Vatican-China Agreement: Secretary Pompeo Enters the Debate

By Cindy Wooden and Currents News Staff

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — About 10 days before he was expected in Rome, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that the Vatican “endangers its moral authority” by considering an extension of its 2018 agreement with China on the nomination of bishops.

Pompeo’s tweet Sept. 19 linked to an article he wrote for the magazine First Things asking the Vatican to use its “moral witness and authority in support of China’s religious believers.”

“Vatican diplomats are meeting this month with their CCP (Chinese Communist Party) counterparts to negotiate the renewal of a two-year-old provisional agreement between the Holy See and China. The terms of that pact have never been publicly disclosed; but the church’s hope was that it would improve the condition of Catholics in China by reaching agreement with the Chinese regime on the appointment of bishops, the traditional stewards of the faith in local communities,” Pompeo wrote in the article.

He summarized his point in the tweet, saying “the CCP’s abuse of the faithful has only gotten worse. The Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.”

The Vatican did not publicly respond to Pompeo’s tweet or article.

“If the Holy See made such a comment about U.S. relations with a state, I can’t imagine Secretary Pompeo would be happy,” a former Vatican official, not authorized to speak on the record, told Catholic News Service Sept. 21.

He also pointed out that the Holy See’s negotiations and agreement are with the Chinese government, not the Chinese Communist Party, as Pompeo suggested. Arguing they are one and the same would be like claiming treaties negotiated with the Trump administration “were with the Republican Party. It makes no sense.”

As for the heart of Pompeo’s argument — that the agreement has not ended persecution of Catholics in China — the former official agreed, but pointed out that the situation for Catholics varies “depending on the province they live in. For some, it is better. For others, it’s the same. And, unfortunately, for some, it’s worse.”

But the Vatican always has insisted that dialogue is a process and walking away from the table because the other side does not give you everything you want at the beginning is more akin to attempting a business transaction than dialogue.

“This agreement is the fruit of 30 years’ work; we’re not going to just rip it up,” another Vatican official said, asking that his name not be used.

He said the Vatican was surprised that Pompeo’s article in First Things was “so substantial,” detailing situations of alleged violations of human rights.

But even more, he said, “we were surprised given that he’s coming here at the end of the month and we expected to have substantial discussions on this. It’s not the approach most diplomats would take” when setting an agenda for a high-level meeting.

Calling Pompeo’s article and tweet “megaphone diplomacy,” he said that it was not completely unusual for the Trump Administration.

At the same time, he said, the Vatican does not believe it is “just rhetoric,” citing Pompeo’s allegations of the forced sterilization of Muslims in Xinjiang, a region where there are few Catholics, so the Vatican has no direct information.

Many observers in the Italian press saw Pompeo’s tweet and article as more partisan politics than diplomacy.

The Italian journalist Gianni Riotta tweeted in Italian, “How does Secretary of State Pompeo prepare for a summit at the Vatican with @Pontifex? Attacking him on China. Will this muscular approach work with the church of Francis? No.”

Australian Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane replied to Riotta’s tweet by saying, “Nor will an attempt to pressgang the Holy See into a questionable domestic political/electoral agenda playing itself out on the international stage.”

Maria Antonietta Calabro, writing in the Italian HuffPost, said that in his run for reelection, Trump “has targeted the Catholic electoral base, which could make the difference,” especially because part of U.S. Catholicism, she wrote, “is often strongly critical of Pope Francis.”

But the heart of Pompeo’s article in First Things was China’s ongoing violations of human rights and, especially, of religious freedom.

The Vatican, which tried repeatedly over decades to begin an official dialogue with China, has never pretended the country had a sterling human rights record.

“With China, our current interest is to normalize the life of the church as much as possible, to ensure that the church can live a normal life, which for the Catholic Church means also having relations with the Holy See and the pope,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, told reporters Sept. 14.

Although the Vatican also is concerned with issues such as “peaceful coexistence and overcoming tensions,” the current agreement is focused on the “ecclesiastical issue” of bishop appointments, the cardinal said.

The Vatican official who spoke to CNS said the Vatican believes, “quite seriously, that ours is a technical agreement on the appointment of bishops. We hope it would help the Catholics there.”

“Dialogue — that’s the only tool at our disposal,” he said, contrasting the Vatican’s position with that of nations who can use weapons or financial deals to sway another country.

The Vatican negotiators do “raise the various human rights issues that impact the Catholic Church,” including the mistreatment or detainment of priests and bishops but have not had great success in that area, he said. However, the agreement about bishops was built over decades and the Vatican plans to persist, even if the going is slow.

