Pope’s handpicked mediator on Ukraine defends Francis’s line on the war

In a potential glimpse of things to come, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, tasked with leading Pope Francis’s peace mission in Ukraine, on Tuesday called war a “pandemic” and defended the pope’s handling of the Ukraine-Russia war.

In a keynote address at the beginning of the spring plenary assembly for the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), Zuppi, the conference president, began his lengthy and wide-ranging speech with an appeal for peace, specifically in Ukraine.

Quoting Pope Francis, he said it is a country with “a martyred people.”

Despite criticism that Francis has been too soft in his treatment of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine – including refusing for months after the conflict began to even say the word “Russia” or to mention its President, Vladimir Putin – Zuppi voiced gratitude for the pope’s “prophecy” on the war.

Such a position, he said, is “so rare today, when speaking of peace seems to avoid taking sides or acknowledging responsibility.”

The pope’s voice, “takes charge of the deep anxiety, sometimes unexpressed, often unheard, of the peoples who need peace,” he said, saying, “War is a pandemic. It involves us all.”

CEI’s spring general assembly is taking place May 22-25, with the theme, “Listening to what the Spirit tells the Churches: Steps Toward Discernment.”

The gathering opened with a two-hour, closed-door question and answer session with Pope Francis Monday, just two days after the Vatican announced Saturday that he had chosen Zuppi to lead a peace mission to Ukraine.

Francis initially dropped hints that a “peace mission” to end the Russia-Ukraine war was in the works on his return flight from Hungary April 31, but gave no details.

Zuppi’s appointment as leader of that mission is the first concrete information about it that has emerged. No details on timing of the mission or Zuppi’s itinerary were provided in the Vatican’s statement Saturday, although it’s believed he will request meetings with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

RELATED: Pope’s designated mediator on Ukraine has history as a peace-maker

Zelenskyy visited the Vatican May 13, where he met with Pope Francis privately for around 40 minutes. Afterwards the Ukrainian leader it was an honor to meet the pope, but appeared to dismiss the idea of Vatican mediation, telling an Italian news program, “With all due respect for His Holiness, we do not need mediators, we need a just peace.”

In his speech Tuesday, Zuppi invoked Pope Francis’s chastisement of European leaders in his speech to national authorities and the diplomatic corps in Hungary April 28, asking, “Where are creative efforts for peace?”

Francis in that speech pointed to what he said was a deterioration of international relations, and Zuppi repeated this lamentation, saying, “We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace, as the soloists of war now take over.”

“More and more, enthusiasm for building a peaceful and stable community of nations seems to be cooling, as zones of influence are marked out, differences accentuated, nationalism is on the rise,” he said.

At the international level, “it even seems that politics serves more to stir up emotions rather than to resolve problems, as the maturity attained after the horrors of the war gives way to regression towards a kind of adolescent belligerence,” he said, saying peace will never be achieved “as the result of the pursuit of individual strategic interests, but only from policies capable of looking to the bigger picture.”

Zuppi said the pope’s analysis is one that “questions us,” saying that for Christians, “peace is not just a wish, but it is the very reality of the Church, which germinates, like a seed, from the Eucharist and the Gospel.”

Both the Church itself and individual Christians not only believe in peace, but “we are all called to be peacemakers, even more so in the terrible storm of conflicts,” Zuppi said, noting that the church “was among the people and on the ground” during the Second World War.

He noted that in just a few days’ time, on June 3, the Church will mark the 60th anniversary of the death of St. Pope John XXIII, who lived through two world wars “and effectively updated the peaceful message of faith” with his famed 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, meaning “Peace on Earth,” which outlined the rights and obligations of people and their states, as well as his vision for proper interstate relations.

“We are the people of peace, starting with Jesus, who is our peace,” Zuppi said, noting that Italy given its location in the Mediterranean is “a hinge between North and South, but also between East and West.”

