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Rome, Italy, Oct 3, 2016 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Italian police have arrested a 39-year-old Ghanaian man who entered several historic churches in central Rome Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, destroying a number of statues and creating panic among the faithful and tourists who were there at the time.

The vandal went into action around 7:30 pm on Friday evening in Saint Praxedes Basilica. He destroyed a statue of Saint Praxedes, and then did the same with a miniature reproduction of Saint Anthony, cutting off the head, according reports by various Italian media.

The pastor, Father Pedro Savelli, explained that “right away I thought it was an attack by ISIS. The man was outside himself, but thank God we were able to get him out before he could destroy everything. He said children cannot be taught to believe using sacred images as we do.”

The attacker also tried to destroy a crucifix but the priest managed to grab him by the leg and stop him.

The act occurred a few minutes after the end of a Mass and just before a concert for the Slovak community. “I don't know if he was a terrorist, but there certainly was an enormous lack of respect for religion,” Father Savelli said. “People were fleeing, escaping. I was able to stop him when he was on top of the altar. Some other people came to help me, but he managed to escape; we were afraid, we were terrorized, we didn't know if he was armed.”

After this attack the man went to Via de Colle Oppio where the other two churches he entered are located: Saint Silvester and Saint Martin in the popular Monti neighborhood. There he beat on one of the statues situated in the central nave of the church.

But the attacker did not give up, and Saturday he began a new round of attacks 21 hours later. It was San Vitale's turn on Via Nazionale – one of the main streets of the city – where he attacked another three statues and a candelabrum.

Before being arrested, the attacker made a final incursion in San Giovanni ai Fiorentini church in Piazza dell'Oro. There also, in front of terrified faithful and tourists, he attacked several statues. He was  able to escape again, but shortly after police arrested him in a nearby street.

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Washington D.C., Oct 3, 2016 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amidst the current environment of “political polarization,” one archbishop exhorted public officials on Sunday not to be discouraged, but to pray together and ask for “an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”

“At this critical moment in our nation’s history, at this time when America seems to be almost paralyzed by a political polarization that impedes our ability to address effectively a whole host of pressing needs, we gather not just to pray for our country and its leaders in general, but to plead in a particular way for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those who are involved in the administration of justice,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis said on Sunday.

Archbishop Hebda preached the homily at the Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, D.C. The Mass has been held annually for Supreme Court justices, judges, and other public officials since 1952, and the tradition of such a Mass for public officials dates back centuries in Europe. The Mass is named for the red vestments worn by the priest, the color of fire and a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  

Cardinal Wuerl celebrated the Mass and Archbishop Hebda was the homilist.

Three area attorneys and one legal firm were honored after the Mass by the John Carroll Society for their pro bono work for low-income persons. Professor Paul Kurth of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and lawyers Robert B. Fitzpatrick and Relinda Louisy all volunteered with the Catholic Charities Legal Network. The firm Hogan Lovells US LLP was also honored for its relationship with the Catholic Charities network.

At the Mass, Archbishop Hebda exhorted the justices, judges, and officials to not just pursue justice in their work but to practice mercy to all those they interact with. He pointed to the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that “the rule of law is always second to the law of love.”

“Those of you who knew and worked with Justice Scalia or who are students of his jurisprudence know that we certainly should not be interpreting his statement as suggesting a lack of appreciation for the rule of law, but rather as a reflection of a heightened appreciation for the importance of the law of love – and for the mercy that flows from it – in the practice of law and in the administration of justice,” Archbishop Hebda explained.

This means that public service should be focused on persons and not just laws and cases, he said.

“Pope Francis has noted that mercy ‘does not approach cases’ but persons and their pain,” the archbishop said. “Working in an environment so often populated by Jane Does and John Does, we need to remember that real people are at the heart of what we do and are affected by the decisions that we make.”

That does not mean casting aside justice to be replaced with mercy, he insisted, or “that we blindly let another off the hook.”

