Catholic News 2

Full Article

Rome, Italy, Feb 2, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite the destruction caused by nearly six years of conflict between rebels and pro-government forces, the people in Aleppo, especially the Christians, are filled with vitality, hope, and a desire to rebuild, to return to a normal life, a Vatican official said after a recent visit to the city.

On behalf of Pope Francis, Mons. Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, secretary of the new Vatican department for Promoting Integral Human Development, lead a delegation of the Holy See on a visit to the Syrian city of Aleppo Jan. 18-23.

“My impression of the Christian communities was that the people are alive, desiring to have a normal life,” he told CNA, and to “begin again, with several initiatives in order to go back to normality.”

The trip had special significance as it marked the Holy See's first official visit to Aleppo since the end of the city's six-year conflict Dec. 22.

“The meaning of this visit was especially to give a sign of the attention of the universal Church to our Christian communities in Aleppo,” he said, “but I would say too, for the whole population in Aleppo, because everybody still suffers because of this dramatic situation they had to live through.”

Lead by Mons. Dal Toso, the delegation also included Neo-Cardinal Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio to Syria, and Thomas Habib, Director of the Apostolic Nunciature.

Mons. Dal Toso said that the situation he found in Aleppo was incredibly difficult: they have a shortage of many things, like food, water, medicine and electricity. They are also dealing with high prices due to a high rate of inflation.

“But at the same time,” he emphasized, “I found also the desire, the will, to commence again, to begin again a normal life,” he said.

During the visit, the delegation oversaw the development of several projects, including the opening of a Caritas center in eastern Aleppo, which distributes clothes and food, because “the people really have nothing more,” he said.

They also have a project focused specifically on helping refugees, as well as several which distribute medicine.

Another important focus of the Catholic Church in Aleppo is education and helping the schools to continue – an important priority, Mons. Dal Tosos said. There are a lot of children in Aleppo, “but many of them are not going to school…”

“There is a need for preparing professionals for the future. We hope that the war will be ended…in a short time. This is a hope of mine and I think of everyone, but we have also to think of reconstruction, of people who can help us in the reconstruction.”

In addition to the humanitarian aid, they are also working to provide pastoral care for Christian families in the area specifically. “This is an aspect we cannot forget as a Church, people need also to be accompanied in the faith in this difficult situation they have to live in,” he said.

Although they place an added emphasis on support for Christians, the religious minority, the aid they supply is distributed regardless of religion. Everything is done for people “without consideration of their belief, of their creed,” he emphasized.

“Normally, in our work, we do not distinguish between different Christian confessions or if someone comes from another religion, we are helping everybody. We are trying, through the simple fact that we are open to everybody…to foster this social issue. To help people to live together.”

“This is a big contribution that the Catholic Church can give,” he continued. “Not just in kindness, but exactly in this period of cooperation and of cohabitation, regardless of religion, of culture, or of ethnic belonging.”

Asked if he found there to be any one or two needs that are most urgent, Mons. Dal Toso said that it is “difficult to determine if there is one priority,” the needs are so immense, though building up houses is one, since many were destroyed by bombs.

Another is food, of course, “because people are really living in poverty.” Healthcare is also an urgent need: We “continue our work with our Catholic hospitals,” he said, “supporting people who are sick.” Education also tops the list.

“So I would say that the needs are really many, and we cannot answer to every need that we find, but at least we can try to do our best.”

“And I have the impression, this I have to say, that the engagement of the Catholic communities and of the Catholic Church through the different agencies, and so on, is a very big effort in order to help the Syrian population,” he said.

The visit of the Holy See’s delegation also included a meeting with the civil authorities, who gave their greeting to the Pope and expressed their gratitude for the gesture of Pope Francis in giving the Nuncio the dignity of a cardinal.

The role of the civil authority in Syria at this moment, Mons. Dal Toso said, is to “foster the process of peace” as much as possible, and make it easy for the organizations working there to carry out their work, which he said, in his experience, has thankfully not been an issue so far.

Reflecting on the visit, Mons. Dal Toso said it was very important to him “to see the people concretely, to see the faces.”

