Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, in collaboration with the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious and the Catholic Lay Faithful and Professionals, will host an Environmental PrayerProtest Walk Against Galamsey today, Friday, October 10.
This initiative aims to highlight the severe consequences of illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey, and urge the government to take immediate action on this pressing issue.
The primary objective of the protest is to advocate for a state of emergency regarding mining activities, especially in regions near water bodies, river buffers, and forest reserves.
Organizers are hoping to prompt the government to implement decisive measures to address the environmental damage caused by galamsey and promote sustainable development for future generations.
The protest will kick off at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Adabraka at 10:00 AM, with participants marching past notable landmarks in Accra, including Castle Road, Ridge Roundabout, Parliament House, and Oxford Street, before concluding at Christ the King Parish in Cantonments.
A petition will be submitted toPresident Akufo-Addoat the Jubilee House during the event, calling for swift action to combat the crisis.
The Catholic Church is inviting all Ghanaians—whether Catholic, Christian, Muslim, traditional leaders, civil society organisations, environmental activists, or the general public—to take part in this peaceful demonstration.
The organisers stress that the event is not solely a prayer gathering but also a call for immediate and effective actions to halt galamsey, safeguard the environment, and restore Ghana’s ecosystems.
Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, together with the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious, Ghana, and Catholic Lay Faithful and Professionals, will spearhead an EnvironmentalPrayer Walk Against Galamseyon Friday, October 11, 2024.
In a press release on October 4, the church emphasised the walk’s purpose: to highlight the devastating impact of illegal mining in Ghana and urge swift government intervention to stop it.
The demonstration seeks to press for a state of emergency on mining operations, particularly in areas surrounding rivers, water bodies, and forests.
Through this action, organisers hope to push for stronger measures to halt environmental damage caused by galamsey and encourage sustainable development practices for future generations.
The protest will begin at Holy Spirit Cathedral in Adabraka at 10:00 am, with participants marching through key Accra locations like Castle Road, Ridge Roundabout, Parliament House, and Oxford Street, culminating at Christ the King Parish in Cantonments.
A petition is set to be delivered to President Akufo-Addo at Jubilee House during the event, calling for urgent action to tackle the galamsey crisis.
The Catholic Church has extended an open invitation to all Ghanaians—Catholics, Christians of other denominations, Muslims, traditional leaders, civil society groups, environmentalists, and the public—to participate in the peaceful protest.
Organizers emphasised that the demonstration goes beyond prayer; it is also a call for prompt, effective measures to end illegal mining, safeguard the environment, and restore the nation’s natural resources.
Reports from local media indicate that the Catholic Church in Uganda is grappling with a significant shortage of altar wine.
This shortage, ongoing since February, is reportedly attributed to delays in imports caused by the conflict in Gaza.
According to local media, the church’s supplier, JW InterServices, recently informed dioceses about the issue and advised them to use their existing stock judiciously.
Traditionally, the church procures its wine from Spain, with shipments typically traveling through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
However, due to a change in shipping routes, a consignment originally scheduled for early April is now expected to arrive by the end of this month.
“The ships have been diverted to take longer and safer routes through the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean which has caused a major crisis and delays of their arrival to Mombasa port,” the Observer newspaper quoted JW InterServices’ managing director, Father Asiku Alfred Tulu, as saying.
Altar wine is an important part of the ritual of Holy Communion – through which Christians remember the sacrifice of Jesus’ death.
A priest from the Catholic church in Nebraska was killed in an attack at the church rectory.
The police found Reverend Stephen Gutgsell and the person who attacked him in the church after they received a 911 call on Sunday morning in the small Fort Calhoun community.
The 65-year-old priest died in a hospital in Omaha after being attacked.
The police caught the suspect at the church and took them to jail.
They decided to call him Kierre Williams, who is 43 years old and lives in Sioux City, Iowa.
He was taken into custody because they think he may have killed someone and used a weapon to do it.
In 2007, Rev Gutgsell became famous for admitting he stole $127,000 from a different church.
He was told to be good for a while, given money to repay, and moved to another church.
Church leaders said that Rev Gutgsell had understood and corrected his actions. Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson, who is looking into the attack, said that police don’t think his death is connected to the case.
The priest’s brother, another priest named Michael Gutgsell, also broke the law and admitted to stealing a large amount of money last year.
Walking along an underground tunnel at the South Deep gold mine are miners wearing safety gear.
According to the Catholic Church, it is guiding a class-action case through the legal system on behalf of coal miners with lung disease against mining firms in South Africa.
Lawyers submitted documents to South Africa’s High Court on Tuesday, according to the Southern African Bishops Conference on Wednesday.
Representing the miners is Richard Spoors, an attorney renowned for his successful history of securing compensation in similar instances.
Initiated on behalf of 17 current and former mine workers, this lawsuit is directed at major mining entities: BHP, its subsidiary South32, and South Africa’s Seriti. According to Dasantha Pillay, a lawyer at Spoors’s law firm, who spoke to the Agence France-Presse news agency, the case seeks redress for individuals who have toiled for these corporations since 1965 and who have suffered from lung diseases. The suit also includes family members of workers who succumbed to illnesses triggered by coal dust.
As of now, the mentioned companies have not yet responded to AFP’s inquiry for comment.
The church has revealed that it instigated and facilitated this lawsuit subsequent to being approached by mine workers seeking assistance.
Coal stands as a cornerstone of South Africa’s economy, employing nearly 100,000 individuals and contributing to 80 percent of electricity generation. This industry is predominantly concentrated in the eastern Mpumalanga region, an area Greenpeace, an environmental advocacy group, identifies as having some of the most polluted air worldwide.
The collective legal action alleges that despite being aware of the hazards faced by coal miners, the implicated companies neglected to provide sufficient training, proper equipment, and a secure working environment for their workforce.