This unique position makes Italy a key location for promoting peace, “because of the deepest and most characteristic roots of our people,” Zuppi said. As Italian Christians, “we are called to a fervent and insistent prayer for peace in Ukraine” and that global fraternity would reign, he said.

“Let all our communities pray intensely for peace,” he said, saying a culture of peace is something that must increasingly be “generated and fortified.”

Zuppi lamented that there is often an attitude of “indifference” to global conflicts in which many remain “spectators of war reduced to a game.”

Actions of peace are needed to overcome this indifference, he said, saying solidarity with refugees, those from Ukraine and beyond, is a starting point, as there are many conflicts around the world raging, prompting people to flee their homes in search of safety elsewhere.

“In a world like ours we cannot do without a global vision,” he said, saying, “following the painful events of distant countries, with prayer and information, is a form of charity. After all, the culture of peace is a decisive chapter of the culture of life, which draws inspiration from faith.”

Faith must become part of culture Zuppi said, saying the world is in “an emotional and subjective time” in which deculturation is being pushed while “everything becomes fluid, even that which yesterday would have been unthinkable.”

“There is a great risk of being reduced to intimism, welfarism, or simply living outside history,” he said.

Zuppi also spoke of the Italian national synod process that is currently unfolding, the clerical sexual abuse crisis, Italy’s dropping birthrate, the need to better care for the poor and elderly, and the fight against the mafia and organized crime.

None of the pope’s remarks Monday were published, however, several Italian media outlets said the topic of peace was among the many issues the pontiff addressed during his lengthy, off-the-cuff conversation with Italian bishops.

In addition to the need for peace, he also apparently spoke about migration; the national vocation crisis and the reorganization of Italian seminaries; the role of young people and the family; the climate crisis; and the ‘poverty’ of the church.

He gave the Italian prelates a book titled, Fratellino, meaning, “little brother,” in which Basque poet Amets Arzallus Antia recounts the story of a Guinean migrant named Ibrahima Balde who traveled through Libya to reach Europe.

The poet works with an association that assists migrants in Spain, where he met Balde and was inspired to tell his story.

The book is intended to illustrate the long, painful trek that many migrants endure in their search for a better life, as Balde sets out in search of his younger brother, who left for Europe but never arrived, and himself endures various hardships, including trafficking, torture, hunger and thirst, harrowing trips across the desert and the sea, and death.

Balde now lives in a hotel managed by the Red Cross in Madrid, where he works as a mechanic.

Francis reportedly also jested about his health and his brief hospital stay earlier this year, saying that he was doing well and that “the moment for funeral honors still has not arrived!”

Vatican reaffirms ‘no’ to birth control, IVF in new family compact

While maintaining its stance against IVF, the Vatican issued a new document Tuesday sounding an alarm about declining birth rates and touting alternatives to methods of artificial reproduction the church sees as morally unacceptable.

The text also reiterates the Church’s traditional opposition to contraception, despite speculation in some quarters that Pope Francis might be rethinking the teaching of St. Paul VI in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae condemning artificial birth control.

Called the Global Family Compact, the document is an initiative of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, consisting of four main action points, and was accompanied by a message from Pope Francis.

It encourages Catholic universities, institutes and research hubs to study family life and the challenges families face with the aim of encouraging more young people to get married and have children amid a rapidly aging culture in which couples frequently opt against marriage and choose to start families later for financial and social reasons, presenting challenges in terms of infertility and ethically questionable methods of reproduction.

Apart from encouraging couples to get married and have lots of children, the compact also touches on challenges such as poverty, single-parent households, and the impact of war, as well as reproduction and the challenges that can at times accompany the process of attempting to welcome a new life into the family.

In several places the compact encourages both infertile couples and those simply wishing to grow their families to consider adoption and it urges Catholic universities and research centers to promote this option, while condemning methods of artificial reproduction.

