2015-07-01T17:38:00+00:00

Vatican City, Jul 1, 2015 / 11:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Wednesday called for prayer for the people of Greece, shortly after the nation defaulted on a significant loan payment on its more than $300 billion debt. “The news from Greece regarding the economic and social situation of the country is worrying,” Fr. Federico Lombardi, Holy See press officer, said in a July 1 statement. “Pope Francis invites all the faithful to unite in prayer for the good of the beloved Greek people.” Greece faces a debate over the role of austerity measures, such as pension cuts and tax hikes, as it negotiates new financial bailouts with its creditors. The country's unemployment rate is above 25 percent, and individuals are unable to remove more than $70 a day from ATMs. The Vatican's statement adds that “the dignity of the human person must remain at the centre of any political and technical debate, as well as in the taking of responsible decisions.” “The Holy Father wishes to convey his closeness to all the Greek people, with a special thought for the many families gravely beset by such a complex and keenly felt human and social crisis.” A June 30 deadline for Greece to make a roughly $1.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund came and went yesterday. The country, which is part of the eurozone, has been in financial crisis for years. Economically the weakest nation in the eurozone, Greece was hit hard during the 2008 global financial crisis. Beginning in 2010, it began receiving financial bailouts, on the condition that it adopt austerity measures such as pension cuts, tax hikes, and public sector layoffs. Greece's unemployment rate is now around 25 percent and its banks have been closed, with ATM withdrawals limited to roughly $66 a day. The current ruling party, Syriza, was elected in January on an anti-austerity platform. The next month, Greece negotiated an extension on repaying its debt, but yesterday's default threatens a breakdown of the situation and raises fears of Greece leaving the eurozone. Greece will hold a referendum July 5 whether or not to remain in the eurozone, and whether or not to support the terms offered by its creditors for a further, third bailout of some $32 billion lasting two years. Germany, the largest creditor to Greece, is strongly in favor of austerity measures in the Mediterranean country as a condition of another bailout. Greece is also facing a July 20 payment deadline of more than $3.8 billion to the European Central Bank. It is feared that without another bailout or an extension of Greece's repayment deadlines, the nation's crisis could affect the economic stability of the eurozone. Read more