In the preface to a 2019 book on the agreement, Cardinal Parolin quoted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics: “The solution to existing problems cannot be pursued via an ongoing conflict with the legitimate civil authorities; at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the church.”

“This is the path followed today as well in relations with the People’s Republic of China,” Cardinal Parolin wrote. The Vatican has initiated “historic processes that may not immediately bring the desired results,” but it knows “the definitive solution to complex problems requires time and trust.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio Visits St. Bartholomew’s UPK Center During First Day of Public School Classes

by Erin DeGregorio

ELMHURST — On Sept. 21, Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray, and New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza welcomed parents and children outside the Mosaic Pre-K Center, which the city runs out of St. Bartholomew School, for their first day of in-person learning. Greetings included elbow bumps, enthusiastic waves, and asking how students were feeling about the first day back at school.

Public schools across the city were supposed to begin the school year on Sept. 10, but pressure from school labor unions delayed the start twice. Up to 90,000 3-K, pre-K, and special needs students in the Department of Education’s 734 schools that serve District 75 are expected to return in person during the week of Sept. 21. Students in the older grades, who had opted for blended learning, began the school year with remote learning, instead, on Sept. 21. They will be physically returning to the classrooms during the week of Sept. 28.

While in Elmhurst, Mayor de Blasio noted the devotion that was on display by Mosaic teachers, staff, and administration prior to the children’s arrivals.

“I have a lot of faith in our educators [and] I have a lot of faith in our school communities,” Mayor de Blasio said. “People choose to teach because they love children and they’re going to take good care of your children.”

All of the students who arrived at the building already had their backpacks and face coverings on before going inside. The mayor emphasized how these 4-year-olds are naturally and effortlessly wearing the coverings.

“It isn’t a hassle for them. They just go with the flow,” Mayor de Blasio said after touring the Mosaic Pre-K Center’s interior. “They’re really adaptable — and we’re seeing it throughout the entry in the morning and also in the school … That’s why I’m very convinced this is going to be a good and safe experience for everyone.”

In the same vein, Chancellor Carranza said the Elmhurst center’s programming is “very smart” as small-sized groups and ample social distancing protocols are in place.

“‘They’re bringing students in smaller groups — even smaller than what they will have going forward because they want to orient students, make sure they have that transition,” Carranza said. “This is a great first day of school and we can hardly wait to see more of this as we go around the City.”

The Mosaic Pre-K Center opened in Sept. 2015 with 144 available seats.

Currents News full broadcast for Mon, 9/21/20 (Catholic news)

Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.

Some of the top stories on this newscast:

The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is setting the scene for a new politically charged battle in what has already been a divisive campaign.

The Brooklyn Diocese is making an appeal to the parents of public school students.

And a Catholic protest led by the Archbishop in a city that still hasn’t allowed the faithful back inside churches to worship.

Msgr. David Cassato, Vicar of Schools for Brooklyn Diocese, on Benefits of Catholic Education Amid COVID-19

Currents News Staff

The continuing delays in opening the city’s public schools are prompting the vicar for Catholic schools in the Brooklyn Diocese to speak out. The 66 schools in the diocese opened for in-person learning nearly two weeks ago.

Joining Currents News is Monsignor David Cassato, pastor of St. Athanasius Church in Bensonhurst, who has a message for public school parents.

NYC Public Schools Open for In-Person Learning With New Staggered Program

By Emily Drooby

Backpacks and buses were seen around New York City Sept. 21, as public schools began their staggered rollout. Kids in 3-k, pre-k and district 75 special education started in-person learning. The rest of the city’s 1.1 million students started virtually.

It’s a far cry from the city’s original plan, which had all students starting in-person Monday. That was changed last-minute, less than a week ago.

Still, parents of the Big Apple’s youngest students told Currents News they were thrilled to get their kids back into a classroom.

With the new plan, 90,000 students start in-person learning this week at 734 schools and 1,050 community based early childhood programs.

Mousumi Islam said her daughter could not wait to go to school this morning.

Imitating her daughter, she said, “‘Mommy lets go, lets go.’ Wait, wait, 8:30 your class is opening. Hold on hold on. ‘No let’s go.’”

Mayor Bill de Blasio called the first phase of the rollout as inspiring. It’s the “first time our children are going back into school buildings in big numbers since the middle of March,” he explained.

Some parents are still worried.

“I’m a little bit scared with COVID-19,” Mousumi told Currents News. “I’m a little bit scared.”

The road to schools reopening has been long and bumpy. In-person learning has now been delayed twice, with health, safety, and a lack of teachers as to blame.

