Silver Spring, Md., Dec 18, 2014 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- William E. May, a professor who retracted his one-time dissent from Humanae vitae and became an influential pro-life teacher and defender of Catholic moral ethics, died on Saturday. “Teaching was everything to Dr. May,” recalled his former student Kathleen Buckley Domingo. “He treated all of us as though we were so important and sharing his wisdom with us was the most important thing he could do.” “Dr. May never minced words and didn't go out of his way to be gentle. He told you what you needed to hear so that you could go be a better disciple, a better evangelizer,” Domingo told CNA Dec. 17. May died Dec. 13 after suffering from an infection; he was 86. He was a professor of moral theology at Catholic University of America from 1971 until 1991. He then joined the faculty of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, which is located at the university. The institute on Dec. 15 voiced “profound gratitude” for May’s friendship, scholarship, and service to the Church. He was a recipient of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, the highest honor a Pope can give to Catholic laity and religious. He also received the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars’ Cardinal Wright Award. May wrote many academic articles and several books on topics including bioethics, sexual ethics, marriage, and chastity. He co-authored a book defending Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae, which reaffirmed Catholic recognition of the immorality of contraception. However, May was not always on the orthodox side of Humanae vitae. He played a small role in the well-organized and influential rebellion against the encyclical, pro-life advocate Connie Marshner reported on the Human Life Review blog Dec. 17. At the time the encyclical was issued, May was a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Marquette University. According to Marshner, he signed a public letter dissenting from the encyclical. The widely publicized letter was organized by Fr. Charles E. Curran, then a professor at Catholic University of America, who had the year prior been fired from his position for rejecting Catholic moral teaching, only to be rehired amid controversy. May repented of his dissent after studying the moral theology of Germain Grisez, and he quietly asked for his name to be removed from Curran’s letter. He then applied for a job in the religion department at Catholic University of America. “The academic climate of 1971 was such that  because  Bill May had signed that dissent against Humanae Vitae, and had never publicized his repenting of it, he  got the job,” Marshner said. When May refused to stop teaching in support of Humanae vitae, the department fired him five years after he was hired. However, he was awarded tenure by a single vote in the Catholic University of America’s Graduate School of Theology. May later served as an advisor to the California-based Catholics for the Common Good. The organization’s president, the similarly-named William B. May, lamented his death. “Dr. May was such a wonderful man who inspired so many of his students by not only what and how he taught, but by the way he lived his life,” William B. May said in a statement on the group’s website. He praised May’s “great contributions to the Church,” particularly the theologian’s book “The Theology of the Body in Context.” This provided a synopsis of St. John Paul II’s writings on marriage, family, and sexuality. Domingo, who studied under May in the mid-1990s, said he gave the “intellectual scaffolding” to the pro-life movement. “He provided the reasoning and arguments to those of us in the movement.” She is now Life coordinator in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office of Life, Justice and Peace. Marsher agreed with May’s importance as a pro-life intellectual. “And for this Bill May deserves the thanks of the pro-life movement around the world. May his memory be eternal.” May’s funeral Mass will be held at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kensington, Md. on Dec. 20 at 10 a.m. Read more

New York City, N.Y., Dec 17, 2014 / 10:07 pm (CNA).- Inside the chapel of Our Lady of Hope at Sing Sing Prison, inmates sitting in the penitentiary’s chapel pews were stunned by what they had received from Pope Francis. Denis Martinez, a convicted felon of eleven years serving time at Sing Sing, sent an original drawing of three crucifixes on Calvary as a gift to Pope Francis. Other inmates sent messages along with the drawing to the Pope, as a symbol of their respect for him. Much to their surprise, the inmates at Sing Sing received a gift in return from the Holy Father, who sent Martinez and his fellow prisoners a rosary, blessed holy cards, and a promise to keep them in his prayers. “I can’t believe one of my drawings was given to the pope, while I’m here, trapped,” Martinez stated in a Dec. 15 interview with the New York Times. “His message is one I believe in, one of social justice. Those of us who’ve been on the floor, like I’ve been on the bottom, we know about the struggle.” Although Martinez admitted that his own faith was at times shaky, he and the other inmates who unite in the prison’s chapel in prayer feel a special affection towards the Pope. The gift of the drawing was an idea prompted by one of the prison’s volunteers, Betty Woodward. In her meetings with the prisoners who attend Mass and Bible studies, she often spoke about Pope Francis and his message of love. “They were blown away by the fact that one of the first things Pope Francis did was go to a prison and wash the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday,” Woodward told the New York Times. “My personal reflection on this is that Pope Francis is like a father figure to them. He is not a distant person. He is