2014-11-12T17:40:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 5:40 pm   By

London, England, Nov 12, 2014 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Claiming that the government has turned a blind eye to sex-selective abortions, British pro-life activists are launching a rare private prosecution against two doctors accused of promoting the illegal practice. “Again we have seen the establishment stand silent in the face of the abortion industry, hoping that the horrors will be swept under the carpet and the problems go away,” said Aisling Hubert, a pro-life campaigner supported by the Christian Legal Centre in a Nov. 10 statement on the prosecution. “But justice demands that something is done and that people are held to account for their actions. The law can only protect if it is enforced,” she urged. Hubert has launched a private prosecution of Dr. Prabha Sivaraman and another, unnamed, doctor for their alleged promotion of sex-selective abortions – an illegal procedure under British law – during a 2012 undercover investigation. The investigation opened up a storm of controversy after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer, decided in 2013 not to bring charges against the doctors. After investigation by Scotland Yard, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that it was not in the “public interest” to defend laws outlawing the abortion of baby girls or boys solely on the basis of sex, despite arguments that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the case. Starmer later added to the confusion around the case, saying that doctors can have “wide discretion” in assessing whether or not to continue a pregnancy, and that existing laws do not “expressly prohibit gender-specific abortions.” Prime Minister David Cameron and other ministers have asserted that abortions based on the grounds of an unborn child’s sex are illegal. However, the British Medical Association has commented that some situations may exist in which it “would be lawful” to abort a pregnancy because of the sex of the child. In an attempt to settle the dispute, members of the House of Commons of the British Parliament voted 181-1 to support legislation that clearly states the illegality of sex-selective abortions during a Nov. 4 vote. Following the launch of prosecution against the doctors, the Magistrates' Court in Manchester has ordered Dr. Sivaraman to appear before the court in December to face charges of “conspiracy to procure poison to be used with intent to procure abortion, contrary to section 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.” “Gender-abortion is a horrible practice,” Hubert said of the suit. “I took this dramatic step because those who should have done so were effectively turning a blind eye.”   Read more

2014-11-12T11:56:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 11:56 am   By

Vatican City, Nov 12, 2014 / 04:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his weekly general audience Pope Francis spoke on the qualities needed to be a true minister of God, saying that those who are ordained should never be “authoritative,” but rather h... Read more

2014-11-12T11:27:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 11:27 am   By

Beirut, Lebanon, Nov 12, 2014 / 04:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Near the Lebanon-Syria border, two religious sisters are among the staff members at a refugee service center working to give relief – and hope – to thousands who have fled the armed... Read more

2014-11-12T09:56:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 9:56 am   By

Baltimore, Md., Nov 12, 2014 / 02:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- While a failure to understand doctrine is present in many segments of the Catholic population, young adults are exhibiting an alarmingly casual attitude towards accepting Church teaching, a stud... Read more

2014-11-12T09:03:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 9:03 am   By

Rome, Italy, Nov 12, 2014 / 02:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The lack of a proper 'education to love' is the major issue at stake with regard to family – being more compelling than the issues of the divorced and remarried or same-sex attracted persons, Msgr. Livio Melina has stressed. Msgr. Melina is president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Speaking with CNA Nov. 6, he explained that the institute feels it “has a vocation to accompany the Church on her synodal path,” and that for this reason it is going to organize three different events to explore in-depth the issues that are at stake. The first of these events will be an “intensive class with public events on the topic of the cohabitation and the ‘forever of love.’” “The theme of a proper education to love is always more compelling. This is the real issue, not that of the divorced and remarried, as has been wrongly pointed out.” “The real issue is the incapability of taking a definitive decision for marriage,” Msgr. Melina said. Another hot-button issue – which will be discussed in March – is that of “the objective goods of love,” that is the goods ‘of the sacrament and love’. “Speaking about objective goals helps one to understand that marriage is not a private event, but it rather deals with the whole of society.” The last synod of bishops presented a wide discussion about the possible access to Communion for divorced and remarried persons, and so the Pontifical Institute will clarify Church teaching with an event scheduled in April: a debate on “Eucharist and Marriage – Two Sacraments, one sole alliance.” These three events display the kind of contribution the Pontifical Institute will be able to give to the synod path. Founded 34 years ago at the wish of St. John Paul II, the Pontifical Institute has 11 branches in the world, and its effort has been widely praised in the Extraordinary Synod preparatory document, though none of its members were invited to take part in the assembly as experts. Msgr. Melina stressed that “the Institute works to fullfil the mission it had been entrusted by St. John Paul II, that is the mission of seeking what is the vocation of the family under the twofold light of revelation and human experience.” “On one side, we should be attentive to the daily life of families, its painful experiences as well as the experience of beauty and sanctity … and on the other side, we should look at this under the perspective and light of biblical revelation,” Msgr. Melina said.   Read more

