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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday offered his prayers for the victims and families of the earthquake which hit Indonesia on Wednesday.

The 6.5 magnitude quake mostly affected the Aceh Province on the island of Sumatra, and over 100 people were killed in the disaster.

“I wish to assure you of my prayers for the victims and their families, for the injured and for those who have lost their homes,” – Pope Francis said during his Angelus address – “May the Lord give strength to the population and support the rescue efforts.”

The same region of Indonesia was hit by the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami , which killed over 100,000 people in the province.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday gave a special greeting to the members of Catholic Action, who on the feast of the Immaculate Conception renew their membership in the organization.

Catholic Action was founded in Italy in 1905, and is one of the main lay apostolates in the country.

“I give a special thought to all the [Catholic Action] diocesan and parish associations,” – Pope Francis said during his Angelus – “May the Virgin bless Catholic Action and make it more and more a school of holiness and generous service to the Church and to the world.”

Catholic Action has over 400,000 members in Italy, and every year over 1 million people participate in their activities.

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(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, told the International Organization for Migration that “migrants are often treated as numbers and commodities, and are too often perceived as a threat instead of a resource for the host society.”

Speaking at the 107th Session of the Council in Geneva, the Vatican diplomat said “behind the statistics are persons who are no different from our own family members and friends.”

“Migration, integration and development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing phenomena,” – Archbishop Jurkovic – “The great contribution of migrants becomes real and effective when they are recognized as partners in economic development, when their human rights are respected and, at the same time, when they appreciate the basic values of the host society, aware that a better and just future may be built only together.”

The full statement is below

Statement by H.E. Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic

Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations

and Other International Organizations in Geneva

International Organization for Migration (IOM) – 107th Session of the Council

Geneva, 6 December 2016

Mr. Chairperson,

The Delegation of the Holy See wishes to congratulate the Director General and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on its 65th anniversary and commend its dedication in promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all.

This year will be remembered as particularly significant for the IOM and for global migration: the IOM formally entered a closer legal and working relationship with the United Nations, becoming a Related Organization. In addition, last September the world came together in a UN General Assembly Summit of Heads of State on refugees and migrants – indeed, for the first time in 71 years, the focus was also on migration – and adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.

At the same time, regrettably, 2016 will also go down in history as the year when large numbers of migrants, well over six-thousand, lost their lives in search of a better life. Pope Francis has repeatedly expressed concern for migrants through his words and actions, and he has assumed direct responsibility for migrant issues within the new Curial Dicastery for integral human development.

Mr. Chairperson,

The number of people on the move in search of better opportunities, often fleeing from conflicts, famine, religious persecution, climate change and natural disasters, continues to increase incessantly.

The motives for migration movements should cause us to question seriously our achievements as a human family and urge us to create what Pope Francis defined as a new "social economy" based on inclusion and justice, serving the many, not the few, and ultimately making migration an opportunity and a choice rather than a compelling decision. 2

What is even worse, migrants are often treated as numbers and commodities, and are too often perceived as a threat instead of a resource for the host society. It is important to remember that behind the statistics are persons who are no different from our own family members and friends, “each of them with a name, a face, a story and aspirations, as well as an inalienable right to live in peace” (Pope Francis, Address to members of the European Confederation and World Union of Jesuit Alumni and Alumnae, Rome, 17 September 2016).

The transfer of resources, skills, knowledge, and ideas through migration is substantial but it is often overlooked. Moreover, the local integration in the host countries remains a critical challenge: many migrants continue to live and to work in precarious conditions and they face stereotyping and discrimination; they are often marginalized and without access to social services. When migrants are not integrated into society they become isolated, creating a dangerous culture of mutual distrust and suspicion. We need to replace such a culture with a culture of dialogue and encounter.

Migration, integration and development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing phenomena. The great contribution of migrants becomes real and effective when they are recognized as partners in economic development, when their human rights are respected and, at the same time, when they appreciate the basic values of the host society, aware that a better and just future may be built only together.

Mr. Chairperson,

The New York Declaration is a positive change of attitude and an attempt to build bridges among societies. It expresses the political will to save lives, protecting the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migratory status, at all times (Para. 41, New York Declaration). It also acknowledges that migration is not a problem to be solved but a human reality that should be managed through a multilateral approach.

