Late-breaking: new bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend soon?

At the risk of crying "bishop!" one too many times, I'm being told this afternoon that Bishop John D'Arcy of the diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend, Indiana has summoned the priests of his diocese for a "once in a generation" announcement tomorrow.

At a local Mass in the diocese celebrated today, the celebrant mentioned the rising rumors that the new appointment would be announced soon. 

Bishop D'Arcy himself admitted in a statement posted to the diocesan website this Wedesday that his successor "cannot be too far away." He spoke in a way that could suggest he already knows who that individual will be. 

Finally, Vatican-rumor blog Whispers in the Loggia noted a flurry of recent activity undertaken by Bishop D'Arcy, which would also imply that he is wrapping up the last of his unfinished business.

Saturday morning announcements of new bishops are not unheard of. Tomorrow will tell.

For the record, my bet is Bishop Thomas Paprocki, as it was over a month ago.

update: a local newspaper seems to confirm my claims, and Whispers thinks Milwaukee is due too.

Today: A new bishop for Milwaukee?

The buzz is growing that archdiocese of Milwaukee will be the next episcopal vacancy filled by Rome - it has been without an archbishop since its former Archbishop Timothy Dolan was moved to New York City.

The local papers have been chattering about it for the last 24 hours, which is normally a sign. They are, however, mostly relying on Vatican rumor blog Whispers in the Loggia. Here are Rocco's picks:

Bishops Gerald Kicanas of Tucson (currently vice-president of the US bishops), Blase Cupich of Rapid City, Jerome Listecki of LaCrosse and Milwaukee's administrator, Aux. Bishop William Callahan OFM Conv.

I would disagree that Aux. Bp. Callahan is likely - that's what I'm hearing, at least. [update - I would also be surprised if it was Kicanas.]

Other names that keep appearing on my shortlist are Bishops Robert Finn, Michael Jackels, Alexander Sample, and David Ricken.

I'd put my money on Bishop Listecki of LaCrosse, but with so many names floating around, I'm still far from confident. We'll just have to see who the Holy Spirit has in mind.

And in the meantime - have you heard anything?

Background: Abp. Di Noia asked dominicans for Anglican reunification prayers

This little note from Augustine Di Noia, OP (that's him in white - he was one of the most important prelates involved in the recent Anglican reunification news behind Cardinal Levada and the Pope himself) to his brother dominican friars back in the United States reveals the beautiful mutual-uplifting of prayers that permeated the Vatican's proceedings:

"Today there was announced -- at press conferences in Rome and London -- the forthcoming publication of an apostolic constitution in which the Holy Father allows for the creation of personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans in different parts of the world who are seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. The canonical structure of the personal ordinariate will permit this corporate reunion while at the same time providing for retention of elements of Anglican liturgy and spirituality.

When I asked the Friars (and other OPs - Ed.) to pray the Dominican litany from 22 February to 25 March earlier this year, the intention was that this proposal would receive the approval of the cardinal members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which was necessary if the proposal of some structure allowing for corporate reunion was to go forward. Our prayers at that time were answered, and now that the proposal has become a reality we can tell everyone what we were praying for then.

Context provided at the Dominican Friars' St. Joseph (East Coast) Province Blog.

I was honored to attend Di Noia's Mass of episcopal ordination back in July.

Overview: New bishop appointment possibilities

[The nifty photo to the right is actually a working graphic of the Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States.]

The past seven days have been overactive when it comes to appointing new bishops for the United States.

Last Thursday three new bishops were appointed - a new ordinary of Duluth, MN, a new ordinary in Pueblo, CO, and an auxiliary to Providence, RI.

Yesterday a Monday appointment was announced to the diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming (new bishops are typically announced for the United States on Tuesdays, after all).

(I'm kind of kicking myself over that last one because I actually had a very strong tip that it would happen this week. But, because I figured it would wait until Tuesday, and because I don't like blogging over the weekends (and especially Sunday, of course!) - I decided to wait to talk about it until Monday morning. Well, I didn't get to it on Monday until the appointment had already come across on the wire.)

Well, to get back in front of the prevailing winds of new bishop appointments, let me mention a couple things on deep background. Two dioceses in particular are on my radar:

• In the diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Indiana - currently held by Bishop John D'Arcy, and in which the University of Notre Dame resides - I've been convinced that the new appointment has been picked since early this month. My most current update is that, while the Vatican wants to make the announcement, they are deferring to the request of Bishop D'Arcy that the announcement not be made until the current Bishop's appeal concludes. I'm aware of other instances where Rome has chosen to delay announcing the appointment of a new bishop until the current one has had an opportunity to see to pressing local issues, such as the raising of funds or the settling of diocesan business.


• Across the country in the Archdiocese of Seattle, I'm being reminded that Archbishop Alexander Brunett reached retirement age and submitted his resignation in January. It was accepted and he was asked to remain until a replacement could be chosen and installed. Some recent past practice has been for the Bishop of Helena Montana to be sent as the replacement of Seattle's Archbishop with the Helena Bishop being replaced by Seattle's auxilliary Bishop. Seattle currently has two young auxiliary bishops, and the bishop of Helena (George Thomas) is still under 60.

In the wider picture, there are currently six dioceses with no bishop currently serving, and six more dioceses with bishops serving past the mandatory age of retirement.

So we'll see - today is Tuesday - maybe Rome will go for a solid six appointments in six days!

(Please note that at no time in this post have I created three pairs of six numbers. Catholics are against that sort of thing.)

Tomorrow: Major announcement on Catholic-Anglican relations?

Papist chatter across the herring pond in England is heating up, with confirmed reports of major simultaneous press conferences taking place tomorrow morning at the Vatican and London.

Damian Thompson gets us the goods - this press release came from the Vatican:

We inform accredited journalists that tomorrow, Tuesday 20 October 2009, at 11am, in the John Paul II Hall of the Press Office of the Holy See, a briefing will be held on a theme pertaining to the relationship with the Anglicans, at which His Eminence Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and His Excellency Mgr Joseph Augustine Di Noia OP, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will take part. (Hat-tip, Fr Finigan.)

Meanwhile, this press release came from the Archbishop of Canterbury's office:

You are invited to a press conference with Archbishop Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Westminster) and Archbishop Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) on Tuesday 20 October at 1000. The press conference will take place at 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX.

For both Cardinal Levada (doctrinal issues) and Abp. Di Noia (liturgy and sacraments) to be involved, you know it has to be significant.

The conference will be taking place in the very early morning hours my time, so when I wake up tomorrow I'll take a look at the news wire and report back.

New bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend rumor

In keeping with my last post, I'm going to lay another set of cards on the "bishop rumors" table.

Bishop John Michael D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend Indiana is over two years past his mandatory age of retirement.

The appointment of his successor is a delicate call to make because the University of Notre Dame is in this diocese. Bishop D'Arcy received national attention earlier this year when President Obama was invited to give Notre Dame's commencement address (more).

Back in early September I heard reports that a new bishop had been chosen for this diocese, and that the announcement would be made in early October.

Well, here we are with the first Tuesday of October around the corner.

The same reports suggested that the successor would be an auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Currently there are six auxiliary bishops in Chicago, and of them, my bet is on Bishop Thomas Paprocki.

It is also interesting to note that the Fort Wayne-South Bend official diocesan website - long overdue for an overhaul - debuted a new, modern design very recently.

Perhaps because it is expecting a bump in traffic soon.

New bishop of Austin rumor

Tuesdays are the traditional day for the Vatican to announce new bishop appointments in the United States, so it might be good to see what people are hearing about future possibilities today.

One interesting thread I'm tracking is the buzz that Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Antonio (bio in PDF) might take over the diocese of Austin, which has been vacant since Bishop Gregory Aymond was appointed to New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bishop Cantu is a very young bishop (42), and has been in San Antonio for about 15 months.

Have you heard anything about this diocese (or others)?

I'd be perfectly thrilled to see another blogging bishop appointment.

On the Motu Proprio "Ecclesiae Unitatem"

I've been remiss in reporting the motu proprio which Pope Benedict released yesterday, frankly because I don't quite understand yet what it is designed to do or how it will accomplish its goals.

A good place to start, though, would be to poke through the comments at Rorate Caeli.

One meme that is being circulated in the mainstream media is that this is Pope Benedict's way of "disciplining" the figures behind the embarrassing holocaust controversy from a few months back (embarrassing only in that the Vatican was not informed and prepared for it).

I'm not sure if I quite buy that because Cardinal Hoyos was at the mandatory age of retirement anyway, and the organizational restructuring that the motu proprio calls for seems common sensical in its own right.

So please, chime in and help me get this right in my head.

Report: Pope's social encyclical July 6 or 7, some key paragraphs revealed

I've fallen a bit behind on this story, so it's time to catch up. Here's the latest I've found:

The upcoming social encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI "Caritas in veritate" - Charity in truth - will bear the date of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, but will likely become public on July 6 or 7, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera said on Saturday.

An article by Gian Guido Vecchi quotes what he claims are several original paragraphs of the Pope’s third encyclical. (CNA)

Especially of interest:

According to Vecchi, the encyclical will hardly be “good news to the liberals and bad news to the conservatives,” as claimed by some analysts who have not seen the text of the document.

“The Pope quotes Paul VI’s Populorum progressio, which in 1967 denounced the gap between rich and poor countries, but the encyclical also takes from Humanae vitae in criticizing abortion and contraception,” Vecchi writes.

The encyclical, in fact, is likely to say that “openness to life is at the core of every true development,” and regarding the ambiguous policies aimed at “reducing the need for abortion” by means of other social policies, the Pope warns that “if personal and social sensibility toward the welcoming of a new life is lost, even other forms of welcoming (life) useful to social life become fruitless.”

WoW.

Now to replace rumors with reality ... I'll see what more I can find out about the impending publication.

update: Pope Benedict announced today that he has in fact signed "Caritas in Veritas." It's only a matter of time now until we have the full text.

John Allen has published a preview of what he believes will be in the encyclical. Seems accurate to me.

Rumor: Di Noia is moving, but not state-side

Earlier this week I reported on rumors that Augustine Di Noia, O.P. might be elevated to become the next bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Now it appears (and my sources are confirming) that Di Noia is indeed due for a move ... but only across the street. It is speculated that this announcement will be made sometime this week.

He will become the new secretary of the CDWDS (the #2 spot), a "bump upstairs" from his current position as undersecretary of the CDF (the #3 spot), taking over Abp. Ranjith's CDWDS position (who is expected to become Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka).

Di Noia, of course, will be elevated to the dignity of Archbishop as part of this move.

Whispers has more, and predicts this curial shake-up next:

"Among other top Curial posts slated to shift over the coming weeks are the presidencies of the Pontifical Councils for Christian Unity and Justice and Peace, where Cardinals Walter Kasper and Renato Martino have both long passed the retirement age of 75."

This is turning into a very interesting summer.

Odd, when I spent some time with Rev. Di Noia a month-and-a-half or so ago he didn't mention this plan to me. But then again, he was more occupied with congratulating his state-side brothers on their recent achievement.

Rumor: Dominican to become next bishop of Fort Wayne?

I'm hearing a rumor going around Fort Wayne, IN that Bishop D'Arcy's replacement could be ... wait for it ... Fr. Augustine Di Noia, OP!

That's right, a dominican who is currently serving as undersecretary at the congregation for the doctrine of the faith (basically the #3 in charge of it).

The last time a dominican was elevated to the Amearican episcopate (that I know of) was in the 1980's in Louisville.

It's a fascinating choice for one primary reason - by choosing a priest who has not served as a bishop in the United States, the Vatican avoids the sticky problem of either choosing a bishop who spoke out against Notre Dame's invitation of Barack Obama, or choosing one who was silent.

What have you heard?

