Every day, Aleteia offers a selection of articles written by the international press about the Church and the major issues that concern Catholics around the world. The opinions and views expressed in these articles are not those of the editors.
Catholic Church “should be more like Alcoholics Anonymous,” says theologian
Speaking at an online meeting organized by an Irish lay reform group, We Are Church Ireland, American theologian Thomas Doyle attacked the “unrealistic and exalted concept of priesthood.” The British daily The Tablet reported that he then criticized the “heretical theology” in which priests project themselves as being superior to the average layperson, criticizing John Paul II, who he accused of encouraging this vision. Doyle then attacked the Church as an institution, because it was too much based on the notion of authority or power. In order to bring the present church out of its present state and closer to what the early church was, the theologian compared it, surprisingly, to Alcoholics Anonymous. For him, Catholics need such a meeting place, which emphasizes "honesty, non-judgmentalism." He ended his speech by acknowledging that he has almost lost his faith.
The Tablet, English
University of Fribourg suspends Metropolitan Hilarion
"The sermons [...] in which Patriarch Kirill justifies Russia's war against Ukraine by calling it a 'metaphysical struggle' are scandalous from a theological and political point of view," explained a few days ago Mariano Delgado, Dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). To counter the Russian patriarch's stance on the war, Delgado explicitly asked Metropolitan Hilarion, director of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of Ecclesiastical Foreign Relations, to use "his ecclesiastical and political influence to publicly and unequivocally condemn Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.” However, the reaction from Hilarion, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Theology in Freiburg, was not considered sufficient. Delgado therefore decided to suspend the metropolitan from his titular seat. "The Faculty [...] will continue to be a meeting place with and between the different churches of Orthodoxy. But silence, when it is necessary to speak loudly and clearly, is not part of the prophetic tradition of Christianity as it must be marked for our faculty," concluded the Dean.
Cath.ch, French
Jerusalem: freezing the transfer of an Orthodox property to Russia
A Jerusalem court has suspended the transfer of the Russian Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Church complex, following an appeal by the Imperial Orthodox Society of Palestine, which owned it until 2020. This property, close to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, was built in the late 19th century on land purchased in 1859 by Tsar Alexander II. It has been at the heart of a legal dispute for more than a decade between two groups claiming continuity of the Russian Empire. In 2020, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu agreed to hand over the building to the Russian Federation, which is considered to be the continuation of the Russian Empire under international law, but the courts froze the transfer. The decision now rests with a ministerial committee set up by the current Israeli government. This delicate debate is taking place against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine and the attempted mediation by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who visited Moscow on March 5.
Terre Sainte, French
Myanmar junta bombs a convent and a church
Myanmar’s military junta bombed March 8 a building used as a rest home and hospital by the Sisters of Reparation, reports AsiaNews. The site is located near the town of Demoso, in a predominantly Christian area where People's Defense Forces militias are fighting against Burmese forces. A priest confided that the sole purpose of the strikes was to terrorize the population: "There was no armed conflict going on in that area. It was a planned attack against the church and innocent civilians." AsiaNews also notes that the Burmese military has Russian military support and uses the same aircrafts as those currently deployed in Ukraine.
AsiaNews, English
Congress approves commission to investigate abuses in the Church in Spain
The Spanish Congress approved on Thursday the setting up of a commission investigating sexual abuse in the Church. It will be coordinated by the Spanish Ombudsman for civil rights along with a group of experts. The commission was approved by a landslide, with 286 votes in favor, 51 against (from the right-wing Vox party) and 2 abstentions. Certain political parties that had been previously opposed to the commission were able to negotiate and reach an agreement, which allowed them to vote in favor. However, there are still many questions and divisions among the parties about how the commission will work. The president of the parliamentary coalition, Unidas Podemos, Jaume Asens, has assured the media that "there will not be an opaque commission" and the works will be done in full transparency and with an authentic search for the truth.
El País, Spanish
