Pallium day, new style

On the feast of the two foster fathers of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul, it’s also Pallium day. The new metropolitan archbishops come to Rome to receive the sign of their union with the Holy Father and take it back home to their provinces. But this time around we’ll see the introduction of the new form of the ceremony. While the archbishops still receive their pallia from the Pope, the official act of imposition will take place in their respective cathedrals, and it will be the Apostolic Nuncio, the official representative of the Pope, who will do the honours. This to emphasise the home churches over Rome, although most archbishops still travel to Rome to concelebrate today’s Mass with the Holy Father.

This is the list of the 46 new archbishops who will receive palia:

• Archbishop Richard Daniel Alarcón Urrutia, Cuzco, Peru
• Archbishop Oscar Omar Aparicio Céspedes, Cochabamba, Bolivia
• Archbishop Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
• Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Valencia, Spain
• Archbishop-elect Erio Castellucci, Modena-Nonantola, Italy
• Archbishop Blase Joseph Cupich, Chicago, United States of America
• Archbishop Alojzij Cvikl, Maribor, Slovenia
• Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias, Luanda, Angola
• Archbishop José Antonio Fernández Hurtado, Durango, Mexico
• Archbishop Anthony Colin Fisher, Sydney, Australia
• Archbishop Denis Grondin, Rimouski, Canada
• Archbishop Justinus Harjosusanto, Samarinda, Indonesia
• Archbishop Stefan Heße, Hamburg, Germany
• Archbishop Vicente Jiménez Zamora, Zaragoza, Spain
• Archbishop Beatus Kinyaiya, Dodoma, Tanzania
• Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde, Mombasa, Kenya
• Archbishop Heiner Koch, Berlin, Germany
• Archbishop Peter Fülöp Kocsis, Hajdúdorog (Hungarian), Hungary
• Archbishop Florentino Galang Lavarias, San Fernando, Philippines
• Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Archbishop Djalwana Laurent Lompo, Niamey, Niger
• Archbishop David Macaire, Fort-de-France-Saint Pierre, Martinique
• Archbishop Thomas Ignatius MacWan, Gandhinagar, India
• Archbishop Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, Osaka, Japan
• Archbishop Eamon Martin, Armagh, Northern Ireland (pictured at right before the tomb of St. John Paul II today).
• Archbishop Edoardo Eliseo Martín, Rosario, Argentina
• Archbishop Jean Mbarga, Yaoundé, Cameroon
• Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor, Cap-Haïtien, Haiti
• Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, Mérida-Badajoz, Spain
• Archbishop Benjamin Ndiaye, Dakar, Senegal
• Archbishop George Njaralakatt, Tellicherry (Syro-Malabar), India
• Archbishop Francescantonio Nolè, Cosenza-Bisignano
• Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang Mayé, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
• Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly, Cashel and Emly, Ireland
• Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra, Madrid, Spain
• Archbishop Antony Pappusamy, Madurai, India
• Archbishop Vincenzo Pelvi, Foggia-Bovino, Italy
• Archbishop José Antonio Peruzzo, Curitiba, Brazil
• Archbishop Gustavo Rodriguez Vega, Yucatán, Mexico
• Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna, Malta
• Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam, Asmara (Eritrean), Eritrea
• Archbishop Edmundo Ponziano Valenzuela Mellid, Asunción, Paraguay
• Archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, Kaunas, Lithuania
• Archbishop John Charles Wester, Santa Fe, United States of America
• Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki, Köln, Germany
• Archbishop Stanislav Zore, Ljubljana, Slovenia

One of these is not a bishop yet. Archbishop-elect Erio Castellucci will be consecrated and installed as archbishop of Modena-Nonantola on 12 September, which is also the date from which he can actually wear his pallium. The newly appointed archbishop of Berlin, Heiner Koch, is also yet to be installed (on 19 September).

Next to Archbisop Koch, two other German archbishops will also receive the woolen pallium. For Cardinal Woelki it will be his second: he already received one after becoming the archbishop of Berlin, but as the pallia are attached to the archdioceses more than to the person, he will receive a new one since he is now the archbishop of Cologne. Hamburg’s Archbishop Stefan Heße (pictured below offering Mass at the Basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo al Celio – title church of another German, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter, emeritus of Munich –  yesterday) is the third German prelate receiving the pallium.

