Pope cuts salaries of Cardinals due to COVID (Vatican News) “A sustainable economic future requires today, among other decisions, adopting measures that also concern employee salaries”. These words open the motu proprio in which Pope Francis has decided to cut proportionally and indefinitely the salaries of Cardinals (10%), department heads and secretaries (8%), and all priests and religious in service at the Holy See (3%). All employees – including those above – will have automatic seniority pay increases frozen until 2023, except for lay employees with paygrade levels one to three…
Pandemic leading to permanent closures of Catholic schools (Forbes) More than two dozen Catholic schools in and around New York City have been forced to shut down permanently since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as Catholic schools throughout the country that were already dealing with dwindling enrollment now try to outlast the virus, which has affected how many parishioners attend services and donate money, helping subsidize struggling schools…
U.S. bishops decry growing violence against Asian Americans (Vatican News) A gunman killed eight people and wounded one other before police arrested a young white man for the shootings, which occurred on March 17. The violence has reignited public debate in the country about other reported incidents of aggression against people of Asian descent, although the gunman has denied racial motives behind his actions. In a statement published on Monday, Bishop Oscar A. Solis of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, condemned the culture of death, hatred and violence underlying these incidents and called for solidarity with the vulnerable…
Legionairies of Christ publish latest abuse report (Crux) On Monday, the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ religious order published its latest report detailing what they have done and what they still need to do to repair the damage done and guarantee safe spaces for minors, from third-party investigations to mandatory formation seminars and revealing the names of priests found guilty of abuse.
This year’s ‘Way of the Cross’ in Rome to be written by young people (Vatican News) Pope Francis has entrusted the preparation of the meditations for this year’s Good Friday Way of the Cross to the Agesci Scout Group “Foligno I” (Umbria) and the Roman Parish of Santi Matiri di Uganda (Holy Martyrs of Uganda). The images that will accompany the various Stations will also be made by children and young people from the “Mater Divini Amoris” Family House and the “Tetto Casal Fattoria” Family House. A statement from the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday notes that the meditations and images for the Via Crucis will be prepared by children and teens between the ages of 3 to 19. The words are “simple and immediate,” said the Press Office, but are “fully aware of the meaning of discrimination and humiliation, as well as justice and solidarity…”
