Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2014 / 03:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops are imploring Congress to enact stronger medical conscience protections against state abortion laws by passing the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act. “We want to undersc... Read more
Vatican City, Nov 20, 2014 / 01:29 pm (CNA).- A Vatican source has confirmed to CNA that Pope Francis called a 24-year-old man in Spain who alleges he was the victim of sexual abuse a decade ago in the city of Granada. According to the Vatican offic... Read more
Rome, Italy, Nov 20, 2014 / 12:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Thursday condemned the excessive consumption and misuse of food, saying that often the statistics surrounding the topic of hunger are twisted for the sake of national security. “There are few subjects about which we find as many fallacies as those related to hunger; few topics as likely to be manipulated by data, statistics, the demands of national security, corruption, or futile lamentation about the economic crisis,” the Pope said Nov. 20. It is “painful,” he said, to see that the struggle against hunger and malnutrition “is hindered by 'market priorities,' the 'primacy of profit,' which have reduced foodstuffs to a commodity like any other, subject to speculation, also of a financial nature.” Pope Francis offered his comments during a speech given to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at their headquarters in Rome. The organization is currently holding their Second International Conference on Nutrition, which began on Nov. 19, and closes Nov. 21. The pontiff condemned what St. Pope John Paul II also spoke of at the First Conference on Nutrition in 1992, when he warned the international community against the risk of the “paradox of plenty.” This paradox in which there is enough food for everyone – and yet not everyone can eat – still exists, the Pope observed, saying that “waste, excessive consumption and the use of food for other purposes is visible before our very eyes.” In today's world relations between nations are often damaged by a “mutual suspicion” which at times leads to military and economic aggression, he said, noting how this aggression damages friendships and leads to the rejection and discarding of those who are already excluded. “This is a picture of today's world, in which it is necessary to recognize the limits of approaches based on the sovereignty of each state, intended as absolute, and national interest, frequently conditioned by small power groups,” he said. However, the Pope also underscored the importance of taking the discussion on hunger to a human level, in which conversation goes beyond rights and duties, and looks at those who are hungry themselves. “While we speak of new rights, the hungry remain at the street corner, and ask to be recognized as citizens, to receive a healthy diet. We ask for dignity, not for charity,” the Roman Pontiff voiced, saying that helpful theories can’t remain “in limbo,” but must be put into practice. Only when development plans and the work of international organizations respect the fundamental human rights, including the “rights of the hungry,” will relief efforts and humanitarian intervention gain momentum and yield greater results, he explained. Pope Francis also spoke of the need to grow in solidarity, saying that it is a virtue most societies lack due to the growing presence of individualism and division. “When there is a lack of solidarity in a country, the effects are felt throughout the world,” he said, noting how it is an attitude which enables people to go beyond differences and reach out to others in an effort to seek the common good. States too, the pontiff observed, should be able to work together and help each other through the just principles and norms of international law. This law, he said, should be based on the natural law which fosters love, justice and peace. “Like people, States and international institutions are called to welcome and nurture these values, in a spirit of dialogue and mutual listening. In this way, the aim of feeding the human family becomes feasible.” It is the duty of every state, the Pope added, to care for the well-being of its citizens – a duty that requires perseverance and support. He reinforced the efforts of the Church in fighting hunger and caring for the dignity of the poor throughout the world, pointing to how the Holy See has spoken out in numerous documents and statements, and is involved in various international organizations. By doing these things the Church “contributes to identifying and assuming the criteria to be met in order to develop an equitable international system,” the Pope continued, saying that these criterion ought to be based on pillars of truth, freedom and solidarity. The same goes for those in the legal field, he observed, saying that the same criteria should be used in defining the relationship between rights and food, the right to be protected by law, and the “obligation” of sharing economic wealth with the world. “No form of political or economic pressure that exploits the availability of foodstuffs can be considered acceptable (and) no system of discrimination, de facto or de jure, linked to the capacity of access to the market of foodstuffs, must be taken as a model for international efforts that aim to eliminate hunger,” he said. Pope Francis concluded his speech by urging everyone involved to place themselves at the service of those who suffer due to hunger, assisting them through close proximity and concrete action. “I also pray that the international community might hear the call of this Conference and consider it an expression of the common conscience of humanity: feed the hungry, save life on the planet.” Read more