After years on the run, authorities say the most sought fugitive suspected of taking part in the 1994 Rwandangenocide has been captured in Paarl, South Africa.
According to a statement, Fulgence Kayishema was apprehended on Wednesday in a combined operation involving South African law enforcement and a UN team tasked with tracking down the remaining fugitives.
Kayishema initially denied being him when he was apprehended, according to the investigators. At night’s end, he did, however, confess to them, saying, “I have been waiting a long time to be arrested.”
Investigators said he used multiple identities and forged documents to evade detection.
“The arrest was the culmination of an intense, thorough and rigorous investigation,” a senior official at the prosecutor’s office involved in the case told CNN.
“Family members and known associates were exhaustively investigated. That ultimately led to identifying the right location to search and finding the critical intelligence that was needed.”
Kayishema allegedly orchestrated the killing of more than 2,000 Tutsi refugees – women, men, children and the elderly – at Nyange Catholic Church during the genocide. He has been on the run since 2001.
“Fulgence Kayishema was a fugitive for more than 20 years. His arrest ensures that he will finally face justice for his alleged crimes,” said Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz of the United Nations’ International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).
“Genocide is the most serious crime known to humankind. The international community has committed to ensure that its perpetrators will be prosecuted and punished. This arrest is a tangible demonstration that this commitment does not fade and that justice will be done, no matter how long it takes,” Brammertz said.
In recent years, the IRMCT prosecutor has complained about the lack of cooperation from South African authorities and there have been a series of near misses capturing Kayishema. But on Thursday, Brammertz lauded the cooperation and support of the South African government.
The events in Nyanga, Rwanda, were one of the most brutal of the genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed over the period of 90 days.
The tribunal alleges that Kayishema directly participated in the “planning and execution of this massacre.” The indictment says he bought and distributed petrol to burn down the church while refugees were inside. Kayishema and others are also accused of using a bulldozer to collapse the church following the fire, while refugees were still inside.
The office of the IRMCT says the investigation spanned multiple countries across Africa and in other regions.
A reward of up to $5,000,000 was offered by the US War Crimes Rewards Program for information on Kayishema and the other fugitives wanted for perpetrating the Rwandan genocide.
Kayishema is due to be arraigned on Friday in a Cape Town court.
The Rwandan genocide saw Hutu militias and civilians alike murder vast numbers of members of the Tutsi ethnic minority: men, women and children, many of whom had been their neighbors before the conflict began.
The killings finally came to an end 100 days later, when Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) troops, led by Paul Kagame, defeated the Hutu rebels and took control of the country.
At least three Ghanaian Catholic Bishops are expected to resign this year.
The resignation of the prominent Ghanaian Catholic Bishops is in line with the dictates of the Catholic Church as they turn 75 years this year.
These Bishops who have been serving the Church for decades are mandated by the Canon Law of the Catholic Church to resign their position through letters presented to the head of the Church, the Pope, for consideration.
“Diocesan Bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances,” the Canon Law [Can. 401 §1.] of the Catholic Church stipulates.
According to a January 2023 report by Catholic Trends, “the oldest crop of Bishops/Archbishops who have served the church dutifully and nearing their period of retirement are Most Rev. Philip Naameh of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale (He will be 75 years in September 2023) Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Konongo-Mampong Diocese ( He was 75 years in February 2023) and Most Rev. Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante, Bishop of Jasikan Diocese (He will be 76 years old in July 2023).”
Meanwhile, Most Rev. Gabriel Akwasi Ababio Mante, Bishop of the Jasikan Diocese, has taken ill, and the Church has called on the faithful to remember him in their prayers.
In May 2020, The Bishops, Archbishop Philip Naameh, Bishop Gabriel Mantey, Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, and Bishop Anthony Adanuty, marked 25 years in their ministry.
Pope Francis has expressed gratitude to Hungarians for accepting Ukrainian refugees during the war and encouraged them to aid anyone in need.
On his second day of a visit to Hungary, the pontiff met refugees at a church in Budapest and praised Hungary’s Catholic Church for providing aid to people fleeing war.
He also urged Europe to find again its founding values of peaceful unity as he denounced the “adolescent belligerence” of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine.
Hungary’s nationalist government has implemented firm anti immigration policies and refused to accept many asylum seekers trying to enter the country through its southern border, leading to prolonged legal disputes with the European Union.
However, some 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing war in their country have found open doors in the country.
Around 35,000 of the refugees remain in Hungary and have registered for temporary protection there, according to the UN.
Ghanaian Muslims concluded their 30-day Ramadan fasting period on Saturday, April 22, 2023.
The Assistant Parish Priest of the Catholic Church in Asamankese used the day to share love with his Muslim brothers and sisters as well as affirm the country’s religious tolerance.
Reverend Father Martin Delali Attitson and some of his parishioners joined the Asamkese Muslim community to mark the end of Ramadan.
Images from the event sighted by GhanaWeb, show the priest and the Muslim community sharing happy smiles and interactions.
Fr Attitson in one of the shots is also seen joining the Muslims as they conducted their Eid-Ul-Fitr prayers.
Some social media users who have been commenting on the images have commended the priest while those who claim to know him point out that such act is his person.
“Rev. Fr. Atitson was my Senior at our Catholic JSS and he always showed respect and tolerance to people of other faiths. I am not surprised about this development. I hope he rises to the very top of the Catholic Church that trained me and him to treat everybody with respect and fairness. God bless the Catholic Church,” a Facebook user, Mikdad Mohammed said.
According to a study issued by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, more than 150 Catholic priests and other members of the clergy harmed more than 600 children alone in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The’staggering’ amount of child abuse that occurred over a 60-year period in the oldest diocese in the United States was described in the 463-page study, which was made public on Wednesday.
