Criticism of Vatican’s life czar on abortion ‘specious’ and ‘offensive,’ spokesman says

 

Responding to criticism about a recent TV interview in which he called legalized abortion a “pillar” of the Italian system, a top Vatican official for human life insisted Monday that he was referring to political realities, not moral doctrine, and reiterated his strong opposition to abortion.

A spokesman for Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, insisted that in the interview with an Italian television outlet, the veteran prelate did not offer “a judgment on the [moral] value of the law, but rather an observation that it’s practically impossible to abolish it since by now it’s a structural element of [Italian] legislation.”

The measure that legalized abortion in Italy, known as legge 194, dates to 1978, and was upheld by a large majority in a poplar referendum in 1981. Since then, a motto of Italian politics has been la legge 194 non si tocca, roughly meaning it’s not to be touched.

For example, Italy has national elections scheduled for next month, but neither the leading right-wing nor left-wing parties have proposed revisiting the abortion law.

Nevertheless, Paglia has come under fire repeatedly since taking the helm at the Academy for Life in 2016, most recently for the publication of a set of essays from a conference last year in which some theologians appeared to suggest that the ban on birth control could be set aside in particular cases.

Given that background, Paglia’s latest comments on the abortion law triggered criticism in the conservative Italian press, some of which his spokesman described as “specious and offensive.”

Suggesting that the 77-year-old Paglia is weak on abortion, the spokesman said, ignores the fact that in the same interview he called for a more aggressive application of provisions of the abortion law that call for support for mothers.

“That the law can be, indeed must be, improved in the direction of a fuller defense of the unborn child is more than to be hoped, with attention to avoiding the risk of making the situation worse, which unfortunately has happened in some cases,” the spokesman said.

The statement insisted that criticism of Paglia’s interview overlooks his “defense and promotion of life in every age, from conception to death, and in every situation (how many times is it humiliated with children, women, prisoners, those condemned to death, immigrants and the elderly?)”

In any event, the spokesman said, to question Paglia’s opposition to abortion overlooks the fact that in late May he took part in a ceremony organized by Italy’s largest pro-life movement in which he blessed a statue of Mary with Jesus in her womb.

International website dedicated to Benedict XVI aims to be a 'beacon in stormy seas'

 

After a website dedicated to Benedict XVI received thousands of congratulations in 24 languages on the occasion of his 95th birthday this year, the organizers moved to make www.BenedictusXVI.com available in English, broaden its scope — and take it international. 

Launched on Aug. 28, the new international version in English aims to provide a "beacon in the stormy seas" of rampant secularization, the Tagespost Foundation announced. 

Currently, the site offers a newsletter of inspirational quotes and excerpts from key texts by the noted theologian, biographical notes, background information, and a statement on the Munich report into clerical sexual abuse. 

"The goal of the BenedictusXVI.com project is to build an attractive digital knowledge portal that will become the authorized international collection point on the life, thought and work of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.," in "cooperation with experts in Germany and abroad," the organizers told CNA in a written statement. 

"The pope emeritus himself has given his consent to this project."

The portal's development is a joint project between the Tagespost Foundation for Catholic Journalism and the Institute Pope Benedict XVI. 

Benedict XVI celebrated his 95th birthday on Apr. 16, Holy Saturday. He was born Joseph Alois Ratzinger in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, a small Bavarian town not far from Austria, also on a Holy Saturday.

Looking back to his birth in his memoir, published before his election as pope, he wrote: "The fact that the birthday was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter was always noted in the family history, because it was connected with the fact that I was baptized right on the morning of my birthday with the water that had just been consecrated in the 'Easter Vigil' celebrated at that time in the morning. To be the first baptized with the new water was considered a significant providential event."

He continued: "The fact that my life was thus immersed in the Paschal Mystery from the beginning in this way has always filled me with gratitude, for this could only be a sign of blessing."

