Vatican news
There was encouraging news this week for Catholics attached to the traditional liturgy. In France, the Missionaries of Divine Mercy finally celebrated four priestly ordinations after years of waiting for Vatican approval, while the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter reported a record number of ordinations this year. Whatever the difficulties surrounding the older liturgy, it seems to have little trouble attracting vocations.
Across the Atlantic, the American midterm elections delivered a bruising defeat for the Republicans, with Democrats taking control of both houses of Congress and voters deciding a series of abortion-related ballot measures. Patrick Neve argues that the Republicans mistook Donald Trump’s personal coalition for their own, and failed to retain it. Meanwhile, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to commute all 548 death sentences in the state, reopening the debate over capital punishment.
In Germany, the head of the bishops’ conference has insisted that the country’s controversial synodal reforms must remain in full communion with Rome, even as plans emerge for a new German Missal incorporating ‘inclusive’ language. Whether the two developments point towards greater unity or further controversy remains unclear.
And finally, a rather curious question prompted by Pope Leo XIV’s recent health difficulties: what happens if a Pope becomes incapacitated but does not die? Unlike a monarchy, the papacy has no regent to take over when its occupant can no longer govern. Luke Collins explores this unusual gap in the Church’s constitutional arrangements, and why it is rather harder to resolve than one might imagine.
Across the Atlantic, the American midterm elections delivered a bruising defeat for the Republicans, with Democrats taking control of both houses of Congress and voters deciding a series of abortion-related ballot measures. Patrick Neve argues that the Republicans mistook Donald Trump’s personal coalition for their own, and failed to retain it. Meanwhile, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to commute all 548 death sentences in the state, reopening the debate over capital punishment.
In Germany, the head of the bishops’ conference has insisted that the country’s controversial synodal reforms must remain in full communion with Rome, even as plans emerge for a new German Missal incorporating ‘inclusive’ language. Whether the two developments point towards greater unity or further controversy remains unclear.
And finally, a rather curious question prompted by Pope Leo XIV’s recent health difficulties: what happens if a Pope becomes incapacitated but does not die? Unlike a monarchy, the papacy has no regent to take over when its occupant can no longer govern. Luke Collins explores this unusual gap in the Church’s constitutional arrangements, and why it is rather harder to resolve than one might imagine.
31-35, F