The Holy See wishes to express its support for the IOM’s endeavors in this matter and wants to assure its readiness to collaborate actively in the negotiations leading to the Global Compact, bringing to bear its own experience in the field of international migration. Such a process should channel all efforts towards the achievement of significant and far-sighted results and it should be guided by a spirit of solidarity, by the centrality of the human person and his or her dignity and by a desire to promote integral human development.

In this regard, my Delegation fully supports and thanks the Director General, Ambassador William Lacy Swing, in his offer to serve as Secretary General of the inter-governmental conference in 2018 and for his proposal to dedicate the International Dialogue on Migration to the discussions on the Global Compact. At the same time, it could be useful to reconstitute the IOM-UN Working Group as a Working Group on the Global Compact on Migration in order to channel all efforts towards the achievement of significant and far-sighted results. 3

Mr. Chairperson,

Of particular concern for the Holy See is the vulnerability of child migrants, to whom Pope Francis dedicated his Message for the 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees. “...Children constitute the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless: their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hiding them from the world’s eyes; the absence of adults to accompany them prevents their voices from being raised and heard.” (Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2017).

The number of children on the move is growing exponentially. All over the world, conflict affects 246 million children and many of them face forced displacement, rights violations, lack of access to basic services and health and nutrition challenges.1 They often fall victim to perverse scourges such as child trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. No matter where they are or where they come from, all children have individual needs and rights even when they cross borders. Minors, given their vulnerability, have different needs than adults and policies must prioritize their best interests at all stages.

Mr. Chairperson,

Children are the first among those who pay the heavy price of migration, almost always caused by violence, poverty, environmental imbalances, and disasters, as well as the negative aspects of globalization. Let us be brave and resolute in our commitment to tackle the causes which trigger forced migration in the countries of origin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.

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London, England, Dec 8, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- U.K. officials drew strong criticism for denying visas to Middle East bishops from regions that have suffered Islamic State group persecution, preventing them from attending a cathedral consecration.

“These are men who have pressing pastoral responsibilities as Christian areas held by ISIS are liberated,” said Archbishop Athanasius Toma of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the U.K. “That is why we cannot understand why Britain is treating Christians in this way?”

Syriac Orthodox leaders Archbishop Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf of Mosul and Archbishop Timothius Mousa Shamani of St. Mathew’s in northern Iraq were denied visas, the U.K. newspaper The Sunday Express reports.

Similarly, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs and Hama was also denied a visa. British embassy officials said they would not waive the blanket policy against visas for Syrian citizens.

The archbishops had hoped to visit for the Nov. 24 consecration of St. Thomas Cathedral in London, the first Syriac Orthodox cathedral in the country. Both Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Theresa May had sent personal messages of congratulations, while Prince Charles of Wales addressed the congregation in person.

Each of the three bishops come from regions that have been under the control of the Islamic State group. The group has executed Christians, forced them to pay an extortionate tax and accept second-class status.

The extremist group destroyed churches or converted them into mosques, including the Mosul archbishop’s former cathedral.

Martin Parsons, head of research at the U.K.-based Christian aid agency the Barnabas Fund, was among the critics of British officials.

“It’s unbelievable that these persecuted Christians who come from the cradle of Christianity are being told there is no room at the inn, when the U.K. is offering a welcome to Islamists who persecute Christians,” he charged.

A Home Office spokesperson said that all visa applications are considered on individual merits and applicants must prove they meet immigration rules requirements.

The Barnabas Fund criticized the decisions at length in an Oct. 2 editorial at its website.

It said the concerns about the two Iraqi bishops are “at best spurious.” The fund rejected claims that the bishops did not have enough money to support themselves in the U.K. and might not leave the country.

“Anyone who has paid the slightest attention to current world news reports would know that both men have pressing pastoral responsibilities as previously Christian areas held by ISIS are liberated,” the Barnabas Fund said.

“The refusal to grant a few days’ U.K. visa to these very senior church leaders is symptomatic of a deeper problem in the U.K. Home Office,” it continued. “In fact they are not the first persecuted Christian leaders to be refused visas for pastoral visits to the U.K., nor is this problem confined to Orthodox Christians.”

