Pope Leo apologises for Church's delayed condemnation of slavery, issues warning about AI

POPE LEO XIV has issued a sweeping encyclical on artificial intelligence, apologising for the Catholic Church’s delayed condemnation of slavery, and warning modern technology risks creating “new forms of slavery”.

The document, titled Magnifica Humanitas (‘Magnificent Humanity’), is the first encyclical of Leo’s papacy and sets out his vision for how the Church should respond to the rapid growth of AI and digital technologies.

Slavery

In the text, released at the Vatican today, the pope said the Church’s historic involvement with slavery remained “a wound in Christian memory”.

“For this, in the name of the Church, I sincerely ask for pardon,” he wrote.

Leo said that the Church owned slaves until the Middle Ages and advised European rulers on how to justify enslaving “infidels”.

He said it was only in the 19th century that “a formal, absolute and universal condemnation of slavery was clearly articulated”.

“It is true that past events cannot be judged anachronistically,” he wrote.

“Yet neither can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the Church came to denounce the scourge of slavery”.

While previous popes, including John Paul II and Francis apologised for Christian involvement in slavery and condemned modern exploitation, Leo’s statement went further in directly acknowledging the Church’s institutional role.

Artificial intelligence

The encyclical focuses primarily on the ethical consequences of artificial intelligence, which Leo described as one of the defining issues of the modern era.

He warned AI could deepen inequality, concentrate power among wealthy corporations and governments, and exploit hidden labour forces underpinning the digital economy.

“A significant part of the digital economy’s functioning relies on the silent work of millions of people,” he wrote, citing data labelling, content moderation and the extraction of minerals needed for microprocessors.

He said many workers involved in these processes were young people and women employed in harsh conditions for low wages.

“If technology promises emancipation, yet produces new forms of global subordination, it stands in contradiction to the fundamental principle of human dignity,” Leo wrote.

“The fight against new forms of slavery is a decisive test for the ethical discernment of AI”.

The pope also warned against what he described as an “armed competition” in artificial intelligence, driven by geopolitical rivalry and corporate dominance.

“Disarming AI means freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed competition,” he wrote.

“To disarm foes not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity”.

Leo called for stronger international regulation of AI, including legal safeguards, independent oversight and political accountability.

He warned that technological development was moving faster than society’s ability to regulate it responsibly.

The encyclical also contained a sharp criticism of the “just war” theory, recently invoked by figures in Donald Trump’s administration.

“Today, more than ever, it is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated,” Leo wrote.

He added that “no algorithm can make war morally acceptable” and said lethal military decisions should never be entrusted to artificial intelligence.

The manifesto was presented at the Vatican today alongside Christopher Olah, the co-founder of leading AI company Anthropic.

He warned that there is “a real possibility” that AI will displace human labour “at very large scale”.

Olah noted that AI development is concentrated in a “handful of wealthy nations” and said it was important to ensure that the gains of AI are ​shared globally”.

He also warned that while AI researchers may set out with the best of intentions, they “operate ⁠inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing”.

Leo signed the document on 15 May, marking the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the landmark social teaching encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII during the Industrial Revolution.

Mother-and-baby homes redress cut-off 'devastating' say survivors

A Stormont bill to establish a redress scheme for victims of mother-and-baby homes has been criticised by survivors for retaining a "cut-off date" for compensation.

Only families of victims who died after 29 September 2011 will be eligible for redress payments under the proposed legislation.

An amendment seeking to remove the date was not selected for debate during the bill's latest stage in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Some Stormont parties described it as "devastating" for campaigners, but the assembly speaker Edwin Poots said "decisions are taken with the best advice".

The bill will establish an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses and an associated redress scheme.

More than 10,000 pregnant women and girls passed through the institutions which were largely run by religious orders from 1920s until the 1990s.

Mechelle Dillon, whose mother Brenda was placed in a home and died in 2003, described the amendment being ruled out as "gut-wrenching".

"Those that died before that date were failed in life and now they are being failed in death," she said.

"It's really heartbreaking that those who have passed away have been forgotten."

Roisin and Lisa Morris said they were "devastated" their mother Madeline had been excluded from the scheme.

Lisa said the move "doesn't make any sense" and it was "so unfair on all those mothers".

The Alliance Party's Paula Bradshaw said she was "absolutely devastated for the victims and survivors" that the amendment had not been chosen for debate.

The member of the legislative assembly (MLA), who chairs the Executive Office committee, said the cut-off date had "caused so much pain and so much hurt".

Bradshaw called for "transparency" from the speaker's office, saying the issue was "very much damaging for the credibility of this assembly".

She said the committee had heard funding issues and difficulties in finding records were raised as potential factors for having a cut-off date.

"There may be some logistical stuff, but as far as I'm concerned if we're going to have an acknowledgement redress scheme, we have to acknowledge all the mothers and their children," she said.

Earlier, the assembly speaker intervened as the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Sinéad McLaughlin sought to raise the issue.

"Those decisions are taken with the best advice," Poots said in response.

"You know nothing about what goes on in the background, and it is not in order for you to challenge that."

McLaughlin said that "survivors who suffered the same trauma should not be treated differently simply because they died before an arbitrary date".

She said many had expressed "profound disappointment and upset" that a removal of the cut-off date would not be debated.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Phillip Brett described any attempt to undermine decisions made by the speaker as "repugnant".

"He receives procedural advice and he takes a decision based upon that," he told MLAs.

Brett said his party colleague's record on supporting victims and survivors was "second to none".

Adele Johnston, who was forced to give up her son after entering Marianvale mother-and-baby home in Newry, branded the outcome "absolutely disgusting".

"I would like Mr Poots to come and speak to us and tell us what his rationale is," she said.

What were mother-and-baby homes?

There was once a network of institutions across the island of Ireland which housed unmarried women and their babies at a time when pregnancy outside marriage was viewed as scandalous.

There were more than a dozen such mother-and-baby homes in Northern Ireland.

Three of them were Catholic-run workhouses known as Magdalene Laundries, where women frequently had to do exhausting, unpaid labour.

Researchers found that a third of those admitted were under the age of 19, with the youngest child to be admitted aged 12.

Many women and girls were separated from their children by placing them in children's homes, boarding them out (fostering) or through adoption.

