hours of Easter, God wanted him home so we give thanks for Bishop Timlin. We give thanks for the good that he did. We give thanks for the lives that touched him and the lives that he was able to touch and we pray that God’s mercy envelop him now and give him peace.”

SCRANTON – Ruiwen Su, a senior at Marywood University, has a lot to celebrate this Easter Season.

At the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday, April 8, 2023, the 25 year old officially became a member of the Catholic Church, receiving the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

The native of Beijing, China, did it with his new fiancé by his side as his sponsor after becoming engaged on the Monday of Holy Week.

Ruiwen Su is baptized by the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, during the Easter Vigil Mass on April 8, 2023, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton. (Photo/Mike Melisky)

“I’m excited and nervous,” Su said about the road ahead.

While studying at Marywood, Su got involved with the music ministry program and began feeling a deeper spiritual calling. He is one of 162 people received into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter in parishes throughout the Diocese of Scranton.

“I was born and raised in an atheist country but I still always felt like there was something higher,” Su explained. “I keep looking for the truth and try to dig into the knowledge.”

While Su’s fiancé, Naomi Doyle, grew up in a Catholic family, participating in the RCIA classes helped her grow deeper in her relationship with Jesus as well.

“I feel like God really gave me what I needed to help lead him through,” Doyle said. “Through this entire process, I’ve learned a lot about my faith and have re-affirmed what I believe.”

During his Easter homily, the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, stressed Easter is a time to rejoice and be glad.

“The Risen Jesus is present, here and now! Receive the life and hope that He promises,” the Bishop told the crowd at Easter Sunday Mass. “Like the women who first encountered the empty tomb on the day of resurrection, we are not to linger in this sacred space, reluctant to confront the suffering of our world. Our mission is to go forth boldly from this Cathedral with hope, to both encounter and proclaim the Risen Lord, in our families and neighborhoods!”

Bishop Bambera admitted that amid devastating earthquakes, school shootings and the War in Ukraine, some people might question exactly where the risen Jesus is to be found.

“The road to the resurrection always makes its way through the Cross,” Bishop Bambera noted. “Where do we look to find the risen Jesus? We look to those who suffer, to see the risen Christ and to make His presence known.”

To illustrate his point, the bishop focused on a television news report he had recently seen from the devastation left behind in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, after tornadoes virtually wiped the little town off the map just days before. He quoted one of the survivors, a woman named Melinda, during his homily.

“She had been buried for hours under the debris from her home that was destroyed,” the bishop stated, adding the woman so faithfully stated, “‘We have nothing left, no water, no car, no electricity, no house, no nothing. But by God’s grace and mercy, I was pulled out of a tomb. He saved me for a reason so I’ll trust in Him.’”

SCRANTON – More than 300 people participated in an annual Good Friday Way of the Cross procession, which took place on April 7 throughout the streets of South Scranton.

Parishioners of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross Parishes, many of whom speak Spanish, organized the event.

Parishioners of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross Parishes mark Good Friday with the Way of the Cross procession in South Scranton.

The faithful gathered at Saint Paul of the Cross Parish on Prospect Avenue and began their procession as a way of showing love for Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us.

“This is Christ going through His passion and us reliving it and bringing it to the South Scranton community so members can see it,” parishioner Adriano Torres said. “We all worked so hard making this happen.”

Edward Rivera of Wilkes-Barre, who participated in the procession for the first time this year, said the event brought forth many emotions, ranging from pain, suffering, betrayal and abuse.

“It means that I can actually go through what Jesus Christ went through and see first-hand the things that He suffered. It makes me realize that without Him we wouldn’t be here right now. Faith is something that I carry deep in my heart,” Rivera explained.

Dozens of actors spent months preparing for their roles.

“It has been two or three months doing this, every single Sunday after church, coming together to practice for this event today,” Rivera added.

One of the goals of the procession was to help evangelize and bring Jesus to people who might not know about the Church.

“This is what we’re called to do. We’re called to evangelize,” Torres said. “Jesus said, ‘Go out and preach my word,’ and this is what we’re doing!”

“I want people who are wondering, ‘Can I be part of this community’ or ‘Is this faith for me,’ to see they have a place in our community,” Rivera added.

Rev. Alfredo Rosario Paulino, Assistant Pastor of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross Parishes, helped lead the Way of the Cross procession.

