Summit pushes for Church finance reform
Broad reforms that would contribute to greater accountability and transparency regarding Church finances are needed to address the financial crisis the Church faces and is intensifying because of the coronavirus pandemic, said a report emerging from a winter summit of lay, religious and clergy leaders.
The report assembled by the Leadership Roundtable from February’s 2020 Catholic Partnership Summit called for the Vatican and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to “create structures and laws for ethical financial leadership”.
The document, ‘We Are the Body of Christ: Creating a Culture of Co-Responsible Leadership’, also offered recommendations that emerged from three other sessions during the two-day summit. Recommendations focused on the development of plans for co-responsible governance of the Church by laity and bishops, transforming relationships within the Church to build a “new culture of leadership”, and welcoming young people into Church leadership roles to allow their voices to be heard.
However, it is the summit’s proposals regarding financial reform that garnered the highest priority from the Leadership Roundtable.
The report suggested the structure for financial reform would be patterned on the call by Pope Francis in his 2019 ‘motu proprio’ Vos Estis Lux Mundi (You are the light of the world) and the steps the US Conference of Catholic Bishops took in 2002 to adopt the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Man detained after Nantes cathedral fire
A 39-year-old cathedral volunteer has been detained as part of the arson investigation after a major fire at the cathedral at Nantes on Saturday. French authorities warned against any “premature” judgment of the detained man.
“We must remain careful as to the interpretation of this police custody. It’s a normal procedure,” public prosecutor Pierres Sennès told reporters.
The July 18 fire is believed to be arson, said Mr Sennes. There were three fires started at the site. The volunteer was responsible for locking the cathedral on Friday night. Investigators want “to clarify certain elements of this person’s schedule”, the prosecutor told Agence France Presse.
Mr Sennes said “any interpretation which could implicate this person in the commission of the facts is premature and hasty”.
Firefighters were called to the cathedral, which dates from the 15th Century, at 7.44am on Saturday. Over 100 firefighters were at the scene and saved the main structure.
The Diocese of Nantes said there was significant damage to the cathedral’s 16th Century rose window and to the choir organ. Several priceless artifacts were also destroyed in the blaze.
There was no sign of a break-in. One of the fires could be linked to an ‘electric counter,’ and investigators consider a short circuit to be another possible cause, the French newspaper Le Parisien reports.
The detained man, a refugee from Rwanda, was not named.
Syrian cathedral reopens
A cathedral that was repeatedly struck by missiles amid the Syrian civil war has re-opened following restoration.
The Maronite cathedral of St Elijah in Aleppo was bombarded with missiles on at least three occasions between 2012 and 2016, and suffered extensive damage when jihadists entered the Christian quarter of Al-Jdayde in 2013.
The restoration was financed largely by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In a video message, Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International, described the reopening as a miracle.
Explaining that he was unable to attend the reopening due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said: “ACN has been with you throughout the most difficult times, and it would have been wonderful if we had been able to celebrate together today. Sadly, the circumstances do not permit this; however, we see the Cathedral of St Elijah and it is a miracle.”