There was also the issue of the cross-border movement of women and children in and out of the institutions.

The last institution in Northern Ireland closed in 1990.

What is in the bill?

The executive bill, which was introduced by the first and deputy first ministers, will establish a statutory public inquiry and a statutory redress scheme.

It comes after a consultation on proposals to establish an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes was launched in 2024.

The estimated cost is £80m, including almost £60m in initial redress payments to cover about 6,600 redress claims.

Each eligible person would receive a payment of £10,000 and a £2,000 payment will be made to each eligible family member on behalf of a loved one who had died since 29 September 2011.

A further Individually Assessed Payment (IAP) for the specific harm suffered by an individual would follow the public inquiry.

'Rigorous but cautious approach'

In a statement an assembly spokesperson said the speaker takes the legislative process "extremely seriously" with a "rigorous but cautious approach".

They said Poots has a "long history of being supportive of efforts to address the abuse which occurred in religious and state institutions in the past".

"Under assembly standing orders, the speaker's procedural decisions are final and it is out of order to challenge them. Therefore, parliamentary convention is that the speaker does not give reasons for his procedural decisions," they added.

"However, he recognises that this inevitably means that members, and those potentially involved with legislation, may be disappointed from time to time in different decisions."

Senan Molony: Taoiseach turns tables during Vatican visit by asking Pope Leo to intervene with religious orders in Ireland

Amid the pomp of a brightly coloured parading Swiss Guard presenting their pikes, the Taoiseach and his wife Mary enjoyed a private audience with Pope Leo at the Vatican.

The encounter initially looked like it would heighten the impression that Micheál Martin is slowly preparing for his own changing of the guard with the outcome of Friday’s by-elections likely to provide their own confirmation of that position.

But that was before the bombshell news that Martin had asked the Pope to intervene with the religious orders in Ireland to provide hundreds of millions of euro in compensation for the victims of clerical abuse.

It was a stunning manoeuvre as he spoke with the American head of the Roman Catholic Church.

It was almost as radical as Enda Kenny’s decision to close the Irish embassy to the Holy See for a time in 2011.

The decision followed an abuse report that highlighted a Vatican policy of taking no action on confirmed abuse reports, moving the perpetrators to new areas instead.

The media had not expected the Taoiseach’s revelation, which came after the usual review of world events, particularly the Middle East, that Martin said was discussed in the Pope’s private library in the Apostolic Palace.

It was a question about the intractable non-payment by religious orders that unlocked Martin’s disclosures about a direct demand that the Pope himself should make his views known to religious orders at home.

Martin also said he had discussed the trauma of victims with the Pope, who had answered his request “in the affirmative”.

Nothing so dramatic had seemed on the cards when Martin’s limousine swept into the cobbled courtyard of San Damasso, off St Peter’s Square, at 9.45am.

His was a meeting between visits from the presidents of the respective parliaments of Bulgaria and North Macedonia, but was diplomatically the most important, involving the honour guard of the Swiss pikemen.

The Taoiseach was greeted by Cardinal Petar Rajic of Croatia, who is the Prefect of the Papal Household in the Apostolic Palace which fronts on to the courtyard, with the papal apartments on its second floor.

It is from a shuttered window there that the Pope delivers his annual Urbi et Orbi message to the world every Christmas.

As Martin arrived, tourists were already winding their way through snaking queues in St Peter’s Square, hoping to enter the imposing basilica itself. In the heart of the square stands a statue of St Peter grasping the keys of the kingdom of heaven, a reminder that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on Earth.

The Taoiseach equally grasps the keys of political power, even as there are those who would seek to loosen them from his grasp.

For Mary Lou McDonald, Ireland’s would-be first female head of government, the outcome of the poll in Dublin Central, a constituency vastly bigger in size and population than the Vatican, is a key consideration at home.

Martin visited the Irish College in Rome, where he viewed a monument containing the heart of The Liberator, Daniel O’Connell, whose body is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

When O’Connell was on his deathbed in Genoa, intending to make a pilgrimage to the Eternal City, he pronounced that his soul would go to God, but his heart should go to Rome and his body be repatriated.

The marble monument was paid for by the carriage operator Charles Bianconi and erected in 1854.

It also contains a relief of O’Connell refusing the oath in the House of Commons in 1829 because of its sectarian wording – one means by which he won Catholic emancipation later that same year.

Peru: Mass of Reparation for the victims of ‘Sodalitium’

In the parish of San Juan Bautista in Catacaos, in Peru’s northwestern Piura region, a solemn celebration was held for the Tallán indigenous communities who, for over a decade, suffered persecution, land expropriation, and harassment by the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a movement suppressed by Pope Francis in 2025. 

The Mass, celebrated on Saturday, 23 May, is intended as a public gesture of reparation and justice, following years of violations against territorial and social rights, an accompaniment along the path to healing deep wounds.

The lay society, better known as "Sodalicio," was among the most active and widespread entities in Latin America from the 1970s onward. However, it became the center of severe abuse and corruption scandals involving its founders and top leadership.

Pope Francis suppressed the movement on 14 April 2025, issuing a decree that cited, among other reasons, a "lack of foundational charisma."

A journey of listening

That decisive action by the late Pope Francis was among the final acts of his governance, occurring roughly a month before the election of Robert Francis Prevost, a missionary in Peru and one of the most prominent supporters of the victims and the investigations into Sodalitium.

The suppression was accompanied by the appointment of an apostolic commissioner to oversee the dissolution process: Fr Jordi Bertomeu Farnós.

The Catalan prelate, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, had previously been tasked by Pope Francis with investigating, alongside Archbishop Charles Scicluna, cases of abuse in Chile and other parts of Latin America, including Peru, the homeland of Sodalitium’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari.

Polish government approves recognition of foreign same-sex marriages

Poland’s government has issued a regulation allowing same-sex marriages conducted in other EU member states to be entered into the Polish civil registry.

The decision, which comes in response to a European court ruling requiring Poland to recognise such marriages, marks a major change in a country that still does not allow any form of same-sex union to be concluded under domestic law.

Up until now, Poland’s civil registry has only allowed male-female marriages to be entered. However, that will change under a government regulation signed into force by interior minister Marcin Kierwiński and digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski.

