Catholic News 2

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- After five years as the chief promoter of the false idea that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, Donald Trump reversed course and admitted on Friday that the president was - and then claimed credit for putting the issue to rest....

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis addressed newly-appointed bishops in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on Friday, reminding them of the thrill of being loved in advance by God and exhorting them to ‘make mercy pastoral’.

The audience came at the end of formation course for new bishops organized by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Make mercy pastoral, for you have experienced the thrill of being loved by God. That, according to Pope Francis, is the mission of bishops, especially those who are new Pastors of the Church.

He said the bishops had been “fished, that is, caught by the love of God’s surprising mercy” and pointed them to the example of biblical figures like Moses and Nathaniel who were loved and known by God even before they realized it.

The Holy Father called this “an admirable condescension”. He said, “How beautiful it is to let oneself be transfixed by the loving knowledge of God. It consoles us to know that He truly knows who we are and is not afraid of our littleness…, despite our insufficiencies.”

The Pope said the Holy Door of the Jubilee of Mercy is Christ, the only Door. Passing through that door, he said, should help them live “a personal experience of gratitude, of reconciliation, of total trust, of complete self-giving of one’s life without limit to the Pastor of Pastors”.

“The most precious richness you can bring from Rome at the beginning of your episcopal ministry is the awareness of the mercy with which you have been seen and chosen.”

Pope Francis then called the bishops to fulfill their duty to make mercy pastoral for their flocks. “Mercy,” he said, “should form and inform the pastoral structures of our Churches. This does not mean lowering our standards or giving away our pearls. Rather, the only condition placed by the precious pearl on those who find it is to give their all. It’s only pretense is to awake in the heart of the one who finds it is that he or she risk all to obtain it.”

He gave the bishops three recommendations for how to make mercy pastoral, saying their ministry must be accessible, tangible, and capable of encounter.

The Holy Father told them to accessible to their flock and able to invite them through “goodness, beauty, truth, love, and goodness”. Though he warned them in an off-the-cuff remark that “the world is tired of enchanting liars, that is, fashionable priests or fashionable bishops”.

He also told them to not be afraid to ‘initiate’ those entrusted to them, especially seminarians.

“I ask you,” he said, “to take special care of the structures of initiation of your Churches, especially Seminaries. Do not be tempted by numbers and quantities of vocations, but search rather for the quality of your seminaries. Do not deprive you seminarians of your firm and tender fatherhood.”

Pope Francis concluded by telling them to be “bishops capable of accompanying” their flock, just as the Good Samaritan accompanied the man left hurt on the side of the road to a safe place.

“Accompany, above all, your presbiterate with patient care… Place before their eyes the joy of authentic love and the grace of God with which God raises them to the participation in His own Love.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday. In remarks to the faithful following the readings of the day, the Holy Father reflected on the “logic” of Christian faith – the fundamental way of thinking that arises from real assent to the truth claims that Christianity advances – a logic he described as one of “the day after tomorrow” – a logic that looks forward to the resurrection of the body.

Click below to hear our report

Beginning with a passage from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (15:12-20), in which the Apostle to the Gentiles specifically addresses the certainty of Christian faith in bodily resurrection, rooted in our certainty that Christ is risen from the dead, the Holy Father reflects on the implications of, and the challenges to, our faith.

The logic of the day after tomorrow is the logic of the risen Christ

“It is easy for all of us,” he said, “to enter into the logic of the past, because it is concrete,” and it is also “easy to enter into the logic of the here-and-now, because we see it.” When, however, we look to the future, then we think it is “better not to think,” or at least, easy to fall prey to the temptation not to think it all the way through:

“The logic of yesterday is easy. The logic of today is easy. The logic of the future is easy: all die. But the logic of the day after tomorrow, this is difficult. And this is what Paul wants to preach today: the logic of the day after tomorrow. How will it be? How will He be? The resurrection: Christ is risen. Christ is risen and it is quite clear that He has not been raised as a ghost. In the passage from Luke about the resurrection [we read]: ‘But touch me.’ A ghost has no flesh, no bones. ‘Touch me. Feed me.’ The logic of the day after tomorrow is the logic in which enters the flesh.”

We wonder, he continued, how the sky will be, or whether “we will all be there,” but, “we do not reach what Paul wants us to understand – this logic of the day after tomorrow.” Here, he warned, “we betray a certain Gnosticism,” when we think that “everything will be spiritual” and “we are afraid of flesh.”

Say “No!” to spiritualistic piety, and enter into the logic of the flesh of Christ

Do not forget, he said, “this was the first heresy” that the apostle John condemns: “Who says that the Word of God does not come in the flesh is Antichrist”:

“We are afraid to accept and bear the ultimate consequences to the flesh of Christ. a spiritualistic piety is easier, a gossamer pietism; but to enter into the logic of the flesh of Christ, this is difficult. And this is the logic of the day after tomorrow. We will be resurrected as Christ is risen, with our flesh.”

Francis recalled that the early Christians asked about how Jesus was resurrected and notes that it is in the faith in the resurrection of the body that the works of mercy have their deepest root cause. On the other hand, he continued, St. Paul strongly emphasizes that all shall be changed, our bodies and our flesh will be transformed.

