Angelus News | March 25, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 6

WORLD
Blessed Titus Brandsma.
| TITUS BRANDSMA INSTITUTE
■ Priest killed by
Nazis to be canonized
Pope Francis added three more
names to the list of people he
will canonize on May 15.
The soon-to-be saints include
Blessed Titus Brandsma, who
was killed by lethal injection
in 1942 at the Dachau concentration
camp. One of the more
than 2,400 Catholic priests to
be detained at the Nazi camp,
Brandsma was arrested for treason for his public defense
of the Jewish people. He had also urged the editors of the
Dutch Catholic press to refuse to print Nazi propaganda.
Blessed Marie Rivier, founder of the Sisters of the Presentation
of Mary, and Blessed Carolina Santocanale, founder
of the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate
of Lourdes, will also be canonized.
The three blesseds will be canonized in May along with
seven others, including the French missionary and mystic
Blessed Charles de Foucauld.
■ Argentinian bishop
gets jail sentence for abuse
Four years after the first accusations of sexual and financial
misconduct against him became public, Bishop Gustavo
Zanchetta was sentenced to four years and six months
in prison for aggravated continuous sexual assault of two
former seminarians.
The Argentine is known for his friendship with Pope
Francis, who made him a bishop of the Diocese of Oran
in 2013. Four years later, Bishop Zanchetta resigned at the
age of 53 for “health reasons,” and was shortly after appointed
by the pope to APSA, the Vatican office that oversees
Vatican investments.
A Vatican spokesman claims that there were no abuse
allegations when Bishop Zanchetta began his appointment
in Rome. Bishop Zanchetta had claimed to Pope Francis
that allegations that explicit images found on his phone
were the result of hacking.
“Before I asked for his resignation, there was an accusation,
and I immediately made him come over with the
person who accused him and explain it,” Pope Francis said
in 2019.
■ Nicaraguan dictator
evicts Vatican
ambassador
After months of deteriorating
relations with the Vatican, Daniel
Ortega’s Nicaraguan government
has expelled the apostolic nuncio
from the country.
The expulsion of Polish Archbishop
Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag
came directly from Ortega and
Rosario Murillo, his wife and vice
president. It follows the government’s
Nov. 18, 2021, dissolution of
the role of “dean of the diplomatic
corps,” which is traditionally held
by the papal nuncio.
Ortega has been aggressive
toward the Catholic Church since
2018, when the country’s bishops
condemned his government’s
use of violence against peaceful
protesters. His recent moves against
Archbishop Sommertag follow
the archbishop’s use of the term
“political prisoners” in reference to
jailed opposition candidates who
ran against Ortega in last year’s
presidential election.
The “bishop’s palace” in Kraków. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
■ Ukrainian refugees to be
housed in JPII’s former palace
A Polish archbishop announced he would be opening his “bishop’s palace” to
house Ukrainian refugees.
Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Kraków made the announcement on
March 9, as part of the archdiocese’s efforts to involve every parish in providing
refugee housing following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to
the archdiocese, several thousand of the 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees in
Poland are being housed in rectories and other Church buildings.
“As children of the same God, we are called to a particular fraternity and a
sense of great solidarity, to generosity, to readiness to renounce what we have
lived for the sake of those who come to us with one bag in hand and a child in
the other,” Archbishop Jędraszewski said.
Kraków’s bishops, including the future St. Pope John Paul II, have lived at
the palace since the 14th century.
4 • ANGELUS • March 25, 2022