Instead of two separate sections titled “man” and “woman”, each will now be labelled “man/woman”, meaning the system can recognise both opposite-sex and same-sex marriages, reports broadcaster TVN.

“Thanks to this change, every civil registry office in Poland will be able to transcribe same-sex marriages concluded abroad,” wrote Gawkowski on social media. “The state will treat all citizens with dignity and respect…History is unfolding before our eyes.”

Until this year, same-sex couples who married abroad and have tried to have their marriage certificates transcribed into the Polish system have had their efforts rejected by registry offices and courts, which often pointed to article 18 of Poland’s constitution.

That states that: “Marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”

However, following a long-running legal battle by one couple, last November the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Poland must recognise same-sex marriages conducted in other EU member states.

That in turn led Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) to issue an order, in March this year, for Warsaw’s registry office to transcribe the marriage certificate of the couple who took their case to the CJEU.

However, before this month, it remained unclear how the Polish government would implement the CJEU and NSA rulings. Reports suggested disagreement between more liberal and conservative elements within Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s broad ruling coalition over what action to take.

However, the government sprang into action last week after Tusk issued a public apology to same-sex couples for the “years of rejection and humiliation” they have experienced due to Poland not legally recognising their relationships and ordered his ministers to move forward with the necessary changes.

Meanwhile, even before today’s government regulation was issued, two Polish cities, Warsaw and then Wrocław, began entering same-sex marriages into their registries. They simply listed one spouse in the “man” section and the other as a “woman”, even though that was not accurate for one of the spouses.

There remains uncertainty about what legal consequences the transcription of foreign same-sex marriages into the Polish system will have in practice, especially given that Poland’s domestic law does not allow for any legally recognised form of same-sex union.

Kierwiński has previously said that transcription “does not mean that marriages concluded abroad will have each and every right” available to other married couples. Legal experts say it will take time – and potential further court rulings – for norms to be established.

Separately, the government last year approved a proposed law allowing same-sex couples to receive certain rights normally granted to married couples. However, the bill has not yet been voted on by parliament and, even if it is approved, faces a likely veto from conservative, opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki.

This week, far-right opposition group Confederation (Konfederacja) submitted a bill to parliament that would ban same-sex couples from adopting children. It says the move was prompted by concern that the recognition of same-sex marriages could lead to such couples being allowed to adopt.

US bishop compares LGBT group New Ways Ministry’s activism to Pentecost

Kentucky Bishop John Stowe inaugurated the new podcast of heretical LGBT group New Ways Ministry and compared the group’s activities to Pentecost in blasphemous comments.

The bishop also compared the leaders and supporters of New Ways Ministry, which promotes homosexual “marriage” and “gender transitions,” to St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, and other Catholic figures.

Stowe, who is known for his heterodoxy on homosexuality and gender, invoked Pentecost to push for “diversity” in the Church.

“I like to think of that driving wind of the Spirit’s presence blowing open the doors and windows of that closed house in which the community had been waiting,” he said.

“Isn’t this opening of windows and doors what the founding leaders and supporters of New Ways Ministry were doing as they embraced those wounded by rejection because of their sexual orientation?” he later asked.

The conventual Franciscan bishop, appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Diocese of Lexington in 2015, shockingly compared New Ways Ministry’s “embrace” of homosexual and gender-confused individuals to St. Paul’s inclusion of Gentile Christians in the Church.

“Isn’t this what Paul of Tarsus experienced when he saw no reason to exclude the Gentiles from this universal community? A latecomer in comparison to the Apostles, he challenged them to be more expansive and inclusive,” Stowe said.

St. Paul notably condemned homosexuality as “unnatural,” “shameless acts,” and “dishonorable passions,” in the Letter to the Romans (1:26–27). He also taught that unrepentant homosexuals “will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven” (1 Cor 6:9) and named sodomy alongside murder of one’s parents as a particularly serious sin (1 Tim 1:9).

Vatican censured New Ways Ministry’s founders

Stowe’s praised New Ways Ministry’s “founding leaders” despite the fact that Pope St. John Paul II and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, censured them in 1999.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger declared New Ways Ministry’s founders Sr. Jeanne Grammick and Fr. Robert Nugent “permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons.”

“The ambiguities and errors of the approach of Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the Church,” the congregation said in a document approved by John Paul II.

It added that the two activists were “ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their respective religious institutes.”

In recent years, New Ways Ministry has published articles criticizing bans on “gender transitions” for children, defending the mutilating practice as “self-care,” and promoting “Transgender Day of Remembrance,” among other things.

Stowe endorsed Democrats’ radical ‘Equality Act,’ issued ‘pride’-themed ‘prayer card’

Stowe, 60, has a lengthy record of scandalous pro-LGBT actions and statements, including issuing a “pride”-themed “prayer card” with an image of a crucifix and rainbow colors.

He also released a “pride month” video criticizing the Church for not being “as welcoming as it should be” and lamenting “white privilege.”

In 2021, he publicly endorsed Democrats’ “Equality Act,” which would make “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” protected classes in federal law.

The bill would likely allow “transgender” males to access women’s private spaces, force schools to let gender-confused athletes compete on opposite-sex sports teams, require medical professionals to commit “gender transition” procedures, compel employers to use transgender names and pronouns, and establish a national “right” to abortion, among other things.

The U.S. bishops’ conference has condemned the legislation, which would exempt itself from federal religious freedom protections.

Stowe later joined an online homosexual “blessing” event organized by the heterodox LGBT group “Dignity USA.” The event came in response to the Vatican’s 2021 pronouncement that the Church cannot bless homosexual relationships.

In 2024, he allowed a gender-confused woman to live as a “transgender” male “diocesan hermit” with the name “Christian,” in defiance of canon law and Catholic teaching. Stowe has referred to the woman with male pronouns.

That year, New Ways Ministry gave Stowe its “Bridge Building Award” for his pro-LGBT efforts, the same award that the group gave to LGBT activist priest Fr. James Martin. Stowe endorsed Martin’s infamous 2017 book Building a Bridge, which criticizes Church teaching on homosexuality as “needlessly cruel.”

Stowe is the ecclesial adviser for another heterodox LGBT activist group, “Fortunate Families,” and has spoken at its conferences.

