Angelus News | March 15, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 10

WORLD Pius XII archives to open in 2012
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
French cardinal found
guilty of abuse cover-up
The archbishop of Lyon, France, will present his
resignation to Pope Francis after being found guilty by
a French court of withholding credible accusations of
sex abuse from authorities.
The court sentenced 68-year-old Cardinal Philippe
Barbarin to a suspended six-month prison sentence,
ruling that Barbarin had chosen to “preserve the
institution to which he belongs, not to transmit them
to justice.” Barbarin’s legal team plans to appeal the
March 7 ruling.
The verdict and sentence were surprising to both
parties to the dispute, not only because the statute of
limitations had expired on his crime, but also because
five other archdiocesan officials who had appeared in
court before Barbarin were acquitted.
The case involved Father Bernard Preynat, who was
banned from leading Boy Scout groups in the ’90s
amid abuse accusations, but continued to carry out
other priestly functions. Barbarin has admitted that his
response to Preynat’s accusations was poor, but denied
withholding information when Preynat was in court in
2015.
Clockwise from upper left: CRS
workers Sintayehu Aymeku, Sara
Chalachew, Getnet Alemayehu and
Mulusew Alemu.
Africa: CRS
staff killed in
plane crash
Four Catholic Relief
Services (CRS) workers
were among those
killed in a plane crash
in Africa March 10.
According to CRS,
Getnet Alemayehu,
Mulusew Alemu,
Sintayehu Aymeku,
and Sara Chalachew
worked in various
administrative positions for CRS.
All 157 passengers aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight
en route to Nairobi were killed when the brand-new
Boeing 737 MAX crashed minutes after taking off from
Addis Ababa. The cause of the crash in under investigation.
Also killed in the crash were 19 members of U.N.
staff agencies and Cedric Asiavugwa, a third-year law
student at Georgetown University and campus minister.
Pope Francis announced
on March
4 that the portions
of the Vatican
Secret Archives
covering World War
II-era Pope Pius XII
would be open to
scholars by 2020.
Stating that the
“Church isn’t
afraid of history,”
Francis’ decision
comes at a time
when many Jews
still have lingering
questions concerning
the 260th pope’s
reaction to the
Holocaust.
United States Holocaust
Memorial
Museum Director
Sara J. Bloomfield
called the decision
“important for the Pope Pius XII in 1949.
sake of historical
truth,” but said “there is moral urgency too: we owe
this to the survivor generation, which is rapidly diminishing.”
Pope Pius has historically been the subject of controversy
between Jews and Catholics, as Catholics often
tout his “secret diplomacy” and ties to the German resistance
as signs that the pope was covertly attempting
to undermine the Holocaust, while some Jews claim
the underground nature of his work was more a sign of
apathy than action.
UK launches age verification
for online porn solicitation
Websites who try to solicit pornography to UK minors
will face a hefty penalty beginning next month.
The UK’s Digital Minister Matt Hancock signed an
order that will mandate an “age wall” around internet
pornography in the country. Sites that fail to comply
can be subject to fines or could face blockage from
internet service providers.
The law prevents minors from viewing pornography
by requiring adult sites to redirect to a security page
upon access. Information from a driver’s license, passport,
or credit card will need to be entered in order to
pass onward to the site.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE FILE PHOTO
4 • ANGELUS • March 15, 2019