VATICAN CITY
The Catholic Spirit
Catholic News Service | Francis X. Rocca | December 31, 2014
Controversy over family issues and the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East dominated Vatican news in 2014. Here are the highlights at a glance:
– Jan. 16: Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva, testifies before the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child about the church’s record on clerical sex abuse.
– Feb. 20: German Cardinal Walter Kasper addresses a gathering of the world’s cardinals, proposing that some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could be admitted to Communion even without annulments of their first, sacramental marriages.
– Feb. 22: Pope Francis creates 19 new cardinals, including 16 under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.
– Feb. 24: The Vatican announces that Pope Francis has established a Council for the Economy, with both clerical and lay members, to oversee Vatican finances, and a Secretariat for the Economy, to be headed by Australian Cardinal George Pell, which will implement the council’s policies.
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