Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has visited towns affected by a powerful earthquake, saying officials are doing everything they can to restore infrastructure, but that damage is so extensive it will take some time.

The 7.8  magnitude quake on November 14 killed two people and triggered landslides that still block a major coastal highway. Hundreds of tourists have been evacuated from Kaikoura in helicopters and by a navy ship. The town is a popular whale-watching venue.

Although various humanitarian organizations are offering support, rescue efforts have been affected by a wave of aftershocks, Caritas Aotearoa is one of the organizations currently providing assitance to the affected regions. 

Monsignor Gerard Burns, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Wellington and President of Caritas Oceania, spoke with Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni about the aid Caritas Aotearoa is providing and about how it works in collaboration with the indigenous people living in the area.

Listen: 

Monsignor Gerard Burns explains that although the earthquake was powerful, it hit a rural area that is not heavily populated. It was felt as far as 150 kilometers away in Wellington, the capital city. There is a lot of damage to the main highway and main railway, in addition to land slides, which have made some roads inaccessible. There is a major tourist town there, Kaikoura, which has been cut off by road so the assistance to the people in that area has to come by air or sea. 

Monsignor Burns thinks that the people of New Zealand “are affected as much by the shock of the quake as the fear that comes with that and not just the immediate quake which was huge, but the mini after shocks that happened.”

Caritas Aotearoa has contact with the indigenous Maori community in the isolated region and a good working relationship with them that adds much extra value to what Caritas is able to offer. 

He says the Maori’sr main industry is tourism, including a thriving whale watching business and explains that the community uses the profits for health programs, and Caritas Aotearoa has been working with them. 

While the army and air force respond to emergency events and complete big operations like evacuations, Caritas operates on a more specific, local level operation in terms of help and care of the local population. 

He recalls that the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch in 2011 was just 100 kilometers north of last week’s earthquake. 

“It’s been five or six years now since those earthquakes and I’d say the rebuild is probably about half way through. I think because of their experience they felt great solidarity with the people north of them who have been affected by this particular case” he says. 

Monsignor Burns explains that one of the particular things Caritas Aotearoa does is establish relationships with local Maori communities “to ensure that it too lives out what we call the Covenant. It’s almost like a religious agreement that was made 150, 170 years ago so that’s why they established this particular working relationship with the indigenous people”. 

“Indigenous people are looking to stand on their own two feet and Caritas is looking to work alongside them and walk alongside them” he says.

Even though the whale watching business, which sounds like a commercial venture,  is a product of one of the foundation stories. Burns explains that “the story says that they came to New Zealand on the back of the whale. Having this whale watching business is actually building, not just on a commercial venture but actually on their own heritage”. 

“When indigenous people identify themselves, they don’t start with themselves as an individual, they start with their ancestors and the lands and mountains and rivers and seas which they have come from. They see themselves very much as an integrated part of the created world and that spirituality is very close to what Pope Francis spoke about in his encyclical 'Laudato Sii'. That means that they have a special particular care for the natural world” he says.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Thursday that corruption is a form of blasphemy which leads to the worship of money and the exploitation of others. His words came during the homily at his regular Santa Marta Mass for this last week of the Church’s liturgical year.

Listen to Philippa Hitchen's reports:

Reflecting on the readings for the day which speak of the end of the world, of judgement and redemption for God’s faithful people, Pope Francis talked about corruption which led to the downfall of the great city of Babylon.

Corruption is a blasphemous way of living, the Pope warned, it’s the language of Babylon and worldly living. Corruption is a form of blasphemy where there is no God, he went on, but only the gods of money and wellbeing through the exploitation of others.

Yet this worldliness which seduces the powerful will be torn down, the Pope said, just as we hear the victory cry of the angel, in the reading from Revelation, announcing the fall of Babylon with its empire of vanity, pride and evil.