Rather, he said, we must “assess” others’ problems “to the best of our abilities, to the best of our professional standards, using the tools available to us, so that we might be instruments of the Lord in bringing the real healing that redounds not only to the individual but also to the common good.”

The archbishop also encouraged those in attendance to not grow discouraged by acts of violence and terror, prejudice, and infringements on religious freedom.

“In a society in which shopping malls and discos and schools have all too often become places of unthinkable horror, at a time when old hatreds and prejudices seem to be rearing their ugly heads, or when our first freedoms are so easily put at risk, we could easily be tempted to throw up our hands and simply join the lament that we heard in our first reading: ‘How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not intervene’,” he said.

Rather, “instead of giving up in discouragement, we, enlivened by the Spirit, need to join the Apostles in their fervent prayer: ‘Lord, increase our faith’,” he insisted.

And disciples must pray together, not just on their own. “There is surely strength in numbers,” he continued. “When we put our heads together, when we support each other in doing what’s right, when we pool our strengths and compensate for each other’s weaknesses, we can – by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit – do amazing things.”

“Surely between us we will be able to come up with faith at least the size of a mustard seed, faith capable of moving the mountains of despair and division, faith capable of pursuing justice while manifesting mercy, faith capable of making a difference in our lives and in our communities,” he added.

 

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Tbilisi, Georgia, Oct 3, 2016 / 04:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The tiny community of the Catholic Church in Georgia was barely surviving just decades ago.

Now it has an opportunity to regenerate itself following Pope Francis' model of the “Church of consolation,” the local Catholic bishop has said.
 
“During his Mass, Pope Francis did not speak of a strong and powerful Church, but rather of a Church able to give consolation. And I thought: this is the Church I like, a Church that has openings and does not get used to things,” Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto explained.
 
Bishop Pasotto is an Italian religious of the Stigmatine congregation. He moved to Georgia in 1993, was appointed apostolic administrator of the Caucasus region in 1996.
 
“The path of our Christian community was beautiful and exciting. We started from zero,” he told CNA. 

“Back in 1993, there were Christian communities, but we had to teach them Mass again, as they were only used to praying the Rosary. So, we drafted the Missal and prepared new catechesis. We had a wonderful feedback.”
 
He then stressed that “perhaps Catholics in Georgia are less enthusiastic, but this is normal. It is just like a plane: it takes off quickly, but then it has to keep the route. I am not worried.”
 
Bishop Pasotto keeps this optimistic view also for what concern ecumenical relations, despite the tensions experienced between Catholics and Orthodox Christians during the last years.

The Pope’s visit to Georgia included meetings with Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Illa II.
 
Bishop Pasotto recounted: “After the Pope left, I asked Patriarch Ilia if he was really happy about the visit. Patriarch Ilia replied: ‘I am very happy the Pope came here. I met a good man.’ The Pope told me the same thing about Ilia Saturday, while we were together in the car: ‘Do you know that this Patriarch is really a good man?’ Both of them used the same words, by chance, with no knowledge of what the other said.”
 
Certainly, the Church of Georgia faces some hard situations, and further theological discussion is needed. 

For example, the phenomenon of re-baptism is always increasing. Orthodox Christians in the country baptize for a second time Catholics who marry Orthodox Christians, as they do not recognize the Catholic baptisms.
 
“I spoke once with an Orthodox bishop and I noted that it was a bad thing that my baptism was not recognized,” Bishop Pasotto reflected. “He said that this was a Georgian Orthodox Synod decision. I replied that this meant I was not Christian then, nor was the Pope. In response to his protest that I was Christian because I believed in Christ, I explained to him that those who believe in Jesus Christ are catechumens, but as long as they are not baptized they are not Christian. And he agreed some further reflection was needed.”
 
The dialogue is not easy, though things were not so bad in the past. Patriarch Ilia was the first Georgian Orthodox Patriarch to visit the Pope in Rome, back in 1980. Then the situation worsened.

