Women in Vatican posts

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English

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

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THE CHURCH HERE AND THERE 343 FALLING RATIO OF PRIESTS The number of priests is failing to keep pace with the growth of the world’s Catholic population, and the situation is likely to become worse before it becomes better, according to statistics supplied in the Holy See’s newly-published yearbook. There were 1,379 Catholics per priest in 1965, 1,401 Catholics per priest in 1966, and 1,437 Catholics per priest the following year. The figures were taken from 41 nations of the western world and do not include mission countries or states with Communist regimes. Over that three-year period the number of Catholics in the cited nations grew to 507,505,420 from 493,632,180. Priests grew in number by 639, to 352,691. However, the number of seminarians, both minor and major dropped bv 8,913 to 146,996. In mission countries the prospects seemed to be brighter, with the number of entries into major seminaries growing from 1,433 in 1965 to 1,704 in 1968. However during the same period the number of ordina tions dropped from 460 to 438. WOMEN IN VATICAN POSTS The 1970 edition of the Annuario Pontificio has the names of five women, including two nuns and three laywomen, employees of the Secretariat of State. Two other nuns are listed as employees of another office connected with the state secretariat, the Council for Public Affairs. A Vatican spokesman confirmed that women have been employed in various Vatican offices for a long time and that there are 66 women employees on the payrolls of Vatican offices. The names of our nuns named to staff positions on the Congrega tion for Religious and Secular Institutes have been carried in the Annuario for several years. The spokesman said that a few nuns have been working for the past three years in the secret archives of the Holy See, which comes under the jurisdiction of the state secretariat, helping 344 BOLETIN ECLESIASTICO DE FILIPINAS in the preparation of a series of volumes on the activities of the Church and Pope Pius XII during World War II. The five listed as working in the State Secretariat in the 1970 Annuario are Sisters Luciana Mariani of the Ursuline Sisters and Rosa Pierina Turco of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, and three laywomen: Maria Fortini, Laura Serfini, and Angela Zanetti. The two nuns employed in the Council for Public Affairs are Sisters Maria Aristondo and Maria Luisa Dominguez of the Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart. Last month, the Holy See turned down the nomination of a new counsellor in the German embassy for the Vatican because she is a woman. At that time, an official at the German embassy said the Holy See had “expressed reserves” about the nomination of Dr. Elizabeth Mueller as a counsellor at the embassy. BISHOP LOUIS L.R. MORROW After thirty years of fruitful labour in Bengal, Bishop Louis Morrow has now retired from the residential episcopal See of Krishnagar and is transferred to the Titular Episcopal See of Valliposita. In 1922, Father Morrow came to the Philippines as secretary to H.E. Most Rev. William Piani, Apostolic Delegate, and remained for over sixteen years. Previous to this assignment, when he was in Puebla, Mexico, he found a centre called “La Buena Prensa” (The Good Press), to promote wholesome literature and motion pictures. In Manila, the Puebla “La Buena Prensa” became the Catholic Truth Society, with the address of the Apostolic Delegation. It had its be ginning in the distribution, throughout the country, of Catholic and other wholesome magazines that were mailed to him by friends and admirers in the U.S. Later, he published his first book, MY FRIEND, a prayerbook for children-and MY FIRST COMMUNION. Both have since gone over the thirteen million mark. Translations have been made all over the world, in forty languages and dialects. These were followed

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