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AUTHORITY IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

 

 

CATHOLIC SCHOLARS' DECLARATION ON AUTHORITY

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Dr Paul Collins speaks about the Church and the Papacy

 

Paul Collins, historian, author, former Catholic Priest and ABC Broadcaster, talks about the Catholic Church, the Papacy, his relationship with the church and his latest book The Birth of the West.

 

Appreciation for Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation

IMWAC (International Movement We Are Church) is surprised at Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation and wants to express its sincere appreciation for the Pope's decision. In the final phase of Pope John Paul II’s illness, the possibility of a pope’s resignation was already advocated by IMWAC. With Pope Benedict’s resignation, the Church avoids the danger of having a church run by people who speak and decide on behalf of the Pope who is seemingly no longer able to fulfill his duties. It also reduces the glorification of papacy and allows viewing the pope as a human being and as a bishop among other bishops, even though he is an important symbol of unity for the communities of the believers. IMWAC hopes that the leaders of the Church will advance in this direction so as to give more importance to the aspect of humaneness in the church and also to other issues. For example, the electoral college of the pope should represent the plurality of the Catholic Church at large, of the rich and the poor, of men and women and not only of clerics.

Benedict XVI’s decision to resign also sheds a light on the situation the Church is currently in. We expect great changes to take place in the future provoked and fostered by emerging cultures, relations between religions and between nations. Ours is the time of change, yet the leaders of the Church refuse to adapt. By resigning Pope Benedict seems to demonstrate that traditional church structures can be changed. IMWAC will issue a critical assessment of Pope Benedict’s papacy in due time and will also initiate and organize a monitoring meeting in Rome at the time of the conclave.

IMWAC wishes Pope Benedict all the best for the future.

Hans Küng's talk at the Conciliar Assembly

Talk given at the Conciliar Assembly in Frankurt, October 2012.

Click here for a general summary of the conference.

Solidarity with D Pedro Casaldáliga

PDF versions: [French] [German] [Italian] [Portuguese] 

The International Movement We are Church (IMWAC) expresses its deep concern over the death threats against Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, bishop emeritus of the Prelature of Sao Felix Araguaia, Brazil and his pastoral staff. Dom Pedro and the Prelacy have always supported the struggle of the Xavante people of the state of Mato Grosso for the restitution of their land. At the moment when they receive back from the government their land where many small squatters have moved in, sectors with obvious interests created an atmosphere of violence in which the squatters remain small pawns in the hands of large farmers and politicians. In this environment the right of the Indigenous people has to be asserted, even with the help of the police and the army. This environment of violence is directed against the Xavante people, but also against Dom Pedro and the Pastoral Team. Although Don Pedro and the Prelacy have always affirmed that all, including the squatters, have the right to agrarian reform and the land, we would like to express our solidarity with Dom Pedro and denounce this lie, coming from those who are trying to evade their responsibility in this situation of suffering, tension and violent threats that they themselves have created, shifting this responsibility onto the shoulders of Pedro Casaldáliga, this great bishop, poet and upholder of Human Rights.