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(Vatican Radio)  Cardinal Peter Turkson says the need for a ‘habitat’ or a home is found in the first pages of the Bible but that migration impedes the fulfillment of that need.

The Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development made the comments in reference to Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which takes place on Sunday, January 15.

The Pope’s message is dedicated to children, especially to the protection of vulnerable child migrants. Cardinal Turkson spoke to Vatican Radio’s Stefano Leszczynski.

Listen to the full interview:

Cardinal Turkson said that God did not "just create a human person and then leave him. He created a garden. There was a place where God put humanity: a garden, a home."

He said this showed the basic human need for a home, "a habitat which provides all the different elements and ingredients for the development of the person". 

"Migration," he said, "challenges that and makes the realization of that very difficult. [This is] still worse when they are minors. When they are minors, this implies that the family structure is broken down where they originate from and they leave, without all the traditional senses of security, defense, and safeguards."

The interview also touched on the newly created Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development headed up by Cardinal Turkson.

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Valletta, Malta, Jan 13, 2017 / 11:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As debate over Amoris laetitia continues to gain steam, the Maltese bishops have come out with a new set of pastoral guidelines allowing divorced-and-remarried persons in certain cases, after “honest discernment”, to receive Communion.

The introduction to the guidelines opens by saying that “like the star which led the Magi toward their encounter with Jesus,” Amoris laetitia also “enlightens our families in their journey toward Jesus as his disciples.”

This message also includes couples and families in “complex situations,” such as those who are separated or divorced and have entered into new unions.

While these people might have “lost their first marriage,” many have not lost hope in Christ, and “earnestly desire to live in harmony with God and the Church, so much so that they are asking us what they can do in order to be able to celebrate the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.”

Like the Magi “these persons – at times after a strenuous and difficult journey – are able to meet Christ who offers them a future even when it is impossible for them to follow the same route as before,” the bishops said.

Through a process of “accompaniment and honest discernment,” God is able to open new paths to these people, “even if their previous journey may have been one of darkness, marked with past mistakes or sad experiences of betrayal and abandonment.”

Signed by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo, the guidelines were published Jan. 13 and consist of 14 bullet points priests are to use when accompanying couples in irregular situations.

They cover only Chapter 8 of Amoris laetitia, Pope Francis' 2016 apostolic exhortation, which is dedicated to accompanying, discerning and integrating fragility and is home to the controversial footnote 351.

The chapter deals, among other things, with the pastoral care of the divorced-and-remarried, who have not been admitted to Communion unless they commit to living with their partner “as brother and sister,” forgoing the acts proper to married couples.

Ambiguous language in the chapter has led to uncertainties about this practice and about the teaching and status of the apostolic exhortation. Some have maintained it is incompatible with Church teaching, and others that it has not changed the Church's discipline. Still others read Amoris laetitia as opening the way to a new pastoral practice, or even as a progression in continuity with St. John Paul II.

In their guidelines, the Maltese bishops placed a strong emphasis on discernment and close pastoral accompaniment in the formation of the conscience of divorced couples in second unions, particularly when children are involved.

They encouraged pastors to help couples in these situations to make “an examination of conscience through moments of reflection and repentance,” asking themselves how they reacted when their first marriage spun into crisis, whether or not they tried to reconcile, what has become of their spouse, and what consequences the separation has had on the rest of their family and community.

“This applies in a special way for those cases in which a person acknowledges his or her own responsibility for the failure of the marriage,” they said, encouraging priests to carefully weigh the “moral responsibility” of particular situations.

In this process, special attention ought to be given “to the conditioning restraints and attenuating circumstances,” since certain factors might exist which either limit the ability to make a decision or “diminish the imputability or responsibility for an action,” such as fear, violence, immaturity, anxiety, or various psychological or social factors, the bishops wrote.

Quoting Amoris laetitia, they said that as a result of these “conditioning restraints and attenuating circumstances,” it can no longer “simply be said that all those in any irregular situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace.”

It’s possible that even in “an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end,” the bishops said, again quoting Amoris laetitia.

Discernment in this area is especially important “since, as the Pope teaches, in some cases this help can include the help of the sacraments.”

“By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God,” the bishops said.

They called for “more prudent instruction in the law of gradualness” so as to discern the presence and grace of God “in all situations” and to help people draw nearer to God, “even when not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law.”