Vatican City, Nov 20, 2014 / 11:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The divorced and remarried can receive absolution like any other member of the faithful, the Vatican's doctrinal office has affirmed: when they repent, in their case taking a firm resolution to abstain from sex with their new partner. “We cannot exclude a priori the remarried divorced faithful from a penitential process that would lead to a sacramental reconciliation with God and, therefore, also to Eucharistic Communion,” the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote Oct. 22 in response to the question of a priest. “In any event, absolution cannot be granted if not under the condition of being assured of true contrition, that is, 'a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future' (Council of Trent, Doctrine on the Sacrament of Penance, c. 4). In this line, a remarried divorcee cannot be validly absolved if he does not take the firm resolution of not 'sinning for the future' and therefore of abstaining from the acts proper to spouses, by doing in this sense all that is within his power.” The congregation's letter was signed by its secretary, Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, and its French text was translated into English by Rorate Caeli. It responded to a French priest who asked if a confessor can “grant absolution to a penitent who, having been religiously married, has contracted a second union following divorce.” The penitential process open to the divorced and remarried must take into consideration three elements, Archbishop Ladaria affirmed. First, it is to involve “verify(ing) the validity of the religious marriage in the respect of truth, all the while avoiding giving the impression of a kind of 'Catholic divorce'.” Then, it should be seen if eventually “the persons, with the aid of grace, can separate from their new partners and reconcile with those from whom they had separated.” Finally, if the divorced and remarried “for serious reasons (for instance, children), cannot separate from their partner,” then they should be “invite(d) … to live as 'brother and sister'.” The letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was signed three days following the close of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, which met in Rome to discuss challenges to the family in the context of evangelization. Cardinal Walter Kasper has used the synod to advocate for the admission, in certain circumstances, of some divorced and remarried persons to Confession and Communion. The CDF's letter quoted from Familiaris consortio, the concluding document of another Synod on the Family, which was held in 1980. “Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage,” reads the quote from St. John Paul II's 1981 apostolic exhortation. “This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they 'take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.'” The congregation also referred to the concluding document of the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, Sacramentum caritatis, which noted that “where the nullity of the marriage bond is not declared and objective circumstances make it impossible to cease cohabitation, the Church encourages these members of the faithful to commit themselves to living their relationship in fidelity to the demands of God's law, as friends, as brother and sister; in this way they will be able to return to the table of the Eucharist, taking care to observe the Church's established and approved practice in this regard.” The CDF's letter was released Nov. 12 in an article at the French site L'homme nouveau, the author of which, Fr. Claude Barthe, notes that even if the letter “gives the impression of being 'rigid', in reality it opts for the greatest kindness possible towards the sinner … one may say that Congregation places itself, according to the tradition of the Holy See, in the framework of the Roman school of theology, that of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, who combated the French rigorists.” “The conclusion of the Responsum is particularly interesting,” Fr. Barthe stated. “In effect it regulates the particular case of the absolution given to a divorcee who has contracted a new union with respect to the general principle concerning the integrity of the sacrament of Penance, and by way of the consequence of the legitimacy of the absolution that the minister of the sacrament grants.” Read more
Lahore, Pakistan, Nov 20, 2014 / 10:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the two weeks since a Christian couple was killed by a Muslim mob in Pakistan, local leaders from both religions have come together repeatedly to call for justice in the matter, and an end to the misuse of blasphemy allegations. On Nov. 4, Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama were reportedly killed and their bodies burned by a mob after they were accused of desecrating the Quran. The couple lived in Kot Radha Kishan, a city located nearly 40 miles southwest of Lahore. The couple worked at a brick kiln, and it has been reported that the kiln owner noticed Shama burning some belongings of her recently-deceased father-in-law, and charged that some pages she burnt were from the Quran – he then detained them. They owed him