2014-11-12T03:22:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 3:22 am   By

Baltimore, Md., Nov 11, 2014 / 08:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted Tuesday on several committee leadership positions, also considering several liturgical proposals and moving forward with a New York canonization cau... Read more

2014-11-12T00:02:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 12:02 am   By

Boulder, Colo., Nov 11, 2014 / 05:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The pill is not only causing a massive shift in who women are attracted to, but is also wrecking havoc on their bodies, men and the environment. What's more? Biochemical research can prove it, says one critic. “Chemical contraceptives were first introduced as being good for our bodies,” said Vicki Thorn, founder of Project Rachel and the National Office for Post Abortion Reconciliation and Healing. “There was very little research that was done when chemical contraception first became available.” Thorn spoke Nov. 6 on the topic of “The Science of Attraction: A New View on Sex” at the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, an intellectual arm of ministry on the campus of CU Boulder, Colorado. She said that in the wake of activist Margaret Sanger's birth control movement in the early 20th century – which sought legalization and widespread availability of the pill – society has been largely bereft of the knowledge on exactly what chemical contraception does to the female body. And yet – according to Thorn – nutritional deficiencies, weight gain, blood clots, cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, long term infertility, and de-mineralization causing osteoporosis are all direct side effects of birth control. Most of the 68 million women using contraception today don't know that, she said. In addition to the physical side effects, Thorn believes that contraception also influences a woman's attraction to a man. “When women meet men, they are either attracted or not attracted by scent. If a woman is not contracepting, she will be attracted to a male whose immune system is a compliment to hers – this is the possibility for fertility,” Thorn stated. On the other hand, Thorn said that when a woman is contracepting, her pheromone preference will change, and she may now be attracted to a man whose immune system is like her own, her father's, or her brother's. “This is a fertility challenge and a huge issue because if she goes off contraceptives, she may no longer find him attractive,” Thorn said, adding that this could be the culprit behind many destroyed relationships. Chemical contraception, she added, is not only a major steroid hormone listed as a type one carcinogen, it can also affect the attraction a woman feels toward her partner. While sports players are not allowed to take steroids, women are using steroids in birth control every day without fully knowing what it can do to the chemical make-up of her body, she said. Beyond this, Thorn also believes that contraception is flat-lining the way men interact with women. “There is estrogen in the water now. Male fertility has dropped by 50 percent after the pill was introduced, around the world.” Thorn referred to various studies done on monkeys, which have shown that males are more interested in females who were not contracepting. She believes that this study applies to humans as well. The way a woman’s body works naturally engages the male, causing him to be more interested and connected, she observed. However, a woman who is chemically altering her body’s natural flux will not engage a male in the same way. “But we aren't told these things,” she said. Thorn also believes that from a biochemical standpoint, humans were not meant to have multiple sexual partners. She explained that the chemistry of bonding is awakened in the human body during sexual activity, which is meant to connect one person to one other person. Chemically, Thorn said, having sex with multiple partners is a complex and unnatural occurrence. Complexities also transpire when a woman conceives a child, given that every woman carries the cells of every child that has been conceived in her womb. Consequently, her children will also carry the cells of their older siblings, which has a tremendous affect on women who have had abortions, Thorn said. “This is an awareness of how interconnected we really are, in many ways.” Read more

2014-11-11T19:47:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 11, 2014 at 7:47 pm   By

