Bishop Pfeifer to Visit Rome, Pope This Month

By Brian Bethel
Reporter News
February 29, 2012

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2012/feb/29/bishop-pfeifer-to-visit-rome-pope-in-march/

Bishop Michael Pfeifer, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Angelo, will travel in mid-March to visit Pope Benedict XVI.

Pfeifer, along with other bishops who make up the Vatican's Region X of the United States, will visit Benedict March 13—21, a diocese statement said.

The majority of the 18 dioceses traveling to Rome for the official visit are from Texas, of which the Diocese of San Angelo is a significant portion. With 29 counties under its eye and an area about the size of Ohio, it has the largest territory of the 15 Texas dioceses.

Pfeifer, who most recently visited with Benedict in August in Spain at a world Catholic youth conference, said by telephone Tuesday that the bishops are periodically called to Rome for what is known as an "ad limina" visit, a phrase that in Latin means "to go to the threshold," for example, the door of the house of the pope.

"We have a personal visit with the pope while we're in Rome," he said. "In anticipation of that, we're asked many months in advance — we were asked last September or October — to compile a report on our dioceses."

The roughly 60-page report examines "every area of the life of the church," Pfeifer said, from basic geographical statistics to the number of priests to specific programs.

Common issues often emerge for a specific region, and Region X is no exception, he said.

Issues such as immigration, the increase of Hispanics in Texas, ecumenical relations with other churches, evangelization, marriage and divorce, religious liberty, and the role of youth in the church are among potential points of discussion, Pfeifer said, including a recent controversy over insurance coverage for contraception that would have required some religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free coverage.

"Definitely we will talk about the sexual abuse situation that really came to the forefront 10 years ago," he said. "The pope has been very, very concerned what the American bishops are doing about that, and in our reports to Rome, that's one of the major points."

The San Angelo Diocese has a yearly audit, a regularly-revised policy book, orientation classes and other items in place to both educate those within it and prevent abuse, Pfeifer said.

Preparing for the visit is a time to reflect on the present state of the diocese and the trends both within it and the wider church, he said.

"It's sort of a moment of truth," Pfeifer said.

The report is shared with 16 commissions in Rome, dealing with topics such as marriage, youthand canon law

"We're expected when we're in Rome to meet with the leaders of those commissions to go through those issues," he said.

The pope's meeting with the bishops is more of a "brotherly time of sharing" than a staunch review, though Benedict would not hesitate to point out particular issues one-on-one or communally if need be, Pfeifer said.

"I haven't received any summons like that, but bishops sometimes do," he said.

In addition to conferences with the pope, Pfeifer and other Region X bishops will celebrate Mass with him and visit historical sites in Rome.

Two special Masses — one to be offered at the tomb of the burial site of St. Peter the Apostle, the first pope, and the other to be offered over the tomb of St. Paul, known as the "Apostle to the Gentiles" — will make up part of their visit.