Pope Leo XIV takes time to meet the families of the Switzerland New Year's disaster

 

Pope Leo meets families of victims of Crans-Montana fire  (@Vatican Media)

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• Pope Leo XIV
• death
• family
• Switzerland
• massacre

Pope Leo meets families of victims of Crans-Montana fire

Pope Leo XIV meets with family members of those killed in a tragic fire that struck Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on New Year's Day, and offers words of faith and consolation.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"Be assured of Christ's closeness and His tenderness: He is not distant from what you are experiencing; on the contrary, He shares it and carries it with you." 

Pope Leo XIV offered this reassurance on Thursday when meeting in the Vatican with family members of those killed or injured by the tragic fire that struck Crans-Montana, Switzerland on January 1. 

Swiss police report that at least 40 people died and 119 were injured, many seriously, following the fire and explosion that broke out in a bar of the ski resort town at a crowded New Year's celebration.  

Limits of human words

The Pope said he was "deeply moved" to meet the families, as he recognized that this time in which "one of the people most dear to you, most loved, has lost his or her life in a catastrophe of extreme violence, or is lying in hospital for a long period, with a body disfigured by the consequences of a terrible fire that has struck the imagination of the entire world" truly tries one's faith.

He noted how it was a priority for him to meet with them when he learned of their interest.

Pope Leo expressed sadness that the tragedy happened on a day when everyone was rejoicing and celebrating, exchanging wishes of joy and happiness.

"What can one therefore say in such circumstances?" he wondered. "What meaning can be given to such events? Where can one find a consolation equal to what you are experiencing, a comfort that is not made up of empty and superficial words, but that touches deeply and rekindles hope?"

The Cross and the Resurrection

Only one reflection, the Pope suggested, is "adequate": "that of the Son of God on the Cross—whom you are so close to today—who from the depths of His abandonment and His pain cried out to the Father: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' (Mt 27:46)."

The Father’s answer to the Son’s supplication, Pope Leo acknowledged, took three days to come, in silence. "But, then, what an answer it is!" he marveled. "Jesus rises again in glory, living forever in the joy and eternal light of Easter."

The Pope lamented that he could not explain to them “why you and your loved ones have been asked to face such a trial.”

However, he added, “the Successor of Peter whom you have come to meet today affirms this to you with strength and conviction: your hope is not in vain, because Christ is truly risen!”

Pope Leo reassured them that nothing can separate them or their loved ones from the love of Christ.

Faith illuminates even the most painful moments

"The faith that dwells within us illuminates the darkest and most painful moments of our lives with an irreplaceable light, which helps us to continue courageously on our journey toward the goal." 

"Jesus," he reassured, "goes before us on this path of death and resurrection, which requires patience and perseverance."

The Pope reminded them that Christ is close to them and accompanying them, sharing in their emotions at this time, and that the whole Church is also with them.

"Be assured of the Church's prayer—and of my personal prayer—for the repose of your deceased loved ones, for relief for those you love who are suffering, and for you yourselves, who accompany them with your tenderness and your love."

Turn to Our Lady of Sorrows for maternal comfort

He acknowledged that their hearts today are pierced, as was the heart of Mary at the foot of the Cross, reiterating, "Mary, at the Cross, seeing her Son, Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, is close to you in these days, and it is to her that I entrust you."

Before imparting his Apostolic Blessing, the Holy Father reminded those gathered to turn to the Blessed Mother without reserve with their tears and to seek in her the maternal comfort. The Holy Father invited those present to join him in saying an Our Father and a Hail Mary.

Pope Leo's continued closeness

The audience marks the latest gesture in Pope Leo's showings of closeness to those affected.

In a telegram the day after the fire, Pope Leo had joined in mourning the victims of the fire, praying to the Lord "to welcome the deceased into his dwelling of peace and light, and to support the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

At the conclusion of his Angelus on Sunday, January 4, the Holy Father expressed once again his "closeness to those suffering" and assured his "prayers for the young people who died, for the injured, and for their families."

