✣ Highlights from the week online
Officials 'rejected' saintMother Teresa was “rejected” by the Northern Irish Church hierarchy, according to Laura McDaid at the BBC.
The Blessed Mother arrived in Belfast in 1971 to offer her assistance to those affected by the Troubles. Mother Teresa set up a convent in the heart of Belfast where young people gathered to find safety.
But, according to Fr Des Wilson, who worked with Mother Teresa, some Church officials resented her presence as they did not want Belfast to be seen as a “charity case”. Fr Wilson said: “From their perspective, missionaries were sent by us to other countries – we didn’t need missionaries coming here. There was a perception that they brought shame on us because their presence suggested we couldn’t deal with our own problems.”
After “hurtful” treatment, the nuns made the decision to leave Belfast. Fr Wilson said he pleaded with Mother Teresa and the Sisters to change their minds but to no avail. “She said: ‘Des, there are 32 other dioceses who are asking us for help, who need us to come. We can’t continue to stay in a place where we’re not wanted.”
The next Francis
John Allen at Crux said last week’s appointment of Cardinal Peter Turkson as head of a new dicastery confirmed his status as a “credible successor” to Pope Francis and someone who is “very much part of the inner circle”.
However, there were plenty of others on the shortlist, Allen said. “In all honesty, however, the pro-continuity camp might feel even more comfortable with Parolin, 61, who as an Italian and a veteran of the inner workings of the Secretariat of State just oozes a capacity to govern.”
Or else there was the “wild card” candidate, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner. The idea may seem silly – he’s only 52 and his office has no real power. Conversely, Allen wrote, he is a “Pope Francis man, identified with the agenda of this papacy”, but also as a Pole he represents a “more traditional form of Catholic life that might be reassuring to some conservatives, and he embodies the St John Paul II legacy”.
Power-hungry pope
A new television drama starring Jude Law playing a fictitious pope has been hailed as a triumph by critics. Ella Ide, writing for Yahoo! News, described The Young Pope, directed by Paolo Sorrentino, as a “10-part wonder”.
Pius XIII, played by Law, is a “cigarette-smoking, cherry-Coke drinking, Machiavellian boss” who “revels in his new power”.
Sorrentino said if the Vatican took offence it was “the Vatican’s problem, not mine”. He added: “If they watch to the end they will see it is a work that tackles with curiosity and honesty, not with a desire to provoke.”
✣ Meanwhile…
The Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office is facing criticism over its special Mother Teresa stamp. The reason? In the background is Calcutta’s Anglican cathedral, not its Catholic one.According to the website Matters India, the Vatican office has denied it made any error, saying the intention was to highlight Mother Teresa’s ecumenical side.
A source told the site: “They clearly mistook St Paul’s cathedral for the Catholic Holy Rosary cathedral and now, as it is too late to correct the mistake and recall the prints, they are harping on ecumenism of Mother Teresa.” The print run is expected to be up to 150,000 sheets of 10 stamps each.
✣ A Russian blogger is facing a five-year jail sentence for playing Pokémon Go at a cathedral. Ruslan Sokolovski, 21, filmed himself entering the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg and playing the popular smartphone game. The blogger was charged with inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities after investigators searched his home.
Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg has asked for Sokolovski to be released on bail. He said: “We do not crave blood and just want to ensure such actions do not spread.”
Sokolovski said: “How can one offend by entering a church with a smartphone?”
✣ The week in quotations
She never assumed a privileged place … she simply loved as the Lord Jesus loved Bishop James Conley on Mother TeresaNational Catholic RegisterSpontaneously we will continue to call her Mother Teresa
Pope Francis
Canonisation Mass
I made the ultimate superhero film
Mel Gibson on The Passion of the Christ
Remarks at Harvest Christian Fellowship
new and complete lack of respect for human life
Sister Joan Mumaw addresses rising violence in South Sudan
CNS
✣ Statistic of the week
120,000
The number of pilgrims at Mother Teresa's canonisation
Source: Vatican