In contrast to the victory cry of the angel proclaiming the fall of this corrupt civilisation, Pope Francis said, there is another powerful voice of the great multitude praising God and saying: “Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God”. This is the voice of the people of God who will be saved because they are sinners but not corrupt, he stressed.

A sinner who knows how to ask for forgiveness and seeks salvation in Jesus Christ learns how to adore God, though this is not an easy task for Christians. We are good at praying when we’re asking for something, he said, but we must also learn how to praise God. Better to learn now, he added, than have to learn in a hurry when the end times come. The Pope insisted on the beauty of praying in front of the tabernacle, saying simply: “You are God, I am a poor child loved by You”.

Finally the Pope noted that in the reading there is a third voice, the whispering voice of the angel who tells the author to write: “Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” The Lord’s invitation is not a cry, but rather a gentle voice that speaks to the heart, the Pope said, just like the voice of God speaking to Elijah. When God speaks to our hearts in this way, he said, it is like a breath of silent sound.

This invitation to the wedding feast, according to the parable of Jesus, will be our salvation. Those invited include the bad and the good, the blind, the deaf and the lame, all of us sinners who have enough humility in our hearts to say: “I am a sinner and God will save me”.

The Gospel passage concludes by reminding us that “when these signs begin to happen” – that is the destruction of pride and vanity – “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand”. May the Lord give us grace, the Pope said, to prepare ourselves and to listen to that voice saying “Come, come, come faithful servant – sinner but faithful – come to the wedding feast of your Lord”.

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Drug dependency is a ‘new form of slavery’ and a ‘wound in our society’ which should be combatted with education and rehabilitation.

That was Pope Francis’ message to a Vatican conference called ‘Narcotics: Problems and Solutions of this Global Issue’, which was hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on 23-24 November.

Listen to Devin Watkins’ report:

Pope Francis told the two-day conference on Narcotics that those who fall into the snares of drugs are victims who have “lost their freedom” in return for “a new form of slavery”.

Reflecting on the causes of drug dependency, the Holy Father said it results from a variety of factors: “the absence of a family, social pressure, propaganda from traffickers, the desire to live new experiences”.

However, he said, “every dependent person brings with them a distinct personal history, which should be listened to, understood, loved, and, where possible, cured and purified. We cannot fall into the injustice of classifying them as if they were objects or broken junk; rather, every person should be valued and appreciated in their dignity in order to be cured. They continue to have, more than ever, dignity as persons and children of God.”

He said it is no surprise that so many people fall into drug dependency since “mundanity offers us a wide spectrum of possibilities to find a fleeting happiness”.

The Pope went on to approach the problem of narcotics from both the supply and demands sides of the equation.

The supply of drugs, he said, is an “important part of organized crime”, and its supply chain must be rooted out and destroyed.

Demand for narcotics, he said, needs to be halted through education, social programmes, and family support.

He said, “Integral human formation is the priority. It gives people the possibility to possess the instruments of discernment, with which they are able to discern various options and help others. This formation is principally oriented to the most vulnerable of a society, such as children and young people, but which is also usefully extended to families and those who suffer any type of marginalization.” Prevention and rehabilitation, he repeated, are both important aspects of the problem of drug dependency.

In conclusion, Pope Francis said, “The most needy of our brothers and sisters, who seemingly have nothing to give, offer us a treasure – the face of God, which speaks to us and challenges us.”

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A Pakistani anti-terrorism court  in Pakistan on Wednesday, awarded death sentences to a Muslim cleric and four others for burning alive a Christian couple two years ago. An anti-terrorism court in Lahore delivered the verdict after the prosecution presented all witnesses.

Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Azam also imposed a fine of 200,000 rupees on each convicted for lynching the couple. Eight other suspects were sentenced to two years in prison, the Press Trust of India reported.