The new staggered reopening plan has elementary schools, both K-5 and K-8, going back next Tuesday, Sept. 29. Middle schools, high schools, secondary schools and transfer/adult education won’t start until October 1.

Despite continued delays, Mayor de Blasio remains optimistic.

“This morning, strong lift-off and you heard, it’s a huge number of schools and early childhood programs, and they’re starting strong,” he said. “So, I feel very good about the trajectory we are on.”

He was encouraged by the school’s safety procedures and by the sight of the city’s youngest students successfully wearing their masks.

“They were wearing those masks, it was natural to them,” Mayor de Blasio said. “That’s going to be crucial to everyone’s health and safety. Even four-year-old’s, three-year-olds can do it.”

About 42 percent of the city’s students have opted to start the year learning virtually, while most students who do go to in-person classes will still have a hybrid schedule.

Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic Federal Judge, Tops Trump’s List of Possible Supreme Court Nominees

By Jessica Easthope

The passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is setting the scene for a new politically-charged battle in what has already been a divisive campaign. Now, with just weeks to go before the election a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court is also at stake.

“They always refer to the ‘October Surprise,’ and we’re not even in October yet but this does change the dynamic,” said Brian Browne, the Assistant Vice President of Government Relations and an adjunct professor of political science at St. John’s University.

Browne says the country is waiting to see if history will repeat itself as Justice Ginsburg leaves a vacant seat on the Supreme Court.

“Republicans when they were faced with the same situation in 2016 after Justice Scalia died. They did not consider then President Obama’s nomination, so now there’s a call that that same practice be put into place,” Browne said.

As for the nomination, President Trump has one thing decided.

“I will be putting forth a nominee next week, it will be a woman,” he said at a campaign rally in North Carolina Sept. 19.

Topping the list of candidates is Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative and a Catholic who was a finalist for the last vacancy, which was ultimately filled by Brett Kavanaugh.

“She’s a conservative, member of the Federalist Society, mother of seven, two of them adopted from Haiti, young,” said Browne. “At 48-years-old she would be the youngest seated justice, so she would have a long influence on the court,” said Browne.

Barrett’s political and religious beliefs have been cause for controversy in the past.

“She is someone who has faced some tough and frankly unfair questioning. Senator Feinstein from California questioned some of her dogma and deeply held Catholic beliefs, we do not have a religious test for public officials, that’s unconstitutional,” Browne said.

Historically, the Catholic vote is split evenly down the party line, but if a nominee is confirmed ahead of Election Day, Browne says the Catholic vote could hold more power.

“For Catholics who are concerned with the issue of life, they will be energized by the idea of another justice appointed by President Trump,” Browne said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden says he will not release his list of potential nominees, and has called on Republicans to hold off until after Election Day.

San Francisco Catholics Protest, Call Out City Hall Over COVID Restrictions on Indoor Worship

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) — San Francisco’s archbishop told hundreds of Catholics gathered near City Hall Sept. 20 that “it is because of our Catholic faith that we are being put at the end of the line” by city officials in enacting what could be the country’s harshest pandemic restrictions on religious worship.

“The city continues to place unrealistic and suffocating restrictions on our natural and constitutional right to worship. This willful discrimination is affecting us all,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone. “Yes, discrimination, because there is no other word for it.”

He made the comments in a homily at a Mass that followed eucharistic processions to a plaza near San Francisco’s City Hall.

On Sept. 13, in a memo to all priests of the archdiocese, Archbishop Cordileone announced that three parishes were organizing eucharistic processions starting at different points and ending up next to City Hall, to be followed by Masses outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. He urged all parishes to participate.

More than 1,000 Catholics participated in the archdiocesan “Free the Mass” demonstration.

In his memo, in an op-ed in The Washington Post Sept. 16 and in his homily, the archbishop said Catholics are asking to be treated like anyone else in being able to exercise their right to worship in public at a “level consistent with other activities” in the city, like shopping, protesting and gathering in a public park.

Church leaders have no issue with the faithful being asked to following safety protocols amid the pandemic, he said, and he has reiterated that being asked to adhere to these measures is within the purview of city and health officials, but keeping people from worship is not.

“Months ago, we submitted a safety plan to the city including masks and social distancing, just like indoor retail stores did,” explained in his homily. “The city said yes to indoor retail, but we Catholics are still waiting to hear back.”

Right now, he said, people can shop at Nordstrom’s at 25% capacity “but only one of you at a time is allowed to pray inside of this great cathedral, your cathedral? Is this equality? No, there is no reason for this new rule except a desire to put Catholics — to put you — at the back of the line.”