The organization also noted the denial of a visa to the Iraqi evangelical pastor Majeed Rashid Kurdi, who was to participate in a Barnabas Fund speaking tour in the U.K.

The Barnabas Fund has previously objected to U.K. Home Office guidance stating that senior members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood should be presumed to be granted asylum, despite the group’s alleged incitement of violence against Egyptian Christians.

The group also questioned why visas had been granted to two Pakistani Islamic leaders who, according to the Barnabas Fund, backed their country’s strict anti-blasphemy law and called for the immediate killings of Christians who have been accused of blasphemy, including Asia Bibi. The two leaders visited tour U.K. mosques in July.

“(T)here is clearly a serious systemic problem when Islamist leaders who advocate persecution of Christians are given the green light telling them that their applications for U.K. visas will be looked on favorably, while visas for short pastoral visits to the U.K. are denied to senior Christian leaders, such as the Archbishop of Mosul, whose congregations are facing genocide,” the Barnabas Fund said.

The organization called on Home Office ministers to remedy the situation.

The Barnabas Fund has helped more than 8,000 Christians escape persecution from the Islamic State group.

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Vatican City, Dec 8, 2016 / 04:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The contrast between the “no” of man in the Garden of Eden and the “yes” of Mary at the Annunciation was the heart of Pope Francis’ message for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which he said is an opportunity for each person to renew their own commitment to God.

When Mary says “I am the handmaid of the Lord” in response to the news that she will become the Mother of God, she doesn’t say: “this time I will do the will of God, I am available, then I’ll see,” the Pope said Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

“Hers is a full yes, without conditions,” he said, noting that at times, instead of imitating this attitude, “we are experts in the ‘half-yes:’ we are good at pretending not to understand what God wants and consciousness suggests.”

We can also be “cunning” and avoid saying “a true and firm ‘no’ to God” by making excuses, such as “I can’t,” or “‘not today, but tomorrow...tomorrow I will be better, tomorrow I will pray, I will do good, tomorrow.”

However, by doing this “we close the door to good and evil profits from these missing ‘yeses,’” Francis said, noting that each one of us has “a collection” of these missing yeses inside.

Each full and unreserved “yes” we say to God is the beginning of a new story, he said. Saying yes to God “is truly original, not sin, which makes us old inside.”

“Have you thought about this? That sin makes you age inside? It makes you age right away!” he said, adding that “every yes to God begins a story of salvation for us and for others.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Angelus address marking the feast in which the Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of Mary, honoring the Catholic dogma that she was conceived without sin.

After reciting the Angelus, the Pope will as usual make his way to Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, where he will lay flowers at the feet of the large statue of Mary Immaculate sitting in the center of the square, and recite a prayer of devotion to Mary.

He also announced that like last year, following his prayer in Piazza di Spagna he will go the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Major to venerate the ancient “Salus Popoli Romani” icon, traditionally believed to have been painted by St. Luke.

The Pope travels to the basilica before and after every international trip he takes in order to entrust the voyage to the care and intercession of Our Lady, typically with flowers in hand.

In his Angelus address, the Pope said the day’s readings from Genesis and the Gospel of Luke point to two “critical passages” in salvation history which point to “the origins of good and evil.”

Man’s “no” to God at the very beginning is recounted in the passage from the Book of Genesis, which shows how “man preferred to look at himself rather than his Creator, he wanted to do his own thing, he chose to suffice with himself.”

By doing this, man left his communion with God behind, “lost himself and began to fear, to hide himself and to accuse those around him,” the Pope observed, explaining that once someone begins to accuse others like this, it means “you are distancing yourself from God” and “this makes sin.”

However, instead of leaving man at the mercy of the evil done, he steps in and immediately looks for him, asking “where are you?”

This question, Francis said, is “the question of a father or mother who looks for their lost child...and this God does it with so much patience, up to the point of bridging the gap that has arisen at the beginning.”

Pointing to the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, which recounted the story of the Annunciation, the Pope said that Mary’s “great yes” is what made it possible for God to come and live among us.

“Thanks to this ‘yes,’ Jesus began his journey on the path of humanity; he started it in Mary, spending the first months of life in the womb of his mother.”