The bishop has additionally allowed parishes to fly rainbow flags, with a spokesperson for the diocese saying that “making this kind of statement is a decision … up to each parish.” A parish in Stowe’s diocese also held a pro-LGBT prayer event apologizing for the Church’s opposition to homosexuality, titled “Service of Atonement and Apology to the LGBTQ+ Community.”

While indulging LGBT activists, Stowe restricted the Latin Mass, banned celebrating Mass in the traditional ad orientem posture, in contradiction to Vatican norms, prohibited priests who rejected the abortion-tainted COVID shots from ministering to the sick, and ordered priests who refused the injections to reveal their status at the end of Mass.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is mortally sinful and that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’”

The Church also condemns gender ideology and upholds the reality of the two sexes.

Stowe: Pope Francis led the Church ‘toward a new Pentecost’

Stowe, a strong supporter of the late Pope Francis, also claimed in New Ways Ministry’s podcast that Francis led the Church “toward a new Pentecost.”

“Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis made his embrace wide and inclusive. He worried about the Church becoming sick because of confinement in a stuffy atmosphere,” he said.

“He led us towards a new Pentecost, a new birth where, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we would speak new languages, reach out warmly to those the Church has ignored and break down barriers,” he continued, apparently referring to homosexual and gender-confused people.

Pope Francis repeatedly contradicted Catholic teaching on sexuality and other issues, permitting homosexual “blessings” and endorsing homosexual civil union laws, which the Church teaches are “gravely unjust.”

Coptic Church resumes dialogue with Vatican after Leo gives ‘assurances’ about homosexual ‘blessings’

The Coptic Orthodox Church has decided to reopen dialogue with the Catholic Church after Pope Leo XIV reportedly assured Patriarch Tawadros II regarding the “non-blessing of same-sex couples.”

On Friday, the Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that the decision to resume talks following a May 15 phone discussion between the two leaders.

“The members of the Holy Synod decided to resume theological dialogue with the Catholic Church following the assurances regarding the non-blessing of same-sex couples, which were expressed during the telephone conversation between His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on Friday, May 15 of this year,” explained a statement released by the Coptic Synod. 

The statement does not explain what “assurances” Leo is said to have given.

The Coptic Church broke off dialogue in March 2024 following publication of Fiducia Supplicans, Pope Francis’ declaration permitting “blessings” for homosexual “relationships.” Talks had been ongoing since the 1970s. 

Fiducia Supplicans specifically allows “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples.”  

The decision by the Coptic Church comes despite Pope Leo seemingly reaffirming Fiducia Supplicans in April. 

In 2024, the Coptic Holy Synod issued a statement reaffirming its rejection of homosexuality and condemning “blessings” of homosexual “relationships” as “a blessing for sin.” Although the statement did not directly cite Fiducia Supplicans, Coptic Orthodox spokesman Father Moussa Ibrahim later stated in a video message that the suspension had come in response to the Vatican’s “change of position on the issue of homosexuality.”

On January 21, 2024, Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, publicly acknowledged that the declaration had generated “negative reactions” among Orthodox Christians and disclosed that he had written to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, requesting clarification as criticism intensified.

The Vatican subsequently attempted to limit the damage to ecumenical relations. In May 2024, Fernández travelled to Cairo to meet Tawadros II and claimed that Fiducia Supplicans did not authorize “blessings” of same-sex unions but rather blessings for individuals, an argument denounced by prominent Catholic prelates.

Responding to a question about the Church in Germany issuing formalized “blessings” for homosexual “couples,” the Pope said in April that the Vatican has objected. He made it clear, however, that the impromptu “blessings” of homosexual “couples” and those in adulterous unions were still permitted, as the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans says, contrary to the Tradition of the Church.

As part of his comments, the Pope downplayed sexual sin, saying, “We tend to think that, when the Church is talking about morality, the only issue of morality is sexual. In reality, I believe there are much greater and more important [moral] issues, such as justice, equality of freedom for men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”

On April 23, speaking to journalists aboard the papal flight returning from an apostolic journey to Africa, Pope Leo XIV, after affirming Pope Francis’ permission for homosexual “blessings,” added, “To go beyond that, I think that the topic can cause more disunity than unity, and that we should look for ways to build our unity upon Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ teaches.”

Leo told reporters on the plane, “The Holy See has already spoken to the German bishops. The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of homosexual couples or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically allowed by Pope Francis, saying: all people receive blessings.”

“We do not agree with formalized blessing,” the Pope reiterated, adding: “All are welcomed, all are invited, all are invited to follow Jesus, and all are invited to seek conversion in their lives.”

‘It’s wonderful to be back’ – Renovated ‘oasis’ for Catholics at Queen’s University Belfast reopens after three years

The Catholic Chaplain at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) has said that it has been “wonderful” to welcome members back to their building after three years of renovations.

The Catholic Chaplaincy at the university has been at its current site on Elmwood Avenue for over fifty years but temporarily closed its doors in 2023.

Earlier this month, it welcomed students, staff and visitors back inside the reimagined space, which now also includes accommodation spaces for 47 students.

Speaking to The Irish News, Fr Dominic McGrattan said that the building’s reopening earlier this month marked the end of a “long journey”.

“We’re very fortunate to have a building at the very heart of the historic campus,” he said.

“When it was built, it was a really bold statement; modernist architecture that really made an impact.

“But over the years, it became a bit tired and needed renewal if it was to serve well the mission of the place, which is to provide faith and pastoral support to students and staff.”

Fr McGrattan added that with the addition of student accommodation, it opened an “exciting new chapter” for the chaplaincy, which previously had been “something of a day and evening service”.

“It is wonderful to be back in this space and to see how transformed it is,” he said.

“I think for generations it has always been something of an oasis, a place for quiet time, a place to be restored and renewed and energised amidst the busyness and sometimes the challenge of university living.

“I think the building, as it has been renewed, really does support that mission and it’s lovely to have that oasis back at the heart.”

Fr McGrattan added that the “most special part of the special building” was the Chapel of Corpus Christi, which now includes an altar crafted in Bethlehem and the reredos, depicting St Thomas meeting the Risen Lord, which was sculpted in the Dolomites and embellished in Florence.