Such important advice from Pope Leo XIV, belonging over numbers, never a waste of time to catechize

 

Pope Leo XIV greeting pilgrims in the Vatican  (@Vatican Media)

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• Basilica di San Pietro
• family
• Switzerland
• evangelization
• catechesis

Pope: Sense of belonging more important than numbers of people in Church

In the January edition of the Piazza San Pietro magazine, Pope Leo XIV encourages a Swiss catechist struggling to get families involved in her parish by saying that “hours dedicated to catechesis are never wasted”.

By Vatican News

The January edition of the Italian magazine, Piazza San Pietro, is dedicated to the theme of peace and in it, Pope Leo XIV responds to Nunzia, a 50-year-old Swiss catechist who wrote him a letter detailing her struggle to get families involved in the parish. 

Families and children are increasingly difficult to reach

In her letter Nunzia - who lives in Laufenburg, a small municipality with 620 inhabitants – explains how “in Switzerland, it is difficult to get parents involved and, sometimes, even children and young people to trust in God.”

“I sow seeds, but the seedlings struggle to grow. Children and families prefer sports and parties,” she writes, adding how families are often indifferent to religious practice and Churches seem to be increasingly emptier or populated by the elderly.  

Nunzia ends her letter by asking Pope Leo XIV to pray for the young people entrusted to her care and for herself, so that she may not be discouraged.

Pope Leo’s response

In the same edition, Pope Leo acknowledges Nunzia’s concerns and places them in a wider context: “The situation in which you live is no different from that of other countries with ancient Christian traditions.”

The Pope invites us to look beyond the numbers of attendance: “The hours dedicated to catechesis are never wasted, even if there are very few participants.”

He also relaunches an ecclesial challenge: “The problem is not the numbers — which, of course, make one reflect — but the increasingly evident lack of awareness in feeling part of the Church, that is, of being living members of the Body of Christ, all with unique gifts and roles, and not merely users of the sacred, of the sacraments, perhaps out of mere habit.”

The Pope also offers an encouragement to Nunzia, and all who experience similar difficulties. “As Christians, we always need conversion. And we must seek it together,” he writes. He recalls that the true door of faith “is the Heart of Christ, always wide open.”

Pope Leo’s concluding appeal is rooted in the legacy of Paul VI: “What we can do is bear witness to the joy of Christ's Gospel, the joy of rebirth and resurrection.”

Pope Leo XIV renews concerns for the Switzerland fire victims, mourners

 

Mourners commemorate victims of New Year's Day fire at Swiss ski resort  (ANSA)

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• Pope Leo XIV
• Switzerland

Pope Leo renews closeness to victims of fire tragedy in Switzerland

During the Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo XIV expresses once again his closeness to those in mourning following the fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on January 1.

Vatican News

Read also

02/01/2026

Pope prays for victims of Crans-Montana fire

At the conclusion of the Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo XIV expressed once again his "closeness to those suffering" due to the tragic fire that struck Crans-Montana, Switzerland on January 1st. He assured his "prayers for the young people who died, for the injured, and for their families."

Swiss Police have reported that 40 people have died and 119 were injured, many seriously, following the fire and explosion that broke out in a bar of the ski resort town at a crowded New Year's Eve celebration. 

In a telegram on January 2nd, Pope Leo XIV joined in mourning the victims of a fire through a telegram signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, expressing the Pope's compassion and concern for those close to the victims. Pope Leo “prays to the Lord to welcome the deceased into his dwelling of peace and light, and to support the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

Pope Leo XIV sends condolences to the victims of tragic fire in Switzerland

 

Aftermath of New Year's Eve party fire and explosion at "Le Constellation" bar in Crans-Montana 

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• Switzerland
• telegram
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• Pope Leo XIV

Pope prays for victims of Crans-Montana fire

Pope Leo XIV expresses his closeness to the victims and their loved ones of the January 1 fire in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, that caused around 40 deaths and over 110 injured.

By Isabella H. de Carvalho

In a telegram, Pope Leo XIV joined in mourning the victims of a fire on January 1 at an Alpine bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, which killed around 40 people and injured more than 110.

In the telegram — written in French and signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin — the Pope expresses his compassion and concern to those close to the victims.” 

