SCRANTON (July 15, 2021) – The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, released a letter to the faithful of the Diocese of Scranton today indicating the Sunday Mass obligation will be reinstated August 15, 2021, in the Diocese of Scranton. This change will also occur in each diocese in Pennsylvania on the same date.
La Diócesis de Scranton anuncia la fecha para restaurar la obligación de la misa dominical
Pope Francis has announced the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated on Sunday, July 25, 2021.
All parishes in the Diocese of Scranton have been encouraged to dedicate one Sunday Mass to grandparents and the elderly in advance of the liturgical memorial of Ss. Joachim and Ann on July 26.
The pope has chosen the theme, “I am with you always” (cf. Mt. 28:20) for this inaugural celebration.
The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, invites the faithful of the Diocese of Scranton to join him in celebrating Mass for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton on Sunday, July 25.
The Mass will also be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton with a livestream made available on all Diocesan social media platforms.
Pope Francis also recently released a special message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. That message can be found on the following page.
Writing to his peers, Catholics who have reached a venerable age like he has, Pope Francis told older Catholics that God is close to them and still has plans for their lives.
“I was called to become the bishop of Rome when I had reached, so to speak, retirement age, and thought I would not be doing anything new,” said the pope, who is 84 now and was elected when he was 76.
“The Lord is always – always – close to us. He is close to us with new possibilities, new ideas, new consolations, but always close to us. You know that the Lord is eternal; he never, ever goes into retirement,” the pope wrote in his message.
The Vatican also announced that people who attend a Mass or other celebration for the day, “devote adequate time to actually or virtually visiting their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty” or join in prayers for the elderly July 25 can receive a plenary indulgence as long as they fulfill the usual requirements of also going to confession, receiving the Eucharist and praying for the intentions of the pope.
The indulgence also is available to “the elderly sick and all those who, unable to leave their homes for a serious reason, will unite themselves spiritually to the sacred functions of the world day, offering to the merciful God their prayers, pains or sufferings of their lives,” the Vatican said.
Pope Francis’ message, which was distributed in writing in eight languages and on video, acknowledged how many older people around the world suffered and continue to suffer physically, emotionally and spiritually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he also insisted that the Christian call to share the Gospel is as pertinent now for all of them as it ever was.
“Think about it: what is our vocation today, at our age? To preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young and to care for the little ones,” he wrote. “Never forget this.”
“It makes no difference how old you are, whether you still work or not, whether you are alone or have a family, whether you became a grandmother or grandfather at a young age or later, whether you are still independent or need assistance,” he said. “There is no retirement age from the work of proclaiming the Gospel and handing down traditions to your grandchildren. You just need to set out and undertake something new.”
Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, 73, summarized Pope Francis’ vision for how younger people should mark the special day by using the phrase, “try a little tenderness.”
The cardinal, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, encourages younger people to take an action of tenderness on July 25: Visit your grandparents or any older person living alone, offer them a ride to Mass, take them a flower or even potentially take them the Eucharist.
“Tenderness is not just a private feeling, one that soothes wounds, but is a way of relating to others, which should also be experienced in public,” Cardinal Farrell said. “We have become accustomed to living alone, to not hugging each other, to considering the other as a threat to our health. Our societies, the pope tells us in ‘Fratelli Tutti,’ are now fragmented.”
“Tenderness has a social value,” the cardinal insisted.
SCRANTON – The 2020 Diocesan Annual Appeal: Bound Together in Hope has concluded with gifts and pledges of nearly $4.1 million from 20,800 donors. This is 91% of the goal of $4.5 million. Forty-six parishes surpassed their Annual Appeal parish goal. Those parishes are all listed at the bottom of this page.
“I am extremely grateful to our parishioners, clergy and friends for their support of the 2021 Annual Appeal,” Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, said. “I appreciate the generosity of so many of our faithful especially in this most difficult year when everyone has faced struggles of their own.”