Anthony G. Brown, the attorney general of Maryland, described the publication date as “a day of reckoning and a day of accountability” for the Catholic Church in Baltimore.
‘This report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable,’ Maryland Attorney General Anthony G Brown said. ‘Time and again, the Archdiocese chose to safeguard the institution and avoid scandal instead of protecting the children in its care.’
Starting in 2019, investigators reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents dating back to the 1940s that included ‘treatment reports, personnel records, transfer reports, and policies and procedures.’
Archbishop William Lori, the current Archbishop of Baltimore, called the report ‘a sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to innocent children and young people by some ministers of the Church.’
The archbishop issued an apology and offered an ‘unyielding public acknowledgment of the horrors of this era.’
The archdiocese has paid over $13million to about 300 victims since the 1980s, and has since instituted a zero-tolerance policy for clergy accused of sexual abuse.
The report found that abusers in the church ‘took advantage of the position of authority and respect afforded priests and other clergy in Catholic communities.’
It also found that many abusers continued their abuse even after reports or concerns were raised against them.
One example given was Father Anthony Joseph Maskell. Parents had reported disturbing attention Maskell was showing young people.
The same year archdiocese was sent a letter signed by members of his congregation, Sacred Heart of Mary in Baltimore, who said he was bringing ‘young girls into the rectory under suspicious circumstances and talk[ed] for hours.’
Despite these reports, Maskell continued to be employed by the archdiocese until 1994, including in multiple roles involving children.
In 1969, Maskell was transferred to Archbishop Keough High School, an all-girls school in Baltimore, where he worked as a guidance counselor. He was accused of abuse by at least 39 students at the school.
Maskell was never criminally charged, and he denied the allegations until his death in 2001.
The report came to the conclusion that Maryland should amend its statute of limitations for civil actions involving child sex abuse. Many of the victims waited until later in life to report their abuse due to repression or fear of retribution, but Maryland law currently bars plaintiffs from recourse if they are over the age of 38.
On Wednesday. the Maryland legislature passed a bill that would completely remove the current statute of limitations. It was sent to the desk of Governor Wes Moore, who has previously said he would sign the bill into law.
The report also asked the church to expand public accountability to other non-clerical employees of the archdiocese, including teachers, coaches, and deacons.
The report gave the example of John Merzbacher, who worked as a teacher at Baltimore’s Catholic Community Middle School, as well as three city public schools, from 1960 through 1979.
The report details some of Merzbacher’s most heinous crimes, including sexually and physically assaulting students, threatening them with guns, and instructing male students to rape female students at gunpoint.
According to the report, some of these acts were done in front of the school’s principal, Sister Eileen Weisman.
At least 27 students from Merzbacher’s seven years teaching at Catholic Community Middle School were identified as victims, and even more came forward from his teaching in Baltimore public schools.
Merzbacher, now 82, was eventually convicted of rape and child sexual abuse in 1994 and sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences.
Of the 156 archdiocese employees identified in the report, ten of them were redacted upon release. Another 37 people were identified during grand jury proceedings, but a circuit court judge ruled that their names should be excluded until further proceedings.
A fisherman who trained as a dowser to protect his local river has now built a 34-year career in the trade. He now says he can use Google Earth to discover water, gas, and gold by waving objects near a computer screen, adding that those who are skeptical of his techniques “just do not know.”
Since 1989, Peter Taylor, 82, of Mold, North Wales, has used his divination skills to comb the globe seeking water, rare stones, precious metals, and even shipwrecks. He claims to have struck the bullseye nearly all the time, only missing a few occasions.
Dowsing, a type of divination that seeks to locate where water or valuable materials are buried, has been practised for centuries, although it was banned by the Catholic Church – and cannot be used to reveal lottery numbers, according to Peter.
While Peter is convinced that he has passed on ‘the gift’ of divination to his four children Jane, Jackie, Stephen and Peter, there is no scientific evidence to prove that dowsing actually works.
Dowsers often rely on a variety of tools to help them allegedly sense where buried treasure is located, such as pendulums, wooden wands and dowsing rods, which can be Y or L shaped. Peter was a keen fisherman when he first heard about the mysterious practice on a television programme and decided he would try dowsing rods.
‘Ralph Whitlock – author of Water Divining And Other Dowsing: A Practical Guide, was on TV demonstrating how to find water, both remotely and at the site,’ says Peter, who was in his 40s at the time. ‘I saw the water coming up out of the ground and that’s how I got hooked.’
‘The water in the River Aeron where I fished was being depleted, so I tried copying what they did and found the rods worked for me.’
Peter’s dowsing technique first involves holding a pendulum containing whatever material he is looking for over a map.
When looking for gold, Peter will place a gold ring inside the pendulum, or if he has been asked to find oil and gas, then he uses an oil sample.
‘If I move it across the map while touching the map with my finger at the same time, it creates a connection to that place in the world, wherever it may be,’ says Peter.
Professional dowsing
The practice of dowsing has been discredited scientifically, but as of January this year two of the UK’s 12 water companies were still using the technique to find leaks in the system – down from ten in 2017.
He then observes how the pendulum reacts, and depending on whether it starts spinning clockwise or anti-clockwise, says he can determine whether he’s getting close to the source.
‘You have to learn what means yes and no, which can take learning and time,” he says. ‘It’s difficult to explain, but for me anti-clockwise means yes and clockwise is a no. That way, you can get answers to your questions.’
While in the past Peter has relied on paper maps to start conducting his search, today technology has made his job a lot easier.
‘In the old days I used survey maps, but thanks to technology, I can now use Google Earth to pinpoint the location,’ he says. ‘You can virtually look for anything, diamonds, gold, silver, copper, zinc… even shipwrecks.’
Once the pendulum has homed in on an area where a resource could be located, Peter arranges a site visit and uses his rods to determine where to start digging or drilling.