“It is here that we have that privileged encounter with God and the Mass is celebrated every day during term and it is a place where students and staff come to be spiritually nourished during their university journey,” he said.

“It was important that we engage the best for this space; we engaged a liturgical art studio in Florence to provide the artistry and the craftsmanship, and they engaged artisans from across Europe and the Middle East.

“The altar itself, it was important for us to have that connection with the birthplace of Christ, and so we engaged stonemasons in Bethlehem and they used Jerusalem stone, the very stone that the temple itself was built with, and that was embellished by the Florentines.”

The chaplain added that they followed in the “age-old tradition” of the church being “patron of the arts”, they also engaged local artists, including Co Antrim sculpter Eamonn Higgins, Hillsborough silversmith Cara Murphy and north coast glassmaker Scott Benson.

“I do think our physical spaces ought to be formative, they ought to lift the heart and mind to higher things and art certainly plays a huge role in that.”

Fr McGrattan said that the space was “open to students, staff visitors of all faiths and none”, with their new café at the front of the building service the best teas, coffees, traybakes and hot lunches in south Belfast.

“I’m competing with the Presbyterians next door on the traybake front,” he joked.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell invites parishes to reflect on their future

The Church celebrates Pentecost Sunday this Sunday, 24 May. In this context, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin has written a Pastoral Letter to his parishes in the Archdiocese, which includes the city and county of Dublin, nearly all of County Wicklow and portions of Counties Carlow, Kildare, Laois and Wexford entitled.

Archbishop Farrell said, “This Pentecost Letter puts before the Diocese a process which provides for initial reflection in parishes on their future. This process also sets out the formal steps to be taken, together with me, when new parish structures and relationships are being considered…I ask Parish Pastoral Councils and Partnership Pastoral Councils, through prayer, listening, discernment and decision-making, to find together a way into the future for their parishes locally.

“In the Holy Spirit, we are called to let go of what was, and open ourselves to where Christ is leading us, to embrace the hope God has for us and for all creation … Now is the time, in prayer and reflection, to deepen the renewal which has been long under way among us.”

Please see full text of Archbishop Farrell’s pastoral letter Come, Holy Spirit, Fill Our Hearts with the Fire of Your Love below: 

At Pentecost, recognising the Holy Spirit at work within and among them, Mary and the Apostles took courage in their hands and opened the doors behind which they had locked themselves.

They were no longer afraid of the future that was unfolding for them, no longer constrained by what might go wrong.  They were ready to proclaim, to whoever might listen, their experience of what had happened to them with Jesus, their discovery of his good news, of what God had done, and was still doing, in him: ‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit’… and all who assembled were ‘each one, bewildered to hear them speaking in their own language.  They were amazed and astonished’… saying ‘we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’ (Acts 2:1-11)

As people of faith, ‘baptised and sent’, we too are encouraged, by the very same Spirit, to recognise afresh the newness and hope Christ brings into our own lives.  We are called to listen to each other’s experience of the life he brings us, to live and celebrate in new ways what it means to be followers of Christ, to share his good news and consolation, to witness to ‘the marvels of God’ (Acts 2:11) today.

Our world has changed and is continuing to change.  Parishes are changing too and need to find new expression, allowing new forms of pastoral care to emerge, ‘from which Christian witness can shine for the world’.  (Dicastery for the Clergy, The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelising Mission of the Church, 2020, 123).

It is in this spirit and in this hope that this Pentecost Letter puts before the Diocese a process which provides for initial reflection in parishes on their future.  This process also sets out the formal steps to be taken, together with the Archbishop, when new parish structures and relationships are being considered: a Process for the Modification of Parishes for Mission (May 2026).

This initiative is born out of a concern for the pastoral care and good of all Christ’s people.  It is the fruit of careful consideration by the Council of Priests, as well as conversation at the Diocesan Pastoral Council and in Deaneries.  Where there is a need, and following an appropriate process, the modification of parishes as envisaged here can strengthen the faith and life of our parish communities, ‘opening up new ways to accompany the people of our time and creating new possibilities for mission’ (Process for the Modification of Parishes for Mission, p. 7).

I ask Parish Pastoral Councils and Partnership Pastoral Councils, through prayer, listening, discernment and decision-making, to find together a way into the future for their parishes locally.  We are all called to work co-responsibly in the forming of vibrant and faith-filled communities, together with the families, people and clergy that serve and support these communities in their mission.

When the Church is most truly itself, when we are most truly who God calls us to be, we journey together into our common future.  As I said in my homily during our Diocesan Pilgrimage to Knock this year: ‘This is the meaning of synodality: it means making decisions together and not doing things or making decisions in isolation.’ (25th April 2026).

In our time, just as in the days of the Apostles, we need to accompany each other on our journey in faith, Building Hope.  Without doubt, we must find new ways of binding ourselves together as disciples of Christ, sharing our efforts, establishing flexibility, renewing our energy.  This is the challenge for the Church across the world.  In the words of Pope Leo: ‘Today we need to look to the future with hope and build the hope of the future.  Do not be afraid to do so!’ (Homily, Kilamba, Angola, 19th April 2026).

If we have the courage to face up to the reality of our local Church today, we will clearly see that we need to travel lighter, and that already we need to let go of many things which we considered essential, but, which now – truth be told – overburden us.  The first words of Christ after his resurrection are, ‘Peace be with you.’ (John 20:19). These are always Christ’s first words to the living Church. Do not be afraid (John 14:27).  The living Church will always need the Lord’s courage and comfort, because the living Church is always going into new places, proclaiming good news to the poor, meeting people where they are, and this is – more often than not – challenging.

In the Holy Spirit, we are called to let go of what was, and open ourselves to where Christ is leading us, to embrace the hope God has for us and for all creation.  Just as for the first disciples, this will mean a letting-go.  There will be a sense of grief and loss, but there can also be liberation in letting go and starting anew.  Is not this the sense of freedom, the renewed strength that we read about in the account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, the renewed life the Apostles received, their new hope and confidence in God?