Archbishop Heße was interviewed on Saturday by the German section of Vatican radio. He emphasised the value for the Church in Hamburg, which is small in number and large in territory, to be so closely united to the Pope, and he also explained how he will mark the official imposition of the pallium in Hamburg, which will take place in November:

“I was only ordained as bishop a little over three months ago, and that was actually the key moment: and I think also for the people in the Archdiocese of Hamburg, who have waited for their new bishop and have accepted me kindly. That was even the first consecration of a bishop in Hamburg’s Mariendom, as all previous bishops already were bishops before. I was consecrated there, and they made every effort to celebrate that. Therefore I said that we should tone it down a bit with the pallium. The pallium is a sign which is inserted in the liturgy. That is why the imposition in Hamburg by the Nuncio will take place during a Mass, which we will celebrate on the first of November. We will invite all altar servers from the Archdiocese of Hamburg and organise a day for them, since these young people are so close to the liturgy. That is why i thought we should celebrate it with them; and it is also a chance for me to come into contact with the youth and also emphasise the community with Rome and the Pope through the pallium.”

There is one more archbishop who should receive the pallium, but who can’t because of the political situation in his country. He is Archbishop Paul Xiao Ze-Jiang, of Guiyang in China. While the Holy See recognises him as the archbishop of Guiyang, the Chinese government says he is merely the bishop of Guizhou, which is a circumscription they have created in 1999 out of Guiyang, Nanlong (the only suffragan diocese of Guiyang, without a bishop since 1952) and Shiqian (an apostolic prefecture without a prefect since 2011). It is unknown if and when Archbishop Xiao will receive his pallium.

Photo credit: [1]  Archbishop Eamon Martin on Twitter, [2] Archdiocese of Hamburg on Twitter, [3] UCAN directory

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The start of Pope Francis’ shake-up of the Curia?

A whole raft of new appointments and assignments in the Curia today. It seems as if Pope Francis is really getting to work with what he has been saying he would since his election: the reform of the Curia. New Secretary of State Archbishop Pietro Parolin is already waiting in the wings, ready to take over the office from Cardinal Bertone on 15 October. The Curia that he will be working closely with is starting to change with today’s transfers and appointments, although some prelates had their positions confirmed as well. These confirmations usually take place within the first week after a new Pope has been elected, but Pope Francis is taking his time: six months in, there are still prelates waiting to be confirmed.

I won’t hazard to guess if the appointments are wise or not, although I remain willing to give the Holy Father and the prelates in question every chance at doing their new jobs in the Curia, helping Pope Francis manage the Catholic Church and communicate, defend and confirm the faith that the Lord entrusted to her.

An overview at the changes:

Cardinal Piacenza and Archbishops Stella, Eterovic and Baldisseri

New appointments:

• Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, until today the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, succeeds Manuel Cardinal Monteiro de Castro as Major Penitentiary. Cardinal Monteiro de Castro is 75 and has therefore retired. Cardinal Piacenza is 69 and has been a member of the Curia since 2000. He has been Undersecretary for the Congregation for the Clergy (2000-2003) and President of the Pontifical Commissions for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and for Sacred Archaeology following his consecration as bishop (2003-2007). In 2007 he was elevated to the dignity of archbishop and appointed as Secretary for the Congregation for the Clergy (2007-2010) and became its Prefect in 2010. In that same year he was created a cardinal. As head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Cardinal Piacenza is in charge of the Church tribunal chiefly dealing with excommunications, dispensations and indulgences.
• Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, was until today the Vice-President of the Pontifical Council “Ecclesia Dei”. He now returns to the office where he began his Curial career as he is appointed as Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This is a new position, as the Congregation also has a Secretary and an Undersecretary. Archbishop Di Noia began in the latter function in 2002. In 2009 he became the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which came with a consecration to bishop. In 2012 Archbishop Di Noia was appointed to “Ecclesia Dei”.
• Archbishop Beniamino Stella succeeds Cardinal Piacenza as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He is a diplomat who began as Apostolic Delegate, Pro-Nuncio and Nuncio to various countries (Chad, the Central African Republic and Congo (1987-1992), Cuba (1992-1999) and Colombia (1999-2007). He was President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy which trains priests for diplomatic service, from 2007 to today.
• Archbishop-elect Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, was until today the Bishop of Paplanta in Mexico. He has no Curial experience yet. From 2009 to 2012 he was Coadjutor Bishop of Paplanta, and last year he became the ordinary. He will be the Secretary for the Seminaries in the Congregation for the Clergy. This is a fairly new position, as the Congregation only received responsibility for the formation of priests in January of this year.
• Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, for more than nine years the General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, the advisory body for the Pope which meets every couple of years for an intense series of discussions on specific topics. Before the task, Archbishop Eterovic served as the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, and he will now return to such a diplomatic posting, except this time in Germany. He succeeds Archbishop Jean-Claude Périsset, who is some six months shy of his 75th birthday and will therefore retire.
• Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, will retain one is his two offices, that of Secretary of the College of Cardinals. His other office, of Secretary of the Congregation of Bishops will be exchanged for that vacated by Archbishop Eterovic: Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops. Archbishop Baldisseri’s appointment may safely be considered in  light of Pope Francis’ intent to move the Synod of Bishops to an instrument of an increased and more effective collegiality among the world’s bishops. Archbishop Baldisseri is also a diplomat, having served as Apostolic Nuncio to Haïti (1992-1995), Paraguay (1995-1999), India and Nepal (1999-2002) and Brazil (2002-2012).
• Archbishop-elect Giampiero Gloder is an official of the Secretariat of State who will succeed Archbishop Stella as President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

Confirmed:

Archbishop Müller and Cardinal Filoni

• Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Fernando Cardinal Filoni as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
• Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai as Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Archbishop Protase Rugambwa as Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
• Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta as secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy.

 

Clergy Congregation to the priests: “Be holy!”

In a letter published on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of the Clergy, taking place on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 15 June this year, the Congregation for the Clergy writes a letter (translation)to the world’s priests. The letter, signed by the Congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza (pictured), and secretary Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, focusses on St. Paul’s appeal to all Christians: “This is the will of God: your holiness!” (1 Thess. 4:3).

The authors firmly relate the letter to the upcoming Year of Faith and the anniversaries of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and also the upcoming General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will focus on the new evangelisation. These latter three events must be the focus of priests everywhere in the framework of the Year of Faith.

The final paragraph outlines why priests especially need to be holy:

“Today’s world, with its ever more painful and preoccupying lacerations, needs God – The Trinity, and the Church has the task to proclaim Him. In order to fulfil this task, the Church must remain indissolubly embraced with Christ and never part from Him; it needs Saints who dwell “in the heart of Jesus” and are happy witnesses of God’s Trinitarian Love. And in order to serve the Church and the World, Priests need to be Saints!”

Pope’s homily about bishops

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken about the role and duties of bishops in a homily at the consecration five new bishops, on Saturday. Read the full text over at Zenit and in a Dutch translation here. The Holy Father discusses the unity of Christians and the Apostolic Succession, taken a line from the Acts of the Apostles (2:42) as inspiration. He also gives an explanation of what faith is.

Three of the five new bishops will work in the Roman Curia: Archbishop Marcello Bartolucci is the secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and titular archbishop of Menevia in Umbria; Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai is the secretary of Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and titular archbishop of Sila in northern Africa; and Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta is secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy and titular archbishop of Alba Maritima in Croatia.

The two remaining bishops are to work in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See, although they have not been assigned to the nunciature of a particular country (I hear the Dutch nunciature will become available soon…). Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi is titular archbishop of Sutrium in Lazio, Italy; and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra is titular archbishop of Thelepte in Tunisia.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai is the first Chinese priest appointed to a top Vatican post. His appointment is a clear signal to and influence on China and that country's difficult relations with the Holy See.

Photo credit: [1] REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini, [2] ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images