16
February 11, 2014
World NEws
T
he Valley Catholic
February is Catholic Press Month
Eventful Vatican year raises profile of Catholic press
By Francis X. Rocca
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- February
is Catholic Press Month, when the
Church in the United States and Canada
recognize the importance of Catholic
media and members of the Catholic
media reflect on their service to the
Church.
These are not easy times for Catholic journalism, which no less than its
secular counterpart has been deeply
unsettled by technologically driven
changes in how readers and viewers
receive and share information.
Yet Catholic Press Month 2014 should
be an occasion for new hope. The last
year has witnessed developments
within the Church that offer Catholic
journalism major opportunities for
greater influence, among Catholics and
the general public.
On Feb. 11, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI
announced he would become the first
pope in nearly 600 years to resign. Approximately 5,600 journalists were accredited to report on the conclave that
elected Pope Francis March 13.
The papal transition was just the
beginning of the Vatican’s longest
stretch of global media attention since
the pontificate of Blessed John Paul II,
and perhaps since the Second Vatican
Council.
Pope Francis’ colossal popularity has
been a boon for news outlets. Whatever
he does excites curiosity.
Pope Francis has used his popularity
to draw attention to a range of concerns,
especially the plight of the poor. But,
with his ambitious agenda of Vatican
reform, his denunciations of “spiritual
worldliness” among the clergy and his
frank critiques of Church personnel
and institutions he deems insufficiently
merciful or pastoral, the pope has kept
the secular press unusually focused on
the internal life of the Church.
Here is where the Catholic press can
make a special contribution in at least
two ways. For the benefit of its Catholic
readers and viewers, it can provide an
explicit corrective to oversimplifications, misunderstandings and outright
distortions in secular coverage of the
Church.
The Catholic press can also indirectly inform the many people -- including a great number of Catholics -- who
get their news of the Church primarily
from secular media. Secular journalists often turn to Catholic media for
information and guidance when they
write about the Church. The better their
sources, the better their reporting.
Members of the Catholic press are
uniquely well positioned to help the
Church take advantage of an extraordinary opportunity to reveal itself to
the world.
19
Pope names
new cardinals
By Francis X. Rocca
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Stressing that
their role would be one of service rather
than honor, Pope Francis named 19 new
cardinals.
The pope announced the nominations Jan. 12 after praying the Angelus
and said he would formally induct the
men into the College of Cardinals on
Feb. 22.
Although cardinals are traditionally
known as “princes of the Church,” Pope
Francis, who has pointedly refused
many of the trappings of his office, characteristically dismissed any element of
pomp in the distinction he had decided
to bestow.
In a letter to the new cardinals, the
pope wrote that a red hat “does not
signify a promotion, an honor or a
PEACE -- Pope Francis watches as children release doves from window of studio overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Jan. 26. The two young people at his side launched
doves to highlight the Church’s call for peace in the world. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
The the new cardinals are:
• Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, 59.
• Italian Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, 73, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
• German Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, 66.
• Italian Archbishop Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, 72.
• English Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, 68.
• Nicaraguan Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes Solorzano of Managua, 64.
• Canadian Archbishop Gerald Lacroix of Quebec, 56.
• Ivorian Archbishop Jean-Pierre Kutwa of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 68.
• Brazilian Archbishop Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro, 63.
• Italian Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti of Perguia-Citta della Pieve, 71.
• Argentine Archbishop Mario Poli of Buenos Aires, 66.
• Korean Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul, 70.
• Chilean Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago, 72.
• Burkina Faso Archbishop Philippe Ouedraogo of Ouagadougou, 68.
• Philippine Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, 74.
• Haitian Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes, 55.
• Italian Archbishop Capovilla, 98.
• Spanish Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, retired, of Pamplona, 84.
• Saint Lucian Archbishop Kelvin Felix, retired, of Castries, 81.
decoration; it is simply a form of service
that requires expanding your vision and
enlarging your heart.”
Pope Francis instructed the cardinals-designate to “receive this new
designation with a simple and humble
heart. While you should do so with joy
and happiness, do it in a way that this
feeling may be far from any expression
of worldliness, or any form of celebration alien to the ev [