2017-06-29T08:58:00+00:00

Rome, Italy, Jun 29, 2017 / 02:58 am (CNA).- More than 10 years ago, Joseph Prever found himself scouring the internet for anything that might help him: he was gay, Catholic, and confused. Resources were scarce for a man struggling with homosexuality and trying to remain faithful to the Church’s teaching. In the intervening years, Catholics experiencing same-sex attraction have become a more vocal presence in the Church. Google the words “gay Catholic” and one of the top sites to appear will be Prever’s own blog, a blog with the tagline: “Catholic, Gay, and Feeling Fine.” There, the 30-something writer considers his own experiences as a man struggling with same-sex attraction and trying to live out the virtue of chastity. What follows is an edited version of a conversation about everything from homosexuality and Batman to poetry and football. The interview is published in two parts.Part TwoWhy do you live celibately? I think the act of so-called ‘gay sex’ is immoral. I think it’s immoral, for one reason, because it is intrinsically closed to life and thereby distorts what the sexual act is meant to be. Where it gets tricky is where we talk about the emotional reality of homosexuality, because some people ask me, ‘well, that’s fine if you think that gay sex is wrong, but what about gay romance?’ For example, some people say, ‘do you think it would be appropriate for two men who are orthodox Catholics to be in a committed romantic relationship which was celibate?’ And my answer would have to be no. There is an intrinsic connection between romance and sex, and you don’t want to start what you can’t finish. This raises a further question, which is, ‘ok, if it’s not ok for two men to have sex and it’s not ok for two men to have a romantic relationship without sex, is it ok for a man to feel romantically towards another man?’ I think I have to answer yes and no. It’s ok in the sense that it’s something that some people can’t help it sometimes, so you can’t be culpable for feeling that way. But I think it’s not ok, in the sense that it is deeply and intrinsically inappropriate. And I don’t mean inappropriate in the sense of, ‘oh that’s gross, we shouldn’t talk about it,’ I mean inappropriate in that it does not correspond to reality.What do you mean by not corresponding to reality? I think for a man to feel romantically towards another man is based on a kind of misapprehension of what that man is and can be. This is where we get into the really hard stuff – which is also the really important stuff! I think it’s really hard for a lot of people to understand how a deep love can exist between two men and not be sexual. And I think this is at the heart of the misunderstanding of homosexuality that’s going around. The fact of the matter is when my male straight friend X says ‘I really love our mutual friend,’ who is also male and straight, Y, I don’t think there is any sexual component to the love between X and Y. In fact, I think that is the ideal toward which I should strive in all of my friendships with other men: to be able to have love for them, and in fact to expunge any sexual component.To return to my earlier question, then, what do you think we as Christian community can be doing to help people who struggle with this? Somebody said recently that it would be wonderful if there were a branch of Courage in every diocese, and I think that’s absolutely true. It’s a shame that somebody should have to travel far and wide to find help. The first problem is silence. And the specific problem of silence is that if you grow up Catholic and gay, or at least if you did a few years ago when I was growing up, or before that, then the overwhelming impression you get is not so much that you’re bad or evil, but it’s that you’re absolutely not allowed to talk about this. That it is beyond the pale of what is open for discussion. Now the question is where that impression comes from and what can be done to correct it. The difficulty is: how can we overcome and correct that, without, at the same time, giving ground on the morality of homosexual actions? I think conservatives in general are more concerned about the latter, and liberals in general are more concerned about the former. And I think the liberals are right.Ok, so what would you do to help people deal with these issues? For me to do things is different than for someone who’s not gay to do things. What I actually have done is to write about it and be open about it, because that gives people an example of ‘oh, well, this guy isn’t embarrassed, so maybe I don’t have to be, either.’ That’s what I can do, but of course not everybody can do that. The question is where does this intersect other people’s lives. Obviously one place it intersects the lives of someone who isn’t gay is if your friend tells you they are gay. Then what do you do?Yes – what do you do when a friend tells you he is gay? Well, the absolutely primary thing is to let that person know that your relationship with them is not going to be diminished because of this, or made weird. Because what I was most afraid of in telling people was not that anybody would reject me or call me a sinner, because I don’t know any Catholics who would do that. But I was afraid that people would start to distance themselves from me in small ways. I was afraid that my male friends would not treat me like one of the guys anymore, because they would be worried that I would be attracted to them, or that they would think that I was somehow not like them. So one of two things is going to be going through the head of someone who is revealing themselves in this way. One is that they will be judged, and two is that they would be treated as weird or odd. I think those two things are distinct, but I think what anyone can do to immediately diffuse those worries is the most helpful thing.And what do you think we can do more practically, for instance, in parishes? There has to be a positive element to the message. A lot of young gay Catholics know they shouldn’t do gay things, but they don’t know what they should do.What should they do? They should start by telling somebody about it, preferably a priest who is willing to talk with them and help them.So you think pastors and others should do a better job of being aware of what people are going through in regards to homosexuality? Like the Catechism says, the number of people with deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible: this is a large segment of the population we’re talking about, and it’s not a matter of a few ‘edge’ cases.   The other day, I was joking with someone about smoking crack, like you do because people make jokes about using hard drugs with the understanding that, ‘oh, nobody I know deals with that.’ And then literally the day after I made that joke, I found out that somebody who I’ve known for a very long time has been smoking crack for months and months.   And that is exactly the sort of situation I dealt with growing up, which is where it was sort of standard to make jokes, ‘ha ha, gay people’ because nobody we know is gay – and of course if you hear that sort of thing all the time, you begin to think of yourself as outside of the realm of normal human experience.Is that how you felt growing up? Absolutely.Do you think that that actually pushed you more outside ‘the realm of normal human experience,’ because you perceived it to be that way? Very much so. It sounds cliché to say it, but your perception really does become your reality. If you believe yourself to be of such a nature that you don’t actually belong in society with most other people, then you begin to interpret small thoughtlessnesses as large exclusions, and so you become less able to interact with your actual peers. And then they see you beginning to draw back, and start to think of you as someone who doesn’t really want to be part of their group anyway.How have you managed to overcome that in adulthood? Partly through therapy; partly through the group, People Can Change; partly through friendship; and partly through my spiritual director.Is that the general path you would recommend for a young version of yourself who’s out there right now? Yes, very much.   I was actually very frustrated recently by an email I got from a reader. He had sent me an email when he was at a low state. He was clearly extremely depressed, and so I replied with various comforting things and tried to be as practical as I could for what he might do the next time he felt like that, or what he might do right then, and I asked whether he had a therapist, or a spiritual director, or anybody with whom he could regularly talk about these things.   He emailed me back apologizing for being so dramatic, and saying it wasn’t usually all that bad, and then what he said about therapy was that he preferred to rely solely on the power of the sacraments. And I thought that was just the most horrendous nonsense! The reason I say that is not because I think it’s nonsense to rely on the power of the sacraments, but I do think it’s nonsense to rely on the power of the sacraments for things that the sacraments weren’t actually designed to do. For example, it would be absurd to say that you weren’t going to go to the doctor to fix your broken arm because you preferred to go to confession. Within human society, there exist certain solutions to certain human problems, and if we don’t take advantage of them, then we’re being very stupid.   