“Donors to the Appeal offer a wonderful example of God’s love and mercy in our lives and provide significant support and encouragement for all those who benefit from the Diocesan ministries funded by the Appeal,” Bishop Bambera added.
Gifts to the Diocesan Annual Appeal support the mission of our local Church to:
More specific information on ways that gifts to the Appeal have helped Diocesan and parish ministries in the past year are included in the 2020 Diocesan Annual Appeal Mission Impact Report on the next two pages of The Catholic Light.
The Diocesan Annual Appeal team includes Diocesan staff, pastors, parish volunteers and committees and regional chairpersons throughout the 11 counties in the Diocese in northeastern and north central Pennsylvania. “Congratulations and sincere thanks to our pastors, regional chairs and Appeal parish representatives who partnered with us to promote the Diocesan Annual Appeal and encourage participation among our parishioners in our 117 parishes throughout the Diocese,” Jim Bebla, Diocesan Secretary for Development, said. “This support is a key part of the success of the Appeal.”
This year’s Annual Appeal Regional Lay and Clergy Chairs are listed below.
Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna Counties – Karen Garman and Larry Hoey, Epiphany Parish, Sayre, and Father Joseph Kutch, Saint Michael Parish, Canton.
Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties – Chris and Ann DiMattio, Saint Catherine of Siena Parish, Moscow, and Father Patrick Albert, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Tunkhannock, and Saint Mary of the Lake, Lake Winola.
Luzerne County – Joe and Paula Panzitta, Corpus Christi Parish, West Pittston, and Father Joseph Elston, Saint John the Evangelist Parish and Saint Joseph Marello Parish, Pittston.
Lycoming and Tioga Counties – Jim and Susan Dinsmore, Saint Lawrence Parish, Williamsport, and Father Glenn McCreary, Resurrection Parish, Muncy.
Monroe County – Atty. Joe and Linda McDonald, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville, and Father Carmen Perry, Saint Luke Parish, Stroudsburg.
Wayne and Pike Counties – Gerald Najarian, Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, Milford, and Father Ed Casey, Saint Ann Parish, Shohola, and Saint John Neumann Parish, Lords Valley.
2020 Diocesan Annual Appeal
Parishes Over Goal
Ascension Parish – Forest City
Blessed Sacrament Parish – Throop
Corpus Christi Parish – West Pittston
Exaltation of the Holy Cross Parish – Hanover Township
Holy Cross Parish – Olyphant
Holy Family Parish – Luzerne
Holy Family Parish – Sugar Notch
Holy Name of Mary Parish – Montrose
Holy Rosary Parish – Hazleton
Immaculate Conception Parish – Scranton
Most Precious Blood Parish – Hazleton
Our Lady of Fatima Parish – Wilkes-Barre
Our Lady of Hope Parish – Wilkes-Barre
Our Lady of Victory Parish – Harveys Lake
Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish – Brodheadsville
Resurrection Parish – Muncy
Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish – Peckville
SS Peter & Paul Parish – Towanda
Saint Ann Parish – Shohola
Saint Barbara Parish – Exeter
Saint Brigid Parish – Friendsville
Saint Catherine of Siena Parish – Moscow
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish – Swoyersville
Saint Elizabeth Parish – Bear Creek
Saint Faustina Kowalska Parish – Nanticoke
Saint Frances X. Cabrini Parish – Carverton
Saint Gregory Parish – Clarks Green
Saint Ignatius Loyola Parish – Kingston
Saint John Bosco Parish – Conyngham
Saint John Neumann Parish – Lords Valley
Saint Joseph Marello Parish – Pittston
Saint Joseph Parish – Matamoras
Saint Joseph the Worker Parish – Williamsport
Saint Katharine Drexel Parish – Pleasant Mount
Saint Lawrence Parish – South Williamsport
Saint Luke Parish – Stroudsburg
Saint Mary Parish – Waymart
Saint Maximilian Kolbe Parish – Pocono Pines
Saint Michael Parish – Canton
Saint Nicholas Parish – Wilkes-Barre
Saint Peter’s Cathedral – Scranton
Saint Rita Parish – Gouldsboro
Saint Robert Bellarmine Parish – Wilkes-Barre
Saint Therese Parish – Shavertown
Saint Thomas More Parish – Lake Ariel
Saint Vincent de Paul Parish – Milford
SCRANTON — The 97th annual Solemn Novena to Saint Ann at the Basilica of the National Shrine, honoring the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary in West Scranton, opens on Saturday, July 17. It will continue with nine days of Eucharistic worship, devotional prayer and preaching, culminating with the celebration of the Feast of Saint Ann on Monday, July 26.
