The Catholic Weekly 12 July 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 16 NEWS 12, July, 2020 WORLD Congo a failure, declares prelate AS CONGO celebrated 60 years of independence from Belgium, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa said the “great dreams” of the people had been shuttered by succes- sive regimes. “We have known successive autocratic regimes that have come to power like the colo- nialist without any concern for the will of the people, and this continues today: by force, war or fraud,” Cardinal Ambongo said in a homily on 30 June. He did, however, remind people to celebrate. He said citizens were much poorer to the point of being classified by some as the most miserable on earth. The exploitation of miner- al resources has occurred in broad daylight, with the popu- lations not benefiting, he said. In a visible policy of oc- cupation, according to the cardinal, nine neighbouring countries had a presence in Congo, either as armies or as migrants. He highlighted the violation of the country’s ter- ritory and Balkanisation agen- da, pointing to the insecurity and rebel forces in the east of the country. “We must recognise this ... after 60 years of independ- ence ... we have shamefully failed. We have not been able to make Congo a more beau- tiful country than before,” said Cardinal Ambongo. “Today’s Gospel invites us to take responsibility, because each of us will have to account before God what he had done with his talents for this beau- tiful country,” said Cardinal Ambongo. “We must get out of this mentality as we often hear in the city: that the president or the government will come to do this or that.” The latest worry, accord- ing to the cardinal, is growing mistrust and rivalry within the governing coalition that risked pushing the country back into chaos. - CNS POPE FRANCIS said he was praying for the hundreds of Catholics in Poland who turned to him directly, urging him to “rebuild our church” and criticising the country’s bishops for hiding cases of abuse against minors. Matteo Bruni, head of the Vatican press office, said the pope was aware of the appeal paid for by more than 600 Catholics in Poland so that it could be published as a paid ad in the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica , June 29. The pope “is praying for those who have turned to him,” Bruni said in a writ- ten statement on 30 June. ¾ ¾ Carol Glatz New forum emerges Francis prays for abuse advert signatories Bishops of Amazonian region create new conference to address unique issues EIGHT MONTHS after Ama- zonian church leaders met in Rome to discuss pastoral chal- lenges, a new Ecclesial Con- ference of the Amazon was founded on 29 June to carry on the synod’s work. The new conference in- cludes representatives from the nine Amazonian coun- tries, as well as representa- tives of the Latin American Conference of Religious, or CLAR; the Pan-Amazonian Church Network, or REPAM; and the Latin American and Caribbean arm of Caritas, the international Catholic Church humanitarian aid and devel- opment agency. Three indigenous people – one of them a religious sister – and three representatives of Vatican offices are also mem- bers of the conference, which ¾ ¾ Barbara Fraser was announced at the end of a four-day virtual assembly. The conference aims “to bring to fruition the dreams that Pope Francis laid out in Querida Amazonia ,” the post- synodal papal exhortation issued in February, Bishop DavidMartinez of PuertoMal- donado, Peru, told Catholic News Service. In the document, the pope wrote that he dreams of a church that fights for the rights of the poor, preserves its cul- tural riches and natural beau- ty, and is made up of commit- ted Christian communities that give it an Amazonian face. That is a call to conversion that the new ecclesial con- ference must bring down to earth, Bishop Martinez said. The body is part of the Lat- in American bishops’ council, known as CELAM, but has its own leadership and is au- tonomous. Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes is president and Bishop Martinez is vice president. “What is clear is that it is an ecclesial conference of the entire people of God,” reflect- ing the synod held at the Vat- ican in October 2019, which included bishops, laypeople, priests, brothers and sisters, Bishop Martinez said. It is connected with the rest of the Latin American church andwith the Vatican, although details of its relationship with the national conferences of bishops in six countries and the Antilles Episcopal Confer- ence, which includes Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, must still be worked out, he said. The conference will contin- ue working on issues raised at the synod, where partici- pants discussed pastoral work among indigenous peoples, threats to the environment, new forms of ministry and an Amazonian liturgical rite. “For the incarnation of the church in the Amazon, it is un- derstood that there is a differ- ent reality, a diverse reality. An ecclesial structure was needed that could embrace the specif- ic reforms of the church for the Amazon,” he said. “That does not mean it will operate outside of or without communion with the rest of the universal church.” The creation of the new ec- clesial conference, announced on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, comes as the coronavi- rus pandemic is taking a se- vere toll in the Amazon region, where more than 400,000 cases have been reported and more than 13,000 people have died, according to a REPAM tally based on official informa- tion from the countries. - CNS ¾ ¾ Fredrick Nzwili “The entire church must do everything possible so that canonical norms are applied, cases of abuse are discovered and those guilty of these grave crimes are punished,” Bruni said, referring to the pope’s position. The Vatican statement re- flected the response given to La Repubblica after the group of lay Catholics published the appeal in the paper and on a website in four different lan- guages at dosckrzywdy.pl/ eng/ . The appeal begged the pope to “look with care at the church in Poland where bish- ops are hiding cases of pedo- philia.” “Loyalty to the institution is blind, deaf and more impor- tant than the victims,” it said, criticising the body of bish- ops and the Vatican nuncio of “pretending not to see” abuse or for remaining silent. The appeal’s authors, who say they are a group of lay Catholics who are actively in- volved in the church and its ministries, “decided to take a public stand and sign an appeal to Pope Francis” after seeing no response was given concerning cases of abuse and negligence reported to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Bishops. The lack of decisive action being taken by the Vatican has been causing division in the church in Poland – between those who care about the in- stitution’s image or reputation “and those who care (about the) victims,” it said. The group said, “We decid- ed on this almost desperate move to appeal to Pope Fran- cis in the Italian newspaper because we love the church and we can no longer remain silent in face of the evil grow- ing in it.” Allegations of abuse and cover-up by bishops have been increasing over the years, it said, indicating that even if only some of the charges were true, it still shows “the outra- geous scale of abuse connect- ed with hiding pedophilia” as well as cases of violence and harassment against priests For the incarnation of the church in the Amazon, it is understood that there is a different reality, a diverse reality. An ecclesial structure was needed that could embrace the specific reforms of the church for the Amazon.” Bishop David Martinez An Indigenous Yanomami man stands near an illegal gold mine on indigenous land in the heart of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. PHOTO: CNS, BRUNO KELLY, REUTERS and consecrated persons. Among the bishops the group listed was Bishop Ed- ward Janiak of Kalisz, who came under scrutiny in a re- cent documentary investigat- ing his reported lack of action and delay in responding to accusations of the abuse of minors. Pope Francis named an apostolic administrator on 25 June. Archbishop Wojciech Polak, primate of Poland and the bishops’ delegate for child protection, announced in mid-May that he would ask the Vatican to initiate pro- ceedings against Bishop Ja- niak for failing to discipline a priest incriminated by the documentary. - CNS Pope Francis is seen praying in front of a candle in memory of victims of sexual abuse as he visits St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. PHOTO: CNS, PAUL HARING