But the problem is, actually – and this is something somewhat practical – I think there exists within Catholic culture, this unspoken belief that therapy is for heathens, or that therapy is for people that don’t really take their faith that seriously.Do you think the same is true for medication in mental health, which you also write about on your blog? And do you think it’s related to the idea you mentioned earlier – people assuming that you are just not trying hard enough? Oh definitely. I think there’s a stigma in the population in general for getting therapy and for getting medication for mental health issues, but I think that stigma within the Christian and Catholic community is exponentially larger. Although, I think this might be a bigger problem in the Evangelical community than in the Catholic one. I only say that because I’m thinking of a particular Evangelical friend of mine who constantly has to deal with – he’s gay, but believes basically what the Catholic Church teaches about homosexuality – he has to deal constantly with people telling him that for him to call himself gay is for him to be embracing a sin. These are people who don’t, in fact, distinguish between the inclination and the action. These are people who say, ‘well, I might go around experiencing temptations to adultery, but I don’t go around identifying myself as an “adulterous Christian,” so why are you going around identifying yourself as a “gay Christian?”’And what is your response to that? My response to that is that while it’s true that homosexuality means that a particular kind of temptation is prevalent in someone’s life, it also means a lot more than that. Since sexuality itself is so deeply tied to so many aspects of our personality, and our experience as human beings, then homosexuality has very wide-reaching effects into almost every aspect of our lives, or at least as many aspects of our lives as sexuality effects.In America, stereotypes on many levels associate gay men with being effeminate. Are those legitimate stereotypes? Or is there some way in which you feel like being gay affects your masculinity? There is some legitimacy to the stereotypes in the sense that there is some legitimacy to every stereotype. Stereotypes don't arise out of nothing. It's also true that either many or most, or possibly all of gay men I've ever known have experienced some difficulty fitting in with other men, and very many of them have experienced what they feel is a lack of masculinity in themselves. I believe that among gay men in general there is a higher incidence of personality traits which are generally not considered to be as masculine. For example, most of the gay men I know are more sensitive than most men. Most of them are more artistic than most men; most of them are more introverted than most men. So the fact is that being artistic and sensitive and introverted are not un-masculine traits, but in culture as it exists right now, those traits are more associated with femininity than with masculinity. (But) those things are not un-masculine, and are in fact, quite masculine. I spent many years in (a place that was) a bulwark of ideas about traditional masculinity and what it ought to be, and a lot of those ideas are extremely simplistic, damaging, and wrong. But the problem is, people feel like if they start to question or abandon those ideas, then they are giving too much ground and betraying their faith, somehow. People identify the cultural idea of gender with what the Catholic faith holds about gender. It does seem to me that our perception of masculinity as a country is changing. And I actually think that is a very good thing, and maybe that is indicative of something larger taking place under the surface. I just think that if a man doesn't express interest in the things that have traditionally been considered masculine, he's less open to ridicule than he would have been 10 years ago. Like I think it's more acceptable to not like football, for example. (Laughs).So what do you think we can do to help men who struggle with homosexuality not squelch their natural tendencies toward good things, like being talented in the arts or sensitive toward others? The reason the question is hard to answer is that it is not really about homosexuality at all. It's about how men are perceived in our culture, and how women are, and people worship, and how people relate to each other. It's just about what it means to be a human. That's what all of this is about. The odd thing, or the frustrating thing actually, is that there is, culturally, this huge storm going on about homosexuality. What frustrates me is that no one seems to realize that it isn't about homosexuality at all. It's about what it is to be human.How so?   Well, anytime you start talking about sex, you start talking about what it is to be human.  I think the reason people are so interested in homosexuality at all is because people are profoundly interested in how human beings relate to one another, and what sex has to do with any of that – and nobody is really clear about any of those things right now. But suddenly, the question of homosexuality requires us to think clearly about those things, and a lot of us are finding out that we have no idea. Really, everything is condensing into this one, huge weather system – I don't even know what's going to happen. But there's a big hurricane brewing. (The challenge is that) you almost can't say anything else other than men are men and women are women and the two are not the same.   Physical differences are not just physical differences, because physicality is not just physicality. It all comes down to the fact that you can't paraphrase the poem. That is to say, if you have a poem which says something beautiful and true, you can't say sum it up by saying, ‘ok, and what the poet meant to say is this syllogism.’ And in the same way, the only way to describe what masculinity and femininity are is to say: ‘here are men, they are manly. Here are women, they are womanly.’ That's literally the only way to do it, because our bodies are poems. They are poems that express the ‘masculinity’ of God and the ‘femininity’ of God and we have to take them seriously, which doesn't mean we can pin down (exactly) what the poems are saying.So you think a lot of the cultural conversation going on is not precisely about homosexuality, but about humanity? Have you seen this in your own experience? I'm extremely happy that everyone is talking about homosexuality, not because I think that homosexuality is in itself very important. I think it's incredibly unimportant, actually, in and of itself. I think it's incredibly uninteresting, in and of itself. What I do think is incredibly interesting is the questions of what men and women are; what gender is; what eros is and what friendship is; how human beings relate to each other; and what sex has to do with any of that.   The reason I'm glad that everyone is talking about homosexuality is that we are being forced to confront all of these questions, which we've needed to do for a very long time. Part of me had imagined that after I came out, then there would be lots of people lining up to talk about my gayness, and that we would be talking about it all the time, and that everyone would talk about it. And of course part of me was attracted by that idea because of course everyone wants to talk about themselves. However, what I found to be the case was that my friends and I generally talk about the same things we've always talked about. And usually homosexuality does not come up. Which on the whole I'm extremely pleased about because on the relatively rare occasions when it does come up, no one's surprised to hear me talk about it. Which is really all that I wanted, actually. You do run into gay people who just want to talk about being gay and it's just tremendously boring and narcissistic.   I went to a party once where there was this gay couple, and one or two hours in, everybody was clustered in around the gay guys, listening to them talk about being gay. And it was weird and gross, but there are at least two reasons why this happened. One is that it's a great feeling to be talking openly about something that for a long time you thought you could never talk about. And two, when you see a gay guy at a party, a lot of people, consciously or unconsciously, see an opportunity to demonstrate how open minded they are. It's like if you saw a black man at a party in the sixties. You're going to want to, especially if you're a liberal, go over and talk to him and make a thing about how, ‘look, I'm talking to this black guy.’ And it's understandable. But what it does, obviously, is that it objectifies that person. What my friends did was absolutely not that.What do you wish average Catholics and other Christians knew about people who are struggling with homosexuality and are living in the Christian church? Number one, you almost certainly know some. Number two, most of us have probably felt excluded from ordinary society for a very long time and in a very deep way. Number three, many of us have devoted a lot of effort to getting rid of our homosexuality, and have failed, already.  And number four, which is the final number, (laughs) well, number four is more particular to me, maybe: but to me, friendship is one of the most important things in the world, and so the greatest thing that somebody could do for me is to be my friend, regardless of anything.  This article was originally published on CNA July 1, 2015. Read more

