Catholic Church

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing - The episcopate is changing. Pope Francis’ emphasis on synodality and collegiality are part of this. His reshaping the College of Cardinals to include bishops from the peripheries is another. But perhaps the most significant change is subtler than these: the laity’s expectations for their bishops are changing. Lay deference to clergy – especially bishops – is at a low ebb. Trust has worn thin… Most of this, of course, has to do with the scandals of the past eighteen months. It is hard to imagine a Catholic bishop today enjoying the kind of national prestige and adulation of the sort Theodore McCarrick enjoyed in his heyday, long before his depredations became public.

By Susan Edelman and Ebony Bowden, New York Post - The Holy See — the governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church — is led by the pope, and according to Time magazine is estimated to be worth up to $15 billion… The plaintiffs are being represented by top church sex abuse attorney Jeff Herman… Earlier Tuesday, Pope Francis abolished the Vatican’s secrecy rules — giving legal authorities access to documents about sex abuse cases previously kept under high levels of confidentiality… Herman said the timing of the Pope’s decision was “divine” and made it “crystal clear” that the shield of silence came from the top down… “We have information now that specifically brings the Holy See into the cover up and into the secrecy leading to the abuse of thousands of kids in New York.”

By Edward Sri, National Catholic Register - Think about the excitement an ancient Jew would have felt in reading about the great King David in Jesus’ genealogy. Jesus is introduced as a “son of David” (1:1). Then the genealogy traces the descendants of Abraham down to “David the king” (Matthew 1:6) and goes on to list the kings of Judah flowing from David’s line (Matthew 1:7-10). We can imagine people wondering, “Could this Jesus be the son of David — the one for whom we’ve all been waiting, the one who will bring back the kingdom and free us from our enemies?”