Rome, Italy, Nov 11, 2014 / 12:47 pm (CNA).- Following protests from viewers, the Italian bishops' conference-run TV station has withdrawn an invitation to a popular Italian trans-sexual and LGBT activist to take part in its prime-time show. Vladimir Luxuria, whose original name is Vladimiro Guadagno, had been invited to appear on Tv2000's talk show “Il Tg dei Tg” as a guest commentator addressing daily news and general affairs. The announcement of Vladimir Luxuria’s participation to the show came along with the beginning of the Italian Bishops Conference autumn council, which includes the presidents of the Italian Regional Conferences and of the Bishops' conference commission.   Although the invitation drew emails and social media posts of outcry from viewers, Luxuria says that the autumn council posed a scheduling conflict with the show, which he claims is the official reason for the withdrawal.   “I had been invited about ten days ago to take part to the show, and I accepted. Then yesterday, Paolo Ruffini, the director of the television, called me and withdrew the invitation, explaining that perhaps the journalist who had invited me did not notice that the Italian Bishops Permanent Council was gathering in these days,” Luxuria told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. In remarks to CNA, Ruffini said he would not comment on why Luxuria had been invited to take part to the show.   Luxuria maintains to La Repubblica that Ruffini had told him that “the invitation was just postponed,” since Ruffini said  “he was not going to cancel my participation, but he just said he had to move it forward of a couple of weeks.”   The first trans-sexual in Europe to be elected a Member of Parliament in 2006 and the organizer of the first Italian Gay Pride in 1994, Luxuria is advocating a civil unions law –  which the Italian government is drafting – effectively recognizing gay “marriage” in the country.   Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops' conference, criticized the law in his opening address Nov. 10 to the autumn council.   “It is a thoughtless weakening the family by creating new legal figures – yet with specious distinctions which only confuse people and are a 'Trojan horse'” to culturally and socially get rid of the notion of family, the cardinal said. Read more

2014-11-11T19:47:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 11, 2014 at 7:47 pm   By

Baltimore, Md., Nov 11, 2014 / 12:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Stressing the value of Catholic schools, leaders of the U.S. bishops called for greater outreach to underserved communities, to help them benefit from a faith-based education. “Welcoming more children from diverse populations in our Catholic schools, and particularly making an effort to reach out to underserved communities, is important for the future of Catholic schools and of our Church,” said Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. Bishop Flores offered a presentation to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered in Baltimore Nov. 10 for its fall general assembly. He was joined by Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb, who heads the conference’s Catholic education committee.   The two bishops stressed the importance of Catholics schools in providing “lasting faith formation, vocations to the religious life and priesthood, high educational attainments, and communities of the New Evangelization.” They encouraged outreach to underserved populations in order to help evangelize. Doing so, they said, benefits both the Church and the students. “The New Evangelization calls us to open up an inviting space where God's grace can take hold and bear fruit, to welcome the Spirit in ways that support conversion, touch the heart, and inspire,” Archbishop Lucas said. Because Catholic schools foster true communities, students are more engaged and able to achieve at higher levels, he said, pointing out that 99 percent of Catholic high school students graduate, and 87 percent of graduates go on to a four-year college. The archbishop pointed to findings by the National Assessment of Educational Progress that Latino and African American students at Catholic high schools and colleges are more likely to graduate. Bishop Flores called for particular outreach to the Latino community in the United States. In Latin America, he explained, there is no parish school system. Catholic schools “are usually private, and often unaffordable” to many families. “Parents do not know how to access the system, think it costs a lot of money and, without much further consideration, discard even the thought of inquiring” about Catholic schools in the U.S., the bishop said, stressing the need for bilingual staff members and cultural training to overcome these difficulties. Some progress has been made in this area, Bishop Flores said, pointing to statistics that the percentage of Latino children in U.S. Catholic schools has grown in recent years from 12.8 percent to 15 percent. “The needle is moving in the right direction, even if slowly,” he said. Read more