Let us show ourselves faithful and creative, hope-filled and resilient, synodal and pro-active.  Using all our charisms, gifts and ministries, the Spirit of Truth and Love will help us find new ways to express, generously, what the Church can be for all the world to see and hear: ‘There are a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord… Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ.’ (1 Corinthians 12:4-6,12)

The Spirit is already working abundantly in our midst: ‘The Holy Spirit illumines all believers with the light of hope.’ (Pope Francis, Hope Does Not Disappoint, May 2024, 3).  Now is the time, in prayer and reflection, to deepen the renewal which has been long under way among us.  We do not know what new things may be revealed when we allow Jesus to be our inspiration, and his Spirit, our guide, to fill our hearts with the fire of God’s faithfulness to us and his providence.  Like Mary and the Apostles, we too may be ‘amazed and astonished’!

With hope and humility, we look to the future.  May the peace of Christ, and the fullness of life he brings, be with you.

Mary, Mother of the Church, our Mother, pray for us.
Pope Saint John XXIII, pray for us.
Pope Saint Paul VI, pray for us.

Seven ex-nuns from Belorado will go to trial for denigrating treatment, coercion, and abandonment of five elderly nuns

Seven former nuns from the convent of Belorado will sit on the bench after the judge in Bilbao investigating the case has closed the investigation phase and concludes that, indicatively, they would have committed coercion, degrading treatment, abandonment, omission of the duty of assistance, and crimes against property, including disloyal administration and misappropriation, against five elderly nuns.

The magistrate has sent the case to the Prosecutor's Office and the rest of the accusers so that, within ten days, they may present their indictment or request its dismissal. At the same time, she has ordered the dismissal of an eighth former nun, finding no evidence of her participation in the investigated events.

In the order, the head of Investigating Court No. 5 of Bilbao recalls that on May 13, 2024, the "Catholic Manifesto" was disseminated, in which the abbess, on behalf of the other investigated individuals, announced their decision to leave the Catholic Church, "not recognizing the authority of the Pope as usurper of the Holy See, which leads to the Schism and their excommunication."

Other members of the community, including two protected witnesses, ended up leaving the monastery after considering that the investigated individuals subjected them to "humiliations, punishments, vexations, and threats of reprisals if they did not side with them," although they did not file a complaint at the time.

According to the resolution, the older nuns did not participate in the decision of the Schism nor were they informed of it "due to their deteriorated state." The oldest, aged 101, initially accepted "out of obedience and for the good of the community," but suffered from mild cognitive impairment. Another nun, aged 89, had moderate cognitive impairment. A third sister, aged 87, did not have marked deterioration, although she had language problems after a stroke. Another, aged 94, suffered from severe cognitive impairment, as did a fifth nun aged 89.

Within the framework of proceedings opened by a court in Briviesca, entry and search of the Monastery of Orduña were authorized, to which the investigated individuals had moved at the end of July 2025, accompanied by the older sisters.

That court ordered the removal of the nuns who had not adhered to the Schism from the Monastery of Orduña, but the Civil Guard could not execute the order due to "obstacles and opposition" from the investigated individuals.

On December 18, 2025, entry into the monastery was again agreed upon to transfer the elderly nuns and subject them to examination by two forensic doctors, who recommended their admission to Basurto Hospital.

The minutes of that intervention stated that the older nuns "were not being adequately attended to."

In the cell of one of them, two dogs were found on the bed, one of them on the pillow, in addition to traces of excrement and urine. Another nun was sitting on the toilet without accompaniment or supervision, and a third remained in bed "showing a generally deteriorated state." The latter was transferred to Basurto Hospital with a severe case of respiratory failure and infection. After being discharged, she passed away on January 9, 2026.

The forensic report describes a generalized "lack of hygiene" in the monastery. "The hygienic-sanitary conditions in the different rooms visited show accumulated dirt, food remains, some in poor condition, the bathroom with a strong odor of urine, kitchen with piled-up utensils, general dirt, loose dogs and cats, and birds in the central courtyard, in some rooms accumulated feces remains," the document states.

The experts also noted "the dirty kitchen and food in a questionable state of preservation." The sick nun stated that she had lacked the necessary medical assistance, while the abbess maintained that she had received online attention from a doctor and, initially, some in-person visits.

When the older sisters resided in Belorado, healthcare was provided by Sacyl physicians. A doctor stated that this assistance was progressively restricted, to the point of hindering the clinical assessment of the nuns, "preventing access to the older nuns."

The same professional explained that the former nun in charge of the pharmacy "apparently changed some prescribed medication at her discretion, considering it not suitable," with the abbess's intervention.

"This lack of assistance, which began in Belorado, became evident when the transfer to the Monastery of Orduña took place at the end of July 2025, and from that date until December 18, 2025, the older nuns did not receive medical assistance despite the various pathologies and conditions they presented," the ruling emphasizes.

After her discharge from Basurto Hospital, one of the nuns told a witness that "the meals were scarce, they had her sitting all day and didn't let her nap, and they changed her diaper once a day." She added that "hygiene was scarce," that she had "scabs on her head that were difficult to remove, her nails were long, and they stayed in a room all day without going out." She also said that, "because she tripped over the animals, she fell to the ground and they didn't pick her up, and they kept her with ropes so she wouldn't fall."

The same witness stated that another elderly nun confessed that she felt "fear" towards the investigated individuals and that on December 21, 2025, she even said: "today they still haven't hit me." Another nun assured that she had been beaten on three occasions.

"Humiliating treatment" and control over the elderly

The ruling concludes that "from all of this, a breach of the duty of care" by the investigated individuals towards the elderly nuns, who were under their custody and "in a state of dependence and vulnerability," is derived. From these behaviors, it is evident that they were subjected to "humiliating treatment that diminished their dignity."

The resolution also emphasizes the "handling, control, and influence they exerted over them, taking advantage of their cognitive decline so that they would accept what they said out of fear and dread of the consequences of what could happen to them if they left." In the opinion of the investigating judge, there was "acceptance or consent vitiated by the decline in faculties."

The judge points out that one of the reasons for preventing the elderly women from leaving could have been to avoid the eviction of the monastery, as this would not have been carried out if particularly vulnerable people remained on the premises.

Possible economic motives and use of pensions

The investigating judge also notes that "financial reasons" could be present, given that, after the Schism, the monastery's accounts were blocked and came to be administered by the Pontifical Commissary, in a context of "economic needs" due to "the low economic performance in the businesses they managed, unable to meet the loans they had requested."