The compact specifically recommended “promoting the establishment and development of centers for the study and monitoring of cases of couple infertility, where alternative solutions to assisted reproduction are proposed,” such as NaPro-Technologies, which monitor women’s reproductive cycles and seek natural solutions to infertility.

It said that centers that monitor and study infertility and which offer alternatives to assisted reproduction ought to be promoted and financially supported.

In section 1.3 of the compact, dedicated to the challenges of “welcoming new life,” the document notes that both among married and unmarried couples, “contraception, abortion and sterilization are widespread practices” that have increasingly “transformed the meaning of procreation.”

Procreation has gone “from a natural inclination and gift of God to a project and result of a procreative will that tends to dominate life,” the compact said, and criticized the assisted reproduction industry.

“Assisted reproduction, embryo selection to avert the birth of children with genetic disorders or unwanted sex, embryo and gamete donation, [all] lend themselves to a selective mentality by which adults end up projecting unjustified expectations onto their desired children,” it said.

The mentality of “a healthy child only at the right time” is now the dominant cultural attitude surrounding reproduction, especially in advanced countries where newer, streamlined technologies are available.

Those who choose prenatal diagnosis for “eugenic purposes” belong to a “reproductive culture which sees the birth of a child as the fulfillment of a mere desire, rather than the acceptance of a priceless gift.”

The compact argued that sex is inevitably tied to procreation, and that marriage is the best place for this to happen. It called for greater education in the emotional and reproductive aspects of sex, so that it does not become “trivialized” among youth.

It also hit back against what Pope Francis has dubbed “the throwaway culture” in which those with disabilities are excluded, often facing violence, stigma and abuse stemming from “the denial of the person’s dignity and an identification of the person with a pathology.”

Given current societal trends, in which many couples are choosing to have children later, the compact said greater support must also be given to couples who have families at an older age while incentives for invitro must be avoided.

IVF, it said, is wrong because it produces “large numbers of embryos destined to die or remain frozen, raising significant ethical issues,” and diverts vast resources that could be used to support couples that already have large families, or who are seeking to procreative help through other means.

Yet while condemning embryo donation, one thing the Vatican’s new Family Global Compact does not specifically address is the question of embryo adoption.

The terms refers to prospective parents choosing to “adopt” an embryo whose biological parents have signed away their parental rights, meaning they are frozen with no one waiting for them. It’s an alternative many couples are increasingly turning to, including many Catholics reluctant to use IVF techniques.

The cost is often much more manageable for those hoping to start a family, and while still debated among theologians, for many Catholic couples it represents a viable alternative to other, more dubious forms of assisted reproduction.

Representatives from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life did not respond to a Crux request for comment on whether embryo adoption will be studied as part of the compact research and whether it could potentially be a viable option for infertile couples seeking to welcome a child.

The compact’s clear and definitive stance against contraception and assisted reproduction comes after debate on these issues flared up last year over a publication from the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life included contributions from theologians suggesting the Church change its stance.

In the book, titled, Theological Ethics of Life. Scripture, Tradition, Practical Challenges, some theologians appeared to suggest that in certain limited circumstances, couples might be justified in choosing artificial contraception, or methods of artificial reproduction.

Critics hit back against the volume, accusing the academy and its president, Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, of attempting to orchestrate a change in Church teaching, while the academy itself defended the text, saying its role as an academy is to facilitate dialogue among top academic and theological minds on key issues of modern interest.

At the time, the academy also sent but within hours walked back Tweets arguing that St. Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae – which reinforced the church’s teachings on marriage and upheld its condemnation of artificial contraception – was not covered by the dogma of papal infallibility, meaning it can be subject to change.

In his message for the compact, Pope Francis – who has repeatedly lamented society’s falling birthrate and has urged couples to have more children – said its main goal is “to enable the pastoral care of families in the particular churches to benefit from the research and the educational and training programs in Catholic universities.”

Doing this can help promote a culture of family life “in this time of uncertainty and a certain shortage of hope,” he said, saying it is within the family that “God’s dreams for the human community are realized.”

