CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy
Pope Francis praises Pope Benedict’s ‘humility and tenderness’' With a warm embrace, a helping hand, shared prayer, a long discussion and lunch together, Pope Francis spent several hours with retired Pope Benedict XVI March 23 at the papal summer villa. Pope Francis gave Pope Benedict an icon of Mary and Jesus that the Russian Orthodox delegation to his inauguration had given him just a few days earlier.
They told me this was Our Lady of Humility. If I may say, I thought of you, Pope Francis said. Pope Benedict, obviously moved, grasped his successor's hands. Pope Francis told Pope Benedict, You gave us so many examples of humility and tenderness. The meeting took place in Castel Gandolfo, where Pope Benedict is staying while a Vatican monastery is being remodeled as a residence for him. The retired pope moved with much greater difficulty than he did a month ago. Walking with a cane, he took smaller and slower steps.
VATICAN CITYPope urges decisive action against sex abuse During an April 5 meeting with Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Francis reaffirmed the importance of responding decisively to the problem of the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy and called on the Vatican office to continue carrying out its mandate.
The pope told Archbishop Muller he wanted the congregation to continue with the policies of retired Pope Benedict XVI and to act decisively concerning cases of sexual abuse, the Vatican said in a written statement released after the meeting.
The pope asked the congregation to continue promoting measures that protect minors, above all; help for those who have suffered such violence in the past; necessary procedures against those found guilty; (and) the commitment of bishops' conferences in formulating and implementing the necessary directives in this is area that is so important for the church's witness and credibility.
OXFORD, EnglandArchdiocese uses eBay to sell church The Berlin Archdiocese is continuing to try to sell unused churches and even listed a church on eBay.
Virtually every diocese in Germany has sold churches over the past decade, so this is nothing special, said Stefan Forner, spokesman for the Berlin Archdiocese.
When it did not sell on eBay, efforts continued to find a buyer for St. Bernhard Church in Brandenburg-Havel, one of numerous churches recently put on the market in the face of falling Mass attendance.
Forner said that 22 Catholic churches had been sold or given to other Christian denominations by the Berlin Archdiocese, compared to 90 in the Diocese of Essen.
A PAPAL EMBRACE
Pope Francis has named Argentine Bishop Mario Aurelio Poli as his replacement in Buenos Aires. Archbishop Poli, 65, was auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires under Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — for six years before being named bishop of Santa Rosa in 2008.