IN BRIEF


Austrian ban upheld The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has deliv- ered its final judgment on the Austrian ban on using sperm and ova donations for in vitro fertilisation. Two Austrian couples who found the ban discriminatory took their cases to the ECHR. Reversing a prior judgment, the ECHR has now decided that the Austrian ban respects the European Convention of Human Rights and is not in breach of the right to respect for private and family life as laid down in Article 8 of the Convention.


Australian asylum call Australia’s Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) has renewed its call for Australia to expand its humanitarian pro- gramme after the latest deaths of asylum seekers, with eight people dead and up to 70 missing after their vessel sank off Java. The director of ACMRO, Fr Maurizio Pettena, said Australia had resettled about 13,500 refugees annually for more than a decade and that while this was generous in comparison to many countries, it was simply not enough. “The potential number Australia could receive is significantly greater than 13,500,” he said.


Ortega wins by landslide Daniel Ortega, 66, has retained the presi - dency of Nicaragua by a landslide in the 6 November elections. The Church had disputed the former guerrilla’s right to stand for a consecutive term under the constitution. Connections were then made between the bishops’ conference’s state- ments against the legitimacy of Ortega’s candidacy and subsequent death threats to members of the Church. But Cardinal Miguel Obando, Archbishop Emeritus of Managua, and approximately two-thirds of Nicaraguans supported Mr Ortega.


West blamed for climate change Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador has identified climate change as the primary threat facing mankind. Archbishop Alas stated developed coun- tries bore the heaviest responsibility because their economies lay behind global warming. Central America is recovering from rains that killed more than 100 people and made thousands homeless.


Satan theory damned Daniel Avila, who worked on the US bish- ops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, resigned last week after writing a column in which he sug- gested that Satan was responsible for causing homosexuality. The Archdiocese of Boston issued an apology.


For daily news updates visit www.thetablet.co.uk


34 | THE TABLET | 12 November 2011


Letter from Rome


announced that he would begin riding on a mobile platform in processions down the long aisle of St Peter’s Basilica.


C An online journalist this week claims that


the 84-year-old Pope personally asked for the wheeled platform because he is afflicted with arthrosis, a non-inflammatory degenerative condition that involves wearing down of the cartilage of the joints. In light of the health concerns, one of the


more astute and energetic ambassadors accredited to the Holy See has been arguing why it is likely that Pope Benedict will retire if he feels he is no longer healthy enough to continue. The ambassador recently offered some “clues” that, he says, make it a “two out of 10 chance” that a papal resignation is a real possibility. First, he noted that this Pope accepted the resignation of Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach and allowed him to be the first Jesuit General in history to retire. Then, he pointed out that the Pope and his brother Georg have both spoken openly of a papal retirement. And the clincher, said the envoy, is that Benedict XVI has twice visited the tomb in L’Aquila of Pope Celestine V – the last Pope to retire. “He even laid his installation pallium on Celestine’s tomb,” the ambassador concluded with a flourish. However, it is also likely that the gesture was more a sign of Pope Benedict’s dislike for that particular pallium than an omen of his future resignation. The “Marini I pallium”, as some have called it, was a Byzantine-era model introduced by the former papal master of ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini. It wasn’t “buried” until Marini II – Mgr Guido Marini – took over.


T


o be, or not to be (in the Eternal City): that is the question. And it is one that is carefully pondered every


so often by each of the 180 nations that have full diplomatic relationships with the Holy See. Ireland’s recent decision no longer to


have a residential ambassador to the papal court shocked many people because the Emerald Isle has always been considered a staunchly Catholic nation. There are fears that Ireland’s retreat from Rome could offer an excuse to other less Catholic countries also to close down their embassies here. Already, more than half of the ambassadors


that represent their governments to the Holy See (about 80) live in Rome. The others are based in European capitals such as Paris, Berlin, or Brussels where they do double duty. Some cover the Vatican from their home countries. Interestingly, the largest nation with which the Holy See has


oncerns over Pope Benedict XVI’s health were sparked a couple of weeks ago when the Vatican


full diplomatic ties – India – has its ambassador and chancery in Bern. The embassies of Pakistan and South Africa are also in the Swiss capital, while Switzerland’s ambassador to the Vatican lives in Prague. Malta – a country that is 95 per cent Catholic – has its embassy to the Holy See in its capital, Valletta. And the ambassador from Nigeria lives in Madrid. But it cuts both ways. The Holy See


currently posts its apostolic nuncios in 105 of the 180 countries with which it has ties. That means there is no residential nuncio in the other 75 countries. Since 80 per cent of a nuncio’s duties concern the national Church where he is assigned, don’t expect the nunciature in Dublin to be put in mothballs.


V


atican watchers have given surprisingly little attention to Fr Charles Morerod’s appointment as


the new Bishop of Lausanne-Genève- Fribourg (Switzerland). For the past two years, the 50-year-old Dominican has been rector of the Pontifical University of St Thomas (“Angelicum”), as well as secretary general of the International Theological Commission and a consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Even more fascinating is the fact that he was one of the three Vatican theologians involved in “negotiations” to reconcile the breakaway Society of St Pius X (SSPX) with Rome. The ultra-traditionalist group – often called “Lefebvrists” – is currently studying a “doctrinal preamble” that the CDF says it must accept in order to be readmitted to full communion in the Catholic Church. And Bishop-elect Morerod was part of the team that oversaw the drafting of the still-secret preamble. It is not clear if he, like the Pope, is enthusiastic about preserving the Old Rite Mass and some of the more traditional positions of the Lefebvrists. But Bishop-elect Morerod certainly has become more acquainted with the SSPX leaders, and one would think he has entered into a level of trust with them. This is undoubtedly one reason why Pope Benedict sent the Dominican to Lausanne- Genève-Fribourg. While the Lefebvrists are best-known for their seminary in Ecône, in the neighbouring Diocese of Sion, it’s actually in Bishop-elect Morerod’s diocese that Marcel Lefebvre founded his order in 1970. The SSPX moved its headquarters to German-speaking Switzerland after it was canonically suspended. But with reconciliation in sight, a return to Lausanne-Genève-Fribourg looks quite possible – especially since one of the reconcilers is the new bishop.


Robert Mickens


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