“It is important that you can see the people for whom you are working.”

Overall, the most important message he received was to see the hope of the people, he said. “To see that they, even in these difficulties that they have, the sufferings they have, that they are willing to build up a new future, and that this message of hope is a message everybody needs.”

“I have always said it is not just what we as the universal Church can give to Aleppo, but what these communities can give us. And these communities give us a big testimony of strong faith, even in the midst of suffering,” he said.

“And also a testimony of hope, that even if this situation is a bad situation, even if the situation seems to be without perspectives, that there is, from a Christian point of view, always a perspective, always a hope. There is always a way out. And I am very grateful for this testimony.”

Full Article

Rome, Italy, Feb 2, 2017 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After a tense row with the Holy See led to the resignation of their Grand Master and the reinstatement of ousted Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager, the Order of Malta has reaffirmed their priorities amid the crisis, stressing that the poor must always be put first.

Pointing to the Order’s current crisis, Boeselager told journalists Feb. 2 that it will be “a marginal event in history,” and that “what is more at stake is the crisis we are facing in the world and the misery and the plea of billions of people homeless, migrating.”

“Please don’t forget to report about these cases and fight the arrogant ignorance regarding these crisis and the indifference,” he said.

Boeselager made his appeal at the end of a news conference that took place on the heels of the Jan. 24 resignation of the Order’s former Grand Master Matthew Festing at the request of Pope Francis, and his own reinstatement as Grand Chancellor.

Festing’s resignation marked the end of a month-long power struggle between the Order of Malta and the Holy See, which began with Boeselager’s forced dismissal from both his position, and his membership in the Order, in early December.

The Holy See then intervened, establishing a committee to investigate the decision. When the Order refused to cooperate with the argument that the decision to dismiss Boeselager was an “internal act of governance” and therefore the Holy See’s investigative group was “legally irrelevant” given the Order’s sovereignty, the Holy See responded Jan. 17 by reiterating its confidence in the group and its work.

Shortly after that Festing was called in for a private meeting with the Pope and was asked to resign. Three days later the Order’s Sovereign council voted to accept Festing’s resignation and named Grand Commander Fra' Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein as “lieutenant ad interim” until a new Grand Master is elected.

Boeselager, whose brother Georg von Boeselager was appointed a member of the Board of Superintendents of the IOR Dec. 15, was also reinstated as Grand Chancellor.

In a letter to Rumerstein and members of the Sovereign Council, the Pope said he would eventually be appointing a special delegate to oversee “spiritual renewal of the Order, specifically of its professed members.”

The “Council Complete of State” to elect a new Grand Master must be held within three months of the former’s resignation or death. Though no dates have yet been set, the council is expected to take place in late April.

After what has turned out to be a tumultuous month and a half for the Knights, Boeselager reiterated six key priorities for the Order moving forward.

The number one priority is that the Order “has the government in place that is restoring leadership in line with the constitutions.”

This has happened, he said, noting that while the Order is “unique in the world” given its status as a Catholic lay order, a sovereign entity, and a humanitarian institution all at once, “as recent weeks have shown, we are not immune when it comes to having a crisis in our government.”

He offered his gratitude to Festing for accepting the Pope’s proposal to resign, saying, “this has put the elective government of the Order back in a position where it can step up to its constitutional responsibilities and govern.”

“We are now working to reassure our members and to restore normality in the way we function,” he said, highlighting loyalty to the Holy Father as a second key priority for the Knights.
 
“Let me reassure our members, and everybody, that the government is and will remain as a service of the Holy Father,” he said, stressing that their devotion to Church teaching “is irrevocable and beyond question.”

The crisis the Order underwent “was a government crisis brought about by an act illegal under the constitution,” he said, voicing his gratitude to the Pope for offering guidance that led “to a swift solution.”

Pointing to allegations that the group investigating the Order on the part of the Holy See had a “conflict of interest” due to links between certain group members to a fund in Geneva, Boeselager said he regrets the accusations, calling them “baseless and unfounded.”