2015-07-01T06:02:00+00:00

Trani, Italy, Jul 1, 2015 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The life of Father Salvatore Mellone, who died on Monday, was moving to thousands of people. He was to have at least two more years of seminary when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but by special permission and the blessing of Pope Francis, he was ordained nevertheless. Fr. Mellone, who died June 29 at the age of 38, had been a priest of the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie for two and a half months. With his failing health, he was able to say Mass daily, baptize a child, and console the other sick persons at his hospital. Two days before his April 16 ordination Fr. Mellone received a phone call from Pope Francis. “The first blessing that you’ll give as a priest, you’ll give to me. Salvatore, I’m with you. You ‘ll be ordained and you’ll celebrate Mass,” the Pope assured him over the phone. At his ordination, Fr. Mellone said, “Today I feel myself carried on the shoulders of Christ; and as a priest I’ll wear the stole with Christ, for the salvation of the world. Moreover, to celebrate just one Eucharist, for me will be a real participation in the priesthood of Christ.” Fr. Mellone's funeral Mass was said June 30 by Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri of Trani at Most Holy Cross parish, where the priest was ordained. A statement from the Trani archdiocese shortly after the priest's death noted that he had a recurrent expression for “the many people who came to visit him over the last few months: 'to be a priest is beautiful.'” “Despite his illness, he always warmly embraced everyone who came to see him. He listened to what everyone had to say. He consoled everyone.” According to the archdiocese's statement, Fr. Mellone was born in Barletta, fewer than nine miles from Trani, on March 9, 1977. Both are located in Italy's Apulia province, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. He came from an observant family, and was deeply involved in the life of the Church as a youth, entering seminary in 2011. “Within the community he became a man of prayer, of deep spirituality, and of great cultural openness,” the archdiocese recounted. “During the last year Father Salvatore spent a lot of time in hospitals and despite his heartbreaking pain, he always found the time and the right words to encourage and inspire hope.” “During the last days of his life, when his sight was going bad, he said that he had learned to pray with nature. With his weak voice, he constantly prayed to the rhythm of life that came into his room from the balcony,” the statement concluded. Read more