“Hence, we cannot resign ourselves to the decline of the family in the name of uncertainty, individualism and consumerism, which envision a future of individuals who think only of themselves,” he said.

The family, he said, is “a community of life and love, a unique and indissoluble covenant between a man and a woman, a place where generations meet, a source of hope for society.”

Francis closed his message thanking those who have joined the compact and those who will do so in the future, and invited those who plan to join “to devote themselves with creativity and confidence to every initiative that can help put the family once more at the heart of our pastoral and social commitment.”

For the launch of the compact, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life held a webinar Tuesday afternoon with the heads of more than 40 research centers and institutes for the family situated around the world in order to coordinate its implementation.

A new website for the compact has also been created where the text can be found in Italian, English and Spanish, as well as a brochure and various other materials, including the pope’s message, the explanation of the logo, and contact information for those who want more information.

Vatican offers advice about trolls: ‘Don’t feed them’

 

Using a bit of cyber-jargon to get a point across, a senior Vatican communications official Monday had a piece of advice for how to respond to the rise of online “trolls,” meaning users looking to stir up trouble.

“Don’t feed them, and don’t nurture them on Twitter,” said Italian layman Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications. This attitude, he said, ought to be assumed both by “those who are part of the church and those who aren’t.”

Ruffini ducked, however, on the question of what happens when those trolls are actually Catholic prelates who use social media to criticize Pope Francis, saying that’s a problem for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.

The question was sparked in part by a recent controversy centering on Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, who used his Twitter account May 12 to announce that while he regards Francis as the legitimate pope, he believes the pontiff is “undermining the Deposit of Faith.”

Ruffini was introducing a lengthy new Vatican document on the risks and benefits of social media and the attitude of Christians who use them, which insists the platforms must be used to promote truth and community.

Discussing everything from cyberbullying to AI, misinformation to information overload and the growth of tribalism online, the document, published May 29, is titled, “Towards a Full Presence: A Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media.”

According to an executive summary of the document, its aim consists of an in-depth reflection on Christian interaction with and on social media given the increasingly important role it plays in many people’s lives.

Similarly, Sister Nathalie Bequart, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops and a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, stressed the need for better formation in the digital world.

Given the rapid growth and expansion of social networks and the digital universe, Bequart said “formation in a just presence in the digital world is needed today, not only in education in schools, but all pastoral centers, for pastors, sisters in communities.”

Formation in proper online conduct must be integrated into communities so they learn “a correct way of being on social media” and of interacting with and in the digital world, learning “when we should speak and when we shouldn’t speak.”

The only way for the church to move forward in this sphere, she said, “is to reflect on the path taken and what changes are needed for a better way.”

According to the executive summary of the document, the idea behind publishing it is to “foster a culture of being loving neighbors also in the digital sphere,” the summary said, noting that in the digital sphere, individuals “are often both consumers and commodities.”

In this context, a “faith-filled” response is needed, the Vatican said, saying this response “begins with being discerning regarding the stimuli we receive and being intentional listeners.”

“Attentiveness, together with a sense of belonging, reciprocity, and solidarity are the pillars for building a sense of community that should ultimately strengthen local communities, capable of becoming drivers of change,” the Vatican said.

The Vatican urged believers to be “weavers of communion” online, building new models of digital interaction based on trust, transparency and inclusion.

Among other things, the document warns Christians to watch out for various “pitfalls” along the “digital highways,” noting that while the internet and social media platforms provide many opportunities for interconnectedness, they also present various challenges that must be addressed.

Users are frequently reduced to “consumers and commodities,” while tribalist instincts are not only fostered, but often encouraged, the Vatican said, noting in the executive summary of the document that “many have been marginalized and wounded” through the online environment.

In the past, the Vatican has repeatedly spoken out against cyberbullying, launching an international observatory on the issue in 2018.