Pope Leo “prays to the Lord to welcome the deceased into his dwelling of peace and light, and to support the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

“May the Mother of God, in her tenderness, bring the comfort of faith to all those affected by this tragedy and keep them in hope,” concludes the statement, addressed to Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey, of the Diocese of Sion, where the tragedy took place.

Around 40 people died and another roughly 115 were injured after a fire erupted at a New Year’s party in an Alpine bar, Le Constellation, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Authorities estimate that the fire broke out less than two hours after midnight and the causes are still under investigation. Several victims, which include also Italian and French nationals, are still unaccounted for and some are as young as 16-years-old.

The Diocese also expresses its closeness  

The Diocese of Sion also released a statement, on January 1, expressing its shock at this tragedy and “its concern, sympathy and compassion for all the victims, their loved ones and their families.”

“What should have been a night of celebration turned into a terrible catastrophe for hundreds of people,” the statement says. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

The Diocese also highlighted “its support and gratitude to all those involved in various ways in helping the victims, whether on site or in the various hospitals mobilized, including medical staff, police, civil and judicial authorities.”

The Diocese then entrusted all those affected and their families to the Blessed Virgin Mary, hoping that in the midst of this tragedy they can receive compassion and support.

The Swiss Bishops' Conference organizes spiritual initiatives 

The Swiss Bishops’ conference also expressed their solidarity with the victims and their families and also with rescue workers, in a statement released on Friday, January 2.

“The members of the Swiss Bishops' Conference are also deeply shocked by the violence of this catastrophe,” says the statement, signed by the President of the Conference, Bishop Charles Morerod. “All our churches can be places of support, comfort, and prayer at this terrible time.”

The statement says that at 6:00 p.m. on Friday all the Church bells in the Diocese of Sion will ring out as a sign of mourning, solidarity, and reflection. All Swiss parishes are also invited to join in this gesture of closeness and participation.

The statement also lists certain spiritual initiatives organized by the conference such as eucharistic adoration in the Church in Montana on Friday, a rosary the following day at 6:00 p.m., and a Mass at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

It will be celebrated by Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion, and concelebrated by the President of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Morerod. At the Mass there will also be leaders of the Reformed Evangelical Church, specifically the pastor of Montana, the President of the Valais Synodal Council, Stephan Kronbichler, and the President of the Swiss Synod, Gilles Cavin.

When Bishops DON'T Bishop and propose radical stuff

 

Swiss bishop calls for women’s ordination, end to celibacy ahead of synod

CNA Staff, Sep 25, 2023 / 11:53 am

A Swiss bishop called for the end of mandatory priestly celibacy and for the ordination of women in an interview published Sunday, just days ahead of his participation at the Synod on Synodality in Rome next week. 

“It’s time to abolish mandatory celibacy,” Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel told the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag on Sept. 24.

The bishop elaborated: “Celibacy means that I am available to God. But I believe that this sign is no longer understood by society today. Many think: What is wrong with this person, does he have a problem? When a sign is no longer understood, it must be questioned.”

“I have no problem at all imagining married priests,” the 55-year-old bishop added. 

Gmür didn’t stop at questioning celibacy; he also waded into another contentious issue: the ordination of women. “The subordination of women in the Catholic Church is incomprehensible to me. Changes are needed there,” he declared.

“I am in favor of the ordination of women; it will also be a topic at the synod that will soon take place in Rome,” Gmür stated.

While celibacy has been debated and subject to speculation, Pope Francis has repeatedly and unequivocally said the issue of women priests has been clearly decided, while also clarifying the essential role of women in the Catholic Church.

In his interview published Sunday, Gmür also spoke about a need for a more equitable distribution of power within the Church. 

“We need to distribute power better,” he said, adding that the Swiss Bishops’ Conference is setting up an ecclesiastical criminal and disciplinary tribunal. This tribunal would act independently of the bishops and be staffed with external experts. 

“I will lobby in Rome for the Church to decentralize,” Gmür added.

The Swiss prelate’s provocative statements come against a backdrop of an ongoing clerical abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in the country. 