"Admittedly — it had not been Easter Sunday, but only Holy Saturday. But the longer I think about it, the more it seems to me to be in keeping with the essence of our human life, which is still waiting for Easter, not yet in full light, but nevertheless confidently moving toward it."

Curia Reform Meeting concludes with focus on 2025 Jubilee of Hope

 

A Holy See Press Office communiqué on Tuesday revealed that the last session of the encounter convoked by Pope Francis was dedicated to discussing various aspects of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

The assembly will dissolve on Tuesday evening after the celebration of Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Pope Francis, after which, the communiqué says,  “each participant can return to his own diocese.”

The Pope summoned the Cardinals, the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches and top officials of the Secretariat of State, asking them to gather in the Vatican on 29-30 August to reflect, “in a fraternal atmosphere”, on the recently published Apostolic Constitution, Praedicate Evangelium, on reforming the Roman Curia.

Free discussion

The Holy See Press Office also said “The work in language groups, and the discussions in the Synod Hall provided the opportunity for participants to freely discuss many aspects of the Document and of the life of the Church.”

The Meeting has seen almost the entire College of Cardinals gathered in the Vatican with Pope Francis for the first time since the start of his pontificate almost 10 years ago.

The prelates have been discussing the new challenges faced by the Curia and by the Universal Church, focusing on important themes such as the role of lay persons, financial transparency, synodality, a new administrative organization, the call to mission and the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world.

The Vatican, for the first time, calls Russia the aggressor in the war

 

The Vatican on Tuesday for the first time said that Russia was the aggressor in the Ukraine war, condemning Moscow’s invasion in strong terms after earlier comments by Pope Francis prompted criticism from Kyiv.

“As for the large-scale war in Ukraine, initiated by the Russian Federation, the interventions of the Holy Father Pope Francis are clear and unequivocal in condemning it as morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious,” the Vatican said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Vatican experts said it was the first time that Francis has explicitly blamed Russia in the conflict.

Since Russia’s invasion in February, critics have said that Francis has risked his moral authority by failing to criticize President Vladimir V. Putin by name, upholding longstanding Vatican policy not to pick sides in a conflict to better preserve the church’s chances of playing a constructive role in potential peace talks.

Last week, Ukrainian officials were dismayed when Francis referred to Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old Russian ultranationalist who spoke out in favor of the invasion of Ukraine, and was killed by a car bomb, as an “innocent” victim.

“The madness of war,” Francis said at his weekly general audience. “The innocent pay for war — the innocent! Let us think about this reality and say to each other, ‘War is madness.’”

Afterward, Ukraine’s foreign minister summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to Ukraine to express “profound disappointment” in Francis’ words.

The Vatican immediately attempted to ease Ukraine concerns. In a statement to the Ukrainian edition of Vatican News last week, editorial director Andrea Tornielli said the pope sought to be “close to all those who suffer the consequences of the war, first of all the innocent population of Ukraine, which is dying under Russian bombs.”

But the statement issued on Tuesday suggested that the Vatican wanted to take a more forceful step to quell the controversy.

“On more than one occasion, as well as in recent days, public discussions have arisen as to the political significance” of the pope’s statements, adding that Francis’ words “are to be read as a voice raised in defense of human life and the values attached to it, and not as taking a political stance.”

Francis had been hoping to meet with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a gathering of religious leaders in Kazakhstan in mid-September. 

But the Russian state agency reported last week that the Russian Orthodox Church would be represented by an official delegation and that Kirill would not attend the gathering or hold a meeting with the pope on the sidelines.

Irish protester among seven held after demonstration at Vatican calling for women’s inclusion in Church

 

Seven protesters, including one Irish woman, were detained by police in Rome over their protest at the Vatican calling for women’s inclusion at all levels of the Catholic Church.

Miriam Duignan joined six other women in St Peter’s Square yesterday to draw attention to the lack of any female presence at a consistory – a closed-door gathering of the church’s cardinals – convened by 

The seven held up parasols with messages such as “ordain women” and “sexism is a cardinal sin” as the world’s cardinals filed in for the first of their two-day extraordinary meeting.