To overcome that situation, the judge maintains that the abbess, along with other investigated individuals, designed in November 2024 the opening of joint bank accounts with the older nuns with the objective of recovering control over their pensions. "In this way, they could face the expenses of their businesses and lucrative activities by managing, administering, and disposing of the periodic income that the older sisters received as pensions and aid," she indicates.

In execution of that plan, accounts were opened in the names of the elderly nuns in an online banking entity, and the investigated individuals "abused their administration and made innumerable transfers."

"The accounts of the older nuns have been used by the investigated individuals for their own benefit and for the management of their businesses with abuse in their administration, without any record that the funds from the accounts of the investigated individuals have been used for the sustenance of the community," the ruling states, which is subject to appeal.

In any case, those bank movements would have been carried out "under the control and direction" of the abbess, although the rest of the investigated individuals "shared" both the decisions and the profits obtained.

Fernández questions Benedict XVI's doctrinal oversight of liberation theology

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefecto of the Dicasterio for the Doctrine of the Faith, has publicly questioned a doctrinal notification issued in 2006 against the Jesuit Jon Sobrino, one of the best-known names in liberation theology.

Fernández made these statements on May 12 at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, during a study day dedicated to so-called “contextual theology”.

A critique of Benedict XVI’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The notification against Sobrino was published by the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Cardinal William Levada, and approved by Benedict XVI.

The document examined two works by the Spanish Jesuit theologian and concluded that they contained “notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church,” especially regarding Christology, the divinity of Christ, and the methodological foundations of theological reflection.

One of the central points of the Vatican critique was Sobrino’s assertion that “the poor” constituted a privileged theological locus for Latin American theology. The Congregation responded at the time that the ecclesial foundation of Christology could not be identified with “the Church of the poor,” but rather with the apostolic faith transmitted by the Church.

Fernández defends “contextual theology”

In his intervention, Fernández maintained that many Latin American theologians had difficulty understanding certain aspects of that notification.

In the Argentine cardinal’s view, the problem with the document was that it excessively restricted theology’s point of departure to ecclesial tradition, casting suspicion on expressions such as “thinking from pastoral experience,” “thinking from motherhood,” or “thinking from the suffering of the poor.”

“What we call contextual theology would always be viewed with suspicion,” Fernández stated.

The prefect even said that the notification seemed to indicate that theology elaborated “in the context of the poor” was “inadequate and dangerous.”

The prefect reveals his own problems with the former Holy Office

Fernández also recalled that his defense of contextual theology caused him difficulties with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith more than a decade ago.

He explained that in 2007 he published an article before the Latin American bishops’ conference in Aparecida, arguing that although the faith of the Church remained the fundamental point of departure, there could be other “complementary points of departure” linked to concrete historical situations.

That text was examined again in 2010, when the Argentine episcopate proposed him as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. Fernández stated that the Congregation delayed granting the nihil obstat and asked him to publish a correction.

The cardinal affirmed that, instead of retracting, he published a second article in 2011 in which he reaffirmed his theses, while emphasizing that it is precisely the faith of the Church that allows one to look at the poor as God looks at them.

Continuity with Francis’s thought

Fernández linked his positions to the pontificate of Francis, whom he presented as a defender of the idea that reality is better understood from the peripheries and from the experience of the poor.

The cardinal cited Evangelii gaudium to warn against abstract thought disconnected from reality.

The prefect also sought to support his argument with texts from John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and earlier documents of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, especially the instruction Libertatis conscientia, published in 1986 under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

An indirect rehabilitation of liberation theology

Although Fernández insisted that contextual theology must remain linked to Revelation and the faith of the Church, his words represent a direct critique of a doctrinal intervention approved during Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

The episode once again highlights the shift taking place in the Dicasterio for the Doctrine of the Faith under the Argentine cardinal’s leadership, more concerned with opening spaces for theological approaches tied to the “peripheries” than with reiterating traditional warnings against the deviations of liberation theology.

The notification against Sobrino occurred in a context of doctrinal vigilance over Latin American currents that, under the legitimate concern for the poor, had been questioned for their risks of Marxist inspiration and ambiguous formulations regarding Christ, salvation, and the Church.

Peruvian hierarchy asks for forgiveness on its knees to the victims of the Sodalicio in Catacaos

“We should have come twenty years ago. Today we ask your forgiveness.” 

With those words, Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and apostolic commissioner for the liquidation of the now-defunct Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, addressed the families of the comuneros allegedly murdered for opposing the land dispossession linked to Sodalicio companies this Saturday at the parish of San Juan Bautista in Catacaos (Piura). The main point must be stated up front: asking forgiveness is good, and asking it of these specific families, after more than a decade of dispossessions, criminalization and deaths, is particularly good.

What happened in Catacaos

The ceremony, held at ten in the morning, was presided over by Cardinals Carlos Castillo, Archbishop of Lima, and Pedro Barreto, president of the CEAMA, with the concelebration of Archbishops Luciano Maza of Piura, Alfredo Vizcarra of Trujillo, and Bertomeu himself. The Mass took the form of a funeral rite for Guadalupe Zapata Sosa, shot dead on 8 December 2011 during a violent eviction, and Cristino Melchor Flores, who died defending communal lands. Representatives of the diplomatic corps and of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights were present.

The Comunidad Campesina San Juan Bautista, of the Tallán indigenous people, denounces the seizure of some ten thousand hectares by companies linked to the Sodalicio, allegedly with the cover of the then Archbishop of Piura, Msgr. José Antonio Eguren, whose resignation Pope Francis accepted in 2024. According to Peru’s Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos, the conflict has also left seven wounded, thirty-nine people charged - some for terrorism, in cases archived in 2022 - and ten families at risk of eviction. In 2017, comunero Luis Pasache Zapata was also murdered. Bertomeu acknowledged at the event that the ceremony is “a symbolic reparation that comes very late and is insufficient.”

What is right

That two cardinals, two archbishops and an apostolic commissioner should come for the first time to this forgotten corner of Piura is no small thing. Nor is it that the Vatican publicly admits that “it should have come twenty years ago.” Asking forgiveness in a public setting, before those who have lost their dead without either civil or canonical justice, is an act that binds the one who utters it and the institution he represents.