2015-06-30T22:21:00+00:00

Vatican City, Jun 30, 2015 / 04:21 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis might chew coca leaves – or maybe sip coca tea – during his visit to Bolivia next week, the Vatican has said. Bolivian Culture Minister Marko Machicao told local media that Francis had asked to chew coca leaves in the country, one of several stops during his visit to South America July 5-13. The coca leaf, whose daily use and cultural importance in the Andes region rivals that of coffee in the United States, is embroiled in controversy in the international community because of its use as the main ingredient in the addictive drug, cocaine. In 1961, the U.N. convention on narcotic drugs declared coca an illegal substance, and tried to phase out its cultural use by 1989 – but the local coca culture refused to die. Many indigenous Bolivians believe the coca leaf to be sacred, and people of all social classes can be found either drinking the plant's tea or chewing its leaves throughout the country.   Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former coca farmer himself, has staunchly defended the plant as a cornerstone of his country’s culture and economy, fighting for the use of the plant in its natural form. Morales has revived the natural coca economy, and Bolivia now turns out coca products ranging from flour to toothpaste, shampoo and lotions. “This leaf,” Morales told a 2007 U.N. General Assembly, “represents...the hope of our people.” A number of international studies, including one published by Harvard University, found raw coca leaves to be packed with nutrients including protein, calcium, iron and other vitamins. A 1995 World Health Organisation report said there were “no negative health effects” from coca use in leaf form. In its natural form, coca leaves have a mild stimulant effect considered similar to coffee, and they can be chewed or brewed into tea to fight hunger, exhaustion or altitude sickness – likely the reason Pope Francis might partake of the plant upon his arrival in the country. And he’s following in his predecessor’s footsteps – Pope John Paul II drank tea made from coca leaves during his 1988 visit to Bolivia, and Pope Paul VI is reported to have drank the tea during a visit to the Andes region in 1968. Queen Sophia of Spain, and the British Princess Anne, are also said to have partaken in the plant in its natural form.   When asked if the Pope would have some coca leaves or tea in Bolivia, Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi said he couldn’t confirm what the Pope would do one way or another, though he acknowledged that Pope Francis likes to take part in local cultures. “(I) wouldn’t be surprised because the Pope likes taking part in popular customs. The Pope will do as he sees fit. From what I know there are ways of dealing with the altitudes that form part of popular culture: some drink a sort of mate tea, others chew coca leaves. The Pope hasn’t talked to me about what he plans to do, we shall see. We’ll see if he follows local customs.” Read more

2015-06-30T21:20:00+00:00

Washington D.C., Jun 30, 2015 / 03:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Looking forward to Pope Francis' September visit to the U.S., the nation's bishops were exuberant on Tuesday, as the itinerary for the apostolic voyage was released. Fewer than three months before the scheduled visit, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. bishops conference, called it a “source of joy and gratitude for U.S. Catholics” in a June 30 statement. After visiting Cuba, the Pope will visit three major cities on the U.S. east coast – Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia – and the respective bishops of those cities were indeed jubilant. “I am very, very excited,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. told CNA. The trip will be “the visit of our spiritual father,” he told reporters at a press conference at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in downtown Washington, D.C. “I am confident that his presence here among us will have a profound and lasting impact on all New Yorkers,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. In a whirlwind nine-day trip, Pope Francis will first meet with Cuban political leaders and pray with the country’s priests and seminarians from Sept. 19-22. Then from Sept. 23-27, he will tour the United States east coast, culminating with a papal mass in Philadelphia to close the World Meeting of Families. Up to 2 million are expected to attend the papal events there. "It is an itinerary that says, ‘I walk with you – and so does the Lord',” stated Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. “It says, ‘Embrace your faith and embrace one another as children of God.' It says, ‘God forgives.' And it says ‘Come together in celebration.'” Archbishop Chaput added, “I am confident we will leave a positive and lasting impression upon Pope Francis and keep the spirit of his visit in our hearts as we seek constantly to build a better society.” After his Cuba visit, Pope Francis will arrive in Washington, D.C. on the evening of Sept. 22. Cardinal Wuerl emphasized the spiritual nature of the visit. “He’s reminding all of us that there’s a spiritual dimension to our life,” he told reporters. Francis will meet with President Obama at the White House the following morning. Then he will address around 300 to 350 bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral at a mid-day prayer gathering, Monsignor Ronald Jameson, the cathedral's rector, confirmed to CNA. The overall theme of the Pope’s visit will be hope, and this could be expressed to the bishops through encouragement, he explained. “If we look around the country today, dioceses are having their problems,” he said, among these being poverty, immigration, and a lack of priestly vocations. “I think that the Holy Father will encourage the bishops, I think to action. We say we can’t just complain about it,” he said, “but we have that big hope that is Jesus Christ. And with him being our light, he can lead us on.” Later in the afternoon, Pope Francis will celebrate the canonization Mass for Bl. Junipero Serra at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass will be a ticketed event – around 25,000 is the current attendance estimate – and it will be said in Spanish, Cardinal Wuerl told reporters. Spanish is fast becoming the “universally recognized second language,” Cardinal Wuerl explained, and the Hispanic community is “so significant in the United States.” Plus, as the basilica’s rector Monsignor Walter Rossi told CNA, Blessed Junipero Serra evangelized the Spanish missions on America’s west coast and himself spoke Spanish. The Mass will be unique in more ways than one, Cardinal Wuerl noted. “First of all, it’s the first canonization of a saint in the New World. Secondly, it’s a Pope from the New World. And this Mass and the canonization is going to be in Spanish, to highlight the origins of a large portion of faith in the New World but also the growing number of Spanish-speaking people in our country,” Cardinal Wuerl explained to CNA. A large portion of tickets will be available to the Hispanic Catholic community, he said, and will be distributed through individual parishes. The portion of tickets not already reserved for seminarians, Catholic Charities, and delegations from California will be available to the laity through the parishes, and it will be the majority of the tickets he confirmed. Cardinal Wuerl expects that at the Mass, the Pope will focus on the “work that is done on behalf of and in response to the needs of the poor.” The next morning the Pope will address a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill, and he will do so as a spiritual leader and not a political leader, Cardinal Wuerl insisted. He will be “simply speaking to the hearts of people,” the cardinal said, focusing on their relationships with God and with each other. Lastly, the Pope will visit the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities branch where he will meet with homeless persons attending the charity’s weekly St. Maria’s Meals program, blessing the food. The Catholic Charities visit will come last, just before the Pope leaves for New York, and this is significant, Cardinal Wuerl said. “I think that’s his way of saying 'don’t lose sight of the poor',” Cardinal Wuerl told reporters. “I’m looking for a renewal of hope,” said Monsignor Jameson of the papal visit. “Because I think Pope Francis has shown that hope to so many people already, especially the way he has taught us let’s get back to the fundamentals. Let’s get back and how do we, first of all, build that relationship with the Lord Jesus? How do we encounter the Lord in prayer, how do we encounter the Lord in our daily lives, how do we encounter him especially in the poor, those who are in need, those who are suffering? Pope Francis has been a real model for that.” Read more