“Throughout the discernment process, we should also examine the possibility of conjugal continence. Despite the fact that this ideal is not at all easy, there may be couples who, with the help of grace, practice this virtue without putting at risk other aspects of their life together. On the other hand, there are complex situations where the choice of living 'as brothers and sisters' becomes humanly impossible and give rise to greater harm,” the Maltese bishops wrote.

In this, they referred to footnote 329 of Amoris laetitia. This footnote applies the words of Vatican II's pastoral constitution on the Church in the modern world, Gaudium et spes, that “where the intimacy of married life is broken off, its faithfulness can sometimes be imperiled and its quality of fruitfulness ruined” – in its context, speaking about married couples – to “the divorced who have entered a new union.”

Malta's bishops then wrote: “If, as a result of the process of discernment, undertaken with 'humility, discretion and love for the Church and her teaching, in a sincere search for God’s will and a desire to make a more perfect response to it', a separated or divorced person who is living in a new relationship manages, with an informed and enlightened conscience, to acknowledge and believe that he or she are at peace with God, he or she cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.”

Neither should these couples be excluded from being godparents, they said. However, if on the other hand someone “flaunts an objective sin” as if it were the Christian ideal or tries to impose something contrary to Church teaching, “he or she can in no way presume to teach or preach to others.”

The bishops concluded their guidelines stressing that “in order to avoid any cause for scandal or confusion among the faithful, we must do our utmost in order to inform ourselves and our communities by studying and promoting the teachings of Amoris Laetitia. This teaching requires us to undergo a 'pastoral conversion'. Together with the Pope, we do understand those who would prefer a 'more rigorous pastoral care', but together with him, we believe that 'Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness, a Mother who, while clearly expressing her objective teaching, 'always does what good she can, even if in the process, her shoes get soiled by the mud of the street''.”

The Maltese bishops issued their guidelines days after Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview with an Italian TV station that while Chapter 8 of the document has met with fierce criticism, Amoris laetitia is “very clear” in its doctrine.

He challenged the four cardinal who recently published a letter they had sent to Pope Francis requesting that he “resolve the uncertainties and bring clarity” to the exhortation, particularly Chapter 8. Cardinal Müller said that making the discussion public “does damage to the Church.”

Cardinal Müller has consistently maintained that Pope Francis' 2016 apostolic exhortation on love in the family has not changed the Church's discipline on admission of the divorced-and-remarried to Communion, and that it must be read in continuity with the preceding Magisterium.

In a May 4 speech, he countered arguments that Amoris laetitia eliminated Church discipline on marriage and allowed in some cases the divorced-and-remarried to receive the Eucharist “without the need to change their way of life.” He stated: “This is a matter of a consolidated magisterial teaching, supported by scripture and founded on a doctrinal reason.”

If Pope Francis' exhortation “had wanted to eliminate such a deeply rooted and significant discipline, it would have said so clearly and presented supporting reasons,” Cardinal Müller said during his address at a Spanish seminary.

The dubia and Cardinal Müller's response – and now the norms issued by Archbishop Scicluna and Bishop Grech – demonstrate the varied reception and interpretation of the apostolic exhortation within the Church.

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Tampa Bay, Fla., Jan 13, 2017 / 12:14 pm (National Catholic Register).- Matt and Kristin Loboda, from Tampa, Florida, and their four young children were visiting family in Phoenix, Arizona. On Dec. 29, 2016, Matt suddenly noticed that his 19-month-old daughter, Joy, was missing. She had been with them just before that. “In my heart, I knew something was terribly wrong. So, I ran down to the Koi pond on the property. I ran around it four times looking between the shadows and fish for Joy. Momentarily I was relieved. But, [then] I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to run to the pool,” writes Matt on his Facebook page.

When Joy disappeared, Matt hadn’t considered the possibility that she was in the fence-encircled pool. He sprinted there, and the sight he saw was enough to make any parent’s blood run cold: there was Joy’s little, lifeless body floating on top of the water. Matt leaped over the five-foot fence and dove into the water, bringing Joy out of the pool, so he and his brother-in-law could perform CPR while they were waiting for the ambulance.

“As I breathed into Joy, I prayed that my breath would be the breath of God into her,” says Matt, a graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. “In between breaths I begged for the Ruha of God to enter her. Her lips were blue, and her beautiful blue eyes were wide open. I could see her pupils shrinking at an alarming rate. Then I started to pray in between breathes in the words of Jesus, ‘Talitha Koum,’ which means ‘Little girl, I say to you, arise.' I knew we needed a miracle because I could actually feel her slipping away.”
 
