Angelus News | January 14, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 1

WORLD
■ Archbishop Tutu’s Catholic connection
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose death at the age of 90
on Dec. 26, 2021, has been mourned around the world,
was a renowned Anglican bishop known for his leadership
against South Africa’s apartheid.
But he also had a strong connection to the Catholic
Church.
While studying to become an Anglican priest in Johannesburg,
seminary formators worried that he was “suffering from
a touch of ‘Roman fever,’ ” or love for Catholic beliefs and
practices, according to a Catholic News Service report. This
included daily recitation of the Angelus and the Hail Mary,
as well as a particular devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
“As I am not part of the Catholic tradition, I think my
interest in her indicates that she has an ecumenical appeal,”
Tutu once said. “She encourages us to grasp the significance
of retracting into oneself for inner peace, to seek solitude,
silence, and waiting,
to be with God.”
Tutu was also
married to a Catholic,
Nomalizo
Leah Shenxane, at a
Catholic ceremony
in 1955. As Anglican
archbishop of Cape
Town, Tutu partnered
often with the
city’s Catholic archbishop
in the fight
Archbishop Tutu in 2011. | CNS/ALLISON JOYCE,
REUTERS
against apartheid.
■ India strikes a blow to
Mother Teresa’s order
The Indian government announced on Christmas Day
that the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa,
are no longer eligible to receive foreign donations.
Two days later, the government claimed to have found
unspecified “adverse inputs” to the Missionaries and that
they no longer met eligibility requirements under Indian
law.
Father Dominic Gomes of the Archdiocese of Calcutta,
the order’s birthplace, called the ruling “a cruel Christmas
gift to the poorest of the poor,” and said that 22,000 people
directly depend on or benefit from the work of the sisters’
centers across India. The order said local support will keep
the India centers in operation.
The ruling comes amid a wave of increasing hostility
toward Christians in India, including hundreds of violent
incidents in 2021 alone.
“They are thinking that opposing Christianity is patriotism.
This is not a healthy atmosphere,” Bishop M.
Jagjivan, moderator of the National Christian Council, told
the Wall Street Journal.
■ A QR code at the Vatican
A woman scans the new QR code on “Angels Unawares”
in St. Peter’s Square last month. | CNS
Tourists in St.
Peter’s Square
may now have
a legitimate
excuse to be on
their phones.
Visitors who
scan the QR
code recently
added to the
square’s “Angels
Unawares”
statue with their
phones will be
taken to a dedicated
website in
several languages
with history
about the statue
and Pope Francis’ teachings on immigration.
The statue, installed in 2019 and created by Canadian
sculptor Timothy Schmalz, depicts a group of migrants
from different historical and cultural backgrounds huddled
on a raft. Its replica has visited the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels and other sites around the U.S.
“We have decided to incorporate cultural information
and Church teachings from recent years to help all tourists
and visitors at the Vatican to become pilgrims, too,”
said Cardinal Michael Czerny, who leads the Vatican
department on migration issues.
A saintly status upgrade — Pope Francis will declare his predecessor, Pope John
Paul I, “blessed” on Sept. 4, the Vatican announced. Pope John Paul was known as
“the smiling pope.” The announcement came after the Holy See recognized the
miraculous healing of a young Argentinian girl from inflammatory encephalopathy
attributed to Pope John Paul’s intercession. | CNS/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
4 • ANGELUS • January 14, 2022