Very Rev. Passionist Father Richard Burke, rector of the Saint Ann Passionist Monastery and director of the Saint Ann National Shrine Basilica, announces the guest preachers for this year’s Solemn Novena will be Passionist Fathers Robert Joerger and Robert Carbonneau.
The theme for the 2021 Novena devotion, “Lift High the Cross,” pays homage to the very foundation and charism the religious Congregation of the Passion was established upon 300 years ago by Saint Paul of the Cross — namely, the spreading of the Gospel message through pious devotion to, and particular emphasis on, the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
“The Cross of Christ is the focus on our faith,” Father Richard said. “The Cross of Christ is the wellspring of meaning for all the joys and trials in the pathway of life.”
According to the Passionist superior, the preachers for the midsummer Novena to the grandmother of Jesus will narrow the focus of this year’s general theme to provide a sub-theme for each day of the devotion. The daily schedule of those preached messages that will apply the overall theme to the lives of the faithful is as follows:
July 17, “The Cross and Our Search for Life”; July 18, “The Cross as the Foundation of My Faith”; July 19, “The Cross: Where Wounds Become Wisdom”; July 20, “Carry Our Cross as Ambassadors for Christ”; July 21, “The Cross and the Breath of the Spirit”; July 22, “Mary and the Healing Message of Christ”; July 23, “The Cross and the Healing of Resentment”; July 24, “Compassion and the Cross”; July 25, “The Cross is Our Belonging”; and July 26, “Lift High the Cross & Humbly Accept Healing.”
In regard to the blessing with the Saint Ann relic following all Novena devotions, Father Richard explained that precautions will continue due to the ongoing pandemic. As was the case during last year’s Saint Ann Novena, only a general blessing of the faithful with the saint’s relic will be imparted. No individual blessings will be offered.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he graduated from Xaverian High School, Father Bob Joerger currently serves as pastor of Saint Therese of Lisieux Parish in Montauk, N.Y., and is an Affiliated Member of the De LaSalle Christian Brothers.
Upon graduating from Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., he entered the Passionist Novitiate, professing his
vows in 1973. He received his master’s degrees in theology and divinity from Saint John’s University, Queens, N.Y., prior to his ordination as a Passionist priest in 1977.
Father Bob later earned a master’s degree in Christian spirituality and certification as a spiritual director from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and attended the Institute of Culinary Arts in New York City.
He is past director of Saint Gabriel’s Youth Retreat House on Shelter Island, N.Y., and served as provincial superior of the Saint Paul of the Cross Province of Passionists ministering in Canada, the Eastern United States, Jamaica, Haiti and Puerto Rico. He is also a former consultor to the Superior General of the Passionists in Rome.
Father Rob Carbonneau was assigned to the Passionist religious community at Saint Ann’s Monastery and National Shrine Basilica in 2018, serving as an adjunct professor in the History Department at The University of Scranton, where he has taught courses on the history of American Catholicism and Modern China. As official historian for the Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Province, Father Rob oversees the Passionist Historical Archives collection at the Weinberg Memorial Library at The University of Scranton.
A native of West Hartford, Conn., and graduate of Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., Father Rob was ordained a priest for the Passionist order in 1978. He received his doctorate in American and East Asian history from Georgetown University in 1992, with his thesis providing in-depth research into the martyred deaths of three Passionist missionaries killed in Hunan China in 1929.