‘A remote survey gives you a rough idea of where it is within 20 or 30 feet,’ he says. ‘So it’s not very accurate, but it gives you a good guide from where to start your search.’
Peter’s dowsing career has taken him all over the world, including Africa, America, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, where he claims to have located a water source in the middle of the desert.
‘I didn’t think there would be that much water in the desert,’ he said. ‘You could see the water gushing up – I think it was something like 184 gallons a minute.’
While some people might be tempted to use dowsing for their own personal gain, they will not strike gold, says Peter.
‘I can help others find the oil or the water, but not for myself,’ he said. ‘Just like you can’t use it to find the lottery numbers or gambling.’
That said, Peter has managed to make a living out of dowsing, working for clients of all sizes, from local farmers who are hoping to find water on their land, to multi-national petrol companies. Over the past three decades, Peter claims to have located more than 1,000 boreholes, wells and natural springs.
He charges a minimum fee of £100 to conduct a remote survey of an area, but prices can vary depending on how much time a search takes.
Asked what he says to those who are sceptical of his abilities, he says: ‘You have to show them official references to back up what you are saying, and that’s something I can do.
‘A lot of people are really sceptical and then even when you show them that you can do it, they still don’t believe you.
‘Of course, I have sometimes failed to locate things, maybe four or five times in my lifetime.’
Many theories have been put forward to explain dowsing, with some saying it comes down to the individual making unconscious decisions about geography – however, none have proven to be conclusive.
Peter, whose wife died from breast cancer over two years ago, is concerned that the ancient practice could soon be no more as there are fewer ‘masters’ alive to teach the next generation of dowsers.
‘Dowsing is not straightforward and it takes years to learn,’ he says.
Although he is semi-retired and enjoys a quiet life at his home in Mold, Peter continues to dowse around the UK.
‘I have travelled the world or at least quite a bit of the world,’ he says. ‘Obviously now I’m 82, so I don’t travel as much, but I’m still working on potential borehole locations here in the UK.’
To his knowledge, Peter is the first member of his family to become a dowser, but he believes his four children also have ‘the gift’. His daughters Jane and Jackie work for the council, while his youngest son, Stephen, works in forestry and his other child Peter is retired.
‘I’ve shown them how to do it, but they are far too busy,’ he says. ‘It would nice to see it being carried on because there are so few of us left.
‘It’s essential that we get these young ones following through.’
Easter Sunday and there are no people inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
The guy with the most important position in the Catholic Church approaches a straightforward glass platform and begins speaking to no one on the most significant day of the Catholic calendar in the most significant location in the Catholic world.
Because the problem we face is a common one, adds Pope Francis, “now is not the moment for self-centredness.”
As he speaks, he occasionally glances up from his pulpit and looks around, as if he is addressing a congregation. But he isn’t – not physically, at least.
The pontiff’s address on April 12 2020, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, provided one of the most indelible and extraordinary images so far in his papacy.
Videos of him speaking to the vast, deserted space were shown around the world, meaning his words probably reached more people than they otherwise would have done.
But ahead of the 10th anniversary of Francis’s appointment to the role on Monday, it is tempting to ask how well his 2020 Easter address works as a metaphor for his papacy.
Has the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics – criticised by some for moving away from the conservative stance of his two predecessors, and by others for not going further in the opposite direction – actually made an impact during his time in the office?
Or has he just been speaking to an empty basilica?
Pope Francis, visible in white to the left of the picture, gives his Easter Sunday address to an empty St Peter’s Basilica in April 2020 (Picture: AP)
Dr Gregory Ryan from the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University said Francis wields an almost unique form of power just by virtue of his position.
‘When the pope speaks, by and large people listen, even if it’s not what they want to hear,’ he said.
‘There’s never been a shortage of people listening and criticising.
‘But in a way that’s not true of any other religious leader – with the possible exception of the Dalai Lama – he’s got a global audience and there’s a certain degree of moral authority.’
Despite that, the ways in which the world reacts to what this pope says marks him apart from those who came immediately before him.
The backlash to Francis is unlike anything seen before in modern times – not necessarily for its ferocity, said Dr Ryan, but for its source.
Pope Francis speaks with his predecessor Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013 and died at the end of last year (Picture: AP)
He said: ‘Several of the voices who are now vociferously exercising their right to criticise the pope are the same people who, in a previous generation, were trying to emphasise that the role of Catholic clergy and Catholic bishops was to be in line and not to dissent from papal teaching.
‘That’s one of the things that’s turned around.
‘There was criticism of Benedict and John Paul II, but it tended to come from theologians, academics and activists.
‘What’s unique here is that some of it is coming from the bishops as well.’
That partially stems from his remarks on some of the most contentious topics in the church, and particularly LGBTQ+ issues.
Francis made his most famous comment on that subject a little more than four months after his election when, on a flight back from Rio de Janeiro, a journalist asked him about gay priests.
‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will,’ the pope asked, ‘who am I to judge?’
It was the first time a pontiff had ever used the word ‘gay’ in reference to sexuality.
Since then, he has made a number of statements that appear to contradict Vatican teachings which say ‘homosexual acts’ are ‘acts of grave depravity’.
In 2020, he voiced support for civil unions for same-sex couples, and in January he described laws criminalising homosexuality as ‘unjust’.
But despite his open calls for understanding and acceptance of people in the LGBTQ+ community, Francis hasn’t attempted to make any bold doctrinal changes – an approach typical of his papacy, according to Dr Ryan.
He said: ‘The two straightforward positions you might expect someone to take would be to simply reinforce church teaching, or to overturn that and say something new, something definitive and concrete.
‘What Francis has done is he’s changed the language that’s being used, and seen the question in a different way.
‘He takes an indirect approach, which I think has a potentially more transformative power on the church.’