The incident occurred on November 4, 2014 at Kot Radha Kishan area of Kasur district, 64 kilometers southwest of Punjab’s Lahore city. Shahbaz Maseeh, 26, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were attacked by colleagues at a brick factory in Punjab province where they worked. The couple were accused of setting fire to several verses of the Koran. The couple were planning to flee with their children when the mob caught them.

According to the charge-sheet, the accused gathered a mob by making announcements from mosques that the Christian couple had committed blasphemy. Some 600 Muslims led by area clerics reached the brick kiln were the couple worked as laborers and dragged them out of the room after breaking into it.

They first tortured them and then threw them in the furnace in the kiln. No one from the crowd listened to the couple who were pleading that they were innocent. It was all ashes and some bones of the couple which was left to bury after the gory incident. The couple had three children and Shama Bibi was pregnant at the time of her death.

The factory owner reportedly claimed to have seen half torched Koranic pages between a heap of garbage. The pages of the Koran were apparently put there accidentally by Shama Bibi while she collected personal belongings of her diseased father-in-law. After discovering the burned verses, the kiln manager, identified as Muhammad Afzal, allegedly forced the Christians to stay indoors until they “pay off their debts.” After an announcement was made in regional mosques, “hundreds of Muslims” went to the room where the couple was held.

A fact-finding team of Pakistan's independent human rights commission found the allegations of blasphemy to be completely false.

Nearly 40 suspects, including Afzal and kiln owner Yousaf Gujjar, were arrested a day after the murder. Pakistan’s blasphemy legislation has created an atmosphere of hatred. Under those laws, insulting the Koran or Prophet Muhammad can be punished with life imprisonment or death. Activists say the legislation is often misused to settle personal disputes.

A month before the Masih couple were killed, an appeals court in Pakistan upheld the death sentence against Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five. She was detained in 2009 after she reportedly told Muslim co-workers that Jesus Christ is alive.

Two politicians, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, and Christian federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti, were even assassinated in 2011 for criticizing the country’s blasphemy legislation under which she was sentenced.

Source: Matters India

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The Government of Kenya through the Nairobi county government has named one of Nairobi’ streets after the Servant of God, Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga, who died in 2003. This is in recognition of virtues that Cardinal Otunga championed and demonstrated his life.

Speaking during the unveiling of Cardinal Otunga Road, near the Holy Family Minor Basilica adjacent to City Hall Anne, John Cardinal Njue thanked the County Government of Nairobi for naming a section of the street after the Servant of God. Cardinal Njue said, Otunga was a moral icon worthy of the honour.

“May the street prompt us to emulate Cardinal Otunga’s exemplary life of prayerfulness and humility; may his intercession merit the city of Nairobi and the entire country, Gods protection and abundant blessing. Cardinal Otunga will continue to speak to the people of Nairobi and all Kenyans through his great virtues of courage, good cheer, care and concern for others,”  Cardinal Njue Said.

Cardinal Njue prayed for all Kenyan leaders to shun tribalism and racism and urged them to strive to bring unity to the country so that they can leave a meaningful heritage for generations to come just as Cardinal Otunga who stood for honesty, simplicity and care for the less fortunate in the society had done.

For this part, the Governor of Nairobi County, Dr Evans Kidero, said his office recognised the Servant of God as a spiritual hero since he left the world a better place than he found it and the least they could do were to name a street after him.

Kidero called on leaders to be as caring and just as Cardinal Otunga was, adding that, such deeds would bring prosperity for the nation. He condemned acts of bribery and corruption among some leaders whom he said destroy the Country.

Echoing Cardinal Njues sentiments, the Governor called on Kenyans to be united before and after next general elections of August 2017.

“We are Kenyans after an election, but before, we retreat into tribal cocoons. Do not let elections divide us. Be one.” He appealed.

Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga died on 6 September 2003 at the age of 80 having served the Catholic Church for over fifty years. The cause of the beatification of Cardinal Otunga started in 2009 and documents have been lodged with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

(Rose Achiego in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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Vatican City, Nov 24, 2016 / 02:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis met Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang at the Vatican for a meeting largely focused on collaboration between the Church and State, as well as how to move forward in cementing better relations.