Over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse have been reported, and the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, under Gmür’s leadership since Jan. 1, 2019, has faced criticism for its handling of these cases. 

Elected as the president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference on Sept. 3, 2018, Gmür acknowledged his own shortcomings. “Yes, I have made mistakes,” he admitted, adding that “every conversation with victims has changed me.”

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference also disclosed an ongoing Vatican-led investigation into handling abuse allegations, expected to conclude by the end of the year.

Allegations against several members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference were forwarded to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, which has appointed Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of the Swiss Diocese of Chur to lead the inquiry.

According to official figures, the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland had about 3.1 million believers in 2020, corresponding to a population share of 33.8%. The figure for 2010 was 38.6% of the population.

Sometimes you shake your head and ask: "what were they thinking". This is liturgical abuse (so is that stole the deacon is wearing)

 

Swiss bishop reprimands clergy after viral video of woman ‘concelebrating’ Mass

By Kevin J. Jones

Denver, Colo., Sep 11, 2023 / 14:45 pm

A viral video showing two priests celebrating Mass with a Swiss laywoman at the altar has resulted in a formal reprimand of the pastors by Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur, Switzerland, but there will not be a canonical proceeding.

“Careful investigation of the matter has shown that there were no serious liturgical violations in this service, the assessment of which would be reserved for the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” said a Sept. 8 joint statement whose signatories included Bonnemain. “Therefore, no criminal proceedings are required under canon law.”

“However, important liturgical regulations that are binding for the entire Church were ignored in this service,” the statement added. “The bishop therefore cannot avoid issuing a formal reprimand to the pastors involved in this regard.”

The joint statement came from the Diocese of Chur, St. Martin Catholic Parish, the pastors and clergy involved in the controversy, and Monika Schmid.

The August 2022 Mass in the Diocese of Chur marked the retirement of Schmid, a longtime de facto parish administrator. Video of the Mass depicted Schmid as she appeared to concelebrate the Eucharist with the priests. 

Schmid stood at the altar in ordinary dress with two priests beside her. She extended her arms and pronounced with them the words of the Consecration and an extensively revised version of the Eucharistic Prayer.

The joint statement noted that the farewell service received broad media coverage.

Following controversy over the video, Schmid denied her actions constituted an attempt to concelebrate Mass or to be provocative. She acknowledged that as a woman she can’t validly celebrate the Eucharist as ordained Catholic priests do. 

Canon 907 of the Catholic Church’s canon law bars Catholic deacons and Catholic laity from offering the Eucharistic Prayer and from performing actions “proper to the celebrating priest.”

The joint statement discussed the bishop’s response.

“On Aug. 15, 2023, Bishop Joseph Maria Bonnemain issued the appropriate warning to the five affected people during detailed personal discussions in the expectation that these mistakes will not be repeated in the future,” the statement said.

At the same time, the statement from the diocese said Bonnemain “expressed his confidence in all the pastors involved and thanks them for their committed pastoral work for the good of the people.”

In the wake of the controversial video, Bonnemain joined Bishops Felix Gmür of Basel and Markus Büchel of Sankt Gallen in writing a Jan. 5 letter to people active in pastoral care in their dioceses, as CNA previously reported. 

Only ordained priests may preside at Mass, and the liturgy should not be “a testing ground for personal projects,” said the three bishops, whose dioceses are the predominantly German-speaking dioceses of Switzerland.

The bishops acknowledged people’s desire to participate in the liturgy but said the Catholic liturgy has a universal character, and this especially concerns celebrations of the sacraments. They referred to Pope Francis’ June 2022 apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi. It insists on the quality of liturgies, the careful attention to every aspect of liturgical celebration, and the observance of every rubric.

“Common witness requires common forms and rules. We bishops regularly receive requests and worried reactions: The faithful have a right to religious services that respect the rules and forms of the Church,” they said.

Schmid, the pastoral worker whose retirement Mass sparked the controversy, was critical of the bishops’ letter upon its release in January. She advocated a liturgical celebration that, in her view, “reaches out to people in their daily lives, in their language, and in their understanding of themselves,” the Swiss Catholic internet news portal Cath.ch reported.