Pope Francis weighed in on the issue himself in 2019 during a meeting with young people belonging to Scholas Occurentes, an educational project he began while still archbishop of Argentina, telling youth that when someone chooses to bully online, “the emptiness of the aggressor’s own identity is apparent. There is a need for them to attack in order to feel like a person.”

For Christians, then, the question that must be asked is how they can help the online environment become “a place of sharing, collaborating, and belonging, based on mutual trust.”

In order for this to happen, social media users must have “a listening disposition” and must interact “in the realization that the others we are encountering online are real people.”

“Even in an environment replete with ‘information overload,’ this attitude of intentional listening and openness of the heart makes it possible for us to move from mere awareness of the other to a genuine encounter,” the executive summary said, saying the aim should be to invest in those met online and allow those digital connections to become “real relationships” that strengthen communities.

Oftentimes, people meet and interact with each other online in a spirit of indifference, the attitude of an ambivalent bystander, or in a spirit of “support and companionship,” the summary said.

When the latter attitude of care and support is chosen, the Vatican said, Christians, whether they are doing the support or are in need of it, can help heal “the wounds created by a toxic digital environment.”

“We need to rebuild digital spaces so that they become more human and healthier environments,” the summary said, saying Christians must also help shape the digital sphere so that it is capable of fostering “real communities based on that embodied encounter which is indispensable for those who believe in the Word become flesh.”

Christians, the Vatican said, must bring a “distinctive style” to social media that is based on the words and love of Jesus Christ, who taught believers that “truth is revealed in communion, and that communication also comes from communion – that is, from love.”

The digital footprint of a Christian must reflect an attitude that shares truthful information creatively and that builds friendship and community, using whatever online influence they have “responsibly.”

“It will be reflective, not reactive; it will be active in promoting activities and projects that promote human dignity; and it will be synodal, helping us to open our hearts and embrace our brothers and sisters,” they summary said.

Christian influence on social media must also “bear the mark of witness,” the summary said, saying Christians are not on social platforms to sell anything or to proselytize, but to share the message of Christ.

This means they are online “to vouch, with their words and with their lives, for what someone else – God – has done, forging a communion that unites us in Christ,” the summary said.

Drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan, the summary said Christians will at times be the wounded one, and other times the one who helps, or they might be both together.

Either way, their presence online and the digital interactions they have must “become an encounter with a neighbor whose life concerns them, and ultimately, with the Lord. In this way, communication grants a taste of the communion that has its roots in the Holy Trinity, and that is our true ‘promised land,’” the summary said.

In addition to his past remarks on cyberbullying, Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken about the benefits of social media, as well as the dangers they present.

When Francis published his encyclical on social friendship Fratelli Tutti in October 2020, he condemned today’s hyper-polarized and trigger-happy social media culture, saying social aggression “has found unparalleled room for expansion through computers and mobile devices.”

The pontiff lamented that unthinkable things could be said “in the crudest of terms, even by some political figures,” and said the “feverish” exchanges on social platforms are often based on misinformation.

He blamed social media for normalizing aggression and making polarization and ideological and political disputes more acute, saying a spirit of charity, friendship, respect, and community-building is the remedy.

During Monday’s presentation of the document, Ruffini also fielded questions regarding Artificial Intelligence and AI technologies that create fake images, videos and audios, calling for the development of a global control system to monitor content circulating online and distinguish what is real from what is fake.

Misinformation, the manipulation of content and “deep fakes” such as AI generated images of Pope Francis wearing a giant white puffer jacket or playing basketball that have recently circulated must be targeted “together,” Ruffini said.

The challenge for Christians, he said, is to “be sources of truth, be capable of building an ecosystem of the truth” online.

In Vegas, a longshot pays off: ‘Sin City’ becomes Catholic Archdiocese

Las Vegas is a gambling town, and on Tuesday, a real longshot paid off: This temple to secular hedonism, where even the airport has slot machines, and where a 2020 study of the ratio of residents to restaurants found the answer to be the classically diabolical number of 666, became the first new Roman Catholic Archdiocese in America in 19 years.

