The Catholic Church must combat clericalism among its ranks by giving authority to a "responsible and reliable" laity, the head of the Vatican's development dicastery said.
The Vatican is placing the Laudato Si' Action Platform front and center during Laudato Si' Week 2022, with the hope that a week highlighting the initiative will inspire more Catholics and church institutions to sign up.
A true system of global sustainable development hinges on recognizing others as siblings in a shared world whose dignity and rights must take precedence over corporate interests, said Cardinal Michael Czerny.
"It is necessary, then, to change approach and admit the urgency of building a 'we' that lives in the common home" of creation, said the interim president of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in a talk at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome March 30.
The Jan. 15 volcanic eruption in Tonga is a painful reminder that despite scientific advances, there has been little action to prevent natural disasters, Cardinal Czerny said during a prayer service for the island nation.
One of the pope's closest advisers, Cardinal Michael Czerny, encouraged U.S. Catholic leaders to reclaim the words on the Statue of Liberty, "even when some federal, state or local leaders are hostile towards immigration."
As some American bishops discuss the possibility of denying Communion to Catholic politicians such as President Joe Biden for supporting abortion-rights policies, a senior Vatican prelate said decisions about administering the sacrament rest solely on the bishop giving the Eucharist.
As countries become more culturally and ethnically diverse, their Catholic communities become more "catholic" and their societies can increasingly reflect the fact that all people are brothers and sisters, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis' teaching on the "just war" theory is a crucial point of reflection in today's world where the historic motives to morally justify aggression and violence are often misused, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, undersecretary for the Vatican's Migrants and Refugees Section.