Ms Duignan, a spokesperson for the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research in the UK, said she hoped the protest would stir the collective conscience of church leadership to open its doors to women who long to be heard and to serve their church as equals in Christ.

“I chose to be present at the consistory as a member of Women’s Ordination Worldwide to help shine a light on the Vatican’s cover-up of the history of women’s founding role and leadership in the early centuries of the church,” said Ms Duignan.

The London-based advocate for women’s ordination told the Irish Independent that expert theologians, including some in the Vatican, have concluded “there is no scriptural justification for the banishing of women; it is a choice and it can and must be changed”.

She added: “The Roman police were encouraged to remove us from view and to hide our words and witness from the world.”

Though they greeted numerous cardinals as the prelates passed inside the Vatican’s gates, most of the high ranking clerics “clearly did not want to engage or dwell on the messages on our red parasols”.

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“The Vatican is desperately afraid of campaigners drawing attention to their discrimination against women and so choose to intimidate anyone who dares to publicly challenge them,” Ms Duignan said.

According to Ms Duignan, the small group of protesters was quickly moved out of sight by a “huge police presence” of 20 officers.

However, one Italian prelate congratulated Ms Duignan when he learned the protest was for women’s inclusion and ordination.

Referring to the call in many recent synod reports for women’s equal participation at all levels in the church, including ordination, Ms Duignan said: “People see that such an influential institution cannot be allowed to function with an all-male leadership that bans women from having a say in any of its policies or teachings.”

Asked about the collapse in priest numbers in the Irish Church, she said: “It is glaringly obvious that to deny women the opportunity to fill this role, despite a desperate shortage of priests, is an injustice to all Catholics.”

The seven women were released from police custody after four hours. They may face charges and a court hearing.

Their parasols were confiscated as evidence.

The Vatican and police in Rome have been contacted for comment.

Pope Francis names Cardinal Tagle as envoy to Asian bishops’ meeting in Bangkok

 

Pope Francis on Saturday appointed Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as his special envoy for the upcoming and biggest gathering of Asian bishops in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok.

The pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization will preside over the closing Mass of the 50th general conference of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences on October 30.

According to the Vatican bulletin, the liturgical celebration will be held at the Assumption Cathedral.

The Asian bishops’ meeting will begin on Oct. 12, and will be held at the Baan Phu Waan Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Bangkok.

This year’s conference theme is “FABC 50: Journeying together as peoples of Asia …and they went a different way.” (Mt 2:12).

The assembly also marks the belated 50th anniversary celebration of FABC, established in 1970 with the approval of the Holy See.

The FABC Secretariat said the 19-day conference will “reflect on the re-emerging and emerging realities and challenges of the Church in Asia”.

Prior to being appointed to the Vatican dicastery, Cardinal Tagle headed the FABC’s Office of Theological Concerns for many years while he was still the archbishop of Manila.

Cardinal Burke: the dark horse in the running to succeed Pope Francis

 

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke – a canon lawyer and former Archbishop of St. Louis – could be a dark horse candidate to succeed Pope Francis in the event of an imminent resignation. 

While the US Church has been consumed by debate over why Francis overlooked Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and USCCB President, Archbishop José Gomez, for Bishop Robert McElroy when it came to selecting new cardinals, the possibility that Burke could be the surprise change candidate to succeed the Pope is perhaps being missed.

Over the last half-century, the Church has been wary of considering an American pontiff given the country’s superpower status and fears of over-concentration of power. Today, however, a relative decline in US power may play to the advantage of American clerics as that argument is starting to lose sway. Meanwhile, the election of a Latin American pope has perhaps heralded a new era of pontiffs who come from outside Europe.

The recent allegation against Canadian Cardinal Ouellet could also help the cause of a conservative candidate like Burke, if a cloud hangs over Ouellet’s head and creates an opportunity for another conservative candidate to rally support around himself. 