While casinos in town weren’t offering odds on “Sin City” getting such a papal premium, one has to imagine it wouldn’t have been considered a sure thing.

The Vatican announced May 30 the creation of the Ecclesiastical Province of Las Vegas, which includes the newly elevated Archdiocese of Las Vegas, as well as the suffragan Dioceses of Reno and Salt Lake City.

Archbishop George Leo Thomas, named by Pope Francis Tuesday as the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Las Vegas, said the move speaks to the “growth and vibrancy” of the archdiocese’s faith community.

“This speaks to the tremendous growth and vibrancy of the local faith and the commitment of the women and men that serve in leadership, including our priests,” Thomas said in a statement. “This is really a remarkable legacy moment in Las Vegas, and for the Catholic Church as a whole.”

The Holy See created the Diocese of Las Vegas in 1995, when it divided the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas in two, supporting the northern and southern parts of the state respectively. At its inception, the Diocese of Las Vegas had a Catholic population of 250,000, which has more than doubled since.

Today, the Archdiocese of Las Vegas comprises 39,088 square miles in Nevada, and has a total population of 2,322,280, of which approximately 620,000 are Catholic, according to the archdiocese. The new archdiocese has a total of 67 priests and 30 parishes across the five counties it covers.

In a May 30 news conference, Thomas said there are more like 650,000 registered Catholics in the archdiocese, and likely another 200,000 unregistered Catholics as well, giving the archdiocese a total number of Catholics somewhere in the 850,000 range.

Expanding on those statistics, Thomas said there are 58 language groups in the archdiocese, which includes large Filipino and Caucasian communities. He said the archdiocese is also getting an influx of about 50,000 Californians each year, which has contributed to the growth.

Ultimately, though, he credited the dedicated Catholics of the archdiocese for its growth and vitality.

“I feel very grateful to the Holy See and to Pope Francis, who I love very deeply, but I [told the Vatican] the honor and the glory belong to the priests and the lay faithful,” Thomas said. “It is the people laboring out on the fields and in the community who are really responsible for the dynamism here.”

“We are having exponential growth, but our people are receiving excellent pastoral care,” he continued.

Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Gordon of Las Vegas highlighted not just population growth, but the spiritual growth of the region as the reason why the Vatican made this decision.

“Las Vegas has grown in many ways since we first became a diocese in 1995,” Gordon said in a statement. “But there has also been spiritual growth, in the number of baptized, an increase in vocations for our archdiocese and religious life, and we continue to build new parishes and continue to welcome to the priesthood. Our new archdiocesan status reflects that growth.”

The Vatican elevates a diocese to an archdiocese/ecclesiastical province based on certain criteria, such as size and population. An ecclesiastical province is a territory consisting of at least one archdiocese (known as the “metropolitan see”), and includes several dioceses (known as “suffragan sees”). In this case, the Dioceses of Reno and Salt Lake City are those suffragan sees.

Galveston-Houston was the last diocese elevated to an archdiocese in 2004. There are now 33 Latin rite archdioceses in the United States, and 194 total archdioceses/dioceses.

As a new metropolitan archbishop, Thomas will receive his pallium — a woolen vestment conferred by the pope on an archbishop — from Pope Francis on June 29 in Rome, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, will then travel to the archdiocese in October to vest Thomas with the pallium.

Thomas was appointed bishop of Las Vegas in 2018. He became a bishop in 2000, when Pope John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle. He was then transferred to the Diocese of Helena in 2004, where he served until his appointment to Las Vegas.

Of his elevation to archbishop, Thomas said he is “deeply honored and humbled by this significant recognition by the pope.”

San Francisco prelate calls lesser charges for defacing Serra statue ‘anti-Catholic’

With a California District Attorney reducing the charges against five vandals who desecrated a St. Junipero Serra statue in 2020, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco fears others will now believe they can carry out similar attacks and not face serious legal consequences.

