MALTA
Times of Malta
Archbishop Paul Cremona and Gozo Bishop Mario Grech will go to the Vatican tomorrow to report on the state of their dioceses. They do so in accordance with Church law that lays down that, every five years, a diocesan bishop must make a report to the Supreme Pontiff on the state of the diocese entrusted to him.
The ad limina apostolorum, as these visits are known in Church language, is primarily a manifestation and a means of communion between the bishops and the Chair of Peter. It is an occasion that has three principal moments, each one of them having its own proper meaning. …
The problems are not limited to the traumatic experiences caused by certain high-profile issues, such as the scandals of the sexual abuse of minors within the Church’s fold, the impact of the divorce referendum result and the controversies involving Church teaching regarding IVF and same-sex unions.
There are, of course, other problems that need to be addressed, including that of people distancing themselves from the Church for personal reasons. These vary from religious indifference or a lukewarm spirit to a feeling that, in certain areas, Catholicism is merely “a collection of prohibitions”.
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