“We look forward to cooperating with the special delegate the Pope will appoint,” he said, voicing the Order’s full willingness to cooperate.

A third key priority the Grand Chancellor voiced is to keep the Order’s humanitarian and socio-medial work “at the center” of the government’s activity, saying the crisis in the Middle East and the Mediterranean are proof that their work “has never been more relevant and needed.”

He insisted that despite their current crisis, the Order “will not allow the recent distractions in the government of the order to jeopardize our humanitarian and social work.”

Pointing to a fourth priority for the Order, Boeselager said they intend to strengthen their diplomatic engagement, since their sovereignty and diplomatic network “play a vital role in the Order’s ability to serve peoples in need and is an asset to the Catholic Church.”

Boeselager said the Order also intends to place a strong emphasis on addressing the needs of migrants and refugees, and plans to “scale up projects” in needy areas.

“The priority for the order of Malta is to continue unabated its many humanitarian projects in over 20 countries worldwide,” he said, noting that “the needs of migrants and refugees has never been greater.”

A final priority highlighted by the Grand Chancellor was the firm condemnation of “discriminatory policies” toward migrants, and the need to advocate for “a strong reaffirmation of humanitarian laws.”

“We are alarmed and concerned by the proliferation of discriminatory positions toward immigrants, not least based on their countries of origin,” he said, noting that “history has already provided us with plenty of examples showing dramatic and monstrous consequences of policies based on origin and race.”

In a question-and-answer session after giving his brief address, Boeselager addressed concerns that the Pope had somehow interfered with the Order’s sovereignty by asking for Festing’s resignation, as well as his mandate for reform under the guidance of his own personal delegate.

“The Vatican took care of the crisis, or started to, when it was made aware of the fact that the wish of the Holy Father was invoked when I was asked to resign,” he stated.

This turned out to be false, and “that’s the reason the Holy Father and the Vatican stepped in, so it has nothing to do with our sovereignty,” he said, and, pointing to the Pope’s Jan. 28 letter to the Order, noted that Francis himself said that “he will not interfere with our relations with states.”

Both Pope Francis and the Holy See are well aware “that our sovereignty is a service of the Church,” he said.

Boeselager also countered claims that Festing was essentially discharged by the Pope. “It isn't right to say the Grand Master was ousted,” he stated. “He was asked, I suppose – none of us were present, but – in a pastoral way, to consider resignation.”

Pointing to the distinction between the religious and sovereign sides of the Order, Boeselager described the relationship as being like two sides of the same coin, which are “very much interlinked.”

“So one side of course has consequences for the other side, but the Pope made it very clear that the focus will be the religious side of the Order,” he said, explaining that their government soon plans to invite ambassadors to the Order to talk to them about the situation.

On the point of the Order’s sovereignty, the Grand Chancellor made a point to emphasize that the media’s concentration on this aspect, “partly provoked by the letters put out by the Grand Master before,” is missing the point.

“The base is that the Order needs to work in a trustful relation with the Holy Father and the Holy See. Without this trustful relation, the Order cannot function,” he said, adding that the Pope’s concern “was to re-establish the trustful relation between the Order and the Holy See.”

He said that while many of the reasons he was asked to resign are “a mystery to me,” part of it had to do with “an increasing tension and disagreement between the elected government of the Order, not only me but also my colleagues, and people brought in by the Grand Master without regard to the constitution in positions that are not constitutional.”

Pointing specifically to allegations that under his watch the Order's charity branch had inadvertently been involved in distributing condoms in Burma to prevent the spread of HIV, Boeselager said the problem was discovered by an internal audit, and action was taken “immediately.”

Noting how this has been widely publicized, he said that “I think it has been proven that I, as far as I know that was also the result of the Vatican commission, that the allegations in this case against me are groundless.”

When asked what the “moral and spiritual” reform of the Order’s religious aspect might consist of, Boeselager said that has yet to be seen, but since there are only 55 Professed Knights, “Probably one of the aspects of the reform will be what can be done to attract more people” to the vocation.”