Burke is a noted traditionalist who welcomed the election of President Trump, praising his abortion stance. 

Meanwhile, as Michael Warren Davis argued in the Catholic Herald, there have been rumours of tensions between the Francis-led Vatican and Burke. 

According to Davis, “Burke undoubtedly ranks among the top 10 most influential prelates in the Church today. Much of this influence has been used in unfashionable ways. Burke was among the four “dubia cardinals” who asked Francis to clarify certain points of his encyclical Amoris Laetitia, published in April 2016.” 

While “Francis has repeatedly urged European nations to welcome more refugees from the Middle East”, instead “Burke issues grave warnings about the spread of Sharia law in the continent.” 

Speaking to the Tablet, Burke also said there is no “moral equivalence” between abortion and the welfare of migrants. He added that while refugees should be treated with care, a “prudential judgment” should be made about how many migrants to welcome. Meanwhile, abortion, Burke said, “is the systematic murder of human beings at their most vulnerable stage of development”. 

In 2019, Burke joined Cardinal Brandmüller in urging an end to “the plague of the homosexual agenda”, telling bishops to break their complicity over abuse cases. Burke and Brandmüller said the Church wrongly blamed the abuse of power by clergy as the main cause of scandals rather than on priests who have “gone away from the truth of the Gospel”. He has openly criticised the Pope and questioned the latter’s authority to eliminate the Latin Mass. 

If symbolism matters, then – like Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő – the selection of Cardinal Burke would be a huge boost for conservative forces within his home country. The difference is that Burke is a more divisive figure within his home country, and one less likely to win over progressive cardinals. While conservatism is swimming with the tide in central and eastern Europe, conservativism in the US is locked in a life-or-death struggle with liberalism.

That said, Burke is often considered the de facto leader of the Church in the US, with huge support and authority among conservative Catholics worldwide. The odds may be stacked against Burke however – and fellow trads in the College of Cardinals – given the extent to which Pope Francis has selected men in his image and more likely to select a continuity candidate (83 of the 132 cardinal electors have been chosen by Francis). But, as a less European affair, the College of Cardinals may take a new approach.

Still, the smart money may be on a continuity candidate like Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle or Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. Tagle likely has the advantage, given the changing demographics of the Church and the sense an Italian may not be as able to reach a global audience. That said, Burke also benefits from the non-European precedent set by Francis, while being an Anglophone is also an advantage (although Tagle is an Anglophone as well). Most advantageous for Burke perhaps is the possibility that, if Ouellet really is out of the running, there is no other obvious North American candidate.

As the most global group of cardinals ever gathers in Rome for a surprisingly-timed consistory, many will get to meet for the first time. Meanwhile, two days of closed-door meetings could be a dry-run for selecting any papal successor. This could be the moment when leading candidates emerge. 

Although divisions among US Catholics on abortion mean Burke could alienate many, he is likely to win over traditionalists. That Cordileone was passed over for McElroy may have grabbed the headlines, but the bigger story may be that US Catholics have an alternative and surprise papal candidate in their midst.

Church Releases List Of Priests Accused Of Sexually Abusing Minors In Colombia

 

The Catholic Church in Colombia has released the names of 26 priests who were investigated for alleged sexual abuse of minors there, local media reported Saturday.

The Archidiocese of Medellin revealed the list of those accused between 1995 and 2019 in response to a court ruling in favor of Juan Pablo Barrientos, a journalist investigating an alleged network of pedophile clergy.

"Most of these priests ... were suspended for a little while, and went back to being priests again," said Barrientos, who has been investigating sexual assaults by priests for years, in a video released Saturday.

Barrientos managed to get judges to accept his request and force the Archdiocese of Medellin to make the list public.

The prosecution, which has not commented on the investigations, received 14 of the complaints on Thursday, though the abuses were committed years ago, according to the document published by the Church.