According to Dr Ryan, the pope prefers to use the power of his position to set a process in motion, ‘aware it will take time to come to fruition’. As the saying goes, the church thinks in centuries.
The pope received a gift of a mask from a man dressed as Spider-Man in 2021 (Picture: Reuters)
That has led to some organisations expressing frustration that the church continues to use such offensive language to describe same-sex relationships, while still seeing positives.
At an event for LGBT Catholics in 2017, the gay priest Bryan Massingale paraphrased Martin Luther King Jr. to make the point, saying: ‘We ain’t where we wanna be, but we ain’t where we used to be.’
The same approach applies to Francis’s headline-grabbing attitude to environmentalism – though he’s made more of an effort to deliberately place the planet at the centre of the church’s attention.
In June 2015, the pontiff published Laudato Si’, an encyclical – meaning a letter essentially addressed to the entire Roman Catholic church – giving his thoughts on humanity’s attitude towards the Earth.
Scathingly, he describes the planet as being ‘among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor’, and condemns ‘our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her’.
Landing less than a month before the start of the negotiations that would eventually lead to the Paris Climate Agreement, it was praised by leaders including Barack Obama and Francoise Hollande for presenting a strong moral argument for fighting the climate crisis.
And in a pre-Greta Thunberg age, the editor of the academic journal Science declared Francis ‘our most visible champion for mitigating climate change’.
However, within his own church, reaction was more mixed.
A 2021 study that analysed 12,077 columns written by Catholic bishops between 2014 and 2019 found they were, as a group, ‘generally silent about climate change’ – and when they did discuss it, they often distanced themselves from teachings like Laudato Si’.
Some of this rejection can be blamed on ideological opposition from conservatives, but Dr Ryan said it’s also a reaction to a change in inertia and a ‘cultural shift’.
‘His style is very much, in a sense, trying to get the church to deepen its understanding of these issues and then for the church to change,’ he said.
‘It’s good psychology, we do it with our children all the time.
‘It’s trying to get them to think they’re wanting to do something rather than they’re just doing it because they’re told to – you try to make it seem like it’s their idea.’
Pope Francis prays in front of a candle lit to remember victims of abuse by the church during his visit to Dublin in 2018 (Picture: Reuters)
A decade ago, as people around the world marvelled at the new head of the Vatican and his distaste for the more extravagant elements of his role, commentators wondered how the Catholic church would cope with such radical change.
But to Dr Ryan, the most dramatic thing Francis has done is take the drama out of the papacy, recasting it as just one part of the church which is constantly in conversation with the other parts.
He said: ‘I think he is trying to initiate a cultural change, and cultural changes are much more difficult to undo.
‘So there is a risk that without Francis constantly initiating things, the momentum will run out and we’ll go back to a more top-down approach.
‘But the other possibility is that precisely by doing all this work, it decentres it and puts it out of a single point of control, into the people, and you can’t get it back.’
Pope Francis has acknowledged that he might resign if he gets too worn out to perform his duties.
The Pope, 86, warned of “a tiredness that causes him not see things properly” when asked by Italian media, what would cause him to leave
Because of a knee injury, he admitted that he felt “a little humiliated” to use a wheelchair.
‘I am old. I have less physical resistance, the knee [problem] was a physical humiliation, even if the recovery is going well now.’
Last month, the Pope said that papal resignations should happen in exceptional circumstances, and said quitting was not ‘on [his] agenda’.
Pope Francis has been head of the Catholic Church since March 2013, on Monday marking 10 years of his papacy.
In an interview with Italian Swiss television RSI, with extracts published in La Repubblica, La Stampa, and Corriere della Sera, he also said that the war in Ukraine had been driven by the interests of several empires.
He said the conflict was fuelled by ‘imperial interests, not just of the Russian empire, but of empires from elsewhere.’
While the Pope has repeatedly called for an end to the war and denied being pro-Putin he has previously suggested the invasion of Ukraine was ‘perhaps in some way provoked’.
Asking himself in June last year whether this made him a supporter of Putin, he said: ‘No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing.’ He added: ‘I am simply opposed to reducing complexity to distinction between good and bad’.
The Pope denounced the injustice of war at the Christmas Eve mass last year from a wheelchair.
The congregation was there warned that the Pope was unable to stand for long periods of time due to pain in his knee.
The leader of the Catholic Church has for over a year suffered with pain in his right knee.
Despite last month saying quitting was not on the agenda, the Pope has progressively added to speculation that he would at some point stand down from his position should his health worsen.
He previously claimed to have signed a resignation letter in case of a deterioration of his health: ‘In practice, there is already a rule. I have already signed my renunciation.’
‘I signed it and said, “If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. Here you have it,”‘ he said, referring to Cardinal Bertone, to whom the letter was given.
In January, he gave a sermon on the ‘virtue of stepping aside at the right time’.
He said: ‘It is easy to become attached to roles and positions, to the need to be esteemed, recognised and rewarded.’
He continued: ‘It is good for us too to cultivate, like [Saint] John [the Baptist], the virtue of setting ourselves aside at the right moment, bearing witness that the point of reference of life is Jesus.
Pell passed away at the age of 81. TheCatholic Church was shocked by Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on child abuse charges, which was later overturned.
The former Vatican treasurer is the highest-ranking Catholic priest ever imprisoned in Australia and the most senior Church official ever.
Church officials claim that he passed away from heart issues following hip surgery.
Before becoming one of the Pope’s top advisors, Cardinal Pell served as both the Archbishop of Melbourne and the Archbishop of Sydney.
He was summoned to Rome in 2014 to clean up the Vatican’s finances, and was often described as the Church’s third-ranked official.
But the cleric left his post in 2017, returning to Australia to face trial on child sex abuse charges.
A jury in 2018 found he had abused two boys while Archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.
Cardinal Pell, who always maintained his innocence, spent 13 months in prison before the High Court of Australia quashed the verdict in 2020.