During 2015-18, the Passionist priest served as executive director of the U.S.-China Catholic Association in Berkeley, Calif., where he acted as an official spokesman on the present realities of the Catholic Church in China.
Father Rob is recognized as an international scholar on the Passionists in America, with an emphasis on the history of American Catholic missionaries in 20th-century China. In 2004, he published an article, entitled “Coal Mines, Saint Ann’s Novena and Passionist Spirituality in Scranton, Pennsylvania,” for American Catholic Studies.
Special spiritual offerings highlighting this year’s Novena to Saint Ann include the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine Rite on Tuesday, July 20, at 5:30 p.m., celebrated by Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, and Mass with Anointing of the Sick on Thursday, July 22, at 1:30 p.m., with the Sacrament of the Sick available to all elderly, infirm and the ill.
On Saturday, July 24, the Novena will offer a special blessing service for all infants and children at the 10 a.m. Mass. The following day, Sunday, July 25, all Eucharistic liturgies will honor and bless grandparents and the elderly, in observance of World Day for Grandparents and Elderly recently inaugurated by Pope Francis and in prayerful tribute to Saints Ann and Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus.
Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton will celebrate the Solemn Closing of the Novena on the Feast of Saint Ann, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. Earlier on the feast day, the Mass in Polish will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m., featuring Polish hymns. Anyone wishing to join the choir in singing the liturgical songs in Polish is welcome to do so by coming to the choir loft before Mass.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available to all faithful 45 minutes before each Novena Mass/devotion, with confessions heard in the Lower Basilica. On Saint Ann’s Feast Day, the Sacrament will be available throughout the day.
Father Richard also announced that the Saint Ann’s Religious Article Shop will be open throughout the Novena, and the Shrine’s Memorial Walkway and Saint Padre Pio Plaza will be available for those wishing to remember and honor the memory of loved ones.
Much to the delight of the faithful in attendance, Saint Ann Basilica Parish will once again staff and provide for the time-honored and popular tradition of the Novena Food Pavilion, offering menu items and refreshments for all devotees during their visit.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Ten days after undergoing intestinal surgery, Pope Francis was released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the Vatican confirmed.
In a statement released July 14, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that after leaving the hospital midmorning, the pope visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major to say a prayer of gratitude before the icon of “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people).
The pope thanked Mary “for the success of his surgery and offered a prayer for all the sick, especially those he had met during his stay in hospital,” the statement said.
After praying at the basilica, the pope returned to his Vatican residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Bruni said.
The pope was admitted to Gemelli hospital in the early afternoon July 4 to undergo “a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.”
He underwent a three-hour left hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.
Initially expected to remain in the hospital for seven days, the Vatican said July 12 that the pope would “remain hospitalized for a few more days in order to optimize his medical and rehabilitation therapy.”
During his stay, the pope continued working and spent time visiting patients at the hospital.
In his Sunday Angelus address July 11 from the 10th floor balcony of his suite of rooms at the hospital, Pope Francis said his time in the hospital gave him the opportunity to experience “once again how important good health care is” and that free, universal health care, especially for the most vulnerable, is a “precious benefit (that) must not be lost.”
“It needs to be kept,” the pope said. “And for this, everyone needs to be committed because it helps everyone and requires everyone’s contribution.”
The evening before his release, Pope Francis visited Gemelli’s pediatric oncology ward, which also is on the 10th floor, and greeted the young patients, their families and the staff.
While Pope Francis usually takes July as his vacation month, he is scheduled to lead the recitation of the Angelus at noon July 18 and to celebrate Mass July 25, the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
July 15, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed unique challenges in our lives. It has brought hardship and struggle to some – separation, anxiety and isolation to others. We pray for those who have been directly affected by the virus, those that are still impacted by its effects and those who have lost loved ones.