 

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton will celebrate its annual Mother’s Day Adoption Mass on Sunday, May 14, at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton. This liturgy prayerfully recognizes all mothers, with a special emphasis on adoptive and foster mothers. Bishop Joseph C. Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

The Mother’s Day Adoption Mass is open to the public and all faithful are invited to attend.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will broadcast the Mass live. A livestream will also be provided on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

“A life without challenges doesn’t exist,” and that is one reason a child needs a mother, Pope Francis suggested in a recent speech.

Mothers fulfill a vital role by helping children “look realistically at life’s problems,” without getting “lost in them,” the pope said. A mother helps her children “to tackle” problems courageously and to become strong enough to overcome the problems they inevitably confront.

Of course, in this role, a mother walks a fine line, seeking a “healthy balance” for a child, Pope Francis said. That means a mother “does not always take the child along the safe road, because in that way the child cannot develop, but neither does she leave the child only on the risky path, because that is dangerous.”

A mother, said the pope, “knows how to balance things.”

Pope Francis talked about mothers’ roles during a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the oldest church in the West dedicated to Jesus’ mother. May is observed in the church as a month of Mary.

Mark your calendars for May 14 and join us for the Mother’s Day Adoption Mass as we pray for mothers, near and far, including Mary, Mother of the Church.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Conditions for religious freedom are “worsening” around the globe, a U.S. government body monitoring international religious freedom said in a recent report.

In its 2023 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom identified “regression” last year in countries including Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua and Russia. The annual report by the independent, bipartisan commission makes recommendations to the U.S. government for the promotion and protection of religious freedom abroad.

Bishop Rolando Álvarez of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Esteli, who has been critical of the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, prays in May 2022 at a Catholic church in Managua, Nicaragua, where he took refuge, alleging he had been targeted by the police. He was arrested in August 2022 and in February 2023 was sentenced to 26 years in prison. (OSV News photo/Maynor Valenzuela, Reuters)

USCIRF recommended that the State Department designate 17 countries as “Countries of Particular Concern” due to governments that engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations” of religious freedom. Twelve of those nations — Burma (Myanmar), China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – were designated as such by the State Department in November 2022. The report made five additional recommendations: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam.

“USCIRF is disheartened by the deteriorating conditions for freedom of religion or belief in some countries — especially in Iran, where authorities harassed, arrested, tortured, and sexually assaulted people peacefully protesting against mandatory hijab laws, alongside their brutal continuing repression of religious minority communities,” USCIRF Chair Nury Turkel said in a statement.

The report details difficult circumstances for some people of faith in those nations, such as China’s “attempts to eradicate Uyghurs,” human rights violations amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine including the suppression of some religious communities, and the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s persecution of Catholic leaders.

Stephen Schneck, USCIRF commissioner, told OSV News that “the situation for religious freedom or freedom of belief around the world is worsening.”

“I liken it to a virus spreading around the world where religion is itself being weaponized and used in nationalistic and often authoritarian circumstances against other religions,” Schneck said. “It’s very worrisome to see this combination of religion and government working against the space in which religious freedom and freedom of belief have traditionally operated.”

Threats to religious freedom, Schneck said, also present threats to democracy and human rights more broadly.

“You could think of religious freedom, for example, as like the canary in the coal mine for all of the rest of the human rights and for democracy itself, and that canary in the coal mine is not doing very well around the world right at the moment,” said Schneck, a political philosopher now retired from The Catholic University of America in Washington, where he was the founder and longtime director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies.

Praising the federal government’s response to the persecution of Catholic leaders in Nicaragua, Schneck said the U.S. is responding correctly but should ramp up its efforts to include congressional hearings. He also called for a more vocal response from the Vatican.

“The Vatican, as always, is playing a long game in its foreign policy, and I understand, as always, that the Vatican would prefer to be operating behind the scenes, but I think that it would help the situation for the Holy See to speak out more publicly and more strikingly in its condemnation of the Nicaraguan government and what the Nicaraguan government is doing against Catholics in the country,” he said.

The United States’ role in protecting and promoting freedom of religion and belief across the globe, Schneck said, is not to “advance our own values, but rather to hold up the universal rights and values enshrined in international law established under the United Nations.”

In a statement about the report, Turkel said the panel urges the Biden administration “to implement USCIRF’s recommendations — in particular, to designate the countries recommended as CPCs, and for the Special Watch List, or SWL, and to review U.S. policy toward the four CPC-designated countries for which waivers were issued on taking any action.”

“We also stress the importance of Congress acting to prohibit any person from receiving compensation for lobbying on behalf of foreign adversaries, including those engaging in particularly severe violations of the right to freedom of religion of belief,” Turkel said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – World Youth Day is an antidote against indifference, isolation and lethargy, Pope Francis said.