However a civil lawsuit – launched by the father of a choirboy that prosecutors alleged Cardinal Pell abused – is still under way.
Meanwhile a landmark inquiry found that he knew of child sexual abuse by priests in Australia as early as the 1970s but failed to take action.
The Child Abuse Royal Commission ran for several years, interviewing thousands of people, and its findings relating to Cardinal Pell were released after his acquittal. Cardinal Pell denied the allegation, insisting it was “not supported by evidence”.
Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli paid tribute to Cardinal Pell as “a very significant and influential Church leader” while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his death would be a “shock to many”.
Image caption,Cardinal George Pell was Australia’s highest ranking Catholic cleric
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott – a Catholic – praised the cleric as a “saint for our times” and “an inspiration for the ages”, saying the charges he’d faced were “a modern form of crucifixion”.
But Steve Dimopoulos – a government minister in Cardinal Pell’s home state of Victoria – was among those who voiced mixed feelings.
“Today would be a very difficult day for the cardinal’s family and loved ones, but also very difficult for survivors and victims of child sexual abuse and their families and my thoughts are with them,” he said.
The cardinal was a polarising figure, both in Australia and abroad, something he himself conceded.
He rose to prominence in theChurch as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values, often taking conservative views and advocating for priestly celibacy.
Speaking to the BBC in 2020, Cardinal Pell said there was “no doubt” that his “direct” style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had driven parts of the public against him.
“The fact that I defend Christian teachings is irritating to a lot of people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme.
Former Pope of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95.
In a statement by the Vatican News, the Pope is said to have died in the Vatican at 9:34 on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible,” the statement said.
Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, the late Pope retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013.
He was elected Pope of the Catholic Church in 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II.
He chose to be known as “Pope Emeritus” following his resignation in 2013.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, asked for prayers for the Pope Emeritus after announcing that Benedict XVI was “very ill.”
“Let us #PrayTogether for Pope Emeritus Benedict who is supporting the Church in silence. Let us ask the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this witness of love for the Church, until the end,” Pope Francis wrote in a Twitter post.
“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican.
Thousands of people have demonstrated across the Democratic Republic of Congo against the M23 rebel group, one of dozens fighting in the country’s east.
The Catholic Church encouraged people to take to the streets, and much of the rage was directed at Rwanda, which DR Congo accuses of supporting the M23 rebels, and something that Kigali denies.
People marched for peace after leaving Sunday services across the country.
The Catholic Church wields enormous power in the country. Some church leaders are urging Western countries to take a tougher stance against Rwanda’s government for its support for the M23 rebels.
Banners at protests in Kinshasa opposed the balkanisation of DR Congo and spoke of the hypocrisy of the international community.
Regional talks have been taking place to try to stop the violence.
Several East African countries are sending in troops but in the past the involvement of multiple armies has only complicated the conflict in the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo.
The Bishop of the Konongo-Mampong Diocese of the Catholic Church in Ghana, Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, has berated the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, for saying that Catholics are free to join the Freemasons.
Alexander Afenyo Markin, who revealed that he is a member of the fraternal society, the Freemasons, said that the teachings and values of the organisation do not conflict with his Catholic principles and upbringing.
Speaking to Bola Ray on Starr Chat, the legislator said that freemasonry teaches its followers about God and the principles of life.
“I am a mason, and I have not been sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Freemasonry is a fraternal society that believes in God Almighty and follows certain principles that guide a man’s life, and it does not run counter with my beliefs as a Catholic. President Kufuor is a Mason and a Catholic,” he stated.
Reacting to this in an article in the Catholic Standard, Most Rev Joseph Osei-Bonsu, said that the MP’s views on the Catholic Church and the Freemasons are unfortunate.
According to the bishop, the Catholic Church’s teaching frowns on freemasonry since the fraternal society started in 1717.
“In recent times, the Member of Parliament for Effutu in the Central Region, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, in a live radio interview, stated that he is a proud member of the Lodge, and his church, the Catholic Church, does not frown on its members joining the Brotherhood.
“It is unfortunate that the Honourable Member of Parliament does not know the teaching of his Church on this matter. Contrary to what Honourable Alexander Afenyo Markin believes, Freemasonry is not approved by the Catholic Church. Indeed, Catholics are forbidden to become Freemasons.
“The Catholic Church has opposed the Lodge nearly since the birth of modern Freemasonry in 1717. Since the founding of the Grand Lodge of England, eleven popes have explicitly condemned Freemasonry or Masonic principles,” excerpts from the bishops’ article read.
Read the article below:
EXCERPTS FROM CAN A CATHOLIC BE A FREEMASON BY MOST REV. JOSEPH OSEI-BONSU BISHOP OF KONONGO-MAMPONG
INTRODUCTION
Many people regard Freemasonry as a benevolent and charitable organization, somehow similar to the Rotary and Lions Clubs, the Knights of Marshall, the Knights of St. John International or the Knights of Columbus. Undoubtedly, it is for this reason that some Catholics join this fraternity.
In recent times, the Member of Parliament for Effutu in the Central Region, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, on a live radio interview stated that he is a proud member of the Lodge, and his church, the Catholic Church, does not frown on its members joining the Brotherhood. He added, “I am a mason and I have not been sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Freemasonry is a fraternal society that believes in God Almighty and follows certain principles that guide a man’s life and it does not run counter with my beliefs as a Catholic” (https://newsghana.com.gh/is-afenyo-markin-a-true-catholic/)
It is unfortunate that the Honourable Member of Parliament does not know the teaching of his Church on this matter. Contrary to what Honourable Alexander Afenyo Markin believes, Freemasonry is not approved by the Catholic Church. Indeed, Catholics are forbidden to become Freemasons.
