The year 2023 was an eventful one for Francis – a year that ended with the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. started practically a day earlier, on December 31, 2022. A review.
In several interviews, Francisco announced travel plans for 2024, including to Argentina. Otherwise, the second session of the World Synod is scheduled for October and…
After informing the world about his predecessor's health and bidding him farewell in person at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, Pope Francis celebrated Benedict's funeral mass in St. Peter's Square on January 5. At the request of the emeritus, it was a more sober celebration. Around 50,000 faithful paid their last respects to the Bavarian Pope. Benedict XVI found his resting place. in the Vatican grottoes beneath St. Peter's Basilica, like many of his predecessors.
Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan
At the end of January, Francisco left for Africa, fulfilling his promise to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The trip was scheduled for July 2022, but knee problems prevented it. From January 31 to February 5, Francis visited Kinshasa, capital of Congo, and then Juba, capital of South Sudan. He launched ardent appeals against corruption in Africa itself and the exploitation of the continent by large international corporations (“Hands off Africa “), protested against wars with their dead and displaced people and strengthened the hope of Catholic believers.
Hungary
Francis also agreed to a trip to Hungary, which he had already visited for just one morning, at the conclusion of the International Eucharistic Congress in September 2021. Francis spent three days in the Magyar country (April 28-30) and also met with several Ukrainian refugees. And in view of the martyred Ukraine, he asked the international community in Budapest: “Where are the creative solutions for peace?”
World Youth Day in Lisbon
Peace as a goal for future generations was one of the guiding principles of the Pope's trip to Lisbon, Portugal, for the 37th World Youth Day, from August 2 to 6, which also included a visit to the Sanctuary of Fátima. One and a half million boys and girls came to the Portuguese capital to participate in the great global event, which will continue in the South Korean capital, Seoul, in 2027.
Mongolia
Less than a month after Lisbon, the Pope was in Mongolia, an Asian country between Russia and China, land of Genghis Khan and “home” to a small Catholic community of just 1,700 baptized people who were resurrected among the rubble of communism. A flock so small that it fits in a photo: the photo in front of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul at the end of one of the several meetings that marked the trip. Also unforgettable is the Pope's gesture at the end of the Mass in Ulaanbaatar, when he gave the Bishop Emeritus and the Acting Bishop of Hong Kong a handshake to convey greetings to the “noble Chinese people”.
Marseille and the canceled trip to Dubai
With enough time to recover from the rigors of Mongolia, Francisco boarded another plane on September 22 to arrive in Marseille and participate in the Rencontres Méditerranéennes, an event about migration. The Pope gave a long speech to civil and ecclesiastical representatives of the countries bordering the Mediterranean, in which he called for effective solutions to the migration crisis. Europe must prevent “Mare Nostrum” (our sea) from becoming a “Mare Mortuum” (Sea of the Dead).
Francisco had to cancel his trip to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. The program was defined and included a series of confidential meetings with heads of state and government, but no Holy Mass. Bronchitis brought Francisco to his knees; on the advice of doctors, he decided not to travel to the Arabian Peninsula and sent Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin.
Health problems
Twice in 2023, Pope Francis was admitted to Gemelli Hospital: the first time in March for bronchitis requiring antibiotic therapy; the second time between May and June for abdominal surgery. The first stay was short-lived, the second lasted about ten days. After his release on June 16, the Pope almost immediately returned to full service. “I'm still alive” was his response to the question about his health. “I do not intend to do so” was the response to those who speculated that he might renounce the papacy due to his physical frailty.
Another test for the pope was a second attack of bronchitis that struck him in late November, forcing him to cancel public and private engagements. As in Covid times, the Pope recited Sunday's Angelus via live broadcast from Casa Santa Marta, but for the first time with the help of his faithful priestly collaborator Paolo Braida, as he had difficulty speaking. The same applies to the general audience, in which the Pope himself wanted to read the final appeals for peace, albeit in a weak voice.
The wars and the mission of Cardinal Zuppi
The war, all wars, from the one in Ukraine to the one that broke out in the Holy Land, was the cross of 2023. Francis sent Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, to “reduce tensions”. At four stages – Kiev, Moscow, Washington, Beijing – Zuppi held talks with the political and ecclesiastical authorities of the four countries, in particular on the issue of Ukrainian children abducted to Russia. On May 13, the Pope received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. in audience at the Vatican, and the two spoke several times on the phone, most recently on December 28.
Papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has traveled several times to conflict-torn areas in Ukraine. At Christmas, Krajewski was in Jerusalem as the Pope's representative to convey the Bishop of Rome's closeness to the Christians of Bethlehem and – from a distance – to the massacred population in Gaza.
Appeals to Israel and Palestine
The outbreak of conflict in the Middle East following the brutal attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7 has led to consideration of new ways of intervening for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The Pope reiterated from the first moment what the way out of the whirlwind of violence could be: the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists and an immediate ceasefire. After phone calls with Biden, Abbas and Erdogan, Francisco received on November 22 family members of hostages held by Hamas and family members of victims of bombings in the Gaza Strip, where more than 20,000 deaths have been recorded so far. This gesture, as well as some of the Pope's statements that what is currently happening in the Holy Land is “terrorism”, has generated controversy, especially in the Jewish world. As in the cases of Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis adheres to the principle of equal distance, which has always been the style of Vatican diplomacy, as Parolin recently said, and which does not fit into political categories, but into the primary mission of the Successor of Pedro: being close to those who suffer.
The Synod on Synodality
The powder keg of the war in the Middle East exploded as the Synod on Synodality took place in the Vatican in October, the culmination of a three-year journey that began “from below” from the dioceses of the five continents, and the first meeting of a path Francis plans to continue in 2024. The Synod was preceded by the publication of the Pope's responses to dubia from five cardinals on doctrinal questions. The Synod itself began on October 4 and was attended by 464 delegates: cardinals, bishops, religious and lay people, including women. For the first time in a Synod, the Pope gave lay people the right to vote. At tables arranged in a circle, the synod fathers and mothers offered food for reflection and responses to the needs and desires of the surrounding churches. the world on topics such as the role of lay people and women, the ministry of bishops, the priesthood, the digital mission, ecumenism and abuse. Everything led to a final report, which was voted on and appeared on October 28th as a kind interim report report of the Synod.
Court cases
2023 will also be remembered as the year in which a complicated Vatican court case over the management of Holy See funds came to an end. After 86 hearings, the Vatican court sentenced nine defendants to a total of 37 years in prison on the 16th of December.For the first time, Cardinal Angelo Becciu was also affected, but appealed. The civil case against former Auditor General Libero Milone and the trial over the financial management of the Sistine Chapel Choir were opened in the Vatican Court in January and May, respectively. On October 27, Francis decided to suspend the statute of limitations to allow the trial of former Jesuit and well-known mosaic artist Marko Rupnik, whom several nuns accused of psychological and sexual abuse.
Laudate Deum and other documents
Francis named new cardinals in 2023 and made appointments and remodels in the Curia, and also renewed the Council of Cardinals. Several important documents appeared. First, the apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, continuation of Laudato si', with which the Pope once again appealed against the crisis of the common home (4 October); then the apostolic exhortation “C'est la confidence” on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Therese (October 15). Other documents sealed important milestones in the reform process that began at the beginning of the pontificate. Of note is the new “Constitution” of the Vatican City State, published on May 13, which incorporates several international commitments made by the Holy See. Decrees, rescripts and motu propri were followed throughout the year, including changes to criminal law of the Vatican. and judicial system (April 12).
Fiducia supplicants
The documents published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith deserve special mention. The authority has been under the leadership of Argentine Cardinal Víctor Fernández since September 2023. Among other things, a document was published that makes it clear that trans people and children of homosexual couples have the right to be baptized, even if they were born to a surrogate mother. Another document reiterates the prohibition of Catholics joining Freemasonry. Scattering the ashes of the deceased remains prohibited and single mothers have access to the sacraments.
A document of great doctrinal value is the Fiducia Supplicans. The declaration, published on December 18 and approved by the Pope, opens up the pastoral possibility of blessing “irregular” couples, such as homosexuals or divorced, in second civil marriages, but without any ritualization and imitation of marriage and without changing the Church's teaching on questions of the Christian view of humanity. The statement met with a mixed response in the worldwide Church. Some bishops' conferences, particularly in Africa, where homosexuality sometimes carries high penalties, have rejected the possibility of blessing homosexual couples. The document met with overwhelming approval in local churches in Western Europe, but also in India.
(Vatican news – gs)