First Responders

Sergeant Ronald Bryant, a policeman for the Phoenix Police Department, was just pulling out of the police station when he got the urgent call that a baby had fallen into a pool and was unresponsive. Racing to help Joy, he drove right up where Matt was trying to revive her.  “I found Joy surrounded by frantic family and concerned workers. Dad, soaked from the cold pool, was doing a great job with CPR and mom, Kristin, was kneeling, holding Joy's head in hands and praying like no mother ever wants to pray for their child,” Officer Bryant writes on his Facebook page.

He continues, “I scooped Joy up and ran her out to the front gate, giving her compressions and a couple of breaths as we ran out to meet Fire Paramedics who were almost on the scene. Fire immediately took over and got to work on Joy's tiny, cold, blue, lifeless body. My heart was broken. I was convinced she had passed.”

With 19 years of service, this was not Sergeant Bryant's first experience with infant death. Joy's stiff body spoke volumes to him. “Everything in me said it was too late, and she was gone, but I had to try everything I could,” he said.

Although the paramedics were doing everything they could to save Joy, Matt could feel the cloud of doom that had settled over them.

As the detective drove Matt and Kristin to Phoenix Children's Hospital, Matt closed his eyes and prayed to God: “‘I know she is your daughter, but she is my daughter too. Now is not the right time.”

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Heartbeat

At the emergency room, a doctor came in and informed the Lobodas that the prognosis didn’t look good, but that Joy now had a heartbeat. This news was enough to bolster Matt’s hope. Filled with supernatural confidence, he felt in his heart Joy would make a full recovery and said as much to the doctors.

Little Joy was put in a medical coma and placed on a ventilator, but by January 7, she was responsive and breathing on her own. Kristin writes, “She's in my arms, reached for my face, and said, ‘Mamma.' Tears are flowing, and my heart is so full. Your prayers have been our strength and brought healing to our baby.”

On January 9, Joy was able to latch on and breastfeed for the first time since the accident, and though she was still experiencing pain, she was doing well enough that doctors transferred her out of pediatric intensive care. On January 10, she broke out into a smile and laughed – a miracle. She is making marked improvements every day.

When Sergeant Bryant learned that Joy was recovering, elated, he stopped by Fire Station 17 – the paramedics who had worked to save joy – to tell them she was alive. “They were amazed,” he says.

The Efficacy of Prayers

Fr. Ignatius Mazanowski, F.H.S, Kristin’s brother, told the Register, “Her recovery, in my opinion, is a testament to her parent’s love and care and the thousands of people who have been praying for little Joy.”

It surely is also a testament to the most powerful prayer, the Mass. For the first seven days, Fr. Mazanowski offered Mass at the foot of Joy’s hospital bed, choosing the First Eucharistic Prayer because he wanted to call upon the intercession of the saints for Joy and her parents. “To be honest, at first it was simply something I could do, and it provided a way to pray and offer this whole situation to the Lord. Each day, as I said Mass, I saw Joy get stronger, and her parents become more encouraged. I began to realize, in a way I never did before, how much healing comes through the Mass.”

He continues, “One Mass in particular, on the Feast of the Holy Family, became the means through which my sister Kristin's heart found healing as I led her through self-forgiveness prayers. As any parents would, she was blaming and condemning herself for Joy's accident. They lost Joy for three minutes, and Joseph and Mary lost Jesus for three days. Self-forgiveness in such a situation is so important. I believe my sister's healing is tied to Joy's healing, and for sure, it helped Kristin to be in a better place to help Joy heal.”

Joy’s Miracle Offers Encouragement

When miracles happen, we know that God is near and watching over us, but it makes me wonder why some prayers go unanswered? “All I know is that, in my experience, miracles happen for two reasons,” replies Fr. Mazanowski. “First, God wants to reveal His love to that person, and second, He wants others to come to faith and to come to know Him as a result of the miracle. In Joy's case, I know God loves her, her parents, and our family very much, and I am grateful He has chosen to restore her to health. I also know from the many people who have contacted us that God is, in fact, bringing people back to the Church and back into relationship with Him as they receive encouragement through following the story of Joy's miraculous recovery and her parents' deep faith.”

 

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Saltillo, Mexico, Jan 13, 2017 / 01:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The body of Father Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes, a priest in northern Mexico who had been missing since Jan. 3, was found on Thursday, his diocese announced.