money, and he refused to release them without being paid. It was then announced from local mosques that the couple had desecrated the Quran, and a mob forced their way into the room where the Masihs were held, and beat them. Reports vary as to whether or not the couple's bodies were thrown into the kiln before or after their deaths. The incident has led to calls for better justice and increased solidarity throughout Pakistan. On Nov. 18, a group of Muslim and Christian scholars and religious leaders met with Mohammad Sarwar, governor of Punjab, the province in which Kot Radha Kishan is located, “to express our deep shock on this barbaric act of burning alive, the fears of Pakistani Christian religious minority and our reservation on the follow up of this heinous crime,” according to a report by Fr. James Channan, O.P., director of the Peace Center Lahore. The meeting “was also to listen to the point of view of the government of Pakistan and what strategy it has adopted to deal with such a crime and would justice be ever done?” Fr. Channan was joined at the meeting by Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulama Council, and two Anglican bishops. Sarwar condemned the killing, Fr. Channan reported, and “said that the case of Radha Kishn is a test case for the government of Pakistan. We want that all those who are involved in this heinous crime must be given exemplary punishment so that no one else dares to commit such a crime in (the) future. Our government will make sure that all the criminals are brought to justice.” Robert Azriah, the Anglican bishop of Raiwind, said that it was unfortunate that the government had failed to punish the perpetrators of such acts in the past, saying that had those criminals been punished then such incidents would not have taken place. “The miscreants must be punished and all those who misuse these laws must be given exemplary punishment so that no other person dares to misuse these laws,” Fr. Channan reported him saying. The Dominican also noted that Tahir Ashrafi lamented that in the past, “no one was punished who attacked Christian villages and colonies. That is big question for me … if they were penalized then this incident would have not taken place.” “He said we are with our fellow Christian citizens and we lament and mourn with them. He said that a group of 100 Ulama went to the site of the crime and condoled our Christian brothers and sisters. We are with you and will raise voice so that justice is done to you.” The Pakistan Ulama Council had already, on Nov. 12, demanded “that judicial inquiry should be conducted into the Kot Radha Kishan tragedy and the culprits must be brought to justice.” On Nov. 18, the kiln owner and more than five other suspects in the case of the Masihs were jailed on judicial remand, according to the Daily Times, based in Lahore. The previous day, relatives of the Masih's said at a press conference that they were being pressured to withdraw the case against those who are believed responsible for their deaths, with both threats and promises of land and money. Sajid Ishaq, chairman of the Pakistan Interfaith League, said “We want the government to relocate the family to a safer place to protect them from the people pressuring them,” according to The Express Tribune. On Nov. 13, the Peace Center Lahore, United Religious Initiative, and the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Forum of Minhaj ul Quran organized a peaceful protest march in Lahore over the Masihs' tragedy. Minhaj ul Quran reported that its secretary general, Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, “said that those who have perpetrated this horrible crime are not only enemies of Islam but also of humanity” and “that the purpose of this interfaith prayer and protest is to give message to the peace-loving people of the world that they should play their individual and collective role for establishment of peace.” In addition, the Pakistani bishops' conference and the Major Superiors Leadership Conference of Pakistan on Nov. 12 sent joint letters to several government officials, and to the U.N. Council on Human Rights in Islamabad, demanding that the government take action to protect minorities in the wake of the Masihs' case. The matter “is a grim reminder that intolerance in the name of religion in Pakistan has escalated beyond the rule of law,” read the text of the letter, which was made available to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. “The situation has now reached beyond the application of laws for justice, to where crowds and police are repeatedly setting precedents for street justice … such incidents reflect lack of governance.” The letter, signed by Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi and Fr. Pascal Paulus, O.P., presented six demands to the Pakistani government, including that all those involved in the crime or inciting the violence be dealt with according to law, that clerics responsible for inciting violence through mosque loudspeakers be held accountable; that the government “take immediate measures to stop the misuse of the Blasphemy laws”; and that mob violence be curtailed by “training and sensitizing its police force and hold them accountable in future for any negligence on their part.” Pakistan's state religion is Islam, and around 97 percent of the population is Muslim. The nation has adopted blasphemy laws which impose strict punishment on those who desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. The blasphemy laws are said to be often used to settle scores or to persecute minorities; while non-Muslims constitute only 3 percent of the Pakistani population, 14 percent of blasphemy cases have been levied against them. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's 2013 report cited “chronic” sectarian and religiously motivated violence in the country, as well as the Pakistan government perpetrating and tolerating “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.” Read more
