Year-end Review 2007
JANUARY 2007
The Vatican says that 24 Catholic missionaries were murdered in 2006, one less than in 2005.
The Vatican condemns the hanging of former Iraqi dicator Saddam Hussein on December 30.
The World Youth Day Cross tours through Southern Africa.
Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg becomes president of the SACBC, with Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein and Bishop Louis Ncamiso Ndlovu of Manzini, Swaziland, as vice-presidents.
Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus of Warsaw resigns only two days after his installation following reports that he had been an informant for the communist regime.
Parishioners of Rosebank in Johannesburg issue a discussion document on vocations titled “Priests for Tomorrow”.
Nigerian Archbishop John Onaiyekan calls for a single united body to represent Africa’s Church.
Bishop Joseph Potocnak of De Aar is injured in a knife attack during a burglary at his residence.
The Catholic Institute of Education welcomes the new Further Education and Training Colleges Act, but calls for an end to matric exams.
Retired Bishop Fernando Lugo Méndez of San Pedro, Paraguay, announces that he plans to stand for his country’s presidency in the April 2008 elections.
Johannesburg education expert Peter Hunter dies suddenly on January 21 at 78, just over a month after writing The Southern Cross’ traditional Christmas guest editorial.
The popular French priest Abbé Pierre dies on January 22 at 94.
FEBRUARY
South Africa marks a decade since the legalisation of abortion. Since then, an estimated 600,000 unborn lives were killed.
Vatican statistics reveal that every sixth person in the world is a Catholic.
Pope Benedict tells a weekly audience that he finds consolation in stories of the apostles and first disciples arguing with each other.
Portugal’s bishops criticise a referendum in which 60% of voters supported legal abortion.
The bishops of Southern Africa announce that as of this year, the feast of the Assumption, August 15, will be a holy day of obligation, replacing the Solemnity of Mary on January 1.
Pretoria priest Fr Kieran Creagh CP is seriously injured after being shot in a robbery at Leratong Hospice in Atteridgeville.
Poland wins the European indoor football championship for priests, beating Croatia in the final.
MARCH
Pope Benedict issues the apostolic exhortation Sacramentum caritatis (The Sacrament of Charity) in which he makes concrete suggestions on how to understand and celebrate the Eucharist.
The SACBC’s Justice and Peace economic justice coordinator, Billy Maseti, says that affirmative action laws should be retained.
The CIE and the Catholic Schools Proprietors’ Association issue a pastoral directive to promote learners’ involvement in their communities.
Iraqi Christian representatives say that Christians were safer in that country under Saddam Hussein than since the US-led invasion.
Pope Benedict in a new book of memoirs reveals that he had tried to change Pope John Paul II’s mind about appearing on stage with legendary folk singer Bob Dylan in 1997.
Retired Bishop Fulgence Le Roy of Pietersburg relocates to his native Belgium after 53 years in South Africa.
Brazilian Bishop José Ivo Lorscheiter, a prominent opponent of the Brazil’s military regimes, dies at 79.
The Vatican’s Congregation for Doctrine criticises aspects of Spanish Jesuit Father Jon Sobrino’s writings, but stops short of disciplining him.
Catholic actress Betty Hutton dies at the age of 86.
Archbishop John Foley, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, is among the speakers at the 5th World Summit on Media for Children, held in Johannesburg.
Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo calls on Zimbabweans to continue protests against government oppression and says he is willing to die by leading them.
APRIL
Franciscan Nardini Sister Ann Thöle dies in a fire while rescuing patients at Duduza Hospice in Maria Ratschitz, near Dundee, on April 1. She was 35.
The bishops of Zimbabwe issue their strongest statement on Zimbabwe’s political problems in a pastoral letter.
The SACBC calls on Zimbabweans to build a country with real democratic principles founded on a new constitution. Pope Benedict echoes his concerns in his Easter “Urbi et orbi” address.
Archbishop Tlhagale says that while a new elite of rich people has “grown almost overnight” due to “government legislation and patronage”, South Africa’s poor “have not seen a change in their status of poverty”.
Pope Benedict releases his book Jesus of Nazareth, the first of a two-part series, saying that Catholics are free to disagree with what he wrote.
Dr John Billings, founder of the natural family planning method that bears his name, dies on April 1 in Melbourne at 89.
French Sr Marie-Simon-Pierre says that she was healed from Parkinson’s disease through the intercession of Pope John Paul II.
St Michael’s Chorale from Meadowlands, Soweto, appear on German TV during a televised Mass in Paderborn to launch a Misereor campaign.