“Anti-Catholicism has a long and ugly history in this country,” Cordileone said in a May 25 statement. “Now, with this decision, the Marin County District Attorney has given the signal that attacks on Catholic houses of worship and sacred objects may continue without serious legal consequence.”

The case at hand dates back to October 2020, when the five vandals defaced a statue of St. Junipero Serra on the property of St. Raphael Parish, coating it in red spray paint and tearing it off its foundation. St. Raphael Parish is located in San Rafael, California, about 20 miles north of San Francisco.

Serra is an 18th-century priest and missionary, whose legacy has been debated in recent years.

Initially, Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli charged the perpetrators with felony vandalism charges. On May 25, Frugoli’s office announced that those charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, with “restorative justice” stipulations that must be completed.

The five charged were: Ines Shiam Gardilcic, 40; Victoria Eva Montanopena, 29; Melissa Aguilar, 36; Mayorgi Nadeska Delgadillo, 36; and Moira Cribben Van de Walker, 25.

In a May 24 letter to Frugoli after the archdiocese’s attorneys informed Cordileone of the decision to lesser the charges, he both defended Serra’s legacy, and pointed out that regardless, the fact remains that a felony crime was committed.

“I readily acknowledge, and have done so numerous times, that horrible atrocities have been perpetrated against the indigenous people of California,” Cordileone wrote. “While an honest reading of the historical record would clear Junipero Serra of perpetrating such atrocities – indeed, he gave his life to defending the native people of our land – the actual historical record is beside the point.”

“This point is, a felony crime was committed,” he continued.

St. Raphael Parish did not respond to a Crux request for comment.

Frugoli, announcing the lesser charges, said a result to the case was reached.

“It is the District Attorney’s Office’s goal to achieve a fair result on all cases, and I strongly believe that justice was served on this one,” she said.

“While this issue has raised emotions because of the sensitivities around religion, community boundaries, and historic inequities, the fact is that a resolution through accountability has been reached through restorative justice and that is a victory for this community,” Frugoli said.

The restorative justice actions those charged must take include: Pay monetary restitution to the church to repair or replace the statue, complete 50 hours of volunteer work, apologize in writing as part of the official court record, participate in a community forum with a historian, and stay off church property.

In his May 25 statement, Cordileone also argued that the reduction to the charges wouldn’t have happened if the vandalism occurred against another religious congregation or group, saying “if the same kind of offense had been committed against another religious congregation or group, it would almost certainly have been prosecuted as a hate crime.”

In the letter, Cordileone took issue with the process that led to this result, as well. He claimed that the mediator of the discussions between the archdiocese and perpetrators kept the archdiocese shut out of the conversation, and “was treating the perpetrators as if they were the victims.”

He added that he has supported a restorative justice approach, and does not want the defendants to go to prison.

“We are now approaching three years since this crime was committed, and we are still waiting for justice. I still believe reconciliation is better, but if reconciliation cannot be achieved through restorative justice then the defendants must be justly punished, short of serving time,” Cordileone wrote.

“Keep in mind here that an undeniable felony was committed in public, in front of the police, and caught on camera,” he continued. “What you propose is not a punishment that fits the crime.”

In snub to Russia, Ukraine’s Orthodox Church moves Christmas to Dec. 25

In a decision seen as an act of defiance towards the Russian Orthodox Church, which also has the effect of promoting closer ties with Roman Catholics and other Western branches of Christianity, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has decided to move Christmas to Dec. 25.

Traditionally, Ukrainian Christians, the bulk of whom are Orthodox, have celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7, along with other predominantly Orthodox nations, including Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February of last year.

On May 24, the Council of Bishops of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine voted nearly unanimously to switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as regards most major feasts, except for Easter and a handful of other feast days, such as the feast of the Trinity.

In a statement following the Council’s decision, Metropolitan Epiphany, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said the decision “is not an easy one, we have been coming to it for a long time, gradually, step by step, and we are making it carefully.”