After the fall of Communism, some priests coming from the Russian Orthodox Church spread a notion of ecumenism that did not allow any ecumenical relations. 

“This new ‘philosophy’ of closed ecumenism was opposite of the Georgian habit, which is generally tolerant toward every denomination. But this new thought spread, and there were pressures from some of the monasteries that put at risk the unity of the Georgian Orthodox Church, with the threat of schism,” the bishop said.

“So Patriarch Ilia had to make a step back, in order to preserve the unity of the Church."

Despite the difficulties, there is now a community that feels strengthened by the Pope’s visit.
 
“After the Pope’s visit, the cathedral was filled with people and everyone had a special story to tell about the Pope and how they met him or they saw him,” recounted Bishop Pasotto.
 
“Our challenge now is to value this enthusiasm, so that it does not go wasted.”

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Montpelier, Vt., Oct 3, 2016 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A medical ethics group and a Christian doctors’ group have challenged Vermont regulators who say that doctors must tell patients about assisted suicide or refer them to someone who will.

“The government shouldn’t be telling health care professionals that they must violate their medical ethics in order to practice medicine,” said Steven H. Aden, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. “Because the state has no authority to order them to act contrary to that sincere and time-honored conviction, we are asking the court to ensure that no state agency is able to do that while this lawsuit moves forward.”

Aden’s organization, a religious liberty group, has filed a lawsuit against officials in the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and the Office of Professional Regulation.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs, the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare and the Christian Medical and Dental Association, object to state officials’ requirements that could force physicians to refer for assisted suicide under the 2013 assisted suicide law known passed as Act 39, the Patient Control at End of Life Act.

“Vermont’s Act 39 makes the State the first and only one to mandate that all licensed healthcare professionals counsel terminal patients about the availability and procedures for physician-assisted suicide, and refer them to willing prescribers to dispense the death-dealing drug,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit charges that the law “coerces professionals to counsel patients about the ‘benefits’ of assisted suicide” that the plaintiffs and their members do not believe exist.

The Vermont Department of Health has published on its website a document of frequently asked questions on Act 39, which allows doctors to approve lethal drugs for terminally ill patients who desire to kill themselves.

One question about assisted suicide is “Do doctors have to tell patients about this option?”

It answers that the legislation and another law called the Patient’s Bill of Rights mean “a patient has the right to be informed of all options for care and treatment.”

“If a doctor is unwilling to inform a patient, he or she must make a referral or otherwise arrange for the patient to receive all relevant information,” the document says.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against enforcement of the law against those who decline to counsel or refer patients with terminal conditions for physician assistant suicide. Enforcement of the law is “imminent,” the suit says.

The lawsuit charges that state officials’ actions contradict a federal law that protects the conscience rights of health professionals who object to participation in assisted suicide.

Vermont’s assisted suicide bill included some protections for healthcare providers opposed to the procedure.

Alliance Defending Freedom characterized these protections as “very limited.” They only protect attending physicians who do not wish to dispense lethal drugs themselves.
 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Shawn Thew, EPA

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The United States, with its mixed record on the death penalty, is about to take a closer look at the issue this fall with two cases before the Supreme Court and three referendums on state ballots in the November election.

In the two death penalty cases before the court, both from Texas, one examines information given to jurors while the other questions whether the state properly measured intellectual capability of the accused.

"The Supreme Court cases this fall are addressing the brokenness of the judicial system," said Karen Clifton, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Death Penalty.

She said these cases "address the most troubling aspect of the death penalty, which is disproportionately used on vulnerable populations."

Buck v. Stephens will be argued before the court Oct. 5, two days into its new term. It reviews the 1995 sentencing of Duane Buck, who was given the death penalty for the 1995 murders of his ex-girlfriend and another man.

Buck's guilt or innocence is not at stake; called into question is whether he was given a fair sentence. That's because during the punishment phase of his trial, the witness statement of a psychologist, called forth by the defense, said that because Buck is black, there was a stronger likelihood that he would present a danger to society.