As speculated, Bp. George Lucas named new Archbishop of Omaha

On Monday I reported that a new archbishop would be appointed to Omaha soon, and then I updated the post saying "Bishop George Lucas of Springfield, IL is rising to the top of my short-list." Today we find out:

The pope has named Springfield, Ill., Bishop George Lucas to be the new archbishop of Omaha, Neb.

The Vatican on Wednesday said Lucas will replace 76-year-old Archbishop Elden Curtiss, who is retiring.

Lucas turns 60 next week and has been Springfield bishop since 1999.

He's a St. Louis native who studied philosophy at Cardinal Glennon College and theology at Kenrick Seminary before receiving his master's degree in history at St. Louis University.

Lucas was ordained as a priest in 1975. (AP)

Bingo! Once again, you saw it on AmP first.

Installation is already set for July 22, according to the Archdiocesan website.

More on Lucas from Vatican Radio, and Whispers. Statistics on the Archdiocese of Omaha:

The Archdiocese of Omaha originally covered all of Nebraska and Wyoming in the Western United States. Today, its territory includes 23 northeast Nebraska counties and an area of 14,051 square miles. The general population of the 23 counties is approximately 889,000 and the Catholic population is about 220,000 people. There are 149 parishes and missions within the Archdiocese.

And for the record, my second guess of Bp. Aquila for this position was incorrect. Win some, lose some. O:-)

Rumor: New Archbishop for Omaha, NE tomorrow?

Word on the street (in Nebraska) is that a new archbishop will be appointed to the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska soon, even tomorrow (Tuesday is traditionally "new bishop appointment day" for the United States).

The current Archbishop, Elden Francis Curtiss, is turning 77 on June 16th.

Have you heard anything?

update: Bishop George Lucas of Springfield, IL is rising to the top of my short-list. Any thoughts on this name?

update 2: Aquila is also a frequent-mention.

update 3: no announcement today, but if it happens tomorrow, I'm betting on Bishop Aquila.

update 4: should have stuck with my first bet, because it *is* Bp. Lucas....

No, Abp. Burke isn't going to intervene in Notre Dame "immediately"

update: my apologies to Michael Voris, STB for attributing to him the quote below which is not from him. The quote is actually from Marc Brammer, the Owner of RealCatholicTV.

update 2: RealCatholic TV is disputing the quote originated from Marc Brammer. See changes below.

Many people have emailed me today asking me to substantiate rumors being circulated by "The Vortex" program on RealCatholicTV.com that Archbishop Burke will intervene in Notre Dame "immediately."

{update 2: here is the text I've been receiving, attributed to Marc Brammer}:

"We have it on good authority that The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura headed by its Prefect Mons. Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke has been duly petitioned and is preparing to deal with the Congregation of the Holy Cross on a number of issues including the awarding of an honorary degree to President Obama."

As I twittered yesterday, I put no stock in these rumors.

What has apparently happened is that someone has "filed a brief" in Rome with "actionable consequences" against Notre Dame. According to my knowledge of canon law, that's about as significant as someone sending a letter to the President - sure, you can send them a letter, but that doesn't mean they have to read or act on it. All this means is that Archbishop Burke('s staff) checks the mail.

Of course, Archbishop Burke could conceivably do something, but we have zero evidence that he will if we're basing them on the rumors circulating right now. Frankly, this doesn't strike me as his style - to rush something out the door with the President coming only a few days away.

The Vortex program also asks people to pray for Pope Benedict, Archbishop Burke and for the Notre Dame situation. I absolutely agree with all that. But let's not make our prayers dependant on or exclusive to invoking a last minute "hail mary pass" from the Vatican. Good things can come about in other ways, too.

Rumor: Archbishop Chaput to oversee Legion visitation in the US?

I had heard hints of this possibility before but now some Mexican newspapers are claiming it as well:

{This is a rough English translation by Google. Spanish original here.}

Three bishops and a priest to audit Legionaries

Three bishops and a priest will be responsible for reviewing all institutions connected with the congregation of Mexican origin "Legionaries of Christ," during the Apostolic visit ordered by Pope Benedict XVI.

Sources from the Vatican confirmed that it was Ricardo Watty Urquidi, of the Diocese of Tepic (Mexico), Charles Joseph Chaput, Archbishop of Denver (United States) and Giuseppe Versaldi, bishop of Alexandria (Italy).

In the coming months will be responsible for visiting prelates, according to their geographical region, the communities of the Legion in the world and then deliver a report protected by the pontifical secret, the authorities of the Vatican. In the coming months will be responsible for visiting prelates, according to their geographical region, the communities of the Legion in the world and then deliver a report protected by the pontifical secret, the authorities of the Vatican.

The group of visitors will join the Jesuit priest Gianfranco Ghirlanda, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who will investigate all the educational institutions of the Legion. The group of visitors will join the Jesuit priest Gianfranco Ghirlanda, rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, who will investigate all the educational institutions of the Legion.

In addition they could add a fifth, which would be responsible for the review to South America, although this possibility is still under study.

Dispelled: Email rumor claims Fr. Jenkins suspended by Bishop D'Arcy

People following my AmP Twitter account who were watching it closely this evening would have witnessed a story unfold in real-time (read from the bottom up):

Here's what happened, as far as I can tell at this point.

An email began circulating earlier in the day (and was eventually forwarded to me) which featured a decree claiming to originate from Bishop John D'Arcy in which the bishop officially suspended Notre Dame President Fr. Jenkins a divinis (in other words, removed his abilities to act in public as a Catholic priest), effective May 1st.

After careful scrutiny and consultation with a few trusted sources, I'm confident this decree is in fact a hoax, albeit a very clever and thorough one. As best as I can accertain, someone probably went through an old authentic decree of suspension a divinis and changed all the particular details to match the current situation.

The original source of the hoax is lost in the background of internet chatter. But if they read this, let them be made aware of Canon #1391 in the universal law of the Church:

"The following can be punished with a just penalty according to the gravity of the delict:
1) a person who produces a false public ecclesiastical document, who changes, destroys, or conceals an authentic one, or who uses a false or altered one;
2) a person who uses another false or altered document in an ecclesiastical matter;
3) a person who asserts a falsehood in a public ecclesiastical document."

Obviously, when I first saw the text of this "decree," I was hoping it wasn't a #1391. Well, it was.

Update - for those who have provided constructive criticism, thank you. Three points in response:

1) I'd agree that tweeting "exclusive rumor" was needlessly sensationalist. Sorry about that.

2) Of course someone who reports on a forged document thinking it to be authentic does not fall under the condemnation which presumes the person had knowledge of its falsity and participated in the deception.

3) It would have been far easier for me (and on my reputation) to simply delete my tweets once I had determined the decree was a hoax, but in fact it would not have equally served the public good because this hoax decree is still making its way around the internet. That's why I brought a twitter rumor into the blog proper - to dispell it.

I posted on the rumor because now, when people search for a confirmation of it, they will find it dispelled here, with as much information provided as I've been able to confirm. I consider this quelling of rumors to also be a service of responsible journalism, especially in the age of emails, blogs and twitter.

Also, not to overstate what AmP does, but I would bet that numerous blogs and email lists have not posted or discussed the hoax decree today because they saw it already falsified here this morning. If people are talking today about AmP passing along then dispelling a false rumor, instead of wasting time and energy all day trying to confirm if that rumor is true, so be it. I'll take that hit and save them the bother.

"Cardinal John Newman poised for beatification after ruling"

Deo Gratias!

A panel of theological consultors agreed unanimously that the inexplicable healing of an American man who was "bent double" by a severe spinal disorder came as a result of praying to Newman for a miracle, according to sources. Their decision was the final hurdle before Pope Benedict XVI can declare him "Blessed".

The Pope, who is known to be keen to make Newman a saint and who asks about the progress of his cause on a regular basis, was informed of the panel's decision straight away. (UK Telegraph)

As always, take UK reporting on Vatican news with a grain of salt. They've jumped the gun several times before - on this very story, in fact. And while it does appear that a siginificant step has been taken, wait for the confirmation to come in the Vatican news bulleting.

Pope's next encyclical to be released June 29

So says the AP:

A Vatican cardinal says Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical on globalization and the poor is expected to be released June 29.

The ANSA and Apnews agencies have quoted Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the Vatican's office for justice and peace, as saying the encyclical is expected to be released on the feast of St. Peter and Paul, a major day for the church.

Benedict has been working on "Caritas in veritate" (Charity in Truth) since 2007 but recently said he had held back on issuing it so that he could update it to reflect the global economic downturn.

If the rumor is true, that means Pope Benedict will be releasing this encyclical one day after bestowing the pallium on this year's new archbishops, including American archbishops Dolan and Carlson (am I forgetting anyone? update - yes I was: Vigneron!).

Ph/t: Brian Saint-Paul.

Report: 6 dioceses vacant, 11 overdue for replacement in U.S.

This handy list compiled by my father at www.CanonLaw.info gives us a snapshot of the vacant and overdue-for-replacement dioceses in the United States.

Here are the dioceses who currently do not, or soon will not, have a bishop + their date of vacancy:

1. Cheyenne WY 2008 Jul
2. Duluth MN 2008 Oct
3. Owensboro KY 2009 Jan
4. Milwaukee WI 2009 Feb
5. Saginaw MI 2009 Apr
6. Ogdensburg NY 2009 Apr

And here are the ones whose bishop is overdue to retire + when they were supposed to retire:

1. Omaha NE 2007 Jun
2. Ft Wayne-S. Bend IN 2007 Aug
3. New Orleans LA 2007 Dec
4. Allentown PA 2008 Mar
5. Pueblo CO 2008 Mar
6. Lafayette IN 2008 Aug
7. Seattle WA 2009 Jan
8. Corpus Christi TX 2009 Jan
9. Brownsville TX 2009 Feb
10. Spokane WA 2009 Mar
11. Gaylord MI 2009 Mar

Two more dioceses will be overdue as of this August:

1. Cincinnati OH 2009 Aug
2. Oklahoma City OK 2009 Aug

Have you heard anything about possible appointments to these dioceses? Drop me a line in the comment box or send me an email ("thomas [at] americanpapist.com"). I'm especially interested in Gaylord, MI. Thanks!

Breaking: Robert Carlson is the next Archbishop of St. Louis!

As reported on American Papist last night (and rumored back in March), Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw, MI has been named the 10th bishop of St. Louis.

St. Louis Archdiocesan website:

Bishop Robert J. Hermann, Archdiocesan Administrator for St. Louis, called Archbishop-elect Carlson “a very energetic, articulate, warm and gifted pastor and administrator. He thinks and works with the Church he loves, and will continue to build upon the legacy of his predecessors here in St. Louis.”Archbishop–elect Carlson was installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw on February 24, 2005 at the direction of Pope John Paul II. A native of Minneapolis, MN, he was ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 1970 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He was later ordained as an auxiliary bishop for his home archdiocese on January 11, 1984 and went on to serve as Bishop of Sioux Falls, SD, from 1994 to 2005.

Follow the day's events & more info:

• 10:30 am: Watch the press conference online.
• View pictures of the Archbishop-elect, as he visits various locations in the Archdiocese.
• Follow the Archdiocese on Twitter for up-to-the-minute postings.
• Press Release: "Vatican Announces Appointment of Bishop Robert J. Carlson as Archbishop of St. Louis"
• Press Release: "Statement of Bishop Robert Hermann on the Appointment of the Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson as Archbishop of St. Louis"
• Press Release: "Pope Names Saginaw's Bishop Carlson as the ninth Archbishop of Saint Louis"
• Biography and Curriculum Vitae in the Leadership pages of archstl.org

Updates to follow....

Rumor: New Archbishop of St. Louis Tomorrow

***Breaking: Robert Carlson next Archbishop of St. Louis!***

Original post: We've been through this before, but once again - I'll be waking up tomorrow morning at 6AM to see if a new Archbishop has been appointed to St. Louis.