Learners from Mayfair Convent School in Johannesburg take part in a seven-day People-to-People World Leadership Forum in Washington.
The Vatican’s International Theological Commission says there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptised go to heaven, kicking the idea of limbo into touch.
In a German book, Schöpfung und Evolution (Creation and Evolution), Pope Benedict says there is no conflict between science and faith.
MAY
Pope Benedict visits Brazil, where he identifies a series of social and religious challenges facing Latin America.
In its first drug conviction, the Vatican tribunal hands a former administrative worker at the Holy See a suspended jail sentence for using cocaine.
Child support grants can help not only its recipients, but whole communities, says Chance Chagunda of the Catholic Parliamenary Liaison Office.
Zambia’s bishops express dismay and anger over delays in constitutional reform.
The inaugural Clericus Cup, a football championship for priests and seminaries in Rome, is won by Redemptoris Mater seminary, the institution of the Neocatechumenical Way, who beat the Pontifical Lateran University 1-0 in the final.
JUNE
The SACBC issues caution over reports of Marian apparitions at a Benoni home as the archdiocese of Johannesburg investigates the claims.
The Gaza compound of the Rosary Sisters is ransacked during Palestinian in-fighting leading to Hamas taking control of the Gaza Strip.
Pope Benedict canonises Mother Marie Eugenie of Jesus, foundress of the Assumption Sisters.
Pope Benedict calls on the whole Church to support the Christians of Iraq who he says are experiencing an “authentic martyrdom”.
The diocese of Johannesburg is evelated to the status of archdiocese.
The preacher of the papal household, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, cancels plans to speak at Medjugorje after the local bishop denies him permission to speak there.
Polish Formula 1 racing driver Robert Kubica ascribes his survival in a horror crash at the Canadian Grand Prix to the intervention of Pope John Paul II, whose name is emblazoned on the driver’s helmet.
JULY
Pope Benedict issues the motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum” which makes the Tridentine Mass available to those who desire it.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attacks Church leaders for their statements on political matters.
The second special Synod of Bishops for Africa will be held from October 4-25, 2009.
Pope Benedict announces the Year of St Paul, from June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009.
Italian Archbishop Claudo Maria Celli is named new prefect of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, suceeding Archbishop John Foley, newly named pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office issues a briefing paper on crime, saying that there is more to criminal behaviour than poverty.
The Vatican issues a document restating that the Catholic Church is the “one, true church”.
The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is named one of the Seven Modern-day Wonders of the World.
Pope Benedict will travel to Sydney, Australia, in July 2008 for World Youth Day, the Vatican announces.
Archaeologists say they have found a tablet from the time of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar that confirms that an official named in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah actually existed.
Long-time Johannesburg airport chaplain André Fillion leaves South Africa for Dublin.
Controversy erupts around Polish Fr Tadeusz Rydzyk after he calls President Lech Kaczinsky “a crook subservient to the Jewish lobby”, on his Catholic radio station.
Italian missionary Fr Giancarlo Bossi is released by kidnappers in the Philippines after 39 days in captivity.
Archbishop Pius Ncube is sued for alleged adultery. The archbishop denies the charge while churches and human rights organisations claim he was framed.
Owen Williams, a weekly Southern Cross columnist since August 1983, dies after a brief illness on July 22. He was 82.
AUGUST
Mariannhill celebrates 125 years since the arrival of the missionaries under Abbot Francis Pfanner.
The national Pastoral for the Laity takes place in Durban.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a convert from Judaism who became he archbishop of Paris, dies on August 5 at 80.
The Youth Encounter Spirit (YES) marks its 25th anniversary in South Africa with a convention attended by Dr Thomas Hedberg, who founded the movement in the US in 1968.
A musical play, The Oxford Passion, based on the New Testament translations of Southern Cross columnist Fr Nicholas King SJ, opens in Oxford, England.
Political thugs in East Timor rape girls at a convent and burn the building down following the appointment of Xanana Gusmão as prime minister.
Kenya’s bishops call on voters to elect candidates with a track record of honesty in the December elections.
Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg condemns a standing ovation for Robert Mugabe at the Southern African Development Community meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, as “sickening”.
SEPTEMBER
The archdioceses of Durban and Cape Town hold their diocesan synods.
Archbishop Pius Ncube resigns as archbishop of Bulawayo. He says he will continue to fight for human rights but denies rumours that he will enter politics.