Since March 2020, there has been a dispensation in the Diocese of Scranton from the obligation to participate at Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. In light of the continued decline in cases and hospitalizations locally, that dispensation will end on Sunday, August 15, 2021, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This change will occur in each diocese in Pennsylvania on the same date.
The Sunday celebration of Mass is the center of the Church’s life. The importance – and necessity – to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days is rooted in our Baptism as Christians. Baptism compels us, as Christians, to unite ourselves with Christ at the altar in his saving Sacrifice of the Cross. Put simply, attending Mass is an encounter with Our Risen Lord.
This is a moment to thank God anew for the great gift of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus to us in His Holy Body and Blood as well as the joy of gathering together as people of faith.
As Pope Francis reminded us in his 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.” Long before we knew a pandemic was on the horizon, the Holy Father reminded us the Sunday encounter gives us the strength to experience the present with confidence and courage and to go forth with hope.
I invite and encourage all of the faithful in our community – including those who may have left the Church long before the pandemic – to return to the Table of the Lord – and be nourished by the Bread of Life! Our participation at Mass in-person is a gift for our own spiritual well-being, happiness and eternal salvation. It is also our responsibility to our brothers and sisters with whom we journey in faith.
It is important to note that people who are seriously ill or have a serious health risk, as well as those who have significant fear or anxiety of being part of a large group will continue to be legitimately excused from participating in Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. Those individuals are still encouraged to spend time in prayer, meditating on the Death and Resurrection of the Lord, reading Sacred Scripture and uniting themselves to Christ in his worship of the Father of us all.
Please continue to pray for all of our clergy and religious – who work tirelessly to make sure our parish communities remain safe and vibrant!
Faithfully yours in Christ,
†Joseph C. Bambera
Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton
His Excellency, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera, announces the following appointments, effective as indicated:
Bechtel, Rev. David W., from Pastor, St. Peter Parish, Wellsboro, and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Elkland, to Pastor, St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Williamsport, effective August 11, 2021.
Delaney, Msgr. Michael J., from Pastor, Holy Cross Parish, Olyphant, and Blessed Sacrament Parish, Throop, to Pastor, Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Clarks Summit, effective July 20, 2021.
Hvozdovic, Rev. Andrew S., from Pastor, Epiphany Parish, Sayre, to Pastor, Gate of Heaven Parish, Dallas, and Our Lady of Victory Parish, Harvey’s Lake, effective August 11, 2021.
Miller, Rev. Kevin M., from Assistant Pastor, St. Rose of Lima Parish, Carbondale, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Carbondale, to Pastor, St. Brigid Parish, Friendsville, effective August 2, 2021.
Quinnan, Rev. Michael F., to Pastor, St. Luke Parish, Stroudsburg, effective July 20, 2021. Father Quinnan will serve as Administrator Pro Tem, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville.
Simon, Rev. Robert J., from Pastor, St. Catherine of Siena, Moscow, to Pastor, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville, effective August 9, 2021.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Although still hospitalized, Pope Francis has resumed working and celebrated Mass for his caregivers in the small chapel that is part of the suite of rooms reserved for the popes at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the Vatican press office said July 9.
“He walked in the corridor and resumed his work, alternating it with moments of reading texts,” said the statement issued on the fifth morning of his hospitalization for colon surgery.
Matteo Bruni, director of the press office, also announced that Pope Francis will lead the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer July 11 from his room on the 10th floor of Gemelli hospital.
“Following the brief episode with a slight temperature (July 7), the Holy Father is without fever,” he added.
The morning after the running a temperature, the pope’s doctors performed a CT scan of his abdomen and chest as well as routine exams to ensure that he was not suffering from an infection, a common complication of intestinal surgery.
The results of the scan and exams were negative, the Vatican press office had said July 8.
Pope Francis had sent a message of “paternal closeness” to the “young patients in the nearby pediatric oncology and children’s neurosurgery wards,” Bruni said.