Since World Youth Days were established by St. John Paul II in 1985, “they have involved, moved, stirred and challenged generations of women and men,” he said in the preface of a new book, “A Long Journey to Lisbon,” by Aura Miguel, a Portuguese journalist for Rádio Renascença. Vatican News published the preface May 2.

The initial intuition that inspired St. John Paul “has not faded,” Pope Francis wrote, as today’s world, especially its young people, is facing enormous changes and challenges.

Pope Francis greets the crowd before celebrating Mass for World Youth Day pilgrims at St. John Paul II Field in Panama City, Panama, Jan. 27, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Young people, he wrote, “risk self-isolation every day, living in a virtual environment much of their life, ending up as prey to an aggressive market that creates false needs.”

“Getting out of the house, heading out with fellow travelers, having important experiences of listening and prayer combined with moments of celebration, and doing it together, makes these moments precious for everybody’s life,” he wrote.

“We really need young people who are at the ready, eager to respond to God’s dream, to care about others, young people who discover the joy and beauty of a life spent for Christ in service to others, to the poorest, to the suffering,” the pope said.

Pope Francis repeated his call to young people not to live life “standing on a balcony watching life go by,” avoiding getting involved and getting their hands dirty, putting a screen between them and the rest of the world.

“Many times I have told (young people) not to be ‘couch potatoes,'” not to be “‘anesthetized’ by people who benefit from having them ‘dumb and numb,'” he wrote.

Being young is the time for dreaming, the pope wrote, and for being open to the real world, “discovering what is really worthwhile in life, struggling to conquer it; it is opening oneself to deep and true relationships, it is engaging with others and for others.”

But, he wrote, the world is facing so many challenges: the pandemic has shown that “we can only save ourselves together”; there is “the vortex of war and rearmament”; the arms race “seems unstoppable and threatens to lead us to self-destruction”; there is the war in Ukraine; and many wars and conflicts continue to be forgotten, “so much unspeakable violence continues to be perpetrated.”

How are young people to respond, the pope asked? “What are they being called to do with their energy, their vision of the future, their enthusiasm?”

“They are called to say, ‘We care.’ We care about what is happening in the world” and about “the fate of millions of people, of so many children, who have no water, no food, no medical care, while the rulers seem to be competing to see who can spend the most on the most sophisticated armaments,” he wrote. “We care about everything,” including all of creation and the digital world, “which we are challenged to change and make more and more humane.”

“World Youth Days have been an antidote to life on a balcony, to the anesthesia that makes people prefer the couch, to disinterest,” Pope Francis said in the preface.

“WYD is an event of grace that awakens, broadens horizons, strengthens the heart’s aspirations, helps people dream, to look ahead,” he wrote. “It is a planted seed that can bear good fruit.”

World Youth Day 2023 is scheduled to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 1-6, and the motto for this year’s event is a passage from the Luke’s Gospel: “Mary arose and went with haste.”

In his formal message for WYD 2023, published in last year, Pope Francis said that the figure of Mary shows young people “the path of closeness and encounter” at a time when “our human family, already tested by the trauma of the pandemic, is racked by the tragedy of war.”

(OSV News) – When King Charles III is crowned May 6 in the gothic splendor of London’s ancient Westminster Abbey, it will be one of the year’s most watched events.

The coronation has attracted controversy – not least over its $125 million price tag during a cost-of-living crisis – even as opinion polls show dwindling public interest in the monarchy. But despite controversies, it will still be an opportunity to project the soft-power of British royal pageantry and reaffirm Christianity’s place in public affairs, including the presence of Britain’s small but significant Catholic minority.

King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, attend a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on April 27, 2023. (OSV News photo/Yui Mok, Reuters)

“Being anti-Catholic has been an element of British identity for centuries,” Father Timothy Radcliffe, former master of the Dominicans and one of Britain’s best-known Catholic preachers, told OSV News. “I’d hope an event like this will help our church become yet more integrated into national life at a time when, like most countries, we face threats of disintegration, increasing inequality and a declining sense of the common good.”

King Charles inherits the duties and prerogatives of head of state in an unbroken line of monarchs dating back to the 10th century. He also assumes the role of supreme governor of the Church of England, along with the traditional title of “fidei defensor,” or “defender of the faith,” bestowed in 1521 by Pope Leo X on King Henry VIII.