Full Article

Washington D.C., Feb 2, 2017 / 04:37 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rather than protecting U.S. interests, recent executive orders restricting immigrants and refugees could actually pose a threat to national security, warned a group of Catholic leaders on Wednesday.

“These refugees are victims of the same violence we are trying to protect ourselves from,” said Jill Marie Geschütz Bell, senior legislative specialist for Catholic Relief Services, criticizing what she called a “disproportionate security response.”

“It’s time to be the Good Samaritan,” she urged.

Geschütz Bell and other Catholic immigration and refugee leaders spoke at a Feb. 1 press conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Don Kerwin, executive director for the Center for Migration Studies, contended that by limiting refugee protection, the United States would actually harm its security goals.  

“Refugee protection actually advances and furthers security,” he said, because when refugees are left in unstable situations, terrorist organizations such as ISIS have a “potent” recruiting opportunity.

In addition, the executive orders may damage alliances – both present and future – with other nations, Kerwin said, echoing similar statements by former CIA director Michael Hayden.

During his first week in office, President Trump signed three executive orders addressing a range of issues concerning immigration, refugees, border enforcement and vetting of immigrants to the country.

One of the orders halts refugee admissions for 120 days – indefinitely for Syrian refugees – and temporarily bans visa permissions for people seeking entry to the United States from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The effective travel ban quickly caused chaos at airports around the country as travelers already en route were told upon arrival that they would be sent back and would not be allowed into the United States for 90 days.

The same order also caps the number of refugees that will be allowed to enter the United States in 2017 at 50,000. In comparison, the 2016 cap was placed at 117,000 people, although only around 85,000 refugees actually entered the United States.

The executive action says that priority will be given to “refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution” for members of minority faiths in the refugee’s country of origin.

While the order does not mention Christianity, Trump has told media such as Christian Broadcasting News that the order would prioritize Christian refugees.

President Trump said the ban was put in place to stop “radical Islamic terrorists” and to allow time for agencies to develop stricter screening programs for those coming into the country.

Two other orders the same week focused on addressing undocumented migrants already in the country and increasing border security. They included plans to build a wall along the Mexican border, increase the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, and penalize jurisdictions that do not comply with federal immigration laws – called “sanctuary cities” – by withholding federal grants and other funds.

Kerwin argued that while the executive orders are framed as a matter of national security, in fact, the order “exaggerates the threat from refugees in the United States beyond recognition.”

He pointed to research by the Cato Institute, which found that between 1975 and 2015, the United States admitted 3.2 million refugees, and only three people have been killed by refugee attacks – a minuscule risk that also doesn’t fully incorporate new, more restrictive protections already in place, he said.

“The overall point is that refugees themselves do not threaten security, terrorists do, and the failure of states to address this crisis also undermines security,” Kerwin stated. “We’re facing not a refugee crisis, but a crisis in refugee protection, which the executive order makes far worse.”

“More broadly,” he continued, by stepping back, the United States might be providing a troubling example for other nations. “It’s really impossible to think how the greatest refugee crisis in history since WWII could be resolved without the US playing a leading role as it has in past refugee crises.”

Speakers at the press conference emphasized that current U.S. security vetting for refugees is already very strong, and while vetting concerns are always valid, the actions taken by the executive orders are disproportionate to the threat presented.

Jeanne Atkinson, executive director for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., worried that the new orders would make Americans less safe by making immigrants less likely to report crimes for fear of deportation, thus allowing perpetrators to evade justice.  

She also argued that the United States does not have the resources to carry through on the orders – there are simply not enough immigration officers and judges to review each of the 11 million cases in the country.

“What we’re going to see is the long-term detention of immigrants,” she warned. “People waiting for their day in court may languish in prison for years,” a move that she said will be costly to taxpayers and will violate the dignity of the persons detained.

Geschütz Bell added that the funds that will go into building a wall and hiring new border and immigration officers could instead be used to examine the root causes of migration. She pointed to Catholic Relief Service’s investment in and work with Honduran schools – work that undermines the gangs and resultant violence that has lead people to flee Honduras in the first place.