2015-06-30T20:03:00+00:00

Washington D.C., Jun 30, 2015 / 02:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday afternoon the Supreme Court of the United States temporarily halted Texas' regulations on abortion clinics, which were upheld by an appellate court earlier in the month. By a 5-4 margin, the justices on June 29 blocked the law from going into effect until it is asked to hear the case; and if the court consents to hear the case, until it issues its decision. The 2013 law increased safety regulations for abortion clinics and physicians who perform abortions, requiring all abortion clinics in the state to follow surgical facility standards for their building, equipment, and staffing. Physicians at the clinics must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, and a 24-hour hotline for patients experiencing post-abortive complications. On June 9, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to be applied across most of Texas. It recognized as legitimate the legislature’s stated purpose for the law. In the court’s words, the law aimed “to provide the highest quality of care to women seeking abortions and to protect the health and welfare of women seeking abortion.” The appeals court did grant one exemption to the requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, in the case of a doctor who performs abortions in McAllen, Texas, on the grounds that in this case the requirement would create an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortions there. The appellate court's ruling would have had the law go into effect July 1. The Supreme Court justices granted a stay on the appellate court's ruling, pending a “timely filing” of a writ of certiorari, which asks the Supreme Court to hear the case. If the request is denied, the stay will terminate automatically and the law will take effect. If the request is granted, then the stay will continue until the court issues a judgement. The five justices who voted for a stay were Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonya Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. The four justices who would deny the stay were John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. Some backers of the law cited the case of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who in 2013 was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter as a result of negligent practices. The grand jury report in the case said that surgical facility standards for Gosnell’s clinic, like wider hallways for paramedic access, could have saved the life of one young woman who died. Because some abortion clinics cannot afford upgrades to meet the stronger safety standards, the law could mean that as many as 13 clinics will close. That would leave eight abortion providers in the state, the New York Times reports. Read more

2015-06-30T18:30:00+00:00

Washington D.C., Jun 30, 2015 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an order protecting a group of Pennsylvania religious institutions from being required by the federal contraception mandate to violate their faith. “Doesn't our government have something better to do than fight charities serving the poor?” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in a statement after the July 29 court order. The Pennsylvania-based religious groups are among hundreds of plaintiffs challenging the federal HHS mandate, which requires employers to offer coverage of sterilization, contraception, and some drugs that can cause early abortions. The organizations say they cannot provide the coverage, or otherwise facilitate it, without violating their religious beliefs. With the stay from the Supreme Court, a lower court’s previous ruling is held back. In February, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the religious service organizations. The plaintiffs applied for an interim stay on the ruling, which was granted by the Supreme Court in April. Now, longer-term relief has been granted while the case moves forward in the courts, temporarily absolving the religious groups from having to provide contraceptives and related products for employees if they notify the Department of Health and Human Services of their exemption. The government must ensure that the employees receive coverage for the products and procedures in the meantime. The high court has yet to say if it will review the merits of the case in its next term. The grant comes only days after the Supreme Court ruled that states must grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states. The 5-4 decision for Obergefell v. Hodges overturned other lower-court rulings that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. With the ruling came a wave of concern over its implications on religious freedom.   Rassbach stressed that forcing religious employers to violate their deeply-held beliefs is unnecessary, adding that the legal precedent is on the side of the religious groups.   “The government has lots of ways to achieve its goals without penalizing religious groups who serve those in need,” he said. “Every time a religious ministry has taken this issue to the Supreme Court, the government has lost and the religious plaintiffs have been granted relief.”   Read more

