The comments from Alex Walker from the Advent group came after the former head of Scottish Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, admitted sexual misconduct.
Read more: Catholic Church should introduce optional celibacy, says clergy support group
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina has been elected as Pope Francis I
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is calling for major changes in the Catholic Church and says the current crises are in large part the result of church power being invested in one gender, which is wholly unacceptable in the 21st century.
Lady Kennedy joined forces with Lord Hylton and feminist and spiritual writer Professor Ursula King at the Houses of Parliament (Tuesday March 5) to sign the Catholic Scholars’Declaration on Authority in the Catholic Church.
The Declaration, calling for a more collegial system of church governance in the church, has already gained the backing of 180 leading theologians and Catholic Scholars worldwide. It has already been submitted to more than 20 cardinal electors in Rome this week.
Read more: Dysfunctional Church needs to change declares Baroness Kennedy
Read more: Catholic Church should introduce optional celibacy, says clergy support group
ACTA Members please say this prayer, especially at 10:00 pm each evening until the white smoke appears !
'Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you have made us your people
calling us to be the sign of your love in the world.
We pray that the cardinals meeting together will be open to your guidance, choosing a new bishop of Rome
who serving your pilgrim church will enable all to flourish in an atmosphere of openness and dialogue.
We place all our trust and hope in you.
Glory be ...
As we await the election of a new pope, it is significant that so many church people and theologians have returned to the theme of collegiality or the role of bishops in leading guiding and teaching the church.para. Cardinal Ouellet himself among the papabiles has quoted para 22 of Lumen Gentium and the tensions which still exist as to what the Council Fathers had intended by it. After the Council Pope Paul v1 made important steps towards giving reality to the idea of collegiality by developing national conferences of bishops and regional synods.