The archbishop made several references to the “back of the line” and “end of the line” in his homily, titled “Going to the End of the Line for the Glory of God.”

He said that Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew reminded him of the time he spent as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Calexico, California, at the U.S.-Mexico border and his morning jog along the border fence.

“There I would see the exact scene Our Lord describes: men standing in the streets, waiting to be hired to work in fields so they could make a day’s wage,” he said. “Like the workers at the Eleventh Hour, these men were at the end of the line: the ones left out and ignored by society, the people barely able to survive.”

One time he gave a ride to the bus station to a man who had entered the country illegally and was trying to get to the next stop to start his new life in the United States. He bought the man a ticket so he could continue on his journey.

“I was aware that I was breaking the law, since it is against the law to provide transportation to an undocumented immigrant,” he continued. “But the highest law is love of God and love of neighbor, and that law has to take precedence over the human-made law of the state when government would ask us to turn our backs on God or our neighbor in need.

“Now in San Francisco, all of us here are being put at the end of the line,” he said. “No matter how rich or poor, no matter whether newly arrived or from families that have been here for many generations, it is our Catholic faith that unites us, and it is because of our Catholic faith that we are being put at the end of the line.”

Archbishop Cordileone noted that amid the pandemic, the work of the Catholic Church of San Francisco has been ongoing, such as Catholic Charities’ outreach to the homeless or and the efforts of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul assisting the needy at the parish level.

He thanked the priests, religious and “the sacrificing lay faithful, for what you are doing to keep the love of Christ alive and visible in these distressing times. This is what it means to go to the end of the line.”

He urged Catholics to remain spiritually grounded during this time by spending at least one hour a week in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and, fasting on Fridays and going to confession frequently.

Papal Honors Bestowed Upon 57 Members of the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Emily Drooby

For over 35 years, Dr. Elizabeth Lutas has cared for the homeless as a physician.

Of why she does it, she said, “I try to spend as much time as I can with them because I want to show them that I do love them and God is with us all.”

On Saturday, her dedication was recognized at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph.

Dr. Lutas was one of 57 people from the Diocese of Brooklyn to have a Papal Honor bestowed upon them.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is proud of those who were selected.

“We are really blessed in our diocese with people who are really extraordinary and give so much time and devotion to the life of the church. So that’s what the Holy Father has honored,” said Bishop DiMarzio.

A huge honor, given by Pope Francis and the Vatican, based off suggestions made by Bishop DiMarzio.

The honorees are people who give much of their time and self to others. Delores Casey is one of them. For over a decade she has been working hard to make Monsignor Bernard Quinn a saint.

“But nothing good happens right away. You know, you have to work for it, pray for it,” Casey said. adding, “I was not aware that I would be selected for this because whatever I did, I did out of the love of my heart.”

Helping others out of love is also how honoree Mother Celine Vadukkoot, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, lives her life. As the Mother Superior of the Queen of Peace Residence, she is deeply dedicated to caring for the elderly.

Mother Vadukkoot said, “It’s a great privilege. We ask the Diocese of Brooklyn, all people of God to pray for us, that we will always remain faithful to the charism of our mother founder, God bless you all.”

Some honorees have also given so much of themselves to serve the dioceses. Deacon Jorge Gonzalez is one of them. He oversees every detail of each permanent deacon’s five-year journey.

Deacon Gonzalez said, “It’s a feeling that I cannot express, it’s an honor, it’s a blessing.”

Ed Wilkinson was also honored. He spent almost five decades as a crucial member of The Tablet team. He explained, this award came at the perfect time.

“I’m retiring on Monday and receiving this award today, so it’s kind of just like a nice ending to my career. So I’m really excited about it and very grateful to the Bishop for nominating me,” said Wilkinson.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Has Died

By Currents News Staff

The 87-year-old Ginsburg was the senior member of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing.

She was well-known for delivering progressive votes on divisive social issues, and authoring fiery dissents.

In recent years, Ginsburg cultivated a rock star status and was dubbed the “Notorious RBG.”

She began her tenure on the supreme court in 1993, when she was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Before that, she had a celebrated career as an attorney fighting for equal rights for women.

Ginsburg suffered from five bouts of cancer before dying.

***This story is breaking and will be updated***

Brooklyn Diocese’s Haitian Apostolate Takes Creole Bible Studies Class Virtual

Currents News Staff

A Catholic Bible studies program that’s been going strong for 30 years had to make some changes this year because of the pandemic. The normally in-person class is going virtual, and organizers say that’s a good thing.

The leader of the Haitian Apostolate, retired Auxiliary Bishop Guy Sansaricq joins Currents News to share about what the program teaches.