Switzerland Cathedral hosts 1st Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years

 

First Mass since Reformation celebrated at Swiss cathedral

   By Hannah Brockhaus for CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 10, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

The first Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years was celebrated at a cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, last week for the vigil of the First Sunday of Lent.

The last Mass celebrated at St. Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535. After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin’s Reformed Protestant Church, which destroyed the cathedral’s statues and paintings, and banned Catholic worship.

The Mass took place on March 5, having been postponed for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around 1,500 people attended the Mass. The main celebrant was Father Pascal Desthieux, the episcopal vicar of Geneva.

During the liturgy, Daniel Pilly, a representative of the Protestant community, asked pardon for historic actions against Christian unity.

Father Desthieux said that Geneva’s Catholics were touched by the Protestant community’s invitation to celebrate Mass at St. Pierre Cathedral and also asked for forgiveness for “faults against unity”: acts of mockery, caricature, or challenge to the Reformed community. Desthieux also underlined the desire to “enrich each other with our differences.”

The priest greeted couples from religiously mixed marriages “who live ecumenism in the most intimate way.” Referring to Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the desert, he called on those present to “resist the forces of division in our lives between us and among us Christians.”

In a letter published on the vicariate’s website in 2020, Desthieux described the cathedral as the “central and symbolic location of Geneva’s Christian history.”

Following the Reformation, the cathedral became a location “emblematic of the Calvinist reform,” he said.

John Calvin, the French founder of the branch of Protestantism known as Calvinism, lived in Geneva, and the city was a destination for French Protestants forced to flee due to persecution. Saint-Pierre de Genève was Calvin’s home church and his chair is displayed next to the cathedral’s pulpit.

The diocese of Geneva was eventually absorbed into the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg. Today, just under 40% of the Swiss population is Catholic.

While acknowledging that the return of Catholic Mass to the cathedral was a cause for rejoicing, Desthieux cautioned against “triumphalism,” as well as any language suggesting that Catholics were looking to “take over” the building.

“With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva,” he said, adding that the Mass was a “gesture of hospitality” within the city’s Christian community.

Swiss Bishop resigns after calling for discussion about ordaining women to priesthood

 

Pope Francis accepts resignation of bishop who called for council to discuss women priests

February 9, 2021 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1Print

Bishop Denis Theurillat, auxiliary bishop of Basel, Switzerland, from 2000 to 2021. Credit: Diocese of Basel.

CNA Staff, Feb 9, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of a Swiss bishop who recently called for a council to discuss women priests.

The Holy See press office announced Feb. 8 that the pope had accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Basel, Switzerland, presented by Bishop Denis Theurillat.

Theurillat told the Swiss Catholic Church’s website kath.ch that he had asked to resign five years before the customary retirement age for bishops because of the increasing burdens of his office.

He said that following an accident last year, “I realized that the time had come to step down and think about a new chapter in my life.”

In an interview last September with kath.ch, Theurillat said that he would like to participate in a council on women priests.

He said: “The facts are on the table, the time is ripe. All the bishops of the world should come together and decide: yes or no.”

He added that the question should not be decided by Pope Francis alone, “otherwise we will experience a schism.”

The interview was published as Theurillat celebrated his 70th birthday, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Theurillat was born on Sept. 21, 1950. He was ordained in 1976 as a priest of Basel diocese. He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of the diocese on April 17, 2000, when Cardinal Kurt Koch, the current president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, was bishop of Basel.

In a Feb. 8 statement, members of the Swiss bishops’ conference responded to Theurillat’s resignation “with surprise.”

They thanked him for his 20 years of service, praising him as a “man of dialogue.” They noted that he had traveled to World Youth Day four times with a Swiss youth delegation and organized an encounter between 20,000 young people and John Paul II during the Polish pope’s visit to Switzerland in 2004.

In his 1994 apostolic letter “Ordinatio sacerdotalis,” John Paul II declared that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.”

Speaking to journalists during an in-flight press conference in 2016, Pope Francis said: “On the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, the final word is clear, it was said by St. John Paul II and this remains.”