Some of my sources are 99% sure it's tomorrow. Time, as always, will tell.

Here's my guess - Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw, MI. (yes this is the name I've referred to.)

update: sed contra - the St. Louis Catholic blog is claiming Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, TX, to be announced Wednesday.

update 2: I should add, it is rumored that at Abp. Dolan's installation, Vatican papal nuncio Abp. Pietro Sambi said the St. Louis appointment would occur before June, joking that he had vacation time coming up then.

Report: Vatican has rejected 3 Obama picks for ambassador

The Washington Times reports on Italian newspaper rumors (underlining mine):

The Vatican has quietly rejected at least three of President Obama's candidates to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See because they support abortion, and the White House might be running out of time to find an acceptable envoy before Mr. Obama travels to Rome in July, when he hopes to meet Pope Benedict XVI.

Italian journalist Massimo Franco, who broke the story about the White House attempts to find a suitable ambassador to the Vatican, said papal advisers told Mr. Obama's aides privately that the candidates failed to meet the Vatican's most basic qualification on the abortion issue.

... He said the Vatican recognized that a foreign nation is free to appoint the ambassador of its choice but that the pope is free to reject a proposed envoy if he believes the candidate would "fail to improve relations" with the Catholic city-state.

Mr. Franco, who has close connections at the Vatican, added that the rejection of the Obama candidates "would suggest that, at least so far, none of the potential Democratic diplomats were considered fit to 'improve relations' with the Holy See."

In tandem, Headline Bistro adds (underlining mine):

A longtime John Kerry supporter is about to land the prized position of U.S. ambassador to Italy, and Caroline Kennedy may join him nearby as ambassador to the Vatican, an Italian news magazine has claimed.

In an April 2 article in Panorama, journalist Carlo Rossella predicted that 60-year-old David Thorne, a donor to the Obama campaign and brother-in-law of former presidential candidate John Kerry, will be given the post, per the request of Kerry himself.

And in a report that will drop like a bombshell among Vatican watchers, Rosella also asserted that Caroline Kennedy – her own hopes to rise to the U.S. Senate dashed for now – has been suggested as the Obama administration’s ambassador to the Holy See.

It’s an ironic tangle of State Department, campaign and even marriage connections that only adds fuel to speculation over who will represent the United States in two of the State Department’s most high-profile posts.

Confirmed: New Archbishop of Westminister Vin Nichols

Ruth Gledhill gets the scoop {update: and it's confirmed.}

"As we report in The Times, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham will tomorrow, Friday, be announced as the new Archbishop of Westminster. There will be a press conference at 11am at Archbishop's House, Ambrosden Avenue when he will be named as successor to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, ending months of speculation.

Read all about 'Vin', as he is known, on the diocesan website. He is a 'safe pair of hands', a man with a big heart and of increasingly conservative beliefs, who will be warmly welcomed in Westminster and beyond."

Damian Thompson (my go-to source for informed, orthodox UK Catholic news) is delighted by the news:

"... all the signs were that the job was going to a less suitable candidate. "Vin", as he is known, may be ambitious – but for a long time now he has been ambitious on behalf of the Catholic Church. He has fought the Catholic corner a good deal harder than many of his fellow bishops, most recently seeing off plans to force Catholic schools to accept a quota of non-Catholic students. He has also given the BBC a hard time for its anti-Catholic stance.

I don't think +Vincent would have been the first choice of many, if any, Catholic traditionalists, who were hoping that the Pope would choose a dynamic conservative outsider. The Archbishop of Birmingham is dynamic, all right, but it would seem ridiculous to describe him as conservative or an outsider.

And yet... Vin Nichols has become more conservative over the years, and more independent-minded."

Sources say the news will be announced this morning at 11AM (UK time).

update: Catholic Herald has a statement congradulating Abp. Nichols, statements from Christian leaders welcoming him, and a full story + video of the nomination (what good coverage!). VIS:

The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England, as metropolitan archbishop of Westminster (area 3,634, population 4,664,000, Catholics 472,600, priests 669, permanent deacons 8, religious 1,560), England. He succeeds Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

update 2 - Whipers has video of the press conference and Q&A. I'm too lazy to embed them.

Legion statement possible today or tomorrow

update: "Pope Sends Apostolic Visitors to the Legionaries of Christ"

The internet background chatter on the Legion situation has spiked significantly in the last 24 hours, and now numerous sources are claiming a statement will be released today or tomorrow. So check back if you have interest.

Report: Cardinal George says he, USCCB have no jurisdiction over ND

Update - here is a PDF scan of the document in question.

I received a report which says Cardinal George's office is writing back to people who have expressed complaints about ND, saying that neither he nor the USCCB has authority in the issues. Cardinal George is the President of the U.S. Bishops. This would explain why we have seen no official statement from that body. For what it's worth.

Papal spokesman Lombardi to resign in May?

Damian Thompson at Holy Smoke picks up on some circulating reports:

The Pope's press officer, Fr Federico Lombardi, is to resign after Benedict XVI's visit to the Holy Land, according to Italian and German press reports.

Fr Lombardi, a Jesuit, presided over the mega-disaster of the Williamson affair. The Pope's decision to lift the SSPX excommunications was not his responsibility, but the Church's failure to anticipate the row and its grotesquely slow response to the worldwide row most certainly was.

Then he allowed a question about Aids, condoms and Africa to be asked aboard the papal plane, which the Pope handled with less than total assurance and clarity. Sorry to have to make that point, but the fact that the Vatican press office felt it necessary to tinker with his quotes afterwards is revealing, don't you think?

How about also addressing the Secretariat of State's involvement in these recent fiascoes?

update - related:

[David Gibson:] "Just as a bit of housekeeping, it seems that after changing some of Pope Benedict’s comments on condoms when he was in Africa–and prompting an uproar about the uproar–the official text is back to what the pope originally said on the plane to reporters. Why? Perhaps Fr. Lombardi told them to set it aright. Perhaps they are more confident that they can argue their case. Either way, here it is…"

Perhaps Fr. Lombardi got a talking-to, or whoever was responsible.

update 2 - context: Good analysis from Joan Desmond.

New Archbishop appointment for St. Louis imminent?

I'm hearing independent reports that the next Archbishop of St. Louis could be announced tomorrow, or indeed - very soon. Whispers says the successor is "expected within days."

I'm also seeing a particular name rise to the surface in these various reports - which would be extremely exciting for me and good for the Catholic Church in America if he proves to be the one.

At any rate, if someone at Kenrick-Glennon seminary wants to contact me with an update, I'd be grateful.

St. Louis has had an Archdiocesan Administration (Bishop Robert Hermann) since Archbishop Raymond Burke was transferred to Rome last year.

update: no announcement today, but stay tuned....

Rumor: John Paul II to be beatified on April 2, 2010?

CNA (website seems to be having problems today):

Pope John Paul II could be beatified on April 2, 2010, according to a report in the Polish newspaper Dziennik, which claims the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has already made the decision.

At the beginning of this month, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow said the beatification process of Pope John Paul II was about to be concluded and that Benedict XVI himself wanted to close the process “as soon as possible” because that “is what the world is asking for.”

The beatification process of John Paul II began on June 28, 2005, two months after the death of the Pontiff thanks to a dispensation granted by Pope Benedict. The dispensation waived the normal five-year waiting period after a person dies that the Church requires before a cause for canonization can be opened.

April 2nd, of course, would be the fifth anniversary of the late Holy Father's passing.

Tom McFeely reports on the rumors in the Italian press, which are corroborative.

Here is the website for the Cause of John Paul II, Servant of God.

Mark the calednar and buy your plane tickets!

Vatican rumors

Whispers speculates about the future Archbishop of Westminster and an upcoming curial shake-up (one is always in the works, it seems), while recapping what's going on with the Legion (although if you've been reading AmP, there's nothing new mentioned). All round, a bit of a slow period - but things will speed up again soon I trust.

Newt Gingrich is coming into the Church this Easter

David Gibson calls it "one heckuva parenthetical aside buried in the NYT Magazine's lengthy profile of Newt Gingrich" (and here it is in its entirety):

(A Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich said he will soon convert to Catholicism, his wife's faith.)

AmericanPapists won't be surprised - I was mentioning the likelihood back in November that he would convert this Easter.

Let's pray for him during his Lenten journey into the Catholic Church.

[photo credit: usawayne.]

Official: Timothy Dolan to become next NYC Archbishop!

iiiiiiiiiiitttttttttssssssss DOLAN!

The official announcement, we are told by the Associated Press, will be made at 6AM EST, when the Vatican publishes its daily news bulletin.

Whispers sources say Dolan will make his first public NYC appearance at 8AM Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral, with an 11AM press conference.

I wrote a post last week about these rumors, and refer you back to it for all the interesting Dolan tidbits I've assembled. Good catch-up reading.

I'll make two additions now: I'm currently holding a letter from Archbishop Dolan, and one of my brothers was baptized by him. ;)

update - it's official:

• Official VIS bulletin
• Arch of NY press release
• Reuters
• Associated Press

T-minus 4 hours to NY announcement?

If the new Archbishop of New York is announced today, we should find out at 5AM EST - when the Vatican bulletin is sent around the world and also uploaded to the http://www.vatican.va/ website.

I'll be waking up at a somewhat more human hour, but feel free to populate the comment box with the happy news in the meantime! If not, it's back to the waiting game. Oh, the waiting game.

update: Bulletin released ... and no announcement. Looks like it's a bust for today! But stay tuned.

update 2: "The Church's revenge on journalists?" - David Gibson. I'd hope not.

Picture: The next Archbishop of New York?

I wonder if Archbishop Timothy Dolan will still root for Marquette if he gets transferred to New York?

At this point, I would be surprised if Abp. Dolan doesn't get the nod for New York. Italian newspaper Il Reformista is claiming he's the pick. It's likely the official announcement was delayed because of this SSPX crisis.

A request for a response from him on Friday was answered with the excuse that he is "out of town on vacation and unavailable." Hmm. When asked a few days earlier about these rumors he responded with a pleasant non-denial "denial." Hmmmm.

In the meantime, regardless of whether he is picked, Abp. Dolan will continue to have a prominant presence in the American heirarchy. Whispers takes this opportunity to do an informational post on him.

Some time ago I read Abp. Dolan's Priests for the Third Millennium and found it a very profitable read. He has written a book giving lessons from the life of St. Peter entitled To Whom Shall We Go? (his episcopal motto).

Abp. Dolan also wrote the forward to my father's recently-released book: A Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering This Often Misinterpreted Teaching.

Whenever the announcement is made, I'll be on it!

update: tomorrow morning?

Rumors about the next archbishop of New York

Cathy Lynn Grossman, a USA Today blogger, does a fair job of surveying the speculation.

update: as Rocco reports, Abp. of Milwaukee Timothy Dolan is getting lots of mentions.

Maciel admission timed for SSPX controversy?

Many people have been asking what prompted the Legionaries to choose this time for publicly acknowledging the veracity of allegations against their founder Maciel.

Joan Desmond, a widely-published Catholic journalist, is hearing a consistent answer:

Contacts in Rome, who sought to protect their sources during this sensitive time and would not go on the record, report that the on-going controversy over Bishop Williamson - one of the four schismatic bishops whose excommunication was lifted by the pope, but who still denies the existence of the Holocaust ... continues unabated and has made it difficult to work out an intervention by the Vatican. Only the Americans in the Legion have broken ranks in a noticeable way, attracted the public support of prominent Catholics, and appear committed to commencing a thorough house cleaning of the Legion, followed, possibly, by the "re-forming" of the order with new superiors in place.