However, Epiphany said the decision was “as necessary as the decision to introduce the Ukrainian language in worship instead of the traditional Slavic language, to introduce an autocephalous structure of the Church’s life instead of centuries of subordination.”

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, one of several Byzantine-rite churches in full communion with Rome, was the first to make the switch to a new calendar in early 2023.

Adherents to Orthodoxy still follow the Julian calendar, while the Catholic Church and most of the world follow the Gregorian calendar, introduced via papal bull Pope Gregory XIII on February 24, going into effect in October 1582 as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar.

The transition from the Julian calendar without making a change regarding the celebration of Easter is called the “New Julian” calendar, which is already used by many Orthodox churches in Europe.

In Ukraine there are two primary branches of Orthodox, the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate – a branch of Orthodoxy in Ukraine that reports to Moscow.

Following their recent vote, as of Sept. 1, which marks the beginning of their new church year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) will celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, rather than on Jan. 7.

The Orthodox Saint Nicholas Day will now take place on Dec. 6, and the church will join Catholics in celebrating the feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6.

In a decree announcing their decision, the OCU said they made the decision to switch the date of their observance of Christmas not only because the Julian calendar is of secular origin and “has no sacred significance,” but also because it is associated with Russian Orthodoxy.

“In the modern realities of the existence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Ukrainian society, especially in connection with the aggressive Russian war against Ukraine,” the demand for a change in the calendar increased “significantly,” they said.

For centuries, the traditional Julian calendar “was perceived as one of the main identifiers of Ukrainian church culture. At first, it was a sign of resistance to Latinization, and after the Bolshevik revolution, it was also a sign of resistance to the Soviet system,” they said.

However, the social and cultural context in Ukraine has changed dramatically since then, the OCU’s statement said.

Nowadays, it said, the Julian calendar “is perceived by the majority not so much as connected with ancient Ukrainian traditions, but as connected with Russian church culture. After all, the Orthodox Churches that support the Orthodox Church of Ukraine use the modern calendar, while its opponents, and primarily the Russian Orthodox Church, follow the old calendar.”

“Therefore, the desire to preserve and affirm one’s own, Ukrainian, spiritual identity, protection from the aggression of the ‘Russian world,’ requires a timely decision – to join the majority of Local Orthodox Churches – in introducing into use the New Julian calendar, as more accurate astronomically and ecclesiastically accepted, with the preservation of the traditional Easter,” the statement said.

The outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war last year has caused a fracture inside the Orthodox world, with several local Russian Orthodox churches opting to break away from the Moscow Patriarchate over Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s support of the war, requesting to switch jurisdiction to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, led by Patriarch Bartholomew, instead.

Traditionally, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Moscow Patriarchate have been at odds, seen as representing two different strains of Orthodoxy, with Moscow accusing the former of being too indulgent of the West and, therefore, of Western secular values.

However, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, this sentiment has changed among many Orthodox, sparking a significant shift in sentiment among Ukrainian Orthodox, particularly those who are loyal to Moscow.

Last spring, shortly after the war broke out, priests within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate began collecting signatures for a petition to oust Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill from his position of leadership over his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This follows a similar petition launched at the beginning of the war that was signed by nearly 300 Russian Orthodox priests, including several prominent members of the Russian Orthodox Church, and which urged Kirill to condemn the war, which over a year later, he still has not done.

Ecclesial tensions in Ukraine are also being felt at the political level, as the Ukrainian parliament debates a bill banning all activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.

Despite his frequent condemnations of Russia’s invasion, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has condemned the bill, saying it is not only problematic on grounds of religious freedom, but would have the counterproductive effect of turning supporters of Russia into martyrs.

The UOC’s statement specified that despite the shift in calendar, parishes that wish to continue following the old Julian calendar for economic or other reasons may do so, but the decision must be approved by a two-thirds majority of community members and it must be “properly documented.”