Long Branch pastor in papal audience as part of canon law course
December 2, 2024 at 12:58 p.m.
Father Javier A. Diaz, pastor of Christ the King Parish, Long Branch, recently took part in a formation course in Rome for canon lawyers, which included an address Nov. 23 by Pope Francis.
“Love – caritas – is an extraordinary force that impels people to courageously and generously engage in the field of justice and peace,” the Pope said to participants, quoting from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. “It is a force that originates in God, eternal Love, and absolute Truth.”
Father Diaz has pursued graduate studies in canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and serves on the Trenton diocesan Tribunal.
The course was organized by the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal dealing mainly with marriage cases, and the Church’s highest appellate court, which the Holy Father said can be described as “a ministry of justice and charity in truth.”
"You are called to love justice, charity and truth, and to strive daily to implement them in your work as canonists and in all the tasks you perform in the service of the faithful," he said. "It is a matter of loving all three at the same time, because they go together," and when one is disregarded, "the others lose their authenticity."
In 2015, Pope Francis rewrote a section of canon law with the aim of making the Catholic Church's marriage annulment process quicker, less expensive and more pastoral. He told participants in the course that simplifying the process did not mean weakening a commitment to justice or to the truth about whether a valid marriage existed.
Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, contributed to this report.
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Father Javier A. Diaz, pastor of Christ the King Parish, Long Branch, recently took part in a formation course in Rome for canon lawyers, which included an address Nov. 23 by Pope Francis.
“Love – caritas – is an extraordinary force that impels people to courageously and generously engage in the field of justice and peace,” the Pope said to participants, quoting from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate. “It is a force that originates in God, eternal Love, and absolute Truth.”
Father Diaz has pursued graduate studies in canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and serves on the Trenton diocesan Tribunal.
The course was organized by the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, a Vatican-based tribunal dealing mainly with marriage cases, and the Church’s highest appellate court, which the Holy Father said can be described as “a ministry of justice and charity in truth.”
"You are called to love justice, charity and truth, and to strive daily to implement them in your work as canonists and in all the tasks you perform in the service of the faithful," he said. "It is a matter of loving all three at the same time, because they go together," and when one is disregarded, "the others lose their authenticity."
In 2015, Pope Francis rewrote a section of canon law with the aim of making the Catholic Church's marriage annulment process quicker, less expensive and more pastoral. He told participants in the course that simplifying the process did not mean weakening a commitment to justice or to the truth about whether a valid marriage existed.
Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, contributed to this report.