My contacts assert that the convergence of these two big news events--the outrage prompted by the Bishop Willliamson affair, followed shortly afterwards by the new revelations regarding Father Maciel's "double life" -- was no accident: the order's superiors and their ecclesial allies took advantage of the crisis surrounding Bishop Williamson to minimize the impact of the new disclosures regarding Maciel. The Mexican superiors, I'm told, believe the present tempest will blow over and the Legion will pull itself together and go on as before. (The Cathoholic - updated 3:30pm)

It certainly seems that amidst the hubbub surrounding the SSPX story, coverage of the Maciel scandal has been slim-to-none, except for the notable exceptions chronicled on these pages.

update: welcome, New Advent readers. Complete coverage of the Maciel scndal here.

Breaking: New Abp. of New York to be announced soon

A Newsmax exclusive:

Pope Benedict XVI is set to announce a new Archbishop of New York to replace Cardinal Edward Egan, an informed Vatican source tells Newsmax.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source says the decision was made today and an announcement is expected “within the next week to ten days”. He says Cardinal Egan’s successor is from the “conservative and orthodox” wing of the Church.

.... Names often cited as Egan’s possible successor include Archbishop Harry Mansell of Hartford, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop John Myers of Newark, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan.

Best guess among the candidates?

"... The Pope has chosen an archbishop who is “dynamic, conservative and orthodox”, he says – traits which Vatican watchers say best match those of Archbishop Dolan. The 59 year old prelate is said to be good with the media, genuine, and intelligent. He also has Irish ancestry, a common characteristic of previous archbishops of New York."I think Dolan would be very good news for New York.

(Odd that Whispers didn't have this story first....)

I'll be watching this story closely and will update you if I hear anything more credible.

Bad news brewing?

update 3: Legionaries founder Maciel fathered children, could be renounced as spiritual founder.

So Patrick Madrid says:

I'm sorry to tell you that some shocking, saddening news about a prominent figure in the Church will soon become publically [sic.] known, perhaps as early as Monday or Tuesday.

I'm not sure that I see the wisdom of pre-announcing bad news. Best to just let it come, no?

I mean, I find Mondays distressing enough ... and they always come pre-announced.

update: through various sources, I now know what this rumor is about. It doesn't pertain to any currently serving member of the Church. And it will be no big surprise to long-time AmP readers. Carry on.

update 2: I agree with the critique that I handled this information poorly. I violated one of my own rules about reporting "pure gossip." I will provide coverage of the story if/when it actually breaks. My apologies. - AmP.

Rumor: 400k Anglicans to be received back into the Church?

This is technically "blog fodder", but believable hear-say, and if true, incredibly significant:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is reportedly recommending that the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) be offered the status of personal prelature. The Traditional Anglican Communion is a group of approximately 400,000 Anglican’s that have broken away from the Anglican Communion seeking to preserve their Anglo-Catholic traditions. They formerly requested entry into the Catholic Church in 2007. These reports are emanating from an Australian Catholic weekly called The Record. {American Catholic}

Catholic Online posts a qualification to its initial report:

Catholic Online promised to up date our readers on this extraordinary story. So, we now pass this on: The National Catholic Register cites a "Vatican Source" as saying that "nothing's been decided" by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Reports abound that the Congregation has recommended the creation of a personal prelature as the vehicle through which to receive the members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Register contends that an official at the Congregation spoke with their correspondent Edward Pentin today saying,“It’s something that has appeared on the blogosphere and then been reiterated, but the truth is nothing’s been decided.” We set forth our original story below believing that the sources reporting this exciting news and the history of the dialogue support its accuracy.

This move strikes me as entirely likely, and seems to fit within the general framework of what Pope Benedict has been doing to reach out to other communities who are "all-but-Catholic" (that "all-but" remaining an important destinction, of course). A revealing paragraph from the Register piece:

An announcement could be made soon after Easter this year. It is understood that Pope Benedict XVI, who has taken a personal interest in the matter, has linked the issue to the year of St Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the Church. The Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls could feature prominently in such an announcement for its traditional and historical links to Anglicanism.

Excellent observations from American Catholic contributor Tito Edwards:

If this information is accurate, this is an incredible turn of events coming from the Vatican. First the motu proprio freeing the Tridentine Mass, the overtures to S.S.P.X., and now granting the Traditional Anglican Communion the status of a personal prelature, which only Opus Dei occupies thus far. With the Catholic Church change occurs over centuries, but with the Venerable Pope Benedict XVI he has dramatically altered the landscape of the Catholic Church within three short years.

What does this mean for traditionalists (High Anglicans) in the Canterbury based Anglican Communion? Possibly protection from heterodoxical bishops by entering the Catholic Church as a personal prelature or simply entering the Traditional Anglican Communion. This is going to create shockwaves all the way to Canterbury and the rest of the Anglican Communion throughout the world. It will definitely make the prelates of England and Wales cringe in fear to the thought of hundred’s of thousands of Anglicans entering their realm and bolstering the numbers of faithful and dedicated Catholics. It will also certainly create havoc for Katherine Jefferts Schori and her bishops in keeping The Episcopal Communion together here in the United States.

Regular AmP readers know that I tend to not quote at length unless I find everything being said valuable.

Native Son Allen Vigneron appointed Archbishop of Detroit

A fitting story to mark the resumption of AmP Catholic news coverage, and an event long-awaited on these pages: Bishop Allen Vigneron (of Oakland) has been nominated as the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Detroit, MI. He will take position quickly, on the 28th of this month.

My email inbox has been humming with local updates, for six years I lived in Michigan, and for two years I attended school at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, so suffice it to say, we've been waiting for this news for a long time, because Cardinal Maida's retirement date was almost two years ago.

Bp. Vigneron is coming home to the archdiocese where he previously served as an auxiliary. He is also the first Michigan-native to hold the office. He is all but guaranteed to be made a Cardinal in the next consistory.

Bp. Vigneron's nomination is an especial boon to Sacred Heart because he served as its rector from 1998-91 and again from 1994-2003. Monday is not a typical day of the week for the Vatican to announce a US appointment, but today was the first day of classes at Sacred Heart, so it is appropriate for at least that reason.

Detroit has 1.5 million Catholics, the sixth largest US diocese. The Vatican made many, many other appointments today (one of which I'll get to in good time), part of a post-Christmas avalanche of international episcopal housekeeping, I imagine.

For the outgoing Cardinal Maida, the Michigan Catholic Conference has published a web page to pay tribute to his service to the Church in Detroit these many years. Bishop-designate Vigneron will take over Cardinal Maida's Chairmanship of the Michigan Conference of Catholic Bishops. Rocco has excellent coverage and you can follow this page for an updating feed of related stories. Fr. Z's comment box is a good place to look for more informed reactions and interesting tidbits. Bp. Vigneron has a particularly solid and vocal record on life issues, which will come in handy as Michigan attempts to continue building up a medical/pharmaceutical industry.

I think Bp. Vigneron is very good news for Detroit. He knows it well, in several capacities, and has proven himself an excellent pastor of souls in each. He seems very pleased about the appointment, even in the face of the significant challenged facing anyone who takes up the office.

More as I hear it....

Breaking: New Prefect Appointed for CDWDS (liturgy)!

From today's Vatican bulletino:

The Holy Father appointed Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo, Spain, as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He succeeds Cardinal Francis Arinze, whose resignation from the same office the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

This appointment has been in the rumor mill for some time.

Catholic Blogosphere reactions:

• Fr. Z: "In Spain he has been called the "Little Ratzinger".
• Rocco: the youngest of the '06 Cardinals (at 63), Llovera's background is in catechetical theology
• NLM: "it sounds as though we can expect much that is very good from the Cardinal." [I'd hope so.]

This also means that 76-year-old Cardinal Arinze will finally be allowed to step down. He will be missed!

update: and good heavens, Daily Peep has the photos which should terrify liturgical progressives.

Female Swiss Guards?

CNS:

The Swiss Guard's new commander said he was willing to consider the possibility of allowing female recruits.

When asked in an interview after his appointment whether women would one day be able to join the elite papal guard, Anrig told a Swiss news Web site, www.swissinfo.ch, that although he was unfamiliar with the finer details of the Swiss Guard regulations he believed, "as commandant, one has to be always open to new questions including those relating to recruitment."

Right now, I'd say a 173 centimeter tall man has more of a chance than a woman. Not kidding.

US Bishops to get extra year to prepare Ad Limina report

Until mid-2010, is the bottom-line. This delay caused by the Vatican's considerable backlog.

The Vatican's considerable backlog caused by several factors, including many new bishops:

According to the Vatican's official statistical yearbook, at the end of 1983 there were 2,285 diocesan bishops in the world and they had 651 coadjutor or auxiliary bishops.

By the end of 2006 -- the year covered in the most recent edition of the yearbook -- there were 2,705 diocesan bishops with 606 coadjutor or auxiliary bishops.

In essence, that means that in 1983 the pope would have had to meet an average of 457 diocesan bishops each year in order to see them all every five years. By 2006, the average number of meetings needed each year rose to 541. (CNS)

Here's a solution: let me meet with them first, and I'll screen out the baddies. ;-)

Vatican's ITC takes a look at Natural Law

Interesting....

The International Theological Commission is celebrating its plenary session from 1 to 5 December in the Vatican's "Domus Sanctae Marthae", under the chairmanship of Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer S.J., secretary general of the commission.

The commission, which has a five-year mandate that expires this year, will study the matters presented for it to examine, says a communique published today. In particular, a draft document on natural moral law entitled "The search for universal ethics. A new look at natural law", will be presented for members' approval. The draft document will still have to follow the procedures laid down in the Statutes before any publication. (VIS)

Rumor: Pope Benedict to visit Holy Land in May 2009

Exciting news if it turns out to be true:

Israeli president Shimon Peres has extended an invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to visit Israel in 2009 and he is considering the offer, according to the Vatican’s spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi.

Speaking to the press on Thursday in Rome, Fr. Lombardi reacted to an article in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that stated that Pope Benedict has indeed accepted an offer to visit the Holy Land in the second week of May, 2009.

While not denying that discussions are under way, Fr. Lombardi did not confirm the specifics. "I can confirm that contacts exist at a diplomatic level between the Holy See and Israel to study the possibility of a trip by the Pope to the Holy Land next year," he said.

The article in Ha’aretz also claimed that the Pope will visit the Palestinian territories by stopping in Bethlehem. (CNA)

If the trip accomplishes one thing, I hope it finally puts to rest this common misconception:

"[The trip] would help to ease recent tensions between Catholics and Jews over the role of wartime Pope Pius XII, who some Jews have accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust." (Reuters)

You can expect the Pius XII controversy to be front-and-center during the news coverage of the Holy Father's visit. Good. Maybe the Church can finally, publicly defend herself against the false charges.

But I won't be holding my breath.

CDF to release important bioethics document on Dec. 12

We've been waiting awhile for this one:

A new Vatican instruction on bioethics, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is scheduled to be published Dec. 12, informed sources said Wednesday.

The document, under discussion for at least two years, is expected to examine ethical issues in biological research and health care that have emerged in recent years, including the cloning and freezing of human embryos, stem cell research and new therapeutic possibilities.

Pope Benedict XVI was head of the doctrinal congregation when both those documents were published. Addressing the congregation in January, the pope said the new problems included the freezing of human embryos, the selective reduction of embryos, pre-implant diagnosis, research on embryonic stem cells and attempts at human cloning. (CNS)

This document will be a follow-up to Donum Vitae (1987) and Evangelium Vitae (1995), both landmark statements from the Church on the literally life-and-death importance of bioethical decision and practice.

Quo Vadis, Sign of Peace?

I heard about this a little while ago. It's pretty much a done deal [brackets mean I'm editorializing]:

A high-ranking Vatican official says Pope Benedict XVI is considering introducing a change to the Mass liturgy.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, who heads the Vatican office for sacraments, says the pope may move the placement of the sign of peace, where congregation members shake hands or hug [or run around grabbing at any available hands they can find].