Within three years, she said, the program has already had immense success in educating people and stabilizing the area. “Enabling people to thrive where they are is not only more humane, but it is a cheaper option for the American people.”

Bill Canny, executive director of Migration and Refugee Services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, voiced hope that as time passes, implementation of the executive orders will become more “humane.” He noted that the Trump Administration has already agreed to allow in more than 8,000 people who have already left refugee areas, as well as Iraqis who have provided aid to the United States Military.

“We’re getting some indications of the humane implementation of the order,” he continued, and asked Catholics to use their influence to continue to push the administration towards more humane actions.

Geschütz Bell advocated for the humane protection of other vulnerable communities that need special consideration, such as female-headed households, children and people with medical needs.

At the root of the idea of humane treatment, added Sister Donna Markham O.P., president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, is the understanding that refugees are human persons with dignity.

She urged Catholics to remember that “they are people like ourselves who woke up one morning and learned everything they had was destroyed,” and who feel depressed, downtrodden and rejected by those who turn them away in their time of distress.

“These are human beings like you and I.”

Full Article

By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Leaders from six organizations want Americans and President Donald Trump to understand that refugees, especially those from war-torn Middle Eastern countries, are average people with careers, comfortable homes and loving families rather than see them as a monolithic threat to the United States.

Their appeal during a Feb. 1 news conference at Casa Italiana at Holy Rosary Church in Washington came as refugees continued to be denied entry into the U.S. nearly a week after Trump ordered a 120-day suspension of the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

Officials of Catholic Charities USA, Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., Catholic Relief Services, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the Center for Migration Studies called on Trump to rescind his presidential memorandum implementing the suspension, saying the country has a moral obligation to welcome people fleeing for their lives.

They called the world's refugee crisis a pro-life issue.

"One of the issues for many of us in this country is that we can't imagine that the refugee is a person like ourselves, that many of the people that are now caught in camps or horrible situations are people like ourselves who woke up one morning and learned that everything they had was destroyed," said Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.

"We all have to stop objectifying them. These are human beings like you and I," she said, recalling the people in northern Iraq she recently contacted via online video communications.

Other leaders cited the country's long history of welcoming refugees as well as church teaching on welcoming the stranger. They said the U.S. should not relinquish its role as a moral leader in refugee resettlement, especially for those who have been cleared or are awaiting final approval to enter the country. Any delay in their arrival puts them at greater threat, the leaders said.

"These refugees are victims of the same violence that we are trying to protect ourselves from," said Jill Marie Gerschutz-Bell, senor legislative specialist at Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency. "And yet it is American principles, of course, that we are trying to protect. So a disproportionate security response leaves us wondering: What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be Catholic?"

Welcoming refugees can be an act that not only protects them but also protects U.S. security, said Don Kerwin, executive director of the Center for Migration Studies in New York City. "It's not really a balance. Refugee protection actually advances and furthers security," he said.

"That doesn't mean that there doesn't have to be careful screening and that there's responsibilities for improving that screening based on intelligence," Kerwin added. "Those need to be implemented. But the fact is we have a very, very secure screening process for refugees. It's more secure than any other admission process for any other category of immigrants."

Trump's memorandum, one of three governing immigration issues during the first week of his administration, suspends the entire U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days and bans entry of all citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries -- Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia -- for 90 days. It also establishes religious criteria for refugees, proposing to give priority to religious minorities over others who may have equally compelling refugee claims.

The resettlement program's suspension also will affect about 700 employees of Catholic Charities agencies nationwide, with layoffs expected for nearly all of the workers because the stream of refugees has ended, said Sister Markham.

"We absolutely depend on the partnership between public and private funding to support these programs," she explained. "We don't have the resources to carry them without that partnership. Four months carrying 700 employees with no income is not feasible for a charitable organization like Catholic Charities."

The bishops' MRS department in conjunction with diocesan Catholic Charities agencies resettled about 23,000 of the nearly 85,000 refugees admitted into the U.S. in fiscal year 2016. The majority of them were women and children, said William Canny, MRS executive director.