Buck's lawyers will argue that this comment held particularly strong weight, especially since Texas law states the imposition of the death sentence must come from a unanimous jury decision that the defendant would pose a threat of future danger.

Texas has acknowledged the error based on similar testimony by the same psychologist, Walter Quijano, in six other cases and promised to re-examine Buck's case but never did.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing Buck, said the bottom line in the case is that racial bias played a role in Buck's sentencing. The 20-year-old case still speaks to what is happening in our country today, she said in a Sept. 30 teleconference with reporters.

Buck is seeking "a new colorblind sentencing hearing," added Kate Black, a NAACP attorney.

The other death penalty case before the court in October is Moore v. Texas where the plaintiff, Bobby James Moore, claims he is intellectually disabled, a claim the state appeals court has rejected. Moore was given the death sentence for his conviction in a 1980 murder of a grocery store clerk during a botched robbery, but his attorneys argue the state used outdated medical standards in their evaluation of Moore's mental state.

If the eight-member court gives a 4-4 ruling on the two cases, the men will be executed since the lower courts and the appeals courts ruled against them and those decisions will stand.

Voters in California, Nebraska and Oklahoma will look at the death penalty as referendum issues.

In Nebraska, lawmakers voted in May 2015 to repeal the death penalty and overrode Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto of their measure, but the measure has not been enforced because it is being put to the voters. They will have to decide if they want to retain the lawmakers' repeal of capital punishment or vote it down.

California has an initiative to replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Oklahoma has a more nuanced ballot measure -- asking voters if they want to add the death penalty to the state's constitution, which would make it clear that if one method of capital punishment is declared invalid or unconstitutional, another method could be used.

Clifton, whose group has been working closely with the state Catholic conferences where the death penalty is coming up for vote, said there is "no question this election is an important possible tipping point for the death penalty." If Nebraska retains the repeal on its use and California repeals the death penalty, she said, it will "show that the Americans are turning away from the death penalty. The end is in sight."

In Oklahoma, she said, the "surface is just being scratched," but she hopes the "ground is being tilled for future legislative reform."

During a Sept. 29 news briefing in Lincoln, Nebraska, across from the state Capitol, Father Doug Dietrich, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lincoln, said priests across the state were gearing up to address the issue from the pulpit in the weeks before the vote.

"We are taking a principled pro-life stance and proclaiming that we do not need the death penalty," he told reporters.

Clifton similarly said state victories against the death penalty "would also be a very big pro-life win for this country at a time when the dignity of life is being challenged on many fronts. It would show that even the guilty have dignity and a right to life," she added.

California's bishops have urged voters to support the initiative to outlaw the death penalty and to say no on a proposal to speed up the judicial review of death penalty cases, saying: "Any rush to streamline that process will inevitably result in the execution of more innocent people."

In an Aug. 21 statement, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said Oklahomans need to consider if they want to "retain a form of punishment that ratchets up the level of violence, is susceptible to misapplication and is corrosive of the values of our culture."

"Recent trends and statistics about the application of the death penalty as well as the alarming incarceration rates in our state point out the urgent need for criminal justice reform in our nation and in our state," he wrote.

The nation has mixed views on the death penalty. According to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, 30 states have the death penalty and 20 do not.

For the first time in four decades, public approval of capital punishment is decreasing. A Sept. 29 poll by the Pew Research Center that shows that 49 percent of Americans favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder and 42 percent oppose it -- which puts opposition to the death penalty at its highest level since 1972. In 2015, 56 percent of Americans supported the death penalty and 80 percent favored it. The numbers in support of the death penalty were much higher in the 1990s. In 1994, 80 percent of Americans favored the death penalty and only 16 percent were opposed to it.

The recent poll, based on telephone surveys from Aug. 23-Sept. 2, shows more support for the death penalty from white mainline Protestants -- 60 percent support it and 31 percent oppose -- than Catholics where 43 percent support the death penalty and 46 percent oppose it.

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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

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