Vatican City, Nov 20, 2014 / 05:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his homily on Thursday Pope Francis said that the Gospel scene in which Jesus wept for Jerusalem’s closed heart is repeated today with those in the Church who are afraid to let him work i... Read more
Amman, Jordan, Nov 20, 2014 / 04:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Syrian Muslim refugee aided by the Catholic relief agency Caritas Jordan now volunteers to help other refugees, saying the agency staff makes him feel like “a brother.” “Be... Read more
Vatican City, Nov 20, 2014 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Turkey's small community of 53,000 Catholics – amid a population of 76 million – is anticipating Pope Francis' upcoming trip to the country with joyful hearts, says Istanbul's apostolic vicariate. The vicariate voiced gratitude for the Pope's visit, which will coincide with the feast of the Apostle Andrew, the patron saint of the Orthodox Church. In response to an invitation sent by Patriarch Bartolomeo I of Constantinople, Pope Francis will make a three-day trip to Turkey, during which he will visit the cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Announced in September following the reception of an official letter of invitation signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the trip will take place Nov. 28-30, and falls just days after Pope Francis' Nov. 25 address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In stark contrast with his previous trips, usually packed with various liturgies, audiences and meetings with diverse groups of people, Pope Francis is keeping his schedule light, and will only give 3 public speeches, one being a homily for Mass on the second day of his trip. On Nov. 28, the Pope will fly directly to the Turkish capital of Ankara, where he will meet with political authorities. The following day, he will travel by plane to Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, where he will visit the historic Hagia Sophia museum, which is a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica that was later transformed into an imperial mosque. He will then visit the historic Sultan Ahmet Mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque” due to the blue tiles covering the inside. After his visit to these two historically significant sites, the Pope will celebrate Mass in Istanbul’s Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. He will then participate in an ecumenical prayer at the Patriarchal church of St. George, after which he will have a private encounter with His Holiness Bartholomew I. On his final day in Turkey Pope Francis will hold a private Mass in the morning before praying the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal church of St. George and signing a joint declaration with Bartolomeo I. In its statement, the vicaiate says that the upcoming papal trip continues the journey begun by Blessed Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras towards Christian unity in 1964 in Jerusalem. “The visit by Pope Francis is in the framework of this venerable tradition because, in the words of Patriarch Bartholomew I, 'We want to work intensely and together for the holy cause of full communion in Jesus Christ.'” Turkey awaits Pope Francis “with joyful and thankful hearts,” the vicariate said, voicing hope that “his presence and words will confirm us in the faith and strengthen our hope in Jesus Christ, the Lord of history and the Savior of the world.” Read more
Vatican City, Nov 20, 2014 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One of the lessons learned from this week's Vatican conference on marriage, say organizers, is that the beauty of man and woman's complementarity is not political, but is rather the human experience. The Humanum Colloquium, which ran Nov. 17-19, heard testimonies from people of more than a dozen religious traditions speaking on the theme of the complementarity of man and woman. Helen Alvaré, law professor at George Mason University and communications liaison for the colloquium, recounted to CNA that “the question of the relationship between man and woman is (not) only a political question,” but rather, it is “a matter of human experience, human happiness, human freedom, or the Divine plan.” Alvaré stressed the importance of remembering the time it takes to understand the notion of complementarity, not only in one's own relationship, but in today's climate. “We should be really patient with people who are struggling” to understand the notion of complementarity, she said, “especially young people.” “We need to begin getting this language out,” she added, “but also cautioning them that it’s going to take them some time actually living it to understand it.” The final day of the gathering began with the General Audience with Pope Francis, followed in the afternoon with presentations from Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who spoke on the upcoming World Meeting of Families which is set to take place Sept. 2015, and from Dr. Kala Acharya, a Hindu who is director of an institute dedicated to inter-religious dialogue among Hindus, Christians, and Muslims. Speaking on the variety of religious traditions represented in the discussions of man and woman, “some of which overlap, some of which do not,” Alvaré noted the “fabulous affirmation of a natural appreciation for the natural attraction between man and woman, the fact that man and woman are the origin of all human life.” “There was different language coming at the same concept: there is a duality in nature, (and) man and woman are the highest example of that,” she said, adding that it is meaningful that God made a “two-sexed humanity,” and the conference explored that meaning, with all of the talks centering on one common theme: “the beauty of complementarity.” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who attended the colloquium, told CNA the gathering was an opportunity to learn from one another, and to recognize those truths that are in common. “On the one hand, we do have to be careful not to just sort of water-down our unique identities, and what we hope to be true. But, we can recognize there are fundamental truths that we share in common.” “It’s not a matter of trying to blend us all into one sort of world religion,” the archbishop continued. “The world seems to be falling apart at the seams, if I may put it that way, with so much violence and human trafficking and drug trafficking ... we need the power of faith to heal the world.” One of the aspects which arose from the Humanum conference, said participant Fr. Scott Borgman, an official for the Pontifical Academy for Life in an interview with CNA, “was a universal love and acceptance of the family as it is defined, as a man and a woman,” and, echoing the Pope's words on Nov. 17, “the right of a child to have a father and a mother.” Bringing together representatives from “different cultures, different languages, different religious affiliations,” he said, testifies that those in the media promoting the breakdown of the family do not represent the majority. “This is the rest of the world,” he said, “standing up and saying: Look! We need our voice to be heard.” Read more
Vatican City, Nov 19, 2014 / 07:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed René Bruelhart president of the Financial Information Authority, the Vatican's financial watchdog, thus opening a new phase for the authority that Bruelhart had until now directed. Bruelhart replaces Bishop Giorgio Corbellini, president of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See, as president of the FIA. Bishop Corbellini has been appointed the FIA's interim president in January. New statutes for the body were issued in November 2013, while in July the board of directors was entirely replaced by new members, in order to improve the authority's international profile – the previous board was solely composed by Italians. Carrying out the transition, Bruelhart's Nov. 19 appointment is a promotion, and an appointment for the now-vacant director's position is expected soon. Hired by the Vatican as “ad hoc” advisor for anti-money laundering efforts in 2012 and later appointed director of the authority, Bruelhart has carried forward the process of reform. Under Bruelhart’s direction, the Financial Intelligence Authority has become part of the Egmont Group (a forum which brings together the financial information units of many countries), and has signed several memoranda of understanding with its counterparts, the most important being those with the US, Germany, and Italy. The reform of the AIF's statutes followed a series of further adjustments to help bring the Vatican ever more in conformity with international financial standards, a processes begun by Benedict XVI. After the Vatican financial system received a generally positive report from the Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee in July 2012, the powers of the Financial Intelligence Authority were enhanced with two modifications to the Vatican's anti-money laundering law, and it was then given of the power of prudential supervision by the Aug. 8 2013 motu proprio “The promotion of integral human development” and by and with the October 2013 Vatican City State Law XVIII. The natural outcome of these reforms was the Financial Intelligence Authority's new statutes, which came into effect Nov. 21, 2013 and established an office for prudential supervision, outlined the powers of the board of directors, and strengthened the powers of the director. Now that the transition has been completed, Bruelhart becomes president of the authority, and leaves vacant the post of director. He will suggest his successor, and this latter will be appointed by the Secretariat of State. In the coming days, the new director will be appointed, and it seems granted that Bruelhart will indicate Tommaso Di Ruzza for his succession. At the moment, Di Ruzza is vice-director of the authority. A ‘curricula studiorum’ on international law in the universities of Rome, Oxford, and Siena, Di Ruzza has been a legal officer of the Holy See since 2005 and, since 2011, in charge of the AIF’s juridical and international issues. Di Ruzza is among the main drafters of the Holy See's enhancements on financial matters to adhere to international standards. He oversaw the negotiations regarding Moneyval and the Egmont Group, as well as the negotiations for the memoranda of understanding signed by the Financial Intelligence Authority. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Catholic News
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In