2015-06-30T17:13:00+00:00

Vatican City, Jun 30, 2015 / 11:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Before heading out for his two-week stay at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo this summer, retired pontiff Benedict XVI received a 30 minute visit from Pope Francis, who wished him a pleasant stay. Francis popped by Benedict’s residence at the Mater Ecclesiae ex-convent around 10 a.m. this morning to greet the retired pope before he leaves today. The meeting lasted half an hour. Benedict will remain at the papal residence in the small Italian city for two-weeks, and is expected to return July 14, according to a June 30 communique from the Vatican. The communique also noted that Pope Francis’ public audiences, including the weekly General Audience, will be suspended for the month of July with the exception of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal meeting in St. Peter's Square July 3. General audiences will resume in August and will be held in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall. Francis’ morning Masses will also be suspended for July-August, and will resume in September. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. revealed Benedict’s travel plans to journalists June 15, explaining that Pope Francis “invited Benedict XVI to spend some time in Castel Gandolfo in the month of July and Benedict accepted.” Pope Francis is not expected to join his predecessor this summer, according to Fr. Lombardi. Castel Gandolfo, which lies about 15 miles southeast of Rome, has not been officially used as a papal residence since Benedict XVI – who now goes by “Fr. Benedict” – spent just over two months there following his Feb. 28, 2013, resignation from the See of Peter. He currently lives in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens. In his first two summers as Pope, Francis has chosen to remain at the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence where he resides the rest of the year. In addition to his time in Castel Gandolfo, Benedict XVI also has two public events on his summer schedule. While in Castel Gandolfo July 3, Benedict XVI is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the Krakow, Poland-based Pontifical University of John Paul II and its music academy. The honor specifically recognizes Benedict’s “great respect for musical tradition of the Church” and “special concern for the noble beauty of sacred music and its proper place in the celebration of the sacred liturgical rites of the Church,” according to a press release from the university. Polish cardinal and former secretary to St. John Paul II Stanislaw Dziwisz will be present to confer the honor. Back at the Vatican, Benedict XVI at the end of August will also take part in the inauguration of the “Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI Roman Library” at the Pontifical Teutonic College Aug. 30. The Ratzinger Foundation confirmed to CNA that he will first celebrate Mass at the College for this year’s meeting of his former theology students called the “Schulerkreis.” Following Mass, he will take part in an inauguration ceremony at the library. The library section dedicated to his life and thought is currently in the process of being catalogued. It includes books by or about him and his studies, many donated by Benedict XVI himself. Read more

