A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
-
The Vatican investigator who uncovered allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse by Jesuit artist Father Marko Ivan Rupnik says the claims are true, according to a letter he sent to Italian priests obtained by the Associated Press. Bishop Daniele Libanari also said the women Rupnik is alleged to have abused have “seen their lives ruined by the evil suffered and by the complicit silence” of the Church, the AP reported Monday. He urged the members of the hierarchy who hid his crimes to “humbly ask the world to forgive the scandal.” Libanori’s letter comes on the heels of revelations in the past week that Rupnik, a Slovenian priest well-known for his mosaics that adorn chapels and churches around the world, had been excommunicated for abusing the sacrament of confession. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles sexual abuse cases, declared the excommunication in May 2020 but lifted it that same month, reportedly after Rupnik repented. The Jesuits, meanwhile, are asking any other potential victims to come forward with claims, the AP reported. Stay tuned to Catholic News Agency dot com for updates to this story.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253118/report-vatican-investigator-says-father-rupnik-and-hierarchy-s-complicit-silence-ruined-victims-lives
Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Juan Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington. As auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington, Esposito and Menjivar will assist Cardinal Wilton Gregory in the episcopal duties of the archdiocese while holding the full rank of bishops themselves. Originally from Chalatenango, El Salvador, Menjivar, 52, came to the US as a teenager to flee violence. He attended Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami and the Pontifical North American College in Rome and was ordained to the diocesan priesthood in 2004. He has served as the pastor at Saint Mary’s parish in Landover Hills, Maryland, since 2017. He is fluent in three languages: Spanish, English, and Italian. Esposito, 48, was ordained a diocesan priest in 2008 and has served in the Dicastery for Bishops in Vatican City since 2018. Born in San Luis, Argentina, Esposito is also fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian. He attended seminary and earned an undergraduate degree in Argentina. After immigrating to the US, Esposito earned a master’s of divinity and a master’s of arts degree in moral theology from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, and a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America. As a canon lawyer, Esposito’s previous assignments include being a judge on the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal as well as the judicial vicar for the archdiocese.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253114/pope-appoints-two-new-auxiliary-bishops-to-archdiocese-of-washington
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Dominic of Silos, a Spanish monk who in the eleventh century renewed the spirit of the monastery of San Sebastian in Silos, reforming its structure, its finances, and its works of charity. Dominic was known for miracles of healing, which he obtained through prayer, and for his work of ransoming Christian prisoners from the moors.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-dominic-of-silos-90