Arinze told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview published Friday that the pope has asked bishops to express their opinions and will then decide [actually, I'm pretty sure it's already decided; he is looking for input, however].

Under the change, the sign of peace, which now takes place moments before the reception of communion, would come earlier. Arinze said the change might help create a more solemn atmosphere as the faithful are preparing to receive communion. (AP)

A good move, I think.

Another surprise for the Vatican's Nativity Scene this year?

Maybe-could-be:

This week the Vatican City government began work on the construction of a new Nativity scene that will be on display in St. Peter’s Square this Christmas.

During this past week, with the Church preparing to celebrate final holy day of the liturgical year, the solemnity of Christ the King, dozens of workers began building a curious thirteen feet tall semi-circular structure that partially surrounding the great obilesk in St. Peter’s Square.

CNA asked the Holy See’s Press Office about the theme chosen for this year’s Nativity scene. “The theme of the Nativity scene is chosen and implemented by the Vatican government, and only when the work is completed will the Holy See be informed of the theme,” Sister Giovanna Gentili, SFP, said.

Last year the Vatican government chose the new theme of the Holy Family in Nazareth instead of in Bethlehem. Due to the [un]usual, semicircular aspect of the preparations, many expect the Holy See to unveil another surprise this Christmas season.

Okay, Roman Papists ... send me photos!

Rumors: New Prefect of CDW arrived in Rome

The New Liturgical Movement and Fr. Z are keeping tabs. I'll sure miss Cardinal Arinze!

Newt Gingrich to become Catholic on Easter?

That at least is the rumor from some. I tend to believe it. His wife is an active Catholic.

Newt has a checkered marriage past, to say the least, and that could cause some difficulties.

update: oh, and is anyone else hearing these rumors about President George Bush converting to Catholicism after he steps down in January?!

[photo credit: Leadmine]

Tuesday Update: American Bishops Meet in Baltimore

AmP's picks for the best stories being published about the American Bishops' meeting today:

• John Allen: End may be in sight for great gibbet debate (i.e, liturgical translation debate)
• John Allen: We'll both help Obama and challenge him, George says (I hope to go through Cardinal George's statements soon - he's saying amazing, important stuff this week)
• CNA: Obama was elected on the economy, not on values issues, Cardinal George says
• (for background:) Fr. Z takes a look at Fr. Neuhaus on "Obama and the Bishops"
• (for background:) Russell Shaw on the "three types of bishops", via "the double-I."
• Whispers is on site and posting up a storm
• The press conference is being streamed here
• CNS live-blogged the morning public session again today
• Fr. Z asks why bloggers weren't invited to the "web 2.0" session. (I agree!)

That should keep you (and me) busy this afternoon.

Bishops *will discuss* politicians and abortion tomorrow

Of course, all the interesting things would happen when I'm on the road. Some important updates:

This week the US Bishops are meeting in Baltimore. There had been some recent rumors that the US Bishops had decided to not take on the scandal caused by Catholics who support abortion and also present themselves for Communion (like the future Vice-President of America).

CNA and Rocco clarify that, to the contrary, the item is still on the agenda but will probably take place, behind closed doors, tomorrow morning. Check in with Amy for a dose of sanity, and read Diogenes for the sed contra.

That's about it until I get back home tonight. In the meantime, CNS has been doing some live-blogging of the public sessions and they published this little story which caught my eye: "Bishops to vote on blessing service for children in the womb"

Finally, Cardinal George's opening address as President of the USCCB has been getting plenty of attention.

Announced: Pope Benedict to visit Africa in 2009!

What. A. Pope.

Details:

It’s official — Pope Benedict XVI plans to make his first trip to Africa next March, visiting Cameroon and Angola.

The pope said he will hand-deliver the African synod’s Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, when he travels to Cameroon in March to meet with representatives from African bishops’ conferences.

... Pope Benedict said he would go from Cameroon to Angola, where he will celebrate the 500th anniversary of that country’s evangelization.

For months, rumors have been percolating around the Vatican of a papal trip to Africa, a continent that has not hosted a pope since 1998. In October, the Vatican’s advance team traveled to Africa to firm up plans, according to sources.

At present, it’s the only foreign trip on the pope’s calendar next year. With the synod to follow, it looks like 2009 with be a year of Africa for the church. (CNS Blog)

Gee, I wonder who wants to give me press credentials? I'm serious.

And ... I hate to say it now, but I can predict what the mainstream media's talking points will be:

• The Church in Africa is experiencing an uptick in conversions to evangelical and other protestant churches (partially true)
• The Church's prohibition against condoms is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis (false)
• Celibacy and discipline are generally lax in the Church in Africa (partially true)

Time to start doing our homework. Pope Benedict proclaimed Hope to the Church in America - will he proclaim Love to the Church in Africa?

USCCB leadership meets with Pope today {updated}

From the Vatican bulletino:

"The Holy Father today received ... Cardinal Francis E. George O.M.I., Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson and Msgr. David Malloy, respectively president, vice-president and secretary general of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops."

Hmm, I wonder what they talked about?

update - Whispers notes CNS coverage:

"After the Oct. 23 meeting, Cardinal Francis E. George, conference president, told Catholic News Service he did not feel it was appropriate to discuss details of the private meeting."

Hmm, he ain't talking.

Revealed: Pope John Paul II was stabbed in 1982

A revelation in a new documentary film which includes interviews with the late Pontiff's secretary Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz:

The late Pope John Paul was wounded by a knife-wielding priest in 1982, a year after he was shot in St Peter's Square, but the injury was kept secret, his former top aide says in a documentary film.

On May 12, 1982, the pope was visiting the shrine city of Fatima in Portugal to give thanks for surviving a first assassination attempt a year earlier on May 13, 1981, when he was shot in St Peter's Square by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.

A crazed ultra-conservative Spanish priest, Juan Fernandez Krohn, lunged at the pope with a dagger and was knocked to the ground by police and arrested. The fact that the knife actually reached the pope and cut him was not known until now.

"I can now reveal that the Holy Father was wounded. When we got back to the room (in the Fatima sanctuary complex) there was blood," Dziwisz says in the documentary.

The pope carried on with the trip without disclosing his wound.

Krohn was arrested and served several years in a Portuguese prison before being expelled from the country. (Reuters)

This story is a good reminder that we should pray for the safety of Pope Benedict, and be thankful for the many times dangers to their person have been narrowly averted in the past.

Rumor: Abp. Burke's St. Louis replacement

(And before we get started, do note that the current apostolic administrator of St. Louis is not being idle.)

Whispers has the scoop:

Over recent weeks, three independent sources in divergent locales have indicated a surprise front-runner for the vacant archbishopric of St Louis: Bishop Salvatore Matano of Burlington.

A native of Providence ordained to lead Vermont's statewide diocese of 150,000 in 2005, the 62 year-old prelate was a Roman classmate and remains a close friend of the prior head of the 550,000-member Gateway City church, Archbishop Raymond Burke, now the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See's highest court. A product of the North American College and the Gregorian, he was ordained a priest at the Vatican in 1971.

... While it's of prime importance to remember that, as always, nothing is assured until the file makes its way through the standard trail of the Congregation for Bishops and the papal apartment, the sudden emergence of the New Englander's name atop a wide swath of the trans-continental buzzmill implies two things: first, that the process leading to a St Louis appointment has been fast-tracked and, second, that in keeping with Benedict's precedent for the three other diocesan bishops he's called to lead Curial dicasteries, Burke will likely have, at the very least, a strong say in the selection of his replacement.

[More.]

Running second in the rumor mill? Auxiliary Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Diego.

Although I really hope Bp. Cordileone gets promoted within California. He is needed.

Have you heard anything about Bp. Matano?

"Before the end of this year" new date for Pope's 3rd Encyclical

The skinny:

Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical is very much alive and is expected to be published before the end of the year, Cardinal Renato Martino told reporters Wednesday.

“The project exists, and at this point it’s certain. We hope the pope can publish it before the end of the year,” Cardinal Martino said at a Vatican press conference.

Sources earlier this year said the encyclical was provisionally titled, “Caritas in Veritate” (”Charity in Truth,”) and was expected to touch on issues related to social justice and globalization. The encyclical has reportedly been undergoing some revisions, and there was a rumor floating around recently that it wouldn’t be out until next spring. (CNS Blog)

Earlier rumored target dates had ranged from "last month" all the way up to "April of next year."

End of this year sounds entirely reasonable, but then again, I haven't written many encyclicals.

In the meantime, you can still pre-order it.

Pope's next encyclical delayed until April 2009?!

That's what it now says on Amazon.

Que pasa?

Flash: Benedict enacts significant papal liturgies shake-up

Pope Benedict often displays a tact in the way he makes significant changes that allows him to escape the radar of even close observers. Case in point today (underlining mine):

Pope Benedict XVI has made a low profile but significant move in the direction of liturgical reform by completely changing his liturgical consultants.

A hardly noticed brief note from the Vatican Press Office on Sept. 24 {link} announced the appointment of new consultants for the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. It did not mention, however, the importance of the new appointees.

... Also relevant to the appointments is the fact that all former consultants, appointed when Archbishop Piero Marini led the office of Liturgical Celebrations, have been dismissed since their appointments were not renewed. (CNA)

Did you see that? All former consultants - gone. And the new set of consultants are heavy-hitters.

Wow.

Bp. Vigneron to take over Detroit?

Tucked at the bottom of a posting on Oakland's new Cathedral opening, Whispers drops non-too-subtle hints that Bishop Vigneron might be coming back home to take over Detroit after Cardinal Maida retires:

On an in-house note, with Cardinal Adam Maida approaching his 79th birthday early next year, there are those who maintain that today's rites won't just open the doors to Oakland's new mother-church, but the long-delayed appointment of a new archbishop of Detroit... since today's a day to celebrate what is, though, more on the rest later.

Just so you know the latest. I've lost track of the number of times I've heard rumors about Cardinal Maida's appointee being announced. Bp. Vigneron would make sense on several levels however ... we'll see.

Rumor: USCCB to respond to Joe Biden's comments tomorrow?

The USCCB is planning to release a statement tomorrow responding to Senator Joe Biden's comments made Sunday on Meet the Press. Justin Cardinal Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities will probably issue the statement.

That's the entire substance of the tip I've received, from a reliable source. So check back soon.

Two weeks ago when we went through something very similar with Nancy Pelosi, Justin Cardinal Regali and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, released a welcome response one day after Pelosi made her claims.

Rumor: FPOs asked to leave Mt. St. Mary's Seminary?

This is on deep background, but I bring it to press to see if anyone can fill in the details.

Found in Cardinal Sean O'Malley's blog comment thread, from "Kathleen Boyle Palkovic":

Dear Cardinal,

I have been a TFPO since Sept. 2007. I started as a cordbearer and now have moved up. My first experience with the FPO’s was a vocation talk from Fr. John Sweeney from Emmitsburg, Md. His talk to my students was so moving that we continually invited him back for more. He made our Catholic faith more understandable, made us realize how important it is, and challenged all of us to be bold in our faith.

I have just completed my first retreat with the FPO's. It was life changing. I have become a better person (my husband’s remark). I have been more loving, forgiving, seeking to help others, more peaceful, and more involved in learning about my Catholic faith.

I was looking forward to another educational and faith filled year with the FPO's. So naturally, I was surprised and somewhat devastated at the “recall” of all the FPO”s back to Boston.

I’m sure there were many good reasons that I will never know and I’m sure the decision was prayfully arrived at, but they were loved by so many. I loved their courage to speak the truth, live a life of penance, be an example of a true Catholic.

FPO's refer to the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance. More information about them here in the comment thread over at The Road to Reform. The student newspaper of Mount St. Mary's University talks about them here back in 2003. Roman Catholic Vocations has several posts about them, which you can read here.