Monsignor Ricardo Tobon, Archbishop of Medellin, said that the institution wants to "show transparency, commitment to the truth and that there is no purpose of cover-up."

In a video posted on the Archdiocese's Twitter account, the religious figure accused Barrientos of "an aggressive smear campaign against the Church."

According to the journalist, the Church divulged the names "because the Constitutional Court has forced it to do so."

In 2019, Barrientos published the book "Let the children come to me," an investigation into pederasty and cover-up within the clergy in the South American country, where most people are Roman Catholic.

The Church tried to stop publication of the book with legal actions that failed.

At least six priests have served prison sentences for child rape in the country.

CW Investigates : Updates

                             

As many of you are aware, there are two ongoing investigations - Operation Ainmhian and Operation Easpag....both separate but yet entwined.

Let us advise that as they are ongoing, any updates that we can (legally) provide you all with, shall be published here as soon as is possible...

Operation Ainmhian...ongoing and now at a critical point of investigation, therefore, due to legal advice, the matter is now in the hands of many at this time.

Operation Easpag...is thundering along...and we here in CW wish to make it absolutely clear that we are NOT making reference to a recently deceased Irish bishop who has been, regrettably, slandered and defamed on another blog...it's easy make an allegation against the dead knowing they cannot reply.

It is also disgusting to say the very least.

We here in CW Investigates will continue to keep you updated in relation to our evidence-based, verifiable and honest investigations.

Vatican Cardinal decries criticism of German ‘Synodal Way’ as ‘denunciation’

 

The chief organizer of the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality has decried as “denunciation" the number of public criticism of the German "Synodal Way." 

Cardinal Mario Grech said he did “not agree with the method used by the critics" of the German process in an interview with the German publication "Herder Thema." 

The secretary general for the Synod of Bishops added that he disapproved of the style: "I think a fraternal correction and dialogue is very positive. But why a public denunciation? It doesn't help. It only polarizes further." 

Grech also said he could "not say why there was this criticism” of the process, CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported. 

He said he tried to follow the German event. “But for me, it's one thing to follow what gets published and another thing to follow what is really going on. It's a process."

"Maybe the communication, in general, could have been handled better," the cardinal said. 

"This would have contributed to a better understanding of what was happening in Germany." Nonetheless, he said, he had "confidence in the Catholic Church in Germany, and that the bishops know what they are doing."

Born in Qala, Malta, Grech was ordained a priest in 1984, at the age of 27, for the Diocese of Gozo.

He was one of two authors of the Maltese bishops' controversial pastoral guidelines on Amoris laetitia, which stated that divorced and remarried Catholics, in certain cases and after "honest discernment," could receive Communion.

‘Synodal Way’ is not a Synod

The “Synodal Way” — Synodaler Weg in German, sometimes translated as “Synodal Path” — is not a synod. Instead, the process initiated by Cardinal Reinhard Marx is organized by the German Bishops' Conference together with the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). 

The stated aim is to discuss four main topics: how power is exercised in the Church; the priesthood; the role of women, and sexual morality.

Writing about the “Synodal Way,” Pope Francis warned of disunity in his letter to German Catholics in 2019.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, a German theologian considered close to Pope Francis, in June 2022 warned that the German process is at risk of “breaking its own neck” if it does not heed the objections raised by a growing number of bishops around the world.

In April, more than 100 cardinals and bishops from around the world released a "fraternal open letter" to Germany's bishops, warning that sweeping changes to Church teaching advocated by the process may lead to schism.

In March, an open letter from the Nordic bishops expressed alarm at the German process. In February, a strongly-worded letter from the president of Poland’s Catholic bishops' conference raised serious concerns. 

The president of the German bishops' conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, has repeatedly rejected any and all concerns, instead expressing disappointment in Pope Francis in May 2022. 

Rome consistory showed Pope Francis' vision is taking root (Op-Ed)

 

The Barque of Peter is currently floating along several currents.