FREEMASONRY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The Catholic Church has opposed the Lodge nearly since the birth of modern
Freemasonry in 1717. Since the founding of the Grand Lodge of England, eleven
popes have explicitly condemned Freemasonry or Masonic principles. These popes are: Pope Clement XII (28 April 1738); Pope Benedict XIV (18 May, 1751); Pius VII (13 September 1821); Pope Leo XII (13 March 1825); Pope Pius VIII (24 May 1829); Pope Gregory XVI (15 August 1832); Pius IX (between 1846 and 1873); Leo XIII (15 February 1882; 20 April 1884; 1887; 15 October 1890; 18 December 1892; 20 June 1894); Pope Pius IX (1907); Pope Pius X (1907); Pope Pius XI (1924).
A recent condemnation of Freemasonry is contained in the “Declaration on
Masonic Associations” issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 26 November 1983, declared that Masonic principles are irreconcilable with the doctrine of Church, and that Catholic membership in Freemasonry remains forbidden.
The Church’s position is that Freemasonry is a religion in its own right with its own doctrines, which are not compatible with Christian beliefs. For this reason, one
cannot simultaneously be a Christian and be a Freemason. What it teaches about the following cannot be reconciled with Christian beliefs, i.e., God, Christ, the denial of the role of grace and Christ in salvation, morality, its attitude towards the Bible, eschatology, the masonic oaths and the notion of rebirth and enlightenment. For this reason, one cannot simultaneously be a Catholic and a Freemason, just as one cannot be a Catholic and be Muslim, a Hindu, a Shintoist or a practitioner of African Traditional Religion. One will have to make a choice between Catholicism and Freemasonry.
CONCLUSION
Let me conclude by drawing attention to the DECLARATION OF THE GHANA CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE ON SANCTIONS FOR CATHOLICS WHO JOIN MASONIC ASSOCIATIONS, issued on 7 May 2009. Among other things, it says:
1) Any Catholic who is a member of any Masonic Association and participates in its programmes, or promotes its views, or holds any office therein, and refuses to renounce such membership despite at least one warning (cf. Canon 1347) is to be punished with an interdict (cf. Canon 1347), that is:
a. He is not allowed to receive Holy Communion and other sacraments (cf. Canon 1332).
b. He is prohibited to act as sponsor in Baptism and Confirmation.
c. He is not to be admitted as a member of parish or diocesan structures.
d. He is to be denied funeral rites, unless he shows some signs of repentance before death (Canon 1184 §1, no. 3).
e. Where funeral rites are allowed by the bishop, no Masonic service shall be allowed in the Church or cemetery immediately before or after the Church rites in order to avoid public scandal (cf. Canon 1184, §1, no. 3, and Canon 1374)
Any Catholic who is a convinced member of a Masonic Association and notoriously adheres to the Masonic vision is already considered to have incurred automatic excommunication (cf. Canon 1364). This means that the censures described in Canon 1331 automatically take full effect on this person. According to Canon 1331 §1, an excommunicated person is forbidden:
I. To have any ministerial participation in the celebration of the Eucharist or in any other ceremonies whatsoever of public worship.
II. To celebrate the sacraments and sacramentals and to receive the sacraments.
III. To discharge any ecclesiastical offices, ministries, or functions whatsoever, or to place acts of governance.
It is possible that some Catholics joined Freemasonry without knowing that it is forbidden to Catholics. Such people are advised to see their priests or their bishops who will assist them to renounce Freemasonry and avoid incurring the sanctions that will be imposed on them if they do not renounce Freemasonry.
Jean-Pierre Ricard issued a statement admitting to the abuse, which he said occurred during his early days as a parish priest.
A French cardinal has admitted to sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl while serving as a parish priest in the 1980s.
Jean-Pierre Ricard, a cardinal since 2006, revealed the abuse in a letter on Monday and announced his resignation from his position.
“Thirty-five years ago, when I was a parish priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14,” he said.
“My behaviour has inevitably led to grave and lasting consequences for this person.”
He went on to ask for forgivenessand said he would be available should the legal and church authorities wish to speak to him.
Cardinal Ricard, 78, was ordained as a priest in 1968. He became archbishop of Bordeaux in 2001 and retired three years ago.
He was also a member of the Vatican Council for the Economy, which oversees all the financial activities of the Holy See.
Eleven bishops or former bishops, including Michel Santier, a former bishop in Creteil, near Paris, are the focus of abuse investigations in France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the French bishops’ conference, told a news conference on Monday, at which he also read out Cardinal Ricard’s statement.
The cardinal’s admission is the latest revelations to rock the Catholic Church, which has been embroiled in a global sexual abuse scandal, often involving children, for more than two decades.
In France last year, an independent investigation said French clergyhad sexually abused more than 200,000 children in the past 70 years, and its authors said the Catholic Church had turned a blind eye for too long.
Pope Francis told an interfaith summit that religion should never be used to justify violence and urged faith leaders to oppose war leaders’ “childish” whims.
Speaking at an East-West dialogue conference in Bahrain, the head of the Catholic Church warned that the world was on the “brink of a delicate precipice” and warned of a new race to rearm that was redesigning Cold War-era spheres of influence.
Apparently referring to Ukraine, Francis condemned a situation where “a few potentates are caught up in a resolute struggle for partisan interests, reviving obsolete rhetoric, redesigning spheres of influence and opposing blocs”.
“We appear to be witnessing a dramatic and childlike scenario: In the garden of humanity, instead of cultivating our surroundings, we are playing instead with fire, missiles and bombs, weapons that bring sorrow and death, covering our common home with ashes and hatred,” he said.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which sent an envoy to the conference, has strongly supported the Kremlin in its war and justified it on religious grounds.
His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr is now the highest-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa.
The election took place in Accra, Ghana, during the 19th Plenary Assembly of SECAM, whereby 130 participants, including cardinals and bishops representing over 600 catholic bishops of Africa came from all corners of the continent.