So, anyone know what's going on?

"Pope's vacation writing project remains a mystery"

I though the papal spokesperson was supposed to dispel and abate rumors, not encourage them!

The director of the Vatican press office has told reporters that during his current vacation in Bressanone, Italy, Pope Benedict XVI might be drafting a new book, an encyclical-- or something entirely different.

The papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, had earlier told journalists that the Holy Father would spend some of his vacation time on a writing project. He pointed out that there are two projects known to be on the Pope's active agenda: a second volume of his work on Jesus Christ and an encyclical devoted to Catholic social teaching.

However, Father Lombardi observed that the Pope could have other ideas. He reminded reporters of the Pope's summer surprise last year, "when we were all expecting the social encyclical after his vacation in Cadore and instead he wrote Spe salvi.” Spe Salvi, the Pope's second encyclical, was devoted to the theological virtue of hope. (CWNews)

Reporter #1: "Is it true the pope intends to excommunicate John Kerry?"

Lombardi: "Absolutely false! ... or ... IS IT?! *mystery eyes* Ahem - next question?"

Reporter #2: "Does the Pope have any major announcements scheduled for August?"

Lombardi: "None whatsoever. But keep in mind, last time I said that he announced the Motu Proprio!"

(*sheesh!*)

On integrating refugee conservative anglicans stateside

As a blogger, one of the most rewarding experiences one can have is watching several disparate stories suddenly fall into place nicely. Now of course, the danger is to let oneself impose an order that isn't actually there, but in this case I think there's some encouraging signs that the pieces are actually lining up....

First up, Damian Thompson (who is rapidly becoming my trusted source for UK Anglican/Catholic information, think of him as the British Rocco), has published that "The Catholic Church will expand its provision of "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold".

The source for this development is Abp. John Myers of Newark, a canonist of the first order, speaking at this summer's Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio. The radioactive quote:

“We are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities’,” Archbishop Richard J Myers said in San Antonio, Texas at a conference for “Anglican Use” parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.

Anglo-Catholic bishops attending the Lambeth Conference confirmed to ReligiousIntelligence.com that discussions were underway with the Vatican over their reception into the Roman Catholic Church, and were hopeful a way could be found for them to go over to Rome with their dioceses. [Religious Intelligence UK]

[More from his address to the conference:]

Through the Anglican Use liturgy, individuals from the Episcopal Church who reconcile with Rome have the option to worship in a manner that is familiar to them, which many practiced from childhood, and which has nourished their faith in Jesus Christ.

... (In some cases the sense of the sacred conveyed in the Anglican Use liturgy has been a vehicle of return for Catholics who had fallen away from the practice of their faith because of liturgical abuses during the implementation of the Novus Ordo.)

... Catholic faithful who worship according to the Anglican Use must never see themselves as different from other Catholics or somehow privileged among other Christian Communions. We are Catholics together, obedient to the Holy Father, to those bishops in communion with him and ever faithful to Magisterial teaching.

... The struggle is real. The choice is not always easy. However, the Holy See’s allowance of the Anglican Use liturgy for now might help to make the burden a little easier for some to bear. The mark toward which we press as Catholics and as Christians is Jesus Christ. He is our goal and we can only find Him through the Church he founded on Peter.

[Read his entire keynote address here.]

For more information on the Anglican Use rite (I've blogged about related topics previously):

• The Anglican Use Society - and do note: one of the speeches given at this year's conference was by a former episcopal bishop! Read more about that here. I believe I blogged about him when the news broke, but can't find it in the archives immediatly.
• Anglican Use on Wikipedia - also lists the Anglican Use parishes in the U.S (11 or 12)
• CIN provides the rubrics of the Anglican Use liturgy in a single page

Now here's the final, fun part: the part where I tie a couple separate strands together:

The exhumation of Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman has been requested by the Vatican to make veneration easier for his devotees. The prominent nineteenth-century convert from the Church of England is being considered for beatification, the last step before he is declared a saint.

Cardinal Newman’s body was buried in a small cemetery at Rednal in 1890. According to the Telegraph, the Vatican wants his remains to be moved to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory.

Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, explained the reason for the request: "One of the centuries-old procedures surrounding the creating of new saints by the Catholic Church concerns their earthly remains. (CNA)

CWNews speculates that his beatification could take place "before the end of this year."

And how appropriate, that simultaneous upon the prospect of numerous Anglicans returning to the barque of peter, the Anglican-convert par excellence would be elevated to the dignity of a blessed!

And lest we forget the spiritual... "Is Cardinal Newman Praying for His Anglican Brethren?".

It's such a harmonious picture, the plan seems a bit more than human.

What do Anne Hathaway and Cardinal Sodano have in common?

It's not often that Hollywood tabloid stories and Vatican rumors find a common subject.

The sad tale of actress Anne Hatheway and socialite Raffaello Follieri (L) is one of them, however.

Raffaelo Follieri evidently masqueraded as the Vatican's CFO in one of his many shady dealings. The story has been widly covered.

And as Diogenes writes today, one of Follieri's partners in crime was none other than ex-Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano's nephew Andrea Sodano.

Follieri's dreams have since crumbled into rubble.

And let's hope that in the future, Vatican officials will display a bit more common sense than a Hollywood actress, because frankly they stand little chance of besting her in the looks department.

Confirmed: new prefect for Congregation for Saints

As rumored (back in mid/late June):

Archbishop Angelo Amato, the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has been named by Pope Benedict XVI to become the new prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of saints.

Salesian priest, Archbishop Amato became secretary of the Vatican's doctrinal congregation in 2002-- succeeding another Salesian, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is now the Secretary of State. (CWNews)

More from CNA (twice actually).

This means that Andrea Tornielli, writing for Il Giornale, got everything about this appointment right, even the date it would be announced. Someone accidentally CC'd him in on the memo, I guess.

Replacing Amato at CDF, this Spanish Jesuit priest:

Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer S.J., professor of dogmatic theology at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University and secretary general of the International Theological Commission, as secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Manacor, Spain in 1944 and ordained a priest in 1973.

Seems like a good pedigree.

Pope Benedict considering changes to celebration of the Mass?

A rumor at this point, but a notable one, claims that Pope Benedict has instructed the Congregation for Divine Worship to study the possibility of making changes to the manner in which the Mass is celebrated, including but not limited to:

• Using Latin in the Eucharistic Prayer (specifically the words of institution)
• Moving the Sign of Peace to the Offertory
• Wider use of Latin in the celebration of other Sacraments

More information and sourcing at NLM. Needless to say, I'll be keeping tack of this story closely.

Globetrotter: "Pope Benedict considering trip to Africa in 2009"

Welcome news:

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Avvenire, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI would like to visit Africa in 2009, although his travel agenda for next year "has not yet been fixed."

Cardinal Bertone also added that, "The Church in Africa deserves a trip by the Pope, who has already visited or is preparing to visit the other continents." (CNA)

In a backhand way, Bertone just added another confirmation that China is in the works as well.

More rumors on Vatican personnel shifts

The latest, as tracked by CWNews:

With rumors proliferating about imminent changes in the leadership of the Roman Curia, a Spanish newspaper has advanced the theory that Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo will be the next prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, the current prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, reached the canonical retirement age with his 75th birthday in November 2007. He and Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the 76-year-old prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, are expected to resign from their current posts soon.

In suggesting that Cardinal Canizares could succeed Cardinal Arinze, the newspaper La Nueva Espana adds that Archbishop Carlos Osoro of Orviedo might become the next Archbishop of Toledo-- or perhaps the next Archbishop of Valencia, replacing Cardinal Agustin Garcia-Gasco y Vicente, who is 77.

Meanwhile in Rome, Andrea Tornelli, the veteran Vatican correspondent for Il Giornale, predicts that Cardinal Agostino Vallini will succeed Cardinal Camillo Ruini as the Pope's vicar for the Rome diocese. Tornelli also says that Archbishop Angelo Amato, the current secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will replace Cardinal Saraiva Martins as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Anything to add, anyone?

Rumor: Cardinal Levada to be replaced by Cardinal Schönborn

The locals are strongly denying it:

In response to a report in the Italian daily “La Repubblica” that Cardinal Christoph Schönborn could become the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna, Erich Leitenberger, said on Stephanscom Austrian Radio that the rumor was unfounded.

On May 25, La Repubblica published an article by Marco Politi in which he offered a “general analysis” of the General Assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of Italy.

Commenting on the rumor about Cardinal Schönborn, Politi said a personnel change at the Vatican was possible but that “until the Pope has signed off” on any changes, “everything is subject to question.”

The German daily Der Standard, picking up on the report in La Repubblica, said that if Cardinal Schönborn were to take the post, Cardinal Levada would have to return to the United States.

In response to the speculation, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna, Erich Leitenberger, said on May 27 that “the rumor has been brought up numerous times” and “has no basis in reality.” (CNA)

My sed contra: it would be nice to see Cardinal Schonborn take a more active role in the CDF. I'm not sure what critical things he is doing in Austria that require his presence. Might Vienna adequately be handled by someone else, freeing Cardinal Christopher for curial work, one could hope?

I'd be interested to find out what others think about the idea....

Pope Benedict to get his own TV show?

The rumor:

The Italian tabloid Chi reports that Pope Benedict XVI is considering a television program in which he would discuss the Bible.

The Chi story-- which the Vatican has not confirmed-- indicates that the Pontiff would appear on a program aired by Italy's national public-service broadcaster, Rai Uno, beginning in October of this year. (CWNews)

I'd hate to get into a ratings battle with the pope.

Cardinal Bertone: New social encyclical as early as this fall

What he said:

A new social encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI will probably be entitled Caritas in Veritate, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has revealed.

In an interview with the APCOM news agency, the Vatican Secretary of State disclosed that the Pope's next encyclical will not be ready for publication before the fall. "The encyclical is still being written," he said.

Cardinal Bertone said that Pope Benedict is also working on the second part of his book Jesus of Nazareth. The Pope typically devotes a substantial portion of his summer vacation to writing projects.

In his encyclical, the cardinal said, Pope Benedict "does not want to repeat obvious truths of Catholic social teaching," but will apply Church teachings to contemporary problems. "I am thinking of globalization and other problems, like the food crisis and climate change," Cardinal Bertone said.

Climate change? Oh boy.

Pope plans limits to number of Mass concelebrants?

That's the word today:

Pope Benedict XVI plans to curtail the practice of organizing large-scale Eucharistic celebrations with hundreds of priests concelebrating the Mass, according to a report in Italy's Panorama magazine.

Panorama reports that the Holy Father has directed the Congregation for Divine Worship to study the question and prepare appropriate instructions. His objective, the Italian journal says, is to eliminate the concelebration of Mass by hundreds of priests at a time, with many of them standing at a distance from the altar.

The Vatican has not commented on the Panorama report.

If the story is accurate, the new liturgical guidelines could bring significant changes in liturgical celebrations at which the Pope himself presides, such as Masses attended by tens of thousands of people at World Youth Day or during papal trips abroad. (CWNews)

New Liturgical Movement translates the first couple paragraphs of the original article in Panorama.

Rumor: Bishop Thomas Wenski bound for Detroit?

Adam Cardinal Maida of Detroit is the oldest serving Cardinal in the United States. His replacement has been past due for a couple years at this point.

Earlier this month, I published a rumor that Cardinal Maida was in Orlando with Bishop Thomas Wenski discussing a "transition plan" with him.

Today I've received the breaking news from a source on the ground that today Bishop Wenski has named six of his priests monsignors, an apparently unprecedented move in the diocese.

A final note? Bishop Wenski is Polish. There are lots of Polish people in Detroit. I'm just sayin' ....