Pope Francis' pontificate has brought about a renewed focus on pastoral theology, bringing the insights of the post-conciliar church in Latin America to the center of the universal church. 

It has placed concern for the environment at the heart of the church's social teachings, and reoriented the work of the Roman Curia, as embodied in the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium. 

It has emphasized the church as the bearer of God's tenderness, rather than as a bastion of doctrinal clarity. 

And, perhaps most importantly, it has revived synodality as a means of church governance. 

All of these have one thing in common: They are made necessary not only by the collapse of modern, post-modern, and post-post-modern cultural critiques or by the spiritual rot of clericalism, as exposed by the clergy sex abuse crisis. 

A functional rationale for these new approaches -- one that was on full display at the consistory on Aug. 27 -- is the globalization of the Catholic Church. 

In the United States, we have been focusing understandably on the elevation of our own Cardinal Robert McElroy. 

At the consistory, the new cardinal who went up to Pope Francis to receive his red hat immediately before McElroy was Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, the Archbishop of Goa and Damão in India. 

Immediately following McElroy was Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the Archbishop of Dili in East Timor. Dili has a cardinal, but Milan and Venice do not. It is remarkable. 

In his interview with NCR's Christopher White, McElroy acknowledged that American Catholics are not always good at globalization. He admitted U.S. church leaders "tend not to see ourselves as part of a global community very often."   

After the formal event creating the new cardinals on Aug. 27, pilgrims from across the world had a chance to come meet the prelates in person. The most identifiable contingent was from the Diocese of Ekwulobia in Nigeria. 

The pilgrims who had come to celebrate the elevation of their bishop, Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke, were all dressed in clothes made from a special red fabric for the event, which featured the image of the new cardinal on the front, and the flags of Nigeria and the Vatican on the back. 

In addition to the shared fabric design, these pilgrims had a shared exuberance, breaking into shouts and songs at and after the ceremony. Later, a percussion band from Ebere filled the piazza in front of the Holy Office with joyful drumbeats. 

Francis acknowledged this globalization in his address to the new cardinals. "Dear brothers and sisters, let us once more contemplate Jesus," the pope said. "He alone knows the secret of this lowly grandeur, this unassuming power, this universal vision ever attentive to the particulars." Globalization should never become homogenization. 

Globalization is also not the same thing as multiculturalism. The vision is universal, built around a shared relationship with the Lord and a common inheritance of apostolic tradition. The objective is a shared communion, evident in the easy way the new cardinals mingled amongst themselves and with the other cardinals who had come for the ceremony. 

This globalization is evident everywhere. The consistory was held in St. Peter's Basilica. After the ceremony, Vatican press officials corralled us journalists and brought us to the opposite side of the basilica via the stairs down to the crypt. In the twinkling of an eye, we were rushing past the confessio that holds the bones of St. Peter. 

There was no time to stop and take a photo of this most holy of sites in Rome. I thought to myself: There is a metaphor here. The work goes on, but it can never stray from its apostolic foundation which is also the goal of the work: Joining ourselves to the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. 

The conservative critics of the Holy Father can sense that this globalization is changing the church, and doing so in ways that will make it harder and harder for them to maintain the always strange, and sometimes farcical, idea that what the Vatican and universal church really need is a healthy dose of Americanism. 

Do you remember George Weigel's bizarre suggestion that English become the working language of the Vatican? 

Or, Napa Institute founder Tim Busch's vision of a new version of Catholic social teaching anchored in his libertarian ideas? 

"We can be the teaching pulpit for the American church, but also the teaching pulpit for the Vatican and for the global church," Busch told a 2017 Catholic University gathering. "We can be that. And we will be that going forward, especially on the issues and topics of business."

Alas, for them, Francis, is firmly in control and shows no signs of slowing down. The globalization to which he is committed is not baptized Pax Americana. Instead it is rooted in synodality, which is why the critics are now so keen to attack the global process for the 2021-23 Synod of Bishops. 

They do not fear it will fail. 

They fear it will succeed. 