Early July 9, the Gemelli hospital released photos of a card one of the young oncology patients had made for the pope. The cover features a simply drawing of Pope Francis and the inside has the message: “Dear Pope Francis, we heard you are not so well and that you are in our hospital now. Even if we cannot see each other, we send you a big hug and hope you will heal quickly.”
“The Holy Father gives thanks for the many messages of affection and closeness that he receives daily and asks that we continue to pray for him,” Bruni said.
The Vatican’s July 7 midday bulletin, issued before the pope’s temporary temperature, said the doctors had removed his intravenous drip, and that “the post-operative progress of His Holiness Pope Francis continues to be regular and satisfactory.”
“The Holy Father has continued to eat regularly, and infusion therapy has been suspended,” it added.
Announcing that the pope had arrived at the Rome hospital July 4, the Vatican had said he was to undergo “a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.”
The next morning, the Vatican said the surgery lasted three hours and included “a left hemicolectomy,” the removal of the descending part of the colon, which can be recommended to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.
Three days after surgery, the Vatican said, “the final histological examination has confirmed a severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” a hardening of the tissue. The statement seemed to indicate that the biopsy showed no cancerous cells.
Pope Francis is expected to remain in the hospital at least until July 12. Since St. John Paul II was shot in 1981, the Gemelli hospital, part of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, has maintained a suite of rooms for use by the pope.
Hospitalized there on several occasions, St. John Paul would lead the Sunday Angelus from his room when able and even would go to the window to greet people gathered in the square in front of the hospital’s entrance.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Before going to the hospital for colon surgery July 4, Pope Francis told a crowd in St. Peter’s Square that he would be visiting Hungary and Slovakia Sept. 12-15.
With pilgrims from Slovakia holding their country’s flag aloft in St. Peter’s Square, the pope told the crowd, “I am happy to announce that from Sept. 12 to 15, God willing, I will travel to Slovakia to make a pastoral visit.”
But, first, he said, the morning of Sept. 12 “I will celebrate the concluding Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest,” Hungary.
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank those who are preparing this journey, and I am praying for them,” he said. “Let us all pray for this journey and for the people who are working to organize it.”
The Vatican press office said the Slovakia trip would include stops in the cities of Bratislava, Presov, Kosice and Sastin, but did not immediately provide details of the pope’s program.
Eduard Habsburg, the Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, replied on Twitter to people who asked why the pope was going to Hungary only for a Mass, but then would make a full pastoral visit to Slovakia.
“Hungary, a few hours, Slovakia, a few days. Why?” he tweeted. The pope “is doing exactly what he has been invited for — in Budapest, the final Mass of the @iec2021Budapest (the eucharistic congress), in Slovakia, an extended visit to the country.”
In a statement shared by the Vatican-based secretariat of the International Eucharist Congress, Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest said, “The Catholic community is waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father with great joy and love. We are praying for his visit to be the sign of hope and a new beginning after the abatement of the pandemic.”
While the visit was scheduled to be brief, the cardinal said the pope’s visit was significant since, for the past two decades, popes had sent representatives to the congress rather than participating themselves.
“The last time a pope participated in the international congress was 21 years ago in Rome, where Pope John Paul II was present,” the statement said.
The International Eucharistic Congress generally is held every four years and includes workshops, catechesis, adoration, a solemn procession with the Blessed Sacrament and a closing Mass. The Budapest gathering originally was scheduled for 2020 but was postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The alleged mishandling of millions of dollars of church funds will bring several high-profile individuals to a makeshift Vatican courtroom set up in a multifunction room of the Vatican Museums.
The surprise announcement July 3 that Vatican prosecutors indicted 10 individuals and entities, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, on a slew of charges related to financial mismanagement and malfeasance was the latest twist in the seemingly unending saga of the Vatican’s controversial investment in a property in London’s Chelsea district.
The indictments, especially of former Vatican officials, also may prove to be a litmus test for Pope Francis’ efforts to reform the Vatican’s finances, which have been marred by scandals over decades.
This also is the first time in modern history that a cardinal is among those facing a Vatican criminal trial.