4/10/08: Appointmentgeddon? (of new bishops, that is)

Rocco says to expect the "biggest blitz of [bishop] appointments" the Catholic Church has seen "in years."

... tomorrow.

What dioceses are up for grabs?

These dioceses currently have no bishop (with date left vacant):

• Little Rock AR - 2006 May
• Virgin Islands (US) - 2007 Jan
• Des Moines IA - 2007 Apr
• New Ulm MN - 2007 Apr
• Knoxville TN - 2007 Jun
• Green Bay - 2007 Jul
• Charleston SC - 2007 Aug
• Juneau AK - 2007 Nov
• Biloxi MS - 2008 Apr

These dioceses currently have a bishop serving past his mandatory age of retirement (75):

• Detroit MI - 2005 Mar (Abp. Adam Maida)
• New York NY - 2007 Apr (Abp. Edward Egan)
• Omaha NE - 2007 Jun
• Syracuse NY - 2007 Jul
• Kalamazoo MI - 2007 Jul
• Fort Wayne-South Bend IN - 2007 Aug
• New Orleans LA - 2007 Dec
• Wilmington DE - 2008 Jan
• Allentown PA - 2008 Mar
• Pueblo CO -2008 Mar

Of the 19 dioceses listed, Detroit and Ft. Wayne-S. Bend are the most likely to see appointments, I'd say.

So, in these final hours before the Vatican bollettino goes out - any predictions or advanced rumblings?

Can anyone remember the most number of U.S. bishops appointed on a single day in recent history?

He might.

update: Michael Dubruiel predicts four new bishops, and singles out Charleston SC.

Hmm, I wonder about the fourth....?

update 2: Rocco is now reporting bishops appointed to Little Rock & Des Moines (1st & 3rd longest vacant, respectively) and auxiliaries to Denver, San Antonio and San Francisco.

Which, as he says, makes for five appointments - but only two immediate diocese fillings.

But there might be more... stay tuned. Tomorrow morning by 7:30AM I should have an update.

update 3: yep, it happened:

• Bishop Richard Pates, 65, heretofore auxiliary of St Paul and Minneapolis, as bishop of Des Moines;
  
• Fr Anthony Taylor, 53, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and vicar for Ministries in the archdiocese of Oklahoma City, as bishop of Little Rock;
  
• Msgr James D. Conley, 53, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Wichita (and former official of the Congregation for Bishops) as auxiliary to Archbishop Charles Chaput OFM Cap. of Denver;
  
• Fr William Justice, 65, vicar for Clergy of the archdiocese of San Francisco, as auxiliary to San Fran Archbishop George Niederauer;
  
• Fr Oscar Cantu, 41, pastor of Holy Name Parish in Houston, as auxiliary to Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio

More links to follow, but here are the names for now.

update 4: I've linked the names to their C-H pages. Whispers has coverage-o-rama.

Rumor: Maida and Orlando bishop discussing Detroit transition plan?

In follow-up to yesterday's post on the same topic, a source on the ground in Detroit tells me that Cardinal Maida might be in Orlando this week discussing a "transition plan" with Bishop Thomas Wenski.

How much weight would I give this? Probably not all that much. But do note that in the final days before an announcement it becomes more difficult to keep a lid on things. So, for what little it's worth....

Rumor: New Archbishop for Detroit to be announced by April 15th?

Adam Cardinal Maida is the oldest active Archbishop in America at just over 78.

Today, tucked into his coverage of a new bishop being named for Mobile AL, Rocco tells us:

In what's been described as the "surest sign" that, after countless rounds of false alarms, a Detroit transition is finally close at hand, earlier this week Maida announced that his longtime right-hand in the administration of the 1.5 million-member archdiocese, Msgr John Zenz, would take a pastorate effective 1 June. In a letter to his central staff dated Monday, the cardinal said that Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss would assume the duties of vicar-general and moderator of the curia on a "pro-tem" basis "for the next few months," ostensibly pending the arrival of a new archbishop.

Wouldn't you know it, I went to school in Detroit for two years and never once came across Bp. Reiss [pic].

From a personal source, I can add to the above rumors the one that Cardinal Maida is no longer scheduling official appointments and appearances past April 15th.

So, if you're looking for an announcement, it will probably happen by April 15th. Gee, that date rings a bell .... and Pope Benedict has been known to personally announce appointments when he is visiting countries.

Report: Pope Benedict will attend several "unofficial" events during U.S. visit

The source for this report is the Washington Times.

Take note:

Pope Benedict XVI has two schedules for his upcoming U.S. visit: A jampacked list of official events and an unofficial schedule of evening meetings, including a huge birthday party at the Italian Embassy starring world-famous tenor Placido Domingo.

Not a sure thing in this case, but maybe:

The splashy April 16 party — in celebration of the pope turning 81 — is sponsored by all eight former and current U.S. ambassadors to the Vatican. Several hundred people are invited.

The pope — who will meet that afternoon with U.S. Catholic bishops at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast, is not expected to make the party's 6:30 p.m. kickoff time.

In fact, he's not even been officially invited, said Thomas P. Melady, ambassador to the Vatican from 1989 to 1993. But the papal nunciature on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest — where the pope will be spending the night — has been notified of the event in case he wishes to drop by. The embassy is on Whitehaven Street, within walking distance of the nunciature.

Talk about the best party in town:

"It's really not in his tradition to attend parties," explained Mr. Melady, now senior diplomat in residence at the World Institute of Politics. "His happiest days were when he was a young priest and teaching at the seminary."

But just in case, Mr. Domingo will be singing some of Benedict's favorite songs. He, along with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, will also be performing the following day during the Nationals Stadium Mass.

Several hundred people, including a wide range of local Catholics and Vice President Dick Cheney, have been invited. Many are hoping Benedict will show.

The closest thing to a confirmation:

[Raymond Flynn, ambassador to the Vatican during the Clinton administration] said there will be several off-the-record gatherings with the pope during his six days in the country.

That's the way it always is when the pope comes," he said. "There are private conversations and discussions with people here. I think they want to keep those meetings as private as they possibly can. They [the Vatican] will release an official schedule, but they'll leave a lot out."

Inquiries around the Catholic community seemed to bear this out. Robert George, a leading Catholic scholar at Princeton University, implied he'd be meeting privately with the pope in Washington but refused to divulge details.

The Rev. Dennis McManus, a consultant with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Benedict has "a full evening at the nunciature" planned for him after an April 17 meeting with interfaith leaders at the John Paul II Center near the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. He also would not divulge details.

This report seems plausible to me, if for no other reason than it explains the long periods of "down time" scheduled into the pope's visit, where he only has one brief official appearance.

Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that Pope Benedict is turning 81 during his visit, and that he does not keep to the same extreme schedule of events that his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, would pull off during his early years as pontiff. I seem to remember Rocco Palmo saying in a recent TV interview that Pope Benedict has been ordered to take a three-hour nap/break each day of his visit.

Darn, now I have to figure a way to get an invite to these events as well.

Rumor: Third Papal Encyclical by May 1st, "Caritas in veritate"

CWNews:

A new papal encyclical on Catholic social teaching will be released on May 1, according to the Italian ANSA news agency.

The Vatican has not commented on the timing of the encyclical's appearance.

In an interview carried on February 29 by the Italian daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone confirmed reports that the Pope would soon release his third encyclical, and that it would be dedicated to "international social problems, with special focus on developing nations."

ANSA said that the encyclical will be entitled Caritas in Veritate ["Charity in Truth"], and will build upon the previous encyclicals Populorum Progressio by Pope Paul VI and Sollicituod Rei Socialis by Pope John Paul II.

The ANSA report said that the publication of the encyclical could possibly be delayed by difficulties in translating the document into Chinese.

Fr. Z reproduces the main points of Marco Tosatti writing for the daily La Stampa on the same topic.

Personally, I'd be very surprised to see this one released before mid-summer.

Social Encyclical expected as early as Easter, Cardinal Bertone confirms

CNA reports:

The Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, confirmed today that Pope Benedict XVI is about to finish his Encyclical on social issues.

"Yes, the Pope is working on a social encyclical, which will have, I believe, a significant impact on the great social and economic problems in the contemporary world," said Cardinal Bertone during an interview published today by the Italian daily "La Repubblica."

....

The Secretary of State gave no clue as to when the document will be released, but unnamed sources from the Vatican quoted previously by the daily "Il Messaggero," said the third encyclical of Pope Benedict would be signed on the feast of St. Joseph –March 19th - and released during Easter.

"The encyclical will focus on international social problems, with special attention to developing countries," Cardinal Bertone told "La Repubblica."

Talking points for his April visit?

Report: CUA President O'Connell to become bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend?

The Tower, the "Independent student weekly of The Catholic University of America" is reporting as a front-page exclusive today that CUA President David M. O'Connell "has been mentioned as a replacement for bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend ... John M. D'Arcy" (who is six months past retirement).

Their sources for the rumor include a CUA student who works at the USCCB, several students who have heard CUA department members discussing it, and even one student who "said she had overheard O'Connell directly discussing his upcoming departure." O'Connell has served as the CUA president for almost ten years, "the second longest tenure of a president in CUA history."

To balance the issue, it should be noted that The Tower has a reputation of being a thorn in almost everyone's side who isn't a writer for The Tower. But despite the paper's reputation for being contrary (it is, after all, the student paper), the pieces they've assembled do seem to fit together in this case. And this despite the fact that their sources for the story are, essentially, a bunch of work-study kids. Frankly, it shouldn't be a surprise that they've got the drop on this one.

Rumors of O'Connell's departure have been circulating on the CUA campus for several months at this point, and the destination diocese would make use of his experience in administration and Catholic education. There is, after all, a certain "bastion" of Catholic higher-level education within the diocesan territory.

Final thoughts. It is next to impossible that O'Connell would step down before having welcomed Pope Benedict to the campus in mid-April. After that, however, it's anyone's guess. Pope Benedict might even take the opportunity of his visit to officially announce the appointment, though I doubt he would allow such an announcement distract from the more important purposes of his wider itinerary.

Still, you never know, the pope might want to see the look on O'Connell's face.

Also, in a related vein, I've got several posts relating to Pope Benedict's April visit in the works.

[photo credit: Chase McAlpine]

More on the "Black Conclave"

Rocco comments on two possible "Superior General-abili" (and what's the "bili", you ask?):

It'll be another ten days or so before one of the 226 delegates emerges as the 29th successor of Ignatius Loyola and new "Black Pope," but after the outgoing Father-General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach relinquished the chair, the representatives of the church's largest religious community placed two potential candidates at the center of the spotlight. The Puerto Rican Orlando Torres -- a Kolvenbach favorite currently running the Society's formation desk -- was elected to preside over the assembly until the election, with Basque Fr Ignacio Echarte, head of the Jesuit houses in Rome, chosen as his deputy. [More.]

Related: "Jesuits meet this week to choose new leader ... and get a tongue-lashing (Jan 7)"

Jesuits meet this week to choose new leader ... and get a tongue-lashing

Today the Jesuit order's General Congregation began meeting in Rome to, among other things, choose a new lifetime successor to Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who has led the order since 1983.

CNS News Hub has a helpful break-down of Jesuit statistics here. There are currently almost 20,000 Jesuits around the world. 225 of them are participating in this so-called "black conclave" to elect a new superior general. CNS News Hub also points us to some related Jesuit blogs, podcasts, etc.

Kolvenbach has told L'Osservatore Romano something that isn't really suprising: namely, that the Jesuit order's choice of a new successor will reveal much about where the order is heading (or wants to head).

Most notable so far in the proceedings is the admonition given by Cardinal Rode to the opening assembly of the Jesuit conclave, the full text of his address is available here.