InfoVaticana has documented in detail—and will continue to document - actions by Bertomeu himself which, in this medium’s view, should long ago have led to his removal from office: the excommunication of journalists Caccia and Blanco, personally revoked by Francis; the intimidations involving the FBI; the procedural opacity outside Book VII of the CIC; the lack of patrimonial transparency in the liquidation; or the description of Peru—in a recording accessed by this medium - as “a forest, a jungle, where you fend for yourself.” None of that disappears because a just word was spoken yesterday.

What is wrong

The gesture was made inside the church, vested for celebration, during the liturgical action. That disorders the sign. The Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium reminds us, is the action of Christ and of his Church, not a stage. The chasuble is not emotional stage-dressing: it signifies that the one wearing it does not act in his own name, but in persona Christi. When a vested minister kneels, he does so before the Blessed Sacrament. When he prostrates himself, he does so in the Good Friday rite or at an ordination. The knee bent by the priest in liturgical function has a precise recipient, and that is God.

Redemptionis Sacramentum expressly forbids adding or removing elements in the eucharistic celebration and warns against turning the Liturgy into a platform for messages foreign to the rite. Everything is aggravated when, moreover, it was a funeral: a rite with its own content, upon which extra-liturgical gestures were superimposed whose recipient is not God, but the faithful present and the cameras.

The misunderstood Francis-style echo

The inspiration is not hard to guess. Pope Francis kissed the feet of the leaders of South Sudan in April 2019; but that did not happen during Mass, nor vested for celebration. It was a gesture outside the liturgical action, during a spiritual retreat at Santa Marta. Debatable or moving, but not a liturgical abuse.

Bertomeu’s problem is precisely that: confusing the pastoral gesture with liturgical theatricalization, immediate emotion with sacramental meaning. There is in all this a superficial understanding of the Liturgy, treated not as an objective order received by the Church, but as an expressive support adaptable to the moral intention of the moment.

Repeating the gesture without understanding the framework is the difference between the icon and the caricature: in Francis it was a plea outside the altar; repeated by an apostolic commissioner vested in the middle of the eucharistic celebration, it becomes imitative Francis-ism, sentimental in form and poor in doctrinal substance. For the issue is not merely aesthetic or disciplinary. It is theological. 

Whoever understands what the Liturgy is knows that the priest does not dispose of it as a private language to stage personal messages, however noble his intentions may be. The chasuble does not amplify emotions: it sacramentally configures a function. And precisely for that reason it is striking that someone invested with doctrinal responsibilities in Rome should seem to ignore something as elementary as the difference between a personal penitential act and the public worship of the Church.

If Bertomeu and those accompanying him wish to kneel before the victims of Catacaos - and they are right to do so - let them do it in clergyman polo shirts, in street shirts, in the civilian clothes in which, for years, ecclesiastical authorities met, negotiated, remained silent or looked the other way. Those are the clothes in which the peasants of Piura were offended, and those are the clothes that should be bent at their feet. Not the chasuble, which bears no blame and does not mean what is being forced upon it at that moment. Let them kneel. Let them kiss their feet, if necessary. But outside the altar.

Processes, not photographs

Asking forgiveness is good. Asking it in canonically regular processes, with transparency, investigation and sentence, is better. The risk of the foot-kissing in a chasuble, before cameras and international observers, is precisely that it substitutes for the process.

The families of Catacaos do not need only a postcard: they need to know who bought what lands, with what money, through what companies, with what episcopal protections. They need the material restitution they themselves are demanding. The victims deserve forgiveness; the altar deserves respect. Christ is not to be instrumentalized, not even for good causes.

Cardinal Fernández criticizes 2006 CDF notification on Father Jon Sobrino’s works

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Notification on the Works of Fr. Jon Sobrino, S.J..

The congregation, then led by Cardinal William Levada, issued the notification in 2006 with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI. The notification declared that some of the Spanish Jesuit’s works contain “notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church.”

Speaking at Pontifical Urban University on May 12, Cardinal Fernández said that the notification “does not encourage the effort to take seriously the context in which theological reflection takes place. It seems to indicate rather that the theology made in the context of the poor is inadequate and dangerous, that is, that the life of the poor may occupy only a marginal place in the reflection of faith.”

Cardinal Fernández recalled that in 2007, he published an article on the notification that subsequently led to a delay in his approval as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina:

In 2010, when the Argentine Episcopate proposed me as Rector of the Pontifical University of Buenos Aires, that article reappeared and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith did not immediately grant the nihil obstat. At that time there was an exchange of letters with the Dicastery, which forced me to to publish a new article in which I would have to retract my affirmations.

Therefore, I published a second article in 2011, in which I reiterated what I said earlier, but added sentences like these: “It is precisely the faith of the Church that provides the most solid and profound foundations to look at the poor as God looks at them and to be concerned about their situation”; “No one perceives the evil of attacks on the dignity of the marginalized better than those who allow themselves to be enlightened by the faith of the Church.”

Furthermore, I continued to argue that the simple fact that accepting the tradition of the Church can leave us indifferent to the history in which God has inserted us, if at the same time we do not have our eyes open to what is happening around us. This is why I have re-proposed the expression “immediate inescapable context”, explaining that this context is inevitable because “when a theologian reflects, he cannot completely ignore or put the painful situation in parentheses that the majority of the People of God endure in the place where they live”, and that the context “invites those who receive Revelation to discover other aspects of its inexhaustible wealth”.

European theologians who spoke of contextual theologies did not even know that these articles had been published. But years later I heard these things from a Pope, who considered that reflection can only be made starting from the life of the People of God. This expression “from” has been fundamental in the thought of Pope Francis, as when he maintained that we see better if we look at it from the peripheries, or that some things are better understood if they are seen as what the poor see.

Cardinal Fernández made his remarks in “A critical experience on contextual theology,” the opening section of a lecture entitled “Provocations on Contextual Theology. Opening Address at the Study Day ‘Milestones in Contextual Theology Today.” 

Cardinal Fernández entitled the lecture’s subsequent sections “Relationship between contextual theology and inculturation,” “Relation to the question of the development of dogma,” and “Some examples and sincere concerns.”