And while he’s long declared his wish, in a modern multicultural society, to be defender of all faiths, not just one, King Charles III reaffirmed his Protestant identity in speeches after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 — and will reaffirm it again during the coronation service.

This has caused some disappointment, not least among Britain’s Catholics.

The Catholic Church will be represented at the abbey by Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, who will share a blessing with Protestant and Orthodox leaders. Catholic bishops from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also will join the congregation, along with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the newly appointed apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, Spanish Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía.

But Catholic prelates were not included among 50 public figures assigned formal roles in the order of service, published April 28. This will include a Bible reading by Britain Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a practicing Hindu, and the presentation of regalia by Muslim, Jewish, Sikh and Hindu leaders.

Susan Doran, an Oxford University monarchy historian, said she regretted the bulk of the ceremony will be exclusively Protestant, with Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury and other Anglican prelates playing a dominant role.

“With its plummeting membership and many problems, it’s not surprising the Church of England seeks to hold on to its link with the monarchy, and sees the coronation as an opportunity to proclaim this,” Doran told OSV News.

“But at a time when the monarchy seems to be losing meaning for many people, I think it will fuel further alienation if they go too far down a narrow Protestant route — particularly among the young and people of other faiths,” she added.

That could be the reaction of some Catholics, too, especially those conscious of how bitter past conflicts have defined modern Britain’s religious outlook.

Relations with Rome, dating from the first mission to Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the sixth century, were broken off under Henry VIII in 1536 during the Reformation conflicts. After a brief restoration under Henry’s Catholic daughter, Mary I, hostility reared again under the Protestant Elizabeth I, who was declared excommunicated and deposed as a “servant of wickedness” in 1570 by Pope Pius V.

Persecution of Catholics intensified under Elizabeth’s successor, James I, particularly after the infamous 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up the king and his parliament. Some historians now dispute whether such a plot really existed. But it sealed the fate of English Catholics for the next 250 years as perceived heretics and traitors.

Even in the late 19th century, the Catholic Church was treated as an alien element in national life, deprived of equal rights. Although a church hierarchy was reestablished in 1850, it took until 1871 for Catholic academics even to be admitted to Oxford and Cambridge universities, and until St. John Paul II’s historic 1982 visit for formal diplomatic ties to be established.

Since then, the Catholic Church’s profile has been rebuilt, bringing it closer to full acceptance as a British institution.

Recent statistics show that Catholics make up around 13% of the United Kingdom’s 67 million inhabitants, with Anglicans at 14%, although religious affiliations have declined sharply across the country, with only around half of citizens declaring themselves Christian in recent surveys, compared to more than 70% two decades ago.

Although King Charles’s consort, Queen Camilla, was baptized a Protestant, she was married by a Catholic priest in 1973 to her Catholic first husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, and brought up her son and daughter as Catholics.

Technical formalities aside, Charles has shown personal openness to Catholics, postponing his own wedding to Camilla in 2005 to attend St. John Paul’s funeral.

Before his fourth Vatican visit in October 2019 for the canonization of St. John Henry Newman, Charles published an article in L’Osservatore Romano and The Times of London hailing the event as a celebration “not merely for Catholics, but for all who cherish the values by which he was inspired.”

Heading a 12-member Catholic delegation to pledge allegiance to the new king March 9, Cardinal Nichols duly paid tribute to Charles’s “commitment to religious faith” and assured him of Catholic support.

On April 19, the pope himself reciprocated, donating two splinters from the Cross of Christ, preserved among relics in the Vatican Museums, for incorporation into a new Cross of Wales, which will lead the king’s coronation procession.

The king will be crowned as he sits on a 700-year-old chair with the solid-gold St. Edward’s Crown, made for Charles II in 1661. He will be presented with the orb and scepter pictured last autumn sitting atop the late queen’s coffin.

Holy oil for anointing the monarch and Camilla was consecrated March 4 at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Nichols and other British Catholic bishops urged Catholics to take a full part in coronation events, including special weekend Masses and a May 3-5 triduum of prayer, as well as a nationwide day of volunteering and charity work set for May 8.

“The world has immeasurably changed since 1953 (coronation of Queen Elizabeth II), with many more opportunities and challenges,” Cardinal Nichols acknowledged in a prayer card circulated to all parishes in April. The prayer asks God to help Charles III “constantly secure and preserve for the people entrusted to his care the freedom that comes from civil peace.”

Father Radcliffe, the Dominican preacher, hinted at his own disappointment, all the same, that the Catholic Church won’t be assigned a fuller part, given the “godly role” it’s always tried to play in society.