warm, understands things and talks about mercy, love and not judging. These guys devour that message.” Using a fingerprint ink pad to create the drawing, Martinez drew the three crucifixes on Calvary reflecting in the eye of Christ crucified. “It’s a reflection in the pupil of the crucified Christ in the middle with two smaller crosses for the good thief and the bad thief,” Woodward said. “In Denis’s mind you have your choice: You can be the good thief or the bad thief. You can be bad, but become good.” During an October audience, Woodward personally presented Martinez’ drawing and the other inmates’ messages to Pope Francis. After returning from the audience, Woodward presented the men with the gifts that the Holy Father had sent in return. Additionally, Pope Francis gave Martinez a portrait of himself. Upon receiving the picture, Martinez’s eyes filled with tears. “This is the most beautiful gift I have received in here,” Martinez stated, adding, “I’m not the best Catholic, but my mother tried.” “Even if you doubt, you can take something from the pope’s message. You can find yourself in the bottom of the pit, but you can still hear his message and say 'alleluia.'” Read more

Washington D.C., Dec 17, 2014 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican played a critical role behind a prisoner exchange and a groundbreaking new policy between U.S. and Cuba announced on Wednesday, senior administration officials said. “Very importantly, the Vatican played a role in this as well,” a senior administration official said in a White House conference call with reporters on the prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Cuba, and the opening of new relations between the two. Pope Francis made a personal appeal to the presidents of both countries in a letter asking them to “resolve the case of Alan Gross and the case of the three Cubans who have been imprisoned here in the United States and also encouraging the United States and Cuba to pursue a closer relationship,” the official added. The White House announced a prisoner exchange with Cuba on Wednesday, as well as a historic shift in the relationship between the countries, which for decades has been marked by an embargo and lack of formal diplomatic relations. Plans are in place for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to begin talking to Cuba “on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations” for the first time since 1961, the White House said. Also in the works is a new U.S. embassy in Havana and “high-level” visits to the country. The countries will try to work together to fight Ebola, and on issues of migration, counter-terrorism, and drug-trafficking, a senior administration official explained. They “fully expect” there to be “strong differences” between the countries, but the Obama administration believes that “engagement is a better tool than isolation.” The U.S. will continue to push for better human rights in Cuba, the administration officials maintained. The new policy is “not lessening our emphasis on human rights, on democracy,” one official said, adding, “Our emphasis on human rights will be just as strong and we believe more effective under this policy.” Regarding the prisoner exchange, Cuba released Alan Gross, an American imprisoned there for five years, on “humanitarian grounds,” as well as an unidentified intelligence “asset” who was held there for 20 years, a senior administration official confirmed. In return, the U.S. released three Cuban prisoners. The prisoner swap was finalized at the Vatican, a senior administration official confirmed. Senior Vatican officials hosted delegations from both countries “this fall.” “The Support of Pope Francis and the support of the Vatican was important to us given the esteem with which both the American and Cuban people hold the Catholic Church,” one official stated, noting that Francis was also the first Pope hailing from Latin America. “President Obama has enormous respect for Pope Francis and his personal engagement was important to us,” the official continued. A meeting between the Pope and U.S. President Barack Obama also served as the starting point for Francis’ personal appeal, an official said, noting that “Cuba was a topic of discussion that got as much attention as anything else.” Pope Francis followed up that meeting with a letter to President Obama as well as a direct appeal to Cuban President Raul Castro. The appeal was “very rare,” one official acknowledged. “We haven’t received communications like this that I’m aware of.” The Vatican was the “only other government that participated in these discussions,” an official confirmed. In his announcement of the prisoner exchange and new diplomatic relations, Obama personally thanked Pope Francis for his involvement, saying that the pontiff sees “the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is.” The Vatican Secretariat of State release a communique Wednesday relating Pope Francis' "warm congratulations" for the decision "to establish diplomatic relations, with the aim of overcoming, in the interest of the citizens of both countries, the difficulties which have marked their recent history." It noted that the Pope had, "in recent months", written to both Castro and Obama, inving them "to resolve humanitarian questions of common interest, including the situation of certain prisoners, in order to initiate a new phase in relations between the two Parties." "The Holy See received Delegations of the two countries in the Vatican last October and provided its good offices to facilitate a constructive dialogue on delicate matters, resulting in solutions acceptable to both Parties," it continued. "The Holy See will continue to assure its support for initiatives which both nations will undertake to strengthen their bilateral relations and promote the wellbeing of their respective citizens."   Read more