Another Cardinal, His Eminence Fridolin Besungu Ambongo of the Archdiocese of Kinshasha, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was elected First Vice-President, while Most Rev. Lucio Andrice Muandula of the Diocese of Xai Xai, in Mozambique, was elected Second Vice President.
The new President of SECAM, His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr, was created a Cardinal on May 29, 2022 by Pope Francis and will be officially installed Cardinal on August 27, 2022.
This is the first time since the establishment of SECAM, 53 years ago that a Ghanaian has been elected the President of SECAM.
The SECAM, established in 1969 in Kampala, Uganda during the visit of St. Pope Paul VI, was born out of the desire of African Catholic Bishops present at the Second Vatican Council to speak with one voice on matters pertaining to the Church in Africa.
The Symposium, headquartered in Accra, consists of eight regional associations:
-Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC).
Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central African Region (ACERAC).
Assembly of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt (AHCE).
Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA).
Episcopal Conferences of the Indian Ocean (CEDOI).
Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa (CERNA).
Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
Reunion of Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA/CERAO).
A mass funeral service is to take place in south-western Nigeria later for victims of the shooting earlier this month at a Catholic church in the district of Owo.
At least 40 worshippers were killed and dozens of others wounded when gunmen opened fire at the church.
Most of the dead were the bread winners for their families. Four were children.
The Nigerian government said the extremist group known as Islamic State West Africa Province carried out the attack.
A grieving community is struggling to understand what happened, and with no arrests, questions remain about whether the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
The funeral service will take place in a nearby hotel, with increased security, as the church is still not operational.
After the service, the families will collect the bodies and finally lay them to rest.
Nigerian security forces are struggling to contain deadly attacks across the country by jihadists, kidnappers and suspected secessionists.
Gunmen have killed worshippers in a Catholic church in Ondo, south-west Nigeria, the state’s governor has said.
Rotimi Akeredolu called it a “vile and satanic attack” on innocent people.
The armed men entered St Francis church in the town of Owo during a Sunday service. They fired into the congregation and then kidnapped a priest as well as some other church-goers, witnesses said.
Nigeria has experienced an upsurge in violence in recent months.
Kidnappings and attacks have been reported across the vast country.
No figures for the numbers killed or abducted in Sunday’s attack have been confirmed.
But a doctor at a local hospital, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said that “several worshippers were brought in dead”.
In a series of tweets, Governor Akeredolu appealed for calm and said people should not “take laws into your hands”.
“We shall commit every available resource to hunt down these assailants and make them pay,” he added.
No-one has said that they were behind this attack, but Nigeria is facing worsening violence by armed groups, the BBC’s Chris Ewokor in the capital, Abuja, says.
Exactly a week ago the head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria was abducted along with two other clerics in the south-east of the country.
The Methodist prelate said he paid $240,000 (£190,000) to be freed with his companions.
Two weeks ago, two Catholic priests were kidnapped in Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state in the north of the country. They have not been released.
In March, gunmen targeted the vital rail link between Abuja and the northern city of Kaduna killing at least nine people and kidnapping dozens of others, many of whom are still being held.
A catholic priest who has been appointed as Justice of the High Court will no more perform his priestly duties in public, the Catholic Church has explained.
The Catholic Church has told state-owned Daily Graphic in an interview that Rev Fr Joseph Owusu-Agyemang can only celebrate sacraments privately.
Chancellor of the Kumasi Archdiocese of the Church, Rev. Fr. Peter Sarpong, told the newspaper that apart from political appointments, the church did not stop its priests from serving offices, including serving as lecturers, to the security doctors, among others.
Rev. Fr Joseph Owusu-Agyemang, a Catholic priest incardinated into the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi, was sworn in as a Justice of the High Court by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, becoming the first Catholic Priest in Ghana to assume the position of a Justice of the High Court.
Concerns have been raised as to whether the Priest-Judge can perform a dual role.
However, explaining the law which allowed Justice Owusu-Agyemang to accept the appointment, the Chancellor of the Kumasi Archdiocese said the church’s law was epitomised by the last code that: “Salvation of souls is the supreme law of the church.”
He said such appointments were only allowed by the Catholic Church provided that a Diocesan Bishop had judged that it contributed to their spiritual growth under the Canon Law.
The Canon Law of the Catholic Church is the system of laws and legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regulate its external organisation and government and to order and direct the activities of Catholics towards the mission of the church.
Rev. Fr Sarpong urged Ghanaians to pray for the Priest-Judge to make a difference and be an evangelist in the Judiciary.
Justice Owusu Agyemang was among 16 individuals who were sworn in as justices of the High Court by President Akufo-Addo.
On 31st May 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in a televised address to the nation announced that religious services can commence in a church or a mosque with twenty-five percent (25%) of members in attendance, with a maximum number of one hundred (100) congregants with a mandatory one-meter rule of social distancing between congregants. He added that the maximum duration of service should be an hour.
In relation to this directive, the General Secretary of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Rev. Father Anondee has said that the clergy accepts this directive and will ensure that the protocols are observed.
Speaking in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning show, he stated: “It is a welcome development. It will afford us the opportunity to come together to worship and have masses which we have missed for months now. This is not to say things will be as they were but we will certainly have to observe the protocols that have been prescribed. We are going to follow strictly what the president has asked us to do and then we will conduct our religious activities in a manner that will not promote the spread of the virusâ€.
When quizzed by Samuel Eshun on the duration of service stipulated by the Government, he noted that the clergy had no problem with that as it afforded them the opportunity to congregate for worship. “We are in challenging times, so we have to face the challenge head-on. We just have to do what we canâ€, he added.
He made known that contrary to the belief people may hold, the clergy did not force the Government to ease the restriction on the ban of social gathering.
