Cardinal Czerny outlines role of Fratelli Tutti in consecrated life Cardinal Michael Czerny, undersecretary for the Vatican s Migrants and Refugees Section, speaks at a symposium on human trafficking in Rome Oct. 14, 2020. The cardinal outlined the role of Pope Francis encyclical Fratelli Tutti in an online address to the Conference of Major Superiors of Men Jan. 21. (CNS photo/courtesy U.S. Embassy to the Holy See)
Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service 1/24/2021 9:22 AM
select WASHINGTON Even though Pope Francis encyclical Fratelli Tutti is not aimed specifically at vowed religious, those in religious life can link its themes to the Second Vatican Council, a leading Vatican official told the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.
“How many and profound are the challenges to human goodness and identity that attend the arrival of ‘the other’ in a community! The reactions of both newcomers and long-time residents can range from elation to dread. The essays in this wonderful collection reflect the four key terms of Pope Francis all are called to welcome, protect, promote and integrate the stranger and all peoples are called to dialogue toward reconciliation, solidarity and flourishing in communities that are diverse and alive. The book is thus important and very timely.” (His Eminence Michael Cardinal Czerny, S.J., Under-Secretary, Migrants and Refugees Section, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)
By Isabella Piro
Synodality is not “a mere decision-making process”, but “a fundamental feature of the Church’s identity, says Cardinal Michael Czerny, Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in an article published 31 December, in “La Civiltà Cattolica”. The Cardinal writes that synodality is the way in which “the Church disposes all its members to co-responsibility, enhances their charisms and ministries, and intensifies the bonds of fraternal love”. In this sense, it finds its premises in
Lumen gentium: in this dogmatic Constitution of the Second Vatican Council, “the importance of the laity in the life of the Church is included”, since they are called to participate in its government “according to their tasks, roles and ways”. But that’s not all: while collegiality refers, specifically, “to the exercise of the ministry of the bishops”, synodality, Cardinal Czerny emphasizes, i