Pope’s Tough Talk to Rome Causes Political Storm

VATICAN CITY – In an apparent rebuke to Rome government officials, Pope Benedict XVI criticized what he called “very serious degradation” in areas of the city and the surrounding region.

The pope urged the officials to resolve a series of emergencies in education, housing, poverty, unemployment and public safety.

He also warned that there should be greater support for the traditional family “founded on marriage” – an implicit criticism of recent efforts in Rome to grant legal recognition and benefits to cohabiting couples.

The talk ignited a storm of political controversy, and the next day the Vatican issued a statement expressing amazement at the reaction.

It said it was not the pope’s intention to ignore the “appreciable commitment” of the city and the region to deal with the problems.

The pope made his remarks in a meeting with administrators led by Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni; the president of the province of Rome, Enrico Gasbarra; and the president of the region of Lazio, Pietro Marrazzo. All three are members of center-left political parties.

SNAP Wants Cardinal Law Removed from Congregations

WASHINGTON – Members of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests are calling for Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s retirement and subsequent removal from eight Vatican congregations before the pope’s visit to the United States in April.

Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, along with three other SNAP members, personally delivered a letter to the Vatican Embassy in Washington stating their desire that Cardinal Law, former archbishop of Boston, officially retire.

The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI in care of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Cardinal Law, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome since 2004, will turn 77 in November.

A former bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., he was archbishop of Boston from 1984 until he resigned in December 2002 in the wake of controversy over his handling of cases of sexual abuse committed by Boston priests.

The letter also included a signature of support from Mary Pat Fox, president of Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic lay organization formed in response to the clergy abuse crisis.

Taiwan’s President Asks Papal Support at UN

VATICAN CITY – President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan has asked Pope Benedict XVI to support his country’s bid to join the United Nations and to participate fully in other international forums.

“Having long been persecuted by communist China, Taiwan has been excluded from taking part” in the United Nations, the World Health Organization and other agencies designed to bring countries together to address the world’s problems, the president wrote.

The Taiwanese Embassy to the Holy See gave Catholic News Service a copy of Chen’s Jan. 2 letter to Pope Benedict.

Thanking the pope for his message for the Jan. 1 celebration of World Peace Day, Chen said he fully agreed with the pope’s assertion that humanity is a global family and that problems must be faced by all nations working in harmony.

But because of China’s insistence that individual nations and international organizations not recognize Taiwan’s independence, “Taiwan has been unable to work hand in hand with the international community in seeking solutions to issues of mutual concern, especially to matters regarding the survival of mankind,” Chen said.

Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only two dozen countries; its Vatican embassy is its only diplomatic mission in Europe.

While the Vatican continues to have full diplomatic relations with the country, it has not sent an ambassador to Taiwan in more than 30 years

Bishop Warns Catholics About Life Teen Founder

WASHINGTON – The priest who founded the Life Teen ministry program has established a nondenominational Praise and Worship Center that is drawing hundreds of participants a week, prompting a warning to Catholics from the bishop of Phoenix to stay away from the services and not to support the center.

The Praise and Worship Center has held a handful of worship services in Mesa, Ariz., since Thanksgiving, attracting as many as 700 people for services built around Scripture readings, Christian music, prayer and preaching by the charismatic Msgr. Dale Fushek, a Phoenix diocesan priest who is on administrative leave from Catholic ministry, and another resigned priest.

Msgr. Fushek, who founded Life Teen, an international youth ministry program, has been on administrative leave since late 2004, when allegations were raised that he had engaged in improper sexual conduct with teens.

A year later, he was charged with several misdemeanor criminal counts of assault, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and indecent exposure. Some charges were dropped and the others have not come to trial.

The Arizona Supreme Court is currently weighing Msgr. Fushek’s request for a trial by jury

Jesuit Delegates Accept Superior’s Resignation

ROME – Delegates to the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus voted Jan. 14 to accept the resignation of Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach as superior general.

When the result of the vote was announced, Father Kolvenbach received a standing ovation and thanked the delegates “for so graciously firing me.”

Before the vote, Father Kolvenbach told the more than 200 delegates that he was offering his resignation because “the Society of Jesus has the right to be governed and animated by a Jesuit in full possession of his physical and spiritual talents and not by a companion whose energies continue to diminish because of age.”

After the delegates accepted his resignation, Father Kolvenbach offered his thanks to God, to Pope Benedict XVI and to the Jesuits.