Catholic News 2
BEIRUT (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Thursday for an immediate investigation of an attack on a school in Syria's Idlib province that the U.N.'s children's agency is calling one of the deadliest of its kind in the country's six-year war....
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- Trailing with time running out, Donald Trump denounced both Hillary and Bill Clinton Thursday as creatures of a corrupt political system who would use another pass at the Oval Office to enrich themselves at the expense of American families. Clinton turned to popular first lady Michelle Obama to rally voters in North Carolina, a state that could deliver a knockout blow to Trump....
NEW YORK (AP) -- An airplane carrying Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence has slid off the runway while landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport....
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) -- Law enforcement officers in riot gear and firing bean bags and pepper spray evicted protesters Thursday from private land in the path of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, dramatically escalating a dispute over Native American rights and the project's environmental impact that has simmered for months....
CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) -- The Latest on the Dakota Access oil pipeline protest (all times local):...
CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber was followed by fans with cameras and cellphones. A couple of pitchers from the Cleveland Indians played hacky sack in the outfield....
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- As first ladies they could hardly have been more different. But as Democrats looking to fire up female voters, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were firmly bonded on Thursday....
(Vatican Radio) The Catholic Archbishop of Juba said on Thursday that Pope Francis told him that he would like to visit South Sudan, a nation wracked by a bitter civil war. Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro said the dire situation in his homeland was described to the Pope during an earlier audience between the Holy Father and a delegation of Christian religious leaders from South Sudan. In addition to Archbishop Loro, the delegation included the Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, the Rev. Peter Gai Lual Marrow. South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has seen in recent months the resurgence of a brutal civil war between government troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and opposition forces following former deputy Reik Machar.Archbishop Lukudu Loro said all the religious leaders spoke during the papal audience about South Sudan’s war, the killings, the refugees an...
(Vatican Radio) The Catholic Archbishop of Juba said on Thursday that Pope Francis told him that he would like to visit South Sudan, a nation wracked by a bitter civil war. Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro said the dire situation in his homeland was described to the Pope during an earlier audience between the Holy Father and a delegation of Christian religious leaders from South Sudan. In addition to Archbishop Loro, the delegation included the Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, the Rev. Peter Gai Lual Marrow.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has seen in recent months the resurgence of a brutal civil war between government troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and opposition forces following former deputy Reik Machar.
Archbishop Lukudu Loro said all the religious leaders spoke during the papal audience about South Sudan’s war, the killings, the refugees and the prevailing fear and appealed to the Pope to come and visit their homeland. He said the Pope replied by saying he was close to them in their sufferings and repeated twice that he wanted to visit South Sudan.
Archbishop Lukudu Loro also told Vatican Radio’s Christopher Wells that the country is in dire need of humanitarian assistance and of the attention and care of the international community, and that he hopes the Pope and other Christian leaders will help raise awareness of the critical situation facing the people of South Sudan:
Listen to the interview with Archbishop Lukudu Loro of Juba in South Sudan:
Below, please find the English translation of the Communiqué of the Holy See Press Office on Pope Francis’ meeting with religious leaders of South Sudan:
Today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace the Holy Father Francis received in audience the principal Christian religious leaders of South Sudan: Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro, mccj, of Juba, Rev. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Archbishop of the Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan & Sudan, and Rev. Peter Gai Lual Marrow, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.
In the context of the tensions that divide the population to the detriment of coexistence in the country, during the meeting with the Holy Father it was acknowledged that good and fruitful collaboration exists among the Christian Churches, who wish primarily to offer their contribution to promoting the common good, protecting the dignity of the person, protecting the helpless and implementing initiatives for dialogue and reconciliation. In the light of the Year of Mercy in progress in the Catholic Church, it was underlined that the fundamental experience of forgiveness and acceptance of the other is the privileged path to building peace and to human and social development. In this regard, it was confirmed that the various Christian Churches are committed, in a spirit of communion and unity, to service to the population, promoting the spread of a culture of encounter and sharing.
Finally, all parties reiterated their willingness to journey together and to work with renewed hope and mutual trust, in the conviction that, drawing from the positive values inherent in their respective religious traditions, they may show the way to respond effectively to the deepest aspirations of the population, which keenly thirsts for a secure life and a better future.
(Vatican Radio) Two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by the the so-called Islamic State group in Iraq have won Europe's top human rights award, the Sakharov prize for their advocacy work.Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Basharwere among thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS militants and forced into sexual slavery in two years ago.Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: Its a long way from the luxurious surroundings in Brussels to receive the Sakharov award to where their ordeal began. They were abducted along with other Yazidi women in August 2014 when their home village of Kocho in northern Iraq was attacked by Islamic State militants as part of a wider campaign. Murad was captured alongside her sisters and lost six brothers and her mother, as the militants killed the village’s men and any women considered too old to be sexually exploited.Aji Bashar, whose brother and father were killed by Islamic State fighters, was also used as a sex slave by...
(Vatican Radio) Two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by the the so-called Islamic State group in Iraq have won Europe's top human rights award, the Sakharov prize for their advocacy work.
Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Basharwere among thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS militants and forced into sexual slavery in two years ago.
Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
Its a long way from the luxurious surroundings in Brussels to receive the Sakharov award to where their ordeal began. They were abducted along with other Yazidi women in August 2014 when their home village of Kocho in northern Iraq was attacked by Islamic State militants as part of a wider campaign.
Murad was captured alongside her sisters and lost six brothers and her mother, as the militants killed the village’s men and any women considered too old to be sexually exploited.
Aji Bashar, whose brother and father were killed by Islamic State fighters, was also used as a sex slave by the militants and forced to make bombs and suicide vests.
Both eventually managed to flee and arrived in Germany and soon became voices of the voiceless.
DIFFICULT MEMORIES
They now have won the European Union’s annual Sakharov human rights prize in memory of Andrei Sakharov, the outspoken Soviet physicist and dissident. Its awarded to “individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the fight for human rights across the globe”.
The two women were nominated by liberals in the European Parliament. Group leader Guy Verhofstadt described them as "inspirational women who have shown incredible bravery and humanity in the face of despicable brutality". And European Parliament President Martin Schulz said it was "a very symbolic and significant decision to support these two survivors who came to Europe as refugees".
The EU described Murad and Aji Bashar as “public advocates for the Yazidi community in Iraq, a religious minority that has been the subject of a genocidal campaign by IS militants.”
Yet Murad, who won the Council of Europe’s Václav Havel human rights prize earlier this month, says she will never forget the gang rape she endured and other abuses. "Most people die once in their lifetime, but we were dying every hour," she recalled.
"Our hearts were constantly full of fear as we had no idea when they would come for us [to rape or abuse again]". However, she said, she never thought of killing herself. She makes clear that everyone should trust in God "regardless of the circumstances" they are in.
Although some Yazidis have been rescued, the majority of those taken by Islamic State are still being held, with about 3,600 mostly women and children missing. A United Nations commission said recently that about 5,000 Yazidi men were killed by the Sunni militant group which took control of Iraq's northwest two years ago and is now facing tough resistance from Iraqi forces and an international coalition.
(Vatican Radio) In Haiti, over 2.1 million people were affected by Hurricane Matthew at the end of last month when torrential downpours and strong winds felled trees, swept away people and animals, and destroyed up to 90 percent of homes in some areas of the southwestern peninsula.Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Church’s humanitarian agency is on the ground focusing on ensuring Haitians have food, clean water and hygiene items and shelter. It has launched an international appeal for 250,000 euros in the attempt to provide assistance to the most vulnerable and isolated who have been affected by the disaster. Clean water is in short supply and poor sanitation threatens to trigger another outbreak of cholera, a disease that has killed some 10,000 since the 2010 earthquake.Caritas Internationalis Secretary General, Michel Roy, has just returned from the stricken nation and spoke to Vatican Radio’s Marie Duhamel about the situation:Listen: Michel Roy describ...
(Vatican Radio) In Haiti, over 2.1 million people were affected by Hurricane Matthew at the end of last month when torrential downpours and strong winds felled trees, swept away people and animals, and destroyed up to 90 percent of homes in some areas of the southwestern peninsula.
Caritas Internationalis, the Catholic Church’s humanitarian agency is on the ground focusing on ensuring Haitians have food, clean water and hygiene items and shelter.
It has launched an international appeal for 250,000 euros in the attempt to provide assistance to the most vulnerable and isolated who have been affected by the disaster.
Clean water is in short supply and poor sanitation threatens to trigger another outbreak of cholera, a disease that has killed some 10,000 since the 2010 earthquake.
Caritas Internationalis Secretary General, Michel Roy, has just returned from the stricken nation and spoke to Vatican Radio’s Marie Duhamel about the situation:
Listen:
Michel Roy describes a scene of utter devastation: “The trees are destroyed, the crops are destroyed, the animals were killed, you don’t see any birds – that feels very strange – so there is silence, and the fact that the trees that are still standing have lost all their leaves means that when it is raining the water falls straight to the ground creating floods, and when the sun is burning, it directly burns onto the soil and this will create problems for the future”.
He says the devastation is greater than he expected and greater even than reported by the media or by the Haitian government.
Roy says the people of Haiti seem almost resigned. He says they are very resilient because they are accustomed to facing problems. He says they are people of great dignity and they are surviving.
He says they are in need of food but they are also asking for tarpaulins and for corrugated iron so they can rebuild their houses. He adds that it is necessary and urgent that the land be cleaned and sanitized and points out that there are pockets where cholera is affecting some areas.
“What Caritas is doing is bringing food, utensils, medicine to the existing health centers, and hygiene kits. But it is far from enough” he says.
Roy says people are also asking for seeds they will be able to plant once the land has been cleaned – and this he says – means they are looking to the future and want to rebuild their lives.
The Caritas Internationalis Secretary General says more help is needed from the international community and he says “we are going to raise the issue with the United Nations because there is a real big need”.
He says there are inhabitants in the areas in the southwest, where the cyclone hit hardest, who are suffering a real famine.
“There is a real need to refocus on the region, not to abandon the people there. Of course the media spoke about it and we could see pictures in the papers in the days that followed the cyclone, but now it is no more on the news” he says.
Finally, Roy says, people have told him the situation is as dire as the situation after the earthquake in 2010 “so you can imagine the depth of the tragedy for the people living there”.
