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Voices
Gerard O’Connell is America’s Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.
Australian Cardinal George Pell is surrounded by police as he leaves the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia, October 2017. (CNS photo//Mark Dadswell, Reuters)
Politics & SocietyVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
“The Holy See acknowledges the decision of Australia’s High Court to accept Card. George Pell’s request of appeal, aware that the cardinal has always maintained his innocence.”
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Francis said that “to follow Jesus among the crucified” in today’s world involves many tasks.
Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugee Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, attend a meeting in Rome Nov. 4, 2019. The meeting marked 50 years of the Jesuits' Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat. (CNS photo/courtesy Jesuits)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
They had come together, he said, to “celebrate God’s faithfulness in our 50-year journey and also to celebrate our faithfulness to his call,” as well as to celebrate Father Arrupe and the 57 Jesuits who “sacrificed their lives in the struggle for justice and equality.”
People attend the concluding Mass of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon celebrated by Pope Francis at the Vatican Oct. 27, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
FaithDispatches
Gerard O’ConnellLuke Hansen
The most important thing to emerge from the synod was the unequivocal commitment by the church to seek new ways to preach the Gospel and to promote justice and stand in solidarity with the Amazon’s 34 million inhabitants.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego spoke with America on Oct. 27, the day it ended, and shared his reflections on the main topics addressed by the synod and the proposals made in its final document.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Pope Francis strongly denounced “predatory models” that are posing a deadly threat to the lives of the 34 million inhabitants of the Amazonian region.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’ConnellLuke Hansen
The most important thing to emerge from the synod was the unequivocal commitment by the church in the nine countries of the Amazon region to seek new ways to preach the Gospel and to promote justice and stand in solidarity with its 34 million inhabitants.
Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City, right, speaks to members of a small working group at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon on Oct. 10, 2019, in the Vatican synod hall. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
The Mexican cardinal said “integral ecology” and the need for “ecological conversion” have been central points of the synod. “We all agreed that the church should be a factor for wakening consciences to care for the common home,” he said.
A man carries water in the mountains near Goma, Congo, Aug. 14, 2019. A representative of the Catholic bishops of Congo have called on multinational corporations working in the mineral-rich country to contribute toward local development. (CNS photo/Baz Ratner, Reuters)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
The cardinal expects the synod’s final document to highlight the different levels of “responsibility towards Mother Earth, towards the natural environment, and on this we are all in agreement. What is said of Amazonia is also true of the Congo basin.”
New Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg carries his scroll after being made a cardinal by Pope Francis during a consistory in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Oct. 5, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
The polyglot Jesuit said he was struck most by “the violence the indigenous people have to experience”: “It’s violence against the rainforest and at the same time violence against the ethnic groups.”