Most of the accused, including Cardinal Becciu, have declared their innocence and say they are peacefully awaiting their day in court.
“Finally, the moment of clarification is coming, and the court will be able to find the absolute falsity of the accusations against me and the dark plots that have evidently sustained and fed them,” Cardinal Becciu said in a statement released by his lawyers July 3.
René Brülhart, former president of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, said he “always carried out my functions and duties with correctness, loyalty and in the exclusive interest of the Holy See and its organs.”
“I face this matter with serenity in the conviction that the accusations against me will fully disappear,” he said shortly after the indictment was announced.
“I am serene and confident that the truth of the facts and my innocence will emerge and will be clarified soon by the Vatican judicial authorities,” said Tommaso di Ruzza, who worked with Brülhart as former director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, now known as the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority.
But the indictment document detailing the Vatican’s extensive two-year investigation into how the Vatican Secretariat of State used over $200 million to finance a property development project in London paints a serious and complex picture.
For years, Cardinal Becciu defended the London property deal and insisted there was nothing wrong with the purchase. He consistently denied that funds from the Peter’s Pence collection were used; the money, he said, came from a fund within the Secretariat of State.
“I want to deny this because we did not use that money,” the cardinal said during a book presentation in February 2020. “Peter’s Pence was not affected; an investment was made on a building. It was a good and opportune occasion, which many people envy us for today.”
However, according to the 488-page indictment seen by Catholic News Service, funds worth an estimated $200.5 million held in Credit Suisse bank accounts owned by the Secretariat of State were transferred to Athena Capital Global Opportunities, a Luxembourg-based investment fund owned by Raffaele Mincione, who also was indicted.
The investment, the indictment stated, “was made with funds from Peter’s Pence.”
Mincione, a London-based Italian financier who owned the London property, is accused by the Vatican of embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office, misappropriation of funds and money laundering.
According to the Vatican’s investigation, the money was originally intended “to subsidize an operation in the petrol sector in Angola sponsored by a local entrepreneur, Antonio Mosquito, who was introduced to the Vatican environment” by then-Archbishop Becciu. The two met when the Italian prelate served as apostolic nuncio to Angola from 2001-2009.
However, when that deal fell through, the money was used to invest in Mincione’s London property with Gianluigi Torzi, an Italian broker, serving as the middleman in the development deal. Torzi faces several charges, including the extortion of $17 million from the Vatican as payment for his role in brokering the deal.
The indictment also stated that Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the former head of the Vatican Secretariat of State’s administrative office, provided prosecutors with a reconstruction of the events that led to the London property investment.
Msgr. Perlasca initially was seen as a possible suspect after Vatican police seized documents, computers and even floppy disks from his home and office in 2020. However, the report stated that he requested to speak to investigators.
In August 2020, the report said, Msgr. Perlasca gave his testimony and provided investigators “with a precious contribution for the reconstruction of some central moments relating to the case of the London property.”
Furthermore, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, who serves as “sostituto,” the No. 3 position in the Secretariat of State, are not named as defendants in the lawsuit despite the fact that both, as well as Msgr. Perlasca, had approved several key steps in the failed deal.
According to a summary of the case by Vatican News published July 3, “neither Msgr. Perlasca, who signed the Share Purchase Agreement, nor his superiors, the substitute (Archbishop) Edgar Peña Parra, and above all Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had been effectively informed to be fully aware of the juridical effects that the different categories of actions would cause.”
Speaking with journalists in Strasbourg, France, July 4, Cardinal Parolin said that, in this case, the Secretariat of State “is the victim,” and he expressed his willingness to testify at the trial if asked.
“As an institution, we believe that we have been damaged by everything that has happened,” the cardinal told the journalists. “We have to defend our position and our morality,” but also “get back possession of the money.”
“If they say, ‘You are responsible for everything that happened,’ I will undoubtedly have things to say, answers to give,” he said, according to La Croix, the French Catholic daily newspaper.