Every curial official with whom I have met has spoken about the synodal process and how it is bringing new vigor to the life of the church. 

Watching the cardinals and pilgrims from around the world join in easy camaraderie and poignant prayer in Rome, it was clear as day that Francis' vision is taking root.

Stubborn opposition to Vatican II 'not Catholic' says cardinal

England’s new cardinal says those who are “stubbornly opposing” the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council are in danger of adopting a position that is no longer Catholic. 

Cardinal Arthur Roche, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, became the third English cardinal to be created by Pope Francis after he received his red hat during a ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica on 27 August.

Roche was among 20 prelates admitted to the College of Cardinals, with 16 of them under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a future conclave.  

The former Bishop of Leeds has one of the most sensitive and demanding jobs in the Church’s central government, requiring him to work closely with the Pope and with the world’s bishops in overseeing Catholic worship.

A trusted adviser to Francis, the Yorkshire-born church leader was recently named by the Pope as a member of the Dicastery for Bishops, an influential Vatican body which plays a critical role in helping the Pope appoint bishops across the world. When Francis read out the names of the latest batch of cardinals earlier in the year, Roche’s was the first on the list.

But the 72-year-old cardinal has also been under attack himself during a time when, as liturgy prefect, he has been closely involved in re-establishing restrictions on the celebrations of the old rite, the form of worship used by the Church before the reforms mandated by the 1962-65 Vatican council. The new restrictions have been met with a mixture of anger and defiance by some traditionalist Catholics. 

According to the new constitution of the Roman Curia, Roche’s department is tasked with promoting the “sacred liturgy in accordance with the renewal undertaken by the Second Vatican Council”. It’s a point the cardinal was keen to emphasise ahead of his elevation. 

“The council is the highest legislation that exists in the Church,” he told The Tablet and the National Catholic Reporter. “If you disregard that, you are putting yourself sideways, to the edges of the Church. You are becoming more Protestant than you are Catholic.”

The reforms to Catholic worship decreed by Vatican II, which emerged from a liturgical movement that dates back to the nineteenth century, included a greater emphasis on the active participation of ordinary believers in the liturgy and saw the sacraments no longer only celebrated in Latin but in local languages. 

“After two world wars which had been initiated in the heart of Christian Europe, it was obvious that there needed to be an enormous reform within the Church,” Roche said in reference to Vatican II, which began 17 years after the end of World War II.

“That reform is taking place, but it’s a slow process because there are those who are dragging their feet with regard to this and not only dragging their feet but stubbornly opposing what the Church has actually decreed. That’s a very serious matter. In the end, people have to ask themselves: am I really a Catholic, or am I more of a Protestant?”

The pre-Vatican II liturgy requires a priest to say the prayers of the Mass in Latin, often inaudibly, while facing ad orientem (“facing east” and with his back to the people).

Although a significant minority are drawn to its contemplative, “otherworldly” style, celebrations of the older liturgy have also become a rallying point for dissent from the Francis pontificate and opposition to Vatican II.

When the Pope issued his restrictions on the Old Rite, he told the bishops he was seeking to protect the unity of the Church while ending the suggestion there are two different churches with two different liturgies. These restrictions were then followed up with guidelines on how to apply them by Roche’s office. 

Nevertheless, supporters of the Old Rite continue to make their case across various media platforms. Two days before the consistory to create the new cardinals, the American actor Shia LaBeouf announced he had been received into the Catholic Church and said that his conversion was partly due to the older, Latin Mass.

He made his remarks in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron, the leader of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in the United States who established the Catholic media ministry outfit, Word on Fire. LaBeouf, 36, who won a Bafta in 2008, said he experienced the Latin liturgy while preparing to play St Padre Pio in a new film about the Italian saint. He said the Latin Mass affects him deeply “because it feels like they’re not selling me a car”.