LifeSiteNews finds a very strong rebuke in the Cardinal's message:

The top Vatican official who deals with religious orders, Cardinal Franc Rode, addressed the 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) today. Cardinal Rode who was installed by Pope Benedict XVI as Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life spoke repeatedly about his "sorrow and anxiety" at the state of the Jesuit order in terms of infidelity to the teachings of the Church.

Cardinal Rode recalled the founder of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius and his primary formula for the order: "To serve the Lord and his Spouse the Church under the Roman Pontiff"

"It is with sorrow and anxiety that I see that the sentire cum ecclesia (thinking with the church) of which your founder frequently spoke is diminishing even in some members of religious families," he said.

Zenit takes a more circumspect approach: "Cardinal Rode Exhorts Jesuits to Love Church"

For more information, Rocco has done the legwork and John Allen has piped up as well.

Personally, I haven't heard any rumors about possible front-runners for the position of superior general.

It should come as no surprise, of course, that during the election of a new leader-for-life of the Jesuit order the Cardinal in charge of overseeing religious orders [Rode] should try to remind the Jesuits of their roots.

Vigneron to replace Maida in Detroit by mid-January?

Rocco reported Wednesday that Adam Cardinal Maida's successor in Detroit could be announced as soon as early-January, and on Friday he said rumors are growing that Bp. Allen Vigneron of Oakland will succeed him.

I think he would be a fine choice for Detroit.

Earlier this month I did a survey of the Michigan episcopate's future, which you can read here.

Debate topic: The future of the Michigan episcopate

This is a busy week for me, so posting will be less frequent. On the upside, however, I'll be trying to focus on topics and questions that provoke debate and welcome contributions, like this one, concerning the future of the Michigan episcopate.

Rocco reports today that, after a month of near-silence, several rumors broke out that Pope Benedict was about to nominate a new Archbishop for Detroit. Those rumors just as quickly went bust. But Rocco concludes, "That's not to say an appointment isn't closer than it had been... just don't expect anything immediately." Yeah, I've been hearing those kinds of things for years.

Rocco lists these bishops as having been mentioned as possible successors to Maida at one point or another:

• Archbishop John Myers of Newark
• Bp. Robert Carlson of Saginaw
• Bp. Terry Steib of Memphis
• Bp. Thomas Wenski of Orlando
• Bp. John Nienstedt of New Ulm
• Msgr. Robert Sable of Detroit

The current favorite in Rocco's opinion? Bp. Allen Vigneron of Oakland, "himself a former Detroit auxiliary and rector of its Sacred Heart Major Seminary." Vigneron is well-regarded by Cardinals Maida and Szoka.

Here's the roundup for Michigan dioceses, and the bishops who are currently serving them:

• Archdiocese of Detroit, under Cdl. Maida, is 2.73 years past the retirement age limit.
• In second place, the Diocese of Lansing, Bp. Mengeling is 2.13 years past retirement.
• In third place, the Diocese of Kalamazoo, where Bp. Murray is 0.43 years past 75 (since July).
• Bp. Cooney, of the Diocese of Gaylord, will reach retirement in 1.75 years.
• Bp. Hurley, of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, will reach retirement in 4.47 years.
• Bp. Carlson of the Diocese of Saginaw, meanwhile, is almost 11.55 years away.
• And finally, Bp. Sample, the second-youngest bishop in the U.S., has 27.81 years to go.

In other words, in the next five years, Michigan could see 5 out of its 7 dioceses change hands.

Back in 1995, my father Ed Peters published an article in Homiletic & Pastoral Review entitled "The Coming Bishop Crunch", available online here. In it, he says:

"The question I want to consider now is simple: during just the three years from 2005 to 2007, where will we find 45 men "outstanding for their solid faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence and other virtues and talents, possessing advanced degrees or true expertise in scripture, theology, canon law..." (1983 CIC 378) to fill those episcopal slots? If only for mathematical reasons, we can't count on the present pool of bishops to cover the bases." [Read on.]

Looking to the particular situation in Michigan, many folks expect (with some good reason) that one of the four currently-serving Detroit auxiliaries will be tapped to take over a Michigan diocese eventually:

• Earl Alfred Boyea, Jr - 56, native of Pontiac, MI. He would be a good candidate, I think.
• Daniel Ernest Flores - The youngest U.S. Bishop (I believe) at 46. Ordained a priest for Corpus Christi, TX. Gauranteed, in my humble opinion, his own diocese eventually, but I doubt it will be in Michigan.
• John Michael Quinn - Almost 62, born in Detroit. I've heard him proposed for Lansing.
• Francis Ronald Reiss - 67, also born in Detroit. I've never heard much about him.

Of the above, I'd say Bp. Quinn taking over the Diocese of Lansing from Bp. Mengeling has the highest probability of happening. Second to that would be Boyea taking over either Lansing or *maybe* Kalamazoo. Flores is performing a critical service among the spanish-speaking communitees in Detroit, and I don't think there is anywhere (in Michigan) he could be more fruitfully employed. I'd be surprised to see Reiss go anywhere.

Allright, that's my $0.02, the comments are open.... have at it.

update: Publius brings up a line of speculation that slipped my mind:

"Boyea has been rumored to take over Fort Wayne-South Bend when the over-75 Bishop D'Arcy retires...Of course thats just a rumor. It does make some sense though, FW-SB has a history of recieving auxiliary Bishop's from elsewhere and Boyea has an academic background which would help him deal with Notre Dame. Regardless, Fort Wayne-South Bend is a see not to be overlooked namely because of Notre Dame."

To which I would add that Boyea served as the academic dean of Sacred Heart Major Seminary (where most Michigan seminarians receive formation ) and he still maintains a presence there.

update 2: An on-the-ground source adds that Boyea also served as rector of the Josiphinum in Columbus (thanks to J.D. Aquila in the combox as well), and used to write the Q. & A. for the Michigan Catholic.

Claim: Catholic Church in India approves condoms for married couples

Of course, claims like this surface a few times a year, and with it - invariably - the corresponding claim that the Vatican is preparing to revise it's own stance on condom use in certain cases. DNAindia.com:

Faced with widespread criticism that its strident anti-condom stand has killed millions of people affected with AIDS, the Catholic church may review its policy. Church sources say the Vatican is preparing a document on allowing the use of condoms in certain cases.

Church sources said Pope Benedict XVI, who had two years ago maintained that “we have not changed our minds about the condom thing”, is moving away from the “absolutist stand of his precedessor John Paul II”.

On the eve of World AIDS Day, the Indian Catholic church sources said on Thursday that married couples could use condoms.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), under the banner of the National Catholic Coalition for HIV & AIDS in India, is organising a pledge by one million youth across the country between November 30 and December 1.

Though the five pledges do not exhort the youth to use condoms, church sources said married couples may use condom. It is forbidden for others on the grounds that it promotes promiscuity.

I'm currently looking for some sort of confirmation regarding these claims made about the Catholic Church in India allowing condoms to infected married couples. If anyone finds one, please let me know.

A bit of healthy clarification re: the Pope's upcoming U.S. visit

Jim Lackey of CNS notes some potentian snags:

But there was a little hint last week that the trip may not be the six-day, Tuesday-to-Sunday pilgrimage up and down the East Coast that previously might have been anticipated.

In a regularly scheduled meeting between top officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the pope, plans for the trip were discussed but “just in general,” according to Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., conference president. The story by our Cindy Wooden added, “He did say, however, that he expected the trip to be brief, in keeping with Pope Benedict’s practice.”

Certainly no one anticipates this pontiff will match the grueling trips that a younger Pope John Paul II embarked on in the 1980s. After all, if the trip really takes place next April 15-20, as Rocco reported, Pope Benedict will turn 81 during the pilgrimage.

A Tuesday-Sunday U.S. papal trip would be even longer than last spring’s Wednesday-to-Sunday visit to Brazil to open the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. Rocco’s report that the U.S. trip would end on Sunday, April 20, in Boston also raised eyebrows beyond the symbolism of a visit to the center of the sex abuse scandal — April 20 is also the day before Patriots’ Day, when thousands of runners descend on the city for the running of the famous Boston Marathon.

No love lost between Gore and Martino

John Thavis of CNS reports:

The Vatican has a long memory, and that helps explain its less-than-enthusiastic response to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The day Gore was announced as a winner, the Vatican newspaper covered the story in a single sentence, buried on an inside page.

Then at a Catholic meeting in Pisa last Friday, Cardinal Renato Martino let slip a rather caustic remark. “Allow me to express well-founded puzzlement over how and to whom the Nobel Peace Prizes are assigned – even if they have gone to very worthy people in previous years.” Ouch. He never mentioned Gore by name, but the message was clear.

Why the antipathy? [Find out.]

Vatican Sec. of State to visit Cuba?

CWNews notes some rumors to that effect.

Thanksgiving Turkey and New Cardinals...

... might share the same day this year, Rocco reports.

Pope Benedict to visit Eastern U.S. cities in April '08?

A notable upswing in cardinal-and-archbishop sightings during the last couple weeks here in DC set off rumors that something big was brewing. New to the scene myself, I shrugged my shoulders and figured that this state of affairs was average for the Nation's capital.

Disconnected as it may have been, Rocco reports that plans for a Papal visit to the Eastern seaboard were disseminated and discussed by the heirarchy during that time frame. (Quelle surprise, yes?) The highlights of Rocco's report:

The tentative dates of the visit would be April 15th-20th (Tuesday-to-Sunday).

Appearances in New York: a speech before the United Nations, Mass at Central Park, address and prayers at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a moment of reflection at Ground Zero.

Appearances in Boston: Sunday Mass on Boston Common and a meeting with the bishops of New England.

Appearances in Washington DC: Pope Benedict is reportedly eager to see the campus of CUA, he would also meet with President Bush, and probably celebrate Mass at the National Mall.

A visit to Baltimore might be added.

And, parting with tradition, the Pontiff will be visiting in an election year, right near the time when the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates should have just emerged. (Cue the fireworks.)

... well now, it seems I have to go block out a certain week in April on my calendar...

More as I find it.

Update: On Friday, CNS speculated: "Vatican officials say the pope also expects to visit the United Nations and New York in 2008, and April now looks like a likely time frame. He could easily add one or two other eastern U.S. cities, such as Philadelphia or Boston, to that itinerary."

Update 2: In fairness to my readers, I should note that this report is unsubstantiated at this point and has not been confirmed by any official source. Expect, at the very least, many of the venues and planned activities mentioned in this post to change. From what I'm hearing, the projected dates and major cities look fairly certain, but anything beyond that hasn't passed into anything resembling a consensus.

Update 3: CNA reports on the rumors here (and it appears to simply relate Rocco's details).

Obviously, in a situation like this the various involved dioceses and planning committees don't want to jump the gun and release details that have not yet been confirmed. Cities and other destinations at one time on the list would feel slighted if taken off during a later stage of planning, etc. Plus, there's a massive amount of logistics collaboration that has to go on with state and local officials (security, etc). Having the details of a visit available to the public won't help those proceedings move smoothly along in the least. So, everyone, stay patient and tuned.

There's plenty of time to book tickets.

"Motu Proprio in May" attributed to Pope Benedict

Update: Clearly I haven't been following the reports since this has, in fact, already been reported several other places. At any rate, I guess what this adds is that she's sticking with her story. :-)

I haven't been following the news and rumors relating to the Motu Proprio lately, but I did come into the possession of a fairly hot tip while attending this weekend's Call to Holiness conference (thoughts to follow on that one) that I thought I'd toss into the mix.

This is what I was told:

Pope Benedict, during a recent meeting with Alice von Hildebrand, told her that the Motu Proprio would be released in May. This from von Hildebrand. Bishop Bruskewitz agreed that May 5th sounded like a reasonable release date (as do many others) [slightly edited - AmP].

So there you are, maybe this is old news, I just thought I'd share.

The Call to Holiness conference talks that I was able to attend were wonderful. Look for future posts relating to that event soon.