Pope Benedict visits Austria, including the Marian shrine of Mariazell on his itinerary. In Vienna he says that by their “essential and generous” service, volunteers “shatter the rules” of capitalism.
The bishops announce the merger of St John Vianney and St Peter’s seminaries in Pretoria.
A new book based on Mother Teresa’s private writings reveals that the nun suffered long crises of faith.
At a mega-gathering of Italian youth in Loreto, Italy, Pope Benedict calls on young people to “go against the current” of a culture marked by violence, arrogance and selfishness.
A Chinese bishop, John Han Dingxian of Yongnian, dies in a government detention centre at 68.
Fr Dan Corrijn OMI leaves his position as president of St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara to become rector of the Pontifical College of St Paul in Rome, where he will be installed on January 25, 2008. Fr Sylvester David OMI succeeds him at Cedara.
The Pan-African Association of Catholic Exegetes holds its 13th congress in Johannesburg, a first for South Africa.
The Anglican Church announces the election of Bishop Thabo Cecil Makgoba of Grahamstown as its new primate in Southern Africa when he succeeds Njongonkulu Ndungane as archbishop of Cape Town.
The Vatican calls for a new international strategy to address global warming and prevent a “bleak future”.
A delegation of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute, headed by Cardinal Napier, visits the eastern DR Congo and hears that South African weapons are being used in violence there.
OCTOBER
Nelspruit priest Fr Allard Mako OMI, 42, is murdered in a hi-jacking on October 5. In an address at Fr Mako’s funeral, Archbishop Tlhagale attacks the government’s record on crime and says that murderers should not be buried from Catholic churches.
A British web magazine, The First Post, reveals details of a planned campaign of staged scandals designed to undermine Archbishop Pius Ncube.
The bishops of Southern Africa say the are saddened over allegations of abuse against the late Bishop Reginald Orsmond.
Fr Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household, visits South Africa.
An Indian priest claims to have been cured of a kidney stone thanks to the intercession of Mother Teresa.
American Anglican Bishop Jeffrey Steenson of Rio Grande says he is going to convert to Catholicism.
German chancellor Angela Merkel visits Project HOPE, an initiative of the German-speaking Catholic Community of the Cape Peninsula.
Archbishop Ambrose De Paoli, nuncio to Southern Africa from 1988-98, dies on October 10 at 73.
Former Argentinian police chaplain Fr Christian von Wernich receives a life sentence for collaboration in torture, kidnappings and murder during that country’s military dictatorship.
Lightning strikes Radio Veritas’ Johannesburg premises, causing extensive damage to equipment.
Liturgical composer Fr Lucien Deiss dies on October 9 in France at 86.
Pope Benedict meets with religious leaders, including the patriarch of Constantinople and archbishop of Canterbury, during an interreligious meeting organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio in Naples.
Two priests are released by their kidnappers, who demanded a $1 million ransom, after a week in captivity in Iraq.
South African Catholic filmmaker Norman Servais wins his second international award for his documentary Sowing in Tears.
NOVEMBER
Pope Benedict creates 23 new cardinals, among them prelates from Kenya and Senegal as well as Archbishop John Foley.
Fr Bonaventure Hinwood OFM of Pretoria publishes his fifth collection of Afrikaans poetry.
A Church official criticises the department of home affairs after a Zimbabwean asylum seeker dies of hunger at its Cape Town offices.
In a first, Pope Benedict meets Saudi King Abdullah Aziz at the Vatican.
The SACBC announces that the new General Instruction on the Roman Missal will go into effect as of the first Sunday of Advent. The major change is that Catholics will now be entitled to receive Communion under both species.
The Eritrean government expels 13 Catholic missionaries.
Pope Benedict says that women who repent after having an abortion must be welcomed back into the Church.
Pope Benedict issues his second encyclical, Spe Salvi.
Professor Mike Larkin, a law academic and Catholic, is murdered in a robbery in Cape Town on November 16. He was 58.
DECEMBER 2007
In a pastoral letter, the bishops of Southern Africa condemn the deterioration of living conditions for Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa.
Fr Michael Wüstenberg, a specialist in pastoral formation and inculturation, is appointed bishop of Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape.
The former master of papal liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini, warns in a new book of a Roman curia tendency to return to a pre-Vatican II mindset on liturgy.
The bishops of Zimbabwe issue a pastoral letter calling on the governing Zanu-PF and election officials to allow for a peaceful and credible election in March.
Pope Benedict establishes a new commission to study how a possible beatification of Pope Pius XII would affect Catholic-Jewish relations.
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