Bishop Barron, who has more than three million followers on Facebook, is visiting London next month when he will address an event in Parliament, celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral and give a talk to a gathering of more than 1,000 Catholic leaders. The visit, from 11-18 September,  is being organised by Catholic Voices in collaboration with Word on Fire.

In response to LaBeouf’s remarks, Cardinal Roche said it is a priest’s job to talk to people about their experiences of the liturgy and that he’d like to know “why he thinks that, what are his reasons for saying that, and what is his experience”. He emphasised that the Mass should be celebrated with “great dignity” and that this is not a trait that only belongs to the older liturgy.

“The Latin Mass is still available in the 1962 Missal for those who wish for that,” he said, adding that Mass celebrated in Latin in the rite of Paul VI (post-Vatican II) should also be more readily available. 

At the beginning of the consistory ceremony in St Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Roche addressed the Pope on behalf of the new cardinals. It is customary for the cardinal who was named first by the Pope to carry out this task. 

“Our mission today is to help you carry this cross and not to increase its weight. With great joy, we wish to walk at your side knowing that to you have been entrusted the keys of the Kingdom,” Roche said in front of a packed basilica with 180 cardinals and thousands of pilgrims who had travelled to Rome for the consistory. “From you, Holy Father, we learn to resist the temptation of any narrowness of mind and heart which shrinks to the size of self instead of expanding "to the measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Among those present in the basilica were several government delegations sent to witness the occasion. The United Kingdom delegation included Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords and a Catholic, and Lord Ahmad, a Foreign Office minister. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster and several bishops from England and Wales were also in Rome for the ceremony. After the ceremony, they greeted the new English cardinal in the magnificent “Aula delle Benedizioni” (the Hall of Blessings) inside the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. 

The ceremony marked the eighth consistory of the Francis pontificate and once again showed the Pope’s desire to ensure the men who will take part in a future papal election come from a broad cross-section of the global Church. Over the years, he has significantly increased the number of cardinals coming from Asia, Africa and Latin America. 

On 27 August, four bishops from countries that had never had cardinals before, including Mongolia, Paraguay, Singapore and East Timor, were given red hats. Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hydeberad India is the first Dalit (from the so-called “untouchable” caste) to become a cardinal, and Dom Leonardo Steiner is the first to lead a diocese in the Amazon rainforest. Also receiving a red hat was the world’s youngest cardinal, Giorgio Marengo, a 48-year-old Italian missionary in Mongolia, and the Bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy, a bishop from the United States who shares Francis’ pastoral priorities. 

Making cardinals is the closest thing a Pope has to succession planning, and Francis has now chosen 63 per cent of the 132 cardinal electors. In his homily, the Pope urged the cardinals to be attentive to the less public but more pastoral elements of their ministry. He reminded them that Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the influential Cold War-era Vatican diplomat, made weekly visits to juvenile inmates in a Rome prison and even joked about an Italian priest who knew not only all his parishioners' names but also the family dog. 

“A man of apostolic zeal is impelled by the fire of the Spirit to be concerned, courageously, with things great and small,” he said before quoting the phrase: “To suffer no restriction from anything however great, and yet to be contained in the tiniest of things, that is divine.” This maxim was composed in 1640 as a way to describe the genius of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.

Cardinal Roche is now the highest-ranking English-born priest to serve in the Roman Curia since Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val served as the Holy See’s Secretary of State from 1903 to 1914. Roche said he felt “very humbled” by his appointment as a cardinal and that it was an “enormous responsibility” as it meant a “broader remit” for advising the Pope. 

He said it was a moment for Church leadership to be “more transparent, more open” and ready to build communion. From 29 and 30 August, cardinals from across the world will gather in the Vatican to discuss the Pope’s new constitution on the Roman Curia, which includes a series of landmark reforms. 

Cardinal Roche said the new constitution was about the “nature of the relationship of the Pope with the bishops of the world and using his curia to be a bridge between the two”. He said it meant “greater collaboration at the episcopal conference level and individual bishop level with the See of Peter” while emphasising the Church’s missionary nature.