“We confirm with profound sadness that our brother Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes, a diocesan priest for whom we tirelessly searched, with the great hope of finding him alive, has gone on to the house of the eternal Father. This afternoon the authorities reported he was found dead,” read a Jan. 12 statement from the Diocese of Saltillo.

 

Comunicado sobre el P. Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes (JHS004) jueves 12 de enero del 2017 https://t.co/LHinTQkIBk #Saltillo #México pic.twitter.com/kQaMjQae5X

— Diócesis de Saltillo (@diocesisaltillo) January 12, 2017  

The priest, who served at Sacred Heart parish in Saltillo's Aurora neighborhood, had not been seen since Jan. 3. The diocese reported his disappearance Jan. 7 to the attorney general's office of the state of Coahuila.

One of his friends, Friar Víctor Sifuentes Méndez, went to Fr. Hernández' rectory Jan. 3 and found the priest's room in disorder, which was atypical for him. The friar returned to the rectory Jan. 5, and amid the mess noticed Fr. Hernández' suitcase and glasses. Missing were his car, mobile phone, tablet, and computer. Additionally, a neighbor saw two men “getting into the priest's car” Jan. 3 and leaving in the vehicle.

Fr. Hernandez' body was found in Parras de la Fuente, a town 90 miles west of Saltillo, and a homicide investigation has been opened. Two persons have reportedly been detained in connection with the murder.

The priest's car, meanwhile, a white Volkswagen Derby, was found in Santa Catarina, nearly 45 miles northeast of Saltillo, according to La Jornada, a Mexican daily.

The Saltillo diocese's statement recalled Fr. Hernández as someone “who sought perfection in whatever activity he was undertaking,” and that the closeness of the people with him “is reflected in the love that the parishioners demonstrated, including these last ten days.”

“In Joaquín, they have also taken from us a brother and a son. Rest in peace, Father Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes,” the statement concluded.

The Mexican bishops' conference also expressed their condolences and assured in a statement that “evil will not conquer and death is not the end of the message of love and hope that Our Lord Jesus Christ brought, which  Father Joaquín embodied in his ministerial life.”

“We ask God for his eternal rest and we also ask the Lord to grant his relatives and friends strength, hope and the consolation of faith,” the bishops said.

The wake for Fr. Hernández will be held Jan. 15 in the chapel of the diocesan seminary, and his funeral Mass will be said the following day at the Saltillo cathedral.

Fr. Hernández was ordained a priest in 2004 at the age of 30. He had served in Castaños and Monclova before being transferred to Saltillo in 2013.

Drug trafficking has led to increased murder and kidnapping in Mexico, with priests not unaffected. In the last four years, 16 priests in the country have been murdered. In September 2016, the bodies of three kidnapped priests were found, in the states of Michoacan and Veracruz.

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Under certain circumstances and after long prayer and a profound examination of conscience, some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may return to the sacraments, said the bishops of Malta.

With "an informed and enlightened conscience," a separated or divorced person living in a new relationship who is able "to acknowledge and believe that he or she is at peace with God," the bishops said, "cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist."

The Maltese "Criteria for the Application of Chapter VIII of 'Amoris Laetitia,'" Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the family, was published Jan. 13 after being sent to all of the country's priests by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Bishop Mario Grech of Gozo.

The bishops urged their priests to recognize how "couples and families who find themselves in complex situations, especially those involving separated or divorced persons who have entered a new union" may have "'lost' their first marriage," but not their hope in Jesus.

"Some of these earnestly desire to live in harmony with God and with the church, so much so, that they are asking us what they can do in order to be able to celebrate the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist," the bishops wrote.

The first step, they said, always must be to affirm church teaching that marriage is indissoluble. Then, the bishops said, the couple's specific situation should be examined to determine if their first union was a valid marriage. If not, they should be encourage to seek an annulment.

Without an annulment, the bishops said, couples living in a new relationship should be encouraged to abstain from sexual relations since the church does not consider their new union a marriage. Sometimes, however, the couple will find practicing the virtue of "conjugal continence" impossible.

Archbishop Scicluna and Bishop Grech urged priests to devote time to such couples, guiding them in a reflection on their first union, their contributions to its failure, the impact on their children and a host of other questions.

"This discernment acquires significant importance since, as the pope teaches, in some cases this help" from the church in growing in holiness "can include the help of the sacraments," the Malta document said.

"While exercising our ministry, we must be careful to avoid falling into extremes: into extreme rigor on the one hand and laxity on the other," the bishops wrote to their priests.

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