Jesus didn’t come as an adult, already strong and full grown, but decided to follow the exact same path of the human being, doing everything in exactly the same way “except for one thing: sin.”

Because of this, “he chose Mary, the only creature without sin, immaculate,” he said, noting that when the angel refers to Mary with the title “Full of Grace,” it means that from the beginning there was “no space for sin” inside of her.

“Also we, when we turn to her, we recognize this beauty: we invoke her as ‘full of grace,’ without the shadow of evil.”

While the “no” of man at the beginning closed the passage from man to God, Mary’s “yes” opened the path for God to be among us, Pope Francis said, explaining that Mary’s response “is “the most important ‘yes’ in history.”

“It’s the faithful ‘yes’ that heals disobedience, the available ‘yes’ that flips the selfishness of sin,” he said, encouraging attendees to use Advent as an opportunity to renew their own “yeses” to God, telling him “I believe in you, I hope in you, I love you; accomplish in me your good will.”

“With generosity and confidence, like Mary, let us say today, each one of us, this personal yes to God,” he said, and led pilgrims in praying the traditional Marian prayer.

After the Angelus, he offered prayers for Indonesian island of Sumatra, which was hit by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake Dec. 7 that has so far left nearly 100 people dead.

“I wish to assure my prayers for the victims and for their families, for the wounded and for the many who have lost their homes. May the Lord give strength to the people and sustain the relief work.”

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Melbourne, Australia, Dec 8, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The government of the Australian state of Victoria is looking to legalize euthanasia in 2017, but physicians have warned of the risk of diminishing palliative care, already underutilized and underfunded.

A committee of Victorian Members of Parliament recommended in June legalizing voluntary euthansia   under limited circumstances, after looking at similar laws elsewhere. A panel was then established to advise the government on an appropriate model, and the government's deadline to respond is Dec. 9.

The committee had recommended allowing euthanasia for adults of sound mind who have a serious, incurable condition. They must make a voluntary written request, repeated thrice.

Finalized legislation will be presented to the Victoria parliament next year for a conscience vote.

Fiona Patten, leader of the Australian Sex Party and a Victoria MP, has said that “allowing terminally ill people the right to die when they choose, with dignity, is not only compassionate but common sense.”

Within recent weeks, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has been more outspoken on the subject, claiming the potential act as “a way forward.”

Margaret Tighe, president of the Right to Life Australia, spoke out against Andrews, saying his support for euthanasia disregards the problems which have arisen in other places where it was legalized.

Doctors in Victoria are also concerned with potential risks of the new act, including diminished funding for palliative care and a lack of safeguards.

President of the Australian Medical Association Victoria, Lorraine Baker, stated that “palliative care must be freely available to all who have a terminal condition or who require management of the symptoms of chronic and incurable medical conditions.”

A professor from St. Vincent's Health, Peter Hudson, has warned Victoria's government that the assisted suicide system has not been thoroughly tested, and may offer the necessary support only when it is too late.

Under the proposal, “if you elect assisted suicide you're going to be guaranteed certain supports, whereas if you don't, your chances of getting comprehensive, quality palliative care are less than likely,” Hudson told ABC.

Hudson also expressed a belief that the state's politicians have are naive about how quick and painless a death can be expected with euthanasia.

“There's an assumption that if assisted suicide or euthanasia is supported, then people who avail themselves of this will have a kind of sanitised, completely pain-free death, and that can't be guaranteed … we have evidence in jurisdictions where euthanasia has been supported that for some people, they actually regurgitate the medications they've been given, some people have had seizures, and some people actually it takes them a very long time to die.”

Professor Mark Boughey, a colleague of Hudson's, believes palliative care has significantly improved within the last 50 years, and is a better option than euthanasia.

Palliative care should be “a standard of care, but at the moment, the standard of care and the referral processes just don't exist,” he lamented.

He recommended first prioritizing palliative care, before looking into euthanasia.

“Let's see what happens to our community if we enable quality palliative care rather than launching in to investing in euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide at this point in time.”

Should Victoria legalize euthanasia, it would be the first Australian state to do so. It had been legal in the Northern Territory through a 1995 act, but that act was overturned in 1997.

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