The number of refugees resettled is a small proportion of the 21 million refugees tallied worldwide by the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Canny noted.

He also expressed concern that the resettlement program had enjoyed bipartisan support from Congress and Democratic and Republican White Houses over the years, but that "in the last year or so we saw a breakdown" in such backing.

Trump's other executive memoranda -- one calling for a surge in immigrant detention and deportation and the other setting the stage to build a multibillion dollar 2,000 mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border -- drew criticism from Jean Atkinson, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

An increase in enforcement by federal and local officials "threatens due process and makes our communities and their residents, American and foreign-born, less safe," Atkinson said. "We're already seeing men and women afraid to go out into their communities, to go to work, to take their children to school to take them to medical appointments."

While the organizational leaders pledged to advocate for refugees as long as needed, they also invited Catholics to voice their objection to the president's actions.

J. Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies, said if Catholics mobilized, they could influence the president to change his mind.

"This is a really important moment for Catholics in our country," he said. "The church is in a particular position to influence this administration I think in positive ways on these issue. Catholics voted for President Trump for various reasons, so they have the ability to convince the administration that they are on the wrong course."

- - -

Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

- - -

Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

By Junno Arocho Esteves

ROME (CNS) -- The newly reinstated grand chancellor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta said the crisis that led to the resignation of the order's grand master will remain a footnote in history that pales in comparison to the suffering of refugees and the poor.

Speaking at a news conference Feb. 2, Albrecht von Boeselager, grand chancellor of the order, said that while recent events have shown that "we are not immune to crisis in our government," the Knights of Malta will continue placing their priority on helping migrants, the poor and the marginalized.

"This crisis will be a marginal event in history. What is more at stake is the crisis we are facing in the world and the misery and the plea of the millions of people (who are) homeless, migrating and fleeing," he said.

The German nobleman's removal by former Grand Master Fra Matthew Festing was at the heart of a public dispute between the order and the Vatican.

In a statement in December, the order said Boeselager was removed "due to severe problems which occurred during Boeselager's tenure as grand hospitaller of the Order of Malta and his subsequent concealment of these problems from the Grand Magistry."

Numerous media reports have said the problems specifically regarded the distribution of condoms by aid agencies working with Malteser International, the order's humanitarian relief agency.

Although the order claimed Boeselager's ousting was an act of sovereignty, its constitution states that members take a vow of obedience to the pope who yields authority over the laity and clergy "as well as immediate authority over religious orders."

After weeks of very public tensions with the Vatican, Festing offered his resignation Jan. 24 at the behest of Pope Francis, who had established a commission to investigate his removal of von Boeselager.

Von Boeselager was subsequently reinstated as grand chancellor of the order and the pope said he would appoint a special delegate who will "specifically take care of the spiritual and moral renewal of the order," especially the 50 or so members who have taken religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

The grand chancellor said he was grateful for the pope's help in resolving the crisis.

"Without this trustful relationship between the order and the pope, the order cannot function. So, the concern of the Holy Father was to reestablish the trustful relationship between order and the Holy See," he said.

Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, current grand hospitaller of the order, said the crisis "has been troublesome for our donors," many of whom "decided maybe not to help us anymore because they thought we were fighting against the pope, which is not true."

"So now we have to restore this trust," he said.

Von Boeselager also emphasized the order's priorities of providing humanitarian relief, encouraging dialogue and assisting migrants and refugees.  

"We firmly condemn discriminatory policies" against migrants and refugees, he said, "and call for a strong reaffirmation of humanitarian laws. We are alarmed and concerned by the proliferation of discriminatory positions toward immigrants based on their national origins."

When asked if he was referring to the recent executive order on refugees by U.S. President Donald Trump, von Boeselager said that he "made a statement of principle" and that there are "many countries, many institutions that are violating humanitarian principles."

"I am not singling out anyone. It's a principle of the Order of Malta," he said.

"People are drowning in the Mediterranean; tortured on their way. Please don't forget to report about these cases and fight the arrogant ignorance regarding this crisis," von Boeselager said.

- - -

Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

- - -

Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article