An anarchist group calling itself “Informal Feminist Commando of Anti-Authoritarian Action Coatlicue” has claimed credit for detonating an explosive device outside the Mexican bishops’ conference offices.
The group said via an online posting: “Not God nor master. For each torture and murder in the name of your God. For every child abused by paedophile priests.” Coatlicue is an Aztec goddess known as the mother of gods.
No arrests have been made over the explosion, which occurred at offices across the street from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the country’s most visited religious site.
The conference leadership said shortly after the explosion that it did not believe the incident was an attack on the Church.
Humberto Roque Villanueva, Mexico’s under-secretary for population, migration and religious matters, called the explosion “a message of hate”, during an interview with the newspaper El Universal.
The issue of clerical sexual abuse made headlines recently in Mexico. Two former priests filed criminal accusations against Cardinal Norberto Rivera for reporting the cases of 15 priests to the Vatican, but not the judicial authorities. Cardinal Rivera rejected the accusations, saying he followed the law in Mexico at the time.
Bishop Ramon Castro Castro of Cuernavaca said the attack “reflects the situation in Mexico”. Bishop Castro has spoken against violence affecting his diocese, just south of Mexico City. In June, 2,235 murders took place in Mexico – the most in any single month in 20 years.
Humanae Vitae commission given access to secret archive
Four theologians specialising in marriage and family life are studying Vatican archival material in order to tell the story of how and why Blessed Paul VI wrote his encyclical Humanae Vitae on married love.
Mgr Gilfredo Marengo, leader of the group and a professor of theological anthropology at Rome’s Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, told Vatican Radio that bloggers who said Pope Francis had created the commission in order to query Church teaching were totally mistaken.
He said the group’s goal was to show the encyclical’s place among “all of the very important and fruitful things the Church has said on marriage and family in the past 50 years”. From a historical point of view, he said, it was important that theologians examined and documented the process that led to the encyclical’s publication.
Because of the importance of Humanae Vitae, he asked the Vatican to set aside rules that prevent scholars from accessing Vatican archival material for 70 years. The group has been permitted access to the collections of the Vatican Secret Archives and the archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Cardinal Pell appears in court
Cardinal George Pell has made his first court appearance to defend himself against charges of historical sexual abuse in his home state of Victoria, Australia.
Cardinal Pell has taken leave of absence from his position as prefect of the secretariat for the economy. He has not yet formally entered a plea, but has made it clear that he will plead not guilty, and will fight all allegations against him. His next court appearance is expected to be on October 6.
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