“Catholic social teaching could be a precious gift for a nation needing to renew its social bonds and rediscover a common life and purpose,” Father Radcliffe told OSV News.

Cardinal Nichols’ spokesman, Alexander DesForges, was more sanguine. Although Catholic clergy aren’t playing a significant role in the coronation, they’ll at least be present – for the first time since Henry VIII and his Reformation.

“We have to be realistic. The king has a formal role in the Anglican Church of England, and this service is taking place in Westminster Abbey,” DesForges told OSV News. “The fact that six bishops will be present, including the Vatican’s Cardinal Parolin, whereas there was no Catholic representation at all 70 years ago, clearly shows things have changed.”

BUDAPEST, Hungary (CNS) – Praising the piety and charity of Hungarian Christians and their commitment to supporting traditional family life, Pope Francis said Christ also calls them to open their hearts — and perhaps their borders — to others in need.

When it comes to the church or to society, isolationism is not Christian, the pope said in a variety of ways during his visit to Budapest, Hungary, April 28-30.

Pope Francis accepts the offertory gifts from Hungarians dressed in traditional clothes during Mass in Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos Square April 30, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Because of the 86-year-old pope’s mobility issues, the trip was confined to the capital and the official schedule was lighter than usual. But, as is normal for the pope, he used part of his long midday breaks and early evenings for private meetings, including with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary.

Flying back to Rome April 30, the pope confirmed that he and Metropolitan Hilarion had spoken about Russia’s war on Ukraine, and he said the Vatican has some special “mission” underway, but he declined to provide details.

The pope also spoke about the war with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who, despite being a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has condemned the war. But within the European Union, he has consistently voted against sanctioning Russia and against sending weapons to Ukraine.

Orbán has claimed his position makes him the only European leader siding with Pope Francis, although the pope has insisted Ukraine has a right to defend itself.

In his first speech in Hungary – to government and civic leaders and diplomats serving in Budapest – the pope encouraged the leaders to foster greater European unity rather than going their own way.

The “passionate quest of a politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past,” he said April 28 in his speech at the former Carmelite monastery that now houses Orbán’s office.

“More and more,” the pope said, “enthusiasm for building a peaceful and stable community of nations seems to be cooling, as zones of influence are marked out, differences accentuated, nationalism is on the rise and ever harsher judgments and language are used in confronting others.”

Ukraine is one of Hungary’s eastern neighbors and Hungarians have assisted some 2.5 million Ukrainians who have crossed the border since Russia’s war on Ukraine began in February 2022. About 35,000 of the Ukrainian refugees have remained in Hungary.

Pope Francis repeatedly praised Hungarians for opening their country and their hearts to the Ukrainians, but in several speeches and at his Mass April 30 in Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos Square, he urged them to be open to everyone in need.

“How sad and painful it is to see closed doors,” he said in his homily. He cited “the closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference toward the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close toward those who are foreign or unlike us, toward migrants or the poor.”

Orbán and President Katalin Novák, who have promoted the migration restrictions, were among the estimated 50,000 people attending the Mass in the square in front of the Hungarian Parliament building.

The pope also preached openness April 28 during a meeting with Hungary’s bishops, priests, religious, seminarians and catechists.

He called Hungarian Catholics to embrace “prophetic welcome” or “prophetic receptivity,” which, he said, “is about learning how to recognize the signs of God in the world around us, including places and situations that, while not explicitly Christian, challenge us and call for a response.”

Christians grow in “prophetic receptivity,” he said, by “bringing the Lord’s consolation to situations of pain and poverty in our world, being close to persecuted Christians, to migrants seeking hospitality, to people of other ethnic groups and to anyone in need.”

Pope Francis met with more than 10,000 Hungarian young people in a sports arena April 29 and listened to four of them share how they have overcome obstacles and grown in their faith.

One of them, Tódor Levcsenkó, a 17-year-old student in Miskolc, Hungary, and the son of an Eastern Catholic priest from the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Western Ukraine, told his peers that their sense of mission and purpose can be “numbed by the fact that we live in safety and peace,” but only a few miles away, across the border, “war and suffering are the order of the day.”

“May we have the courage to defend our faith and take up our call to be peacemakers,” he said.

Pope Francis echoed his call, telling the young people, “This is the real challenge: to take control of our lives in order to help our world live in peace. Each one of us should ask the uncomfortable question: What am I doing for others, for the church, for society? Do I think only about myself?”