U.S.
Bishops, state agree to protect confession in Washington mandatory reporter law
TACOMA, Wash. — Washington state’s government and its Catholic bishops reached an agreement Oct. 10 in a federal lawsuit over the state’s mandatory reporter law they said could force priests to violate the seal of confession. As part of the agreement, filed with the U.S. district court in Tacoma, the state was blocked from enforcing the law “as to the Sacrament of Confession” against priests “who fall directly under the administration” of the bishops leading the state’s three Catholic dioceses, who were also plaintiffs in the suit. The state’s Catholic bishops previously filed their lawsuit in response to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson’s approval of Senate Bill 5375, which designated members of the clergy as mandatory reporters, or people required by law to report suspected or known instances of child abuse or neglect. The version of that legislation the state enacted did not include an exception for sacramental confessions, an exception that most other states with similar requirements for clergy have. Jean Hill, executive director of the WSCC, praised the new agreement in a statement. “Preventing abuse and upholding the sacred seal of confession are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “We can and must do both.” (OSV News)
WORLD
‘No idea, faith or policy justifies killing,’ pope says at prayer vigil
VATICAN CITY — In the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which has one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St. John Paul II embedded in its crown, Pope Leo XIV called for the warring to lay down their weapons. “‘Lay down your sword’ is a message addressed to the powerful of this world, to those who guide the fate of peoples: Have the courage to disarm!” the pope said Oct. 11 as he led a prayer vigil and the recitation of the Rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square. On the night he was arrested, Jesus told St. Peter, “Lay down your sword.” While Jesus says the same to warmongers today, the pope said, it also is “an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing.” The evening prayer service was part of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. (CNS)
Vatican announces formal nomination of judges in Father Rupnik trial
VATICAN CITY — Three months after Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said the Vatican had identified the judges who would form the tribunal in the canonical trial against Slovenian Father Marko Rupnik on charges of spiritual and sexual abuse, the judges were formally nominated. The Vatican published a communique Oct. 13 from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Fernández, saying the five judges were nominated Oct. 9. “The panel of judges is composed of women and clerics who are not members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and who hold no office within any of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” the note said. “This has been done in order to better ensure, as in every judicial proceeding, the autonomy and independence of the aforesaid tribunal,” it said. The communique did not say when the trial would begin or if it already had begun. (CNS)
Consecrated life shows beauty of authentic love, trust in God, pope says
VATICAN CITY — All human beings need consistent, lasting and healthy experiences of authentic love, Pope Leo XIV said. Consecrated men and women, who abandon themselves “like children into the arms of the Father,” spread “the ‘fresh air’ of authentic love throughout the world,” he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 9, marking the Jubilee of Consecrated Life. God is “the fullness and meaning of our lives,” the pope said. “For you — for us — the Lord is everything,” he said. “Without Him, nothing exists, nothing makes sense, nothing is worthwhile.” The pope said that “living out your vows means abandoning yourselves like children into the arms of the Father.” The Catholic Church “entrusts you with the task of being living witnesses to God’s primacy in your lives,” the pope added. “By stripping yourselves of everything, you help the brothers and sisters you meet to cultivate this friendship themselves.” (CNS)
Pope, in official visit to Italy, praises joint action for the common good
VATICAN CITY — Making the first state visit of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV met Italian President Sergio Mattarella and spoke of common concerns, including war, migration, ecology and Italy’s declining birthrate. “In a climate of cordial respect, the Catholic Church and the Italian state collaborate for the common good — at the service of the human person, whose inviolable dignity must always remain at the forefront of decision-making and action at all levels of social development, especially in defending the most fragile and needy,” the pope told the president. The morning meeting Oct. 14 took place at the Quirinal Palace, a former papal residence that has been home to Italian kings and presidents since 1870. (CNS)