2015-06-30T15:00:00+00:00

Vatican City, Jun 30, 2015 / 09:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ itinerary while in Cuba and the United States confirms several highly anticipated events including a special U.N. Summit and the canonization of Bl. Junipero Serra. He is also set to meet with groups he frequently prioritizes: homeless, prisoners and migrants. On June 30, the Vatican issued a final schedule for Pope Francis’ upcoming 10-day trip to both Cuba and the United States of America. The schedule confirms that he will visit the small Caribbean Island Sept. 19-22, and will then travel to the U.S. Sept. 22-27, before landing in Rome the morning of the 28th. Pope Francis recently played a key role in helping thaw icy relations between the two countries, which after more than 50 years of broken ties agreed in December to restore diplomatic relations. Although news of the Pope’s plan to visit the U.S. in 2015 had been public for some time, his stop in Cuba beforehand was just announced in April. After leaving from Rome’s Fiumicino airport the morning of Saturday, Sept. 19, Pope Francis will land in Havana that evening, where he will receive an official welcome. The next morning he will meet with Cuban president Raul Castro, before heading to Vespers with priests, religious and seminarians that evening. He will travel to Holguín Sept. 21, where he will celebrate Mass and bless the city before flying to Santiago that evening. He departs from Santiago at 12:30 p.m. on the 22nd, and is scheduled to land in Washington D.C. at 4 p.m. local time. While in the U.S. Pope Francis is scheduled to participate in several major events, including the canonization of Bl. Junípero Serra, considered a founding father of California, and meetings with the U.S. Congress as well as a special summit at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Wasting no time, Pope Francis will canonize Bl. Junípero Serra at Washington D.C.’s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception the day after he lands. The next morning at 9:20, he will be the first religious leader to address a joint meeting of Congress, according to congressional historians. Francis will later meet with homeless before heading to New York. Once in New York, the Pope will address the U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development the morning of Sept. 25. He will then participate in an interreligious encounter at the Ground Zero memorial, where Benedict XVI also stopped during his visit in 2008. Francis will conclude the day by meeting with child and family migrants in Harlem, and then celebrating Mass in Madison Square Garden. He leaves for Philadelphia the next morning, where he is set to participate in the World Meeting of Families. After meeting with bishops, priests and religious the morning of the 26th, the Pope will participate in an encounter for Religious Freedom with the Hispanic community and other immigrants in Philadelphia's Independence Mall. That evening he will attend a prayer vigil for the World Meeting of Families. On his final day in the U.S. Pope Francis will meet with bishops present for the family gathering as well as prisoners in Philadelphia’s Curran-Fromhold correctional facility. After celebrating Mass that afternoon the Pope will greet the organizers, volunteers and benefactors of his trip before departing for Rome. He is scheduled to land around 10 a.m. Sept. 28. Please see below for the full schedule of the Pope’s visit: Saturday, Sept. 19, 201510:15a.m. Departure by plane from Rome's Fiumicino airport for Havana4:00 p.m. Arrival at the International José Marti airport of Havana4:05 p.m. Welcoming ceremony at airport of Havana Sunday, Sept. 20, 20159:00a.m. Holy Mass in the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana4 p.m. Courtesy visit to the president of the State Council and the Council of Ministries in the Palacio de la Revolución in Havana5:15 p.m. Celebration of Vespers with priests, religious and seminarians in the Cathedral of Havana6:30 p.m. Greeting to the youth in the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center in Havana Monday, Sept. 21, 20158:00a.m. Departure by plane for Holguín9:20a.m. Arrival at the International Arrivo “Frank Pais” airport of Holguín10:30a.m. Holy Mass in the Plaza de la Revolución in Holguín3:45 p.m. Blessing of the City from the Loma de la Cruz in Holguín4:40 p.m. Departure by plane for Santiago5:30 p.m. Arrival at the international “Antonio Maceo” airport in Santiago7:00 p.m. Meeting with bishops in the San Basilio Magno seminary in Santiago7:45 p.m. Prayer to Our Lady of Charity, with the bishops and the papal entourage, in the minor basilica of “Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre” sanctuary in Santiago Tuesday, Sept. 22, 20158:00a.m. Holy Mass at the minor basilica of “Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre” sanctuary in Santiago11:00 a.m.  Meeting with families in the Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in Santiago and blessing of the city outside the cathedral12:15 p.m. Farewell ceremony at the airport12:30 p.m. Departure from Santiago for Washington D.C.4:00 p.m. Arrival to Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. and official welcoming ceremony Wednesday, Sept. 23, 20159:15a.m. Welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House and courtesy visit to the president of the United States, Barack Obama11:30a.m. Meeting with the bishops of the United States of America in St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C.4:15 p.m. Holy Mass and the canonization of Bl. Fr. Junípero Serra in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. Thursday, Sept. 24, 20159:20a.m. Visit to the United States Congress11:15a.m. Visit to the Charitable Center of St. Patrick Parish and meeting with homeless4:00 p.m. Departure by plane for New York5:00 p.m. Arrival to the JFK airport in New York6:45 p.m. Vespers with priests and religious in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York   Friday, Sept. 25, 20158:30a.m. Visit to the headquarters of the United Nations11:30a.m. Interreligious encounter at the Ground Zero memorial in New York4 p.m. Visit to "Our Lady, Queen of the Angels" school and meeting with child and family migrants in Harlem, New York6 p.m. Holy Mass in Madison Square Garden Saturday, Sept. 26, 20158:40a.m. Departure by plane for Philadelphia9:30a.m. Arrival at the international airport of Philadelphia10:30a.m. Holy Mass with the bishops, priests and religious of Philadelphia in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul4:45 p.m. Encounter for Religious Freedom with the Hispanic community and other immigrants in Philadelphia's Independence Mall7:30 p.m. Celebration of Families and prayer vigil for the World Meeting of Families at Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday, Sept. 27, 20159:15a.m. Meeting with bishops present for the World Meeting of Families in the St. Charles Borromeo seminary11:00a.m. Visit with prisoners at the Curran-Fromhold correctional facility in Philadelphia4 p.m. Holy Mass concluding the World Meeting of Families at Benjamin Franklin Parkway7:00 p.m. Greeting to the organizing committee, volunteers and benefactors at the international airport of Philadelphia7:45 p.m. Farewell ceremony8:00 p.m. Departure by plane for Rome's Ciampino airport Monday, Sept. 28, 201510:00a.m. Arrival to Rome's Ciampino airport   Read more

2015-06-30T12:25:00+00:00

Quito, Ecuador, Jun 30, 2015 / 06:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Within the walls of the convent in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador, the Carmelite nuns are busy making liturgical cloths and the vestments for Pope Francis’ July 6-7 visit t... Read more




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