2014-11-11T19:44:00+00:00

Last updated on: November 11, 2014 at 7:44 pm   By

Maiduguri, Nigeria, Nov 11, 2014 / 12:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The violent onslaught of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has forced the Diocese of Maiduguri, which has suffered most from the militants, to effectively shrink to half its size according to its bishop. Since Boko Haram began its offensive nearly five years ago, half of the parishes in the Diocese of Maiduguri have been deserted, according to Bishop Oliver Doeme. Ongoing violence has also displaced nearly half the local priests. “We are thoroughly devastated by the Boko Haram attacks…as a Church, families, and individuals,” Bishop Doeme wrote in a Nov. 6 pastoral letter, which was obtained by Aid to the Church in Need. “We are wounded, traumatized, and devastated.” The same day, Bishop Doeme told Channels TV that of the 46 priests working in his diocese, 20 have been displaced by Boko Haram; some are being sheltered in the neighboring Yola diocese. Twenty of Maiduguri's 40 parishes have been deserted, with many of them looted, taken over, or burned down by Boko Haram. The Diocese of Maiduguri includes most of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria. The diocese also extends into the nearby states of Adamawa and Yobe. All three states have been living in an official state of emergency since May 2013. Bishop Doeme wrote that there is no answer to the question of the evil the region is experiencing through Boko Haram. “But, for sure, the ultimate result of our pains and anguish is for God’s name to be glorified and for our own purification and edification,” he wrote.   The bishop published his pastoral letter one day before a suicide bomber with apparent ties to Boko Haram detonated near a bank in Azare, which is located in Bauchi state, which borders Yobe. The blast killed at least ten people. On Nov. 10, another suicide bomber attacked a school assembly in the nearby town of Potiskum. The blast killed at least 46 students, according to the BBC. Police have suggested Boko Haram was behind the attack, which lead to a shutdown of all public schools in the area. Boko Haram has also advanced its control in recent days, having captured both Mubi and Maiha in Adamawa; its control now extends to within 100 miles of Yola. In his pastoral letter, Bishop Doeme wrote that prayer is the answer to the ongoing violence. He urged the faithful to cling in prayer to Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Nigeria’s countless modern martyrs. “We don’t have physical weapons such (as) armored tanks, APC, Jet fighters, rocket propellers, rocket launchers, AK47 among others. The enemies trust in these arms, but we in the Lord,” he reflected. “Do not grow weak in prayer. This can be the devil’s strategy to cut the line of communication between you and your Lord.” Boko Haram’s attacks have killed thousands since 2009; including at least 4,000 in 2014 alone, according to Human Rights Watch. The U.N. estimates that the attacks have led to more than 470,000 internally displaced persons, and some 57,000 refugees. In the face of all this, Bishop Doeme urged his people to “never get discouraged. Our faith should make us see beyond the immediate experience and look at the future – that is, after this temporal life with its pains and suffering, we shall share in the eternal glory of our Lord. And so we need to have unshakable faith in God despite what we are experiencing. I always tell you my people that there are two precious gifts of the Lord that on no account should we allow anybody to separate us from them. And these are our faith and our souls.” Bishop Doeme reassured the faithful that “what we are experiencing does not in any way imply that God is loving us less,” and that in Mary “we have a mother who never fails.” “A big lesson we are learning from this crisis is that we need to draw closer to God,” he stated. He also urged the importance of forgiveness, saying it is “the only thing we can give to the terrorists and their sponsors. Forgiveness in this instance is very difficult. But we must forgive, since our Lord Jesus forgave his executioners.” Bishop Doeme encouraged his people to rejoice, “because God the Father is with us; God the Son is with us; God the Holy Spirit is with us. Be consoled because our Mother Mary is with us. The Archangels and our patron angels are with us. The countless saints in heaven are with us.” “The modern martyrs, our brothers and sisters killed because of the persecution, have joined the triumphant army in heaven and are interceding for us daily.” “Be consoled, for I, as your servant (bishop) am with you in spirit wherever you are, whether in the forests or mountains, or caves or bushes, towns or villages, I am there with you sharing in your pains, troubles, anxieties and anguish.” Read more

TAKE THE
Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian tradition is associated with the seven sacraments?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Browse Our Archives
TRENDING AT PATHEOS Catholic
If you were Ghislaine Maxwell, what would you...
Today Will Soon Be Gone
I Wanted to Teach a Geography Class
Are Our Bibles in the Wrong Order?—Part IV
Unity in a Divided World: A Spiritual Guide
Homeland Security Committee Attacks Catholic Charities
view all Catholic blogs