In the course of the “cordial talks,” specific mention was made of the “good relations existing between the Holy See and Vietnam,” which are supported by “a common spirit of dialogue and of the constant search for the most appropriate tools so they can further advance,” a Nov. 23 communique from the Vatican read.

Collaboration between the Church and the State “in various levels of local society” was also emphasized.

President Dai Quang arrived to the Vatican around 5p.m. local time, and was accompanied by a delegation of 10 people.

After their private discussion, Dai Quang gifted the Pope a small drum with a bronze base, while Francis, for his part, gave the Vietnamese president a medal of his pontificate as well as a copy of his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, his Apostolic Exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Evangelii Gaudium.

Following his meeting with the Pope, President Dai Quang met briefly with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with the States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

While the Vietnamese president’s visit to the Vatican is significant, it is not the first time a head of state has made such a gesture. In 2009, former president Nguyen Minh Triet traveled to the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, marking the first such visit by a Vietnamese head of state to the Vatican.

Vietnam is currently one of 15 States in which the Holy See does not yet have full diplomatic relations.

Diplomatic relations between the two states were dissolved in 1975 when the communist north overran South Vietnam. However, since then, the visits of more than 20 Vatican delegations eventually led to the 2007 visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Benedict XVI.

After the 2007 meeting, the Holy See and Vietnam began talks to re-establish diplomatic ties, and to this end a joint working group was established in 2009. In 2008, after decades, the Holy See was finally able to appoint seven new bishops in Vietnam, and the bishops ordained hundreds of priests.

Talks eventually led to the appointment of Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli as non-resident special envoy to Vietnam in 2011. A year later, Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary of the Vietnamese communist party, visited Benedict, showing the desire on the part of Vietnamese authorities to normalize diplomatic ties.

The sixth and most recent meeting of the working group took place Oct. 24-26 at the Vatican, where talks centered on the recent reform of the religious freedom bill in Vietnam, which has been under discussion since 2013, when the Vietnamese constitution was revised.

The law guaranteed freedom of belief to people, and formally guarantees religious freedom. However, Catholic communities have experienced several limitations under the communist regime that took power in 1976.

In the October working group meeting, Vietnam’s representatives underscored the efforts made to improve a religious freedom bill, while the Holy See showed appreciation for these efforts and reiterated the Church’s freedom to carry forward its mission.

With 6 million adherents to the faith – nearly 7 percent of its entire population – the Church has a notable impact on Vietnamese society, a fact acknowledged by the government's desire to dialogue with the Holy See.

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Washington D.C., Nov 24, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Gratitude to God was the focus of the U.S. bishops’ conference for its Thanksgiving wishes to Americans as the bishops offered prayers for the poor, the elderly, and holiday travelers.

“On Thanksgiving, millions of Americans, from big cities to rural countryside, will bow their heads to say grace,” the heads of the U.S. bishops’ conference said Nov. 23. “They will be successful and struggling, citizen and newcomer, sisters and brothers to us all. Diverse as we are, we are united in the debt we owe to God and our desire to give Him thanks.”

The message was signed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, the conference's new vice-president.

“Let us pray for everyone separated from the abundance of our country that God may comfort them and opportunities may open for them to fully participate in the hope of America,” their message continued. “Let us also especially remember the elderly and those who are in need, as well as anyone who may be spending the day alone. May they experience the closeness of God.”

The bishops’ conference acknowledged the volunteers working at many parishes to help make a meal for the less fortunate. They also noted the many travelers of the holiday season.

“In modern times, Thanksgiving has become a day when dispersed families come together again around the dinner table. Let us pray for all those traveling this week that God may guide them safely to their loved ones,” the bishops’ conference said.

“Have a Happy Thanksgiving!” the message closed.

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