VATICAN (CNS): The barque of the Church is being buffeted by strong winds of scandal created by its own members, Pope Francis told a group of priests from France.
 
When the Church is “hit by opposing and violent winds, especially because of grave sins committed by some of its members,” the pope said October 1, Catholics should not forget “the humble daily fidelity” of “the vast majority of those who have given their lives to the Church as priests.”
 

VATICAN (CNS): Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who is president of a board of review handling abuse cases within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said on September 14 that Pope Francis’ convoking a meeing of the heads of every Catholic bishops’ conference in the world sends “a very strong signal of a hearty commitment to defend dignity, to safeguard minors in the Church.”
 

VATICAN (CNS): Cristian Precht, once hailed as a champion of human rights in Chile, was expelled from the priesthood by Pope Francis after being found guilty of sexual abuse. The Archdiocese of Santiago announced his dismissal from the clerical state on September 15 with “no possibility of appeal.”
 
The decree, sent by Luis Cardinal Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, confirmed “the dispensation from all obligations united to the sacred ordination of Father Cristian Precht Banados.”

VATICAN (CNS): The leaders of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) met with Pope Francis on September 13 and shared how the Church in their country has been “lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse.”
 

VATICAN (CNS): Christians are not defined by their baptism but by whether they live their lives according to God’s command to love their enemies, Pope Francis said during morning Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae on September 13.
 
While it may seem easier to speak ill of an enemy, Christian logic goes in the opposite direction and follows “the folly of the cross,” the pope said in his homily.
 

VATICAN (CNS): The Catholic Church needs bishops who promote unity, “not soloists singing their own tune or captains fighting personal battles,” Pope Francis told 74 new bishops from 34 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America on September 8.
 
They new bishops were in Rome attending a course sponsored by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
 

VATICAN (CNS): “Care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative,” Pope Francis said in his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1, an observance begun by the Orthodox Church and now celebrated by many Christians.
 
The pope drew special attention to the more than 600 million people who do not have regular access to clean drinking water.
 

VIENNA (CNS) “This criticism comes from circles in the Church who want to get rid of this pope as soon as possible.”  Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, Austria, wrote in a column on September 7 in the weekly newspaper, Heute, as bishops in Germany and Austria united to support Pope Francis in response to Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former papal nuncio to the United States, calling on the pope to resign for allegedly ignoring sanctions Pope Benedict XVI had placed on then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual misconduct.
 

“No, I do not see a pope who wants to overturn Church teaching nor do I see a pope who wants to hush anything up or to establish an old boys’ network. I see a pope who resolutely wants to pursue a path of renewal and one who is neither liberal nor conservative,” wrote Bishop Stefan Oster, the conservative-minded head of the Diocese of Passau on the Bavarian-Austrian border, in Germany.
 

ROME (CNS): The blind pursuit of profit cannot guarantee a company’s viability, which depends on the fair treatment of workers and a vast array of other ethical and social factors, Pope Francis told Italy’s top financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview with published on September 7.
 
“People are the most important resource of every company, (as it) works toward building the common good, being attentive toward the poor,” he said.