We ask for the grace to believe in the transformation of the flesh

Pope Francis went on to remind the faithful that the Lord “let Himself be seen, and touched, and he ate with the disciples after the resurrection.” This “is the logic of the day after tomorrow, one that we find difficult to understand,” in which we find it difficult to enter:

“It is a sign of maturity to understand well the logic of the past. It is a sign of maturity to move in the logic of the present – in both that of yesterday and that of today. It is also a sign of maturity to have prudence to see the logic of tomorrow, of the future. Nevertheless, it takes a great grace of the Holy Spirit to understand this logic of the day after tomorrow – after the transformation – when He will come and take us – all changed – on clouds, to stay forever with Him. We ask the Lord for the grace of this faith.”

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has sent a telegramme to the Italian Senate expressing his condolences for the death of former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Senator Ciampi served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and as President of the Italian Republic from 1999 to 2006. He passed away on Friday at the age of 95 in a clinic in Rome.

In the telegramme, the Holy Father extended his “deeply felt condolences” to Mr. Ciampi’s wife and children.

He also recalled the “sincere friendship which bound this illustrious man of the institutions to Pope St. John Paul II”.

The Holy Father closed the telegramme by extending his Apostolic Blessing.

Below, please find the original telegramme in Italian:

GENTILE SIGNORA FRANCA PILLA CIAMPI

C/O SENATO DELLA REPUBBLICA - PALAZZO GIUSTINIANI

VIA DELLA DOGANA VECCHIA  29  00186  ROMA

DESIDERO PORGERE LE MIE PIU’ SENTITE CONDOGLIANZE A LEI, AI FIGLI E A TUTTI I FAMILIARI IN QUESTO MOMENTO DI DOLORE PER LA MORTE DEL SENATORE CARLO AZEGLIO CIAMPI, PRESIDENTE EMERITO DELLA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA, CHE RICOPRI’ LE PUBBLICHE RESPONSABILITA’ CON SIGNORILE DISCREZIONE E FORTE SENSO DELLO STATO. NEL RICORDARE LA SINCERA AMICIZIA CHE LEGAVA QUESTO ILLUSTRE UOMO DELLE ISTITUZIONI A SAN GIOVANNI PAOLO SECONDO, ELEVO FERVIDE PREGHIERE DI SUFFRAGIO INVOCANDO DAL SIGNORE PER LA SUA ANIMA LA PACE ETERNA. CON TALI SENTIMENTI INVIO A LEI E AI CONGIUNTI LA BENEDIZIONE APOSTOLICA

FRANCISCUS PP 

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An official of India’s Latin rite bishops says that  the nation’s Catholic Church "is committed to strengthening family life, despite the many challenges it faces”.   Fr. Milton Gonsalves, the executive secretary of the Commission for Family of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), talked to Asianews, about the main problems that families face and also offered possible solutions. 

The priest who has been travelling extensively around the country since 2014, organizing training on marriage preparatory courses and family apostolate and also interacting with families, said one of the "common problem" is the decline in spirituality and prayer life in the family.  He said imparting of good Christian and moral values to children should begin from birth,  and that the spirituality of family is strengthened by prayer.  Good relations between couples is essential in helping face challenges in marriage, the priest added.   Another common problem Fr. Gonsalves noted in Indian families is "alcoholism", which bring about “rift in spousal relationship" and consequently affects children and others in family.  

He said the that the Indian Church has been making “concerted effort to pastorally guide families that would really live the mystery of Christ and the faith in a tangible and feasible way," Father Gonslaves said.  One of the priorities of the CCBI Commission for Family, he said, is to create pastoral structure in family apostolate in every parish in India.  They have developed a common manual or syllabus for the marriage preparatory course for both participants and trainers, he said.  India’s Latin Rite bishops will be focusing attention on the family during the next biennial meeting of the CCBI, to be held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, January 31 to February 7, 2017.  The CCBI is also working with family apostolate groups such as the Couples for Christ (CFC) which has a membership of 30 thousand families.  (Source: AsiaNews)

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Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has appealed to dioceses around the country to come to the aid of people affected by Typhoon Meranti that hit the northern part of the country early this week.  "Let us not alienate ourselves from those in need.  Do something as an act of solidarity," said Cardinal Tagle in an appeal aired over Radio Veritas on Sept. 16.  The Archbishop of Manila made the call after listening to a message from Bishop Camilo Gregorio of the Prelature of Batanes who appealed for financial aid. 

"We are safe but suffering. We need financial aid," said Bishop Gregorio. Several structures, such as the cathedral and the church rectory were destroyed, he said.  "All lines of communication went down," said the prelate, adding that flights to the island province are still suspended because of another typhoon coming.  "Please pray for us, we are still surviving. No government assistance at all," said Bishop Gregorio.

The government has already declared the province of Batanes under a state of calamity due to the effects of the typhoon.  The Office of the Civil Defense reported that 50 houses were totally destroyed while at least 100 others were damaged.  (Source: UCAN)

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The Philippine government should invite an independent investigation involving the United Nations ‎into allegations of direct involvement by President Rodrigo Duterte in extrajudicial killings, Human ‎Rights Watch said on Friday.  On September 15, 2016, an admitted former “hit man,” Edgar Matobato, ‎testified at a Philippine Senate hearing about the alleged killings of about 1,000 people in Davao City ‎involving Duterte, who was the city’s mayor for more than two decades.   “The detailed testimony ‎from a ‘death squad’ member that then-Mayor Duterte was personally involved in killings and ordered ‎others are very serious allegations that require an independent investigation,” said Brad Adams, Asia ‎director at Human Rights Watch.  “President Duterte can’t be expected to investigate himself, so it is ‎crucial that the United Nations is called in to lead such an effort. Otherwise, Filipinos may never know ‎if the president was directly responsible for extrajudicial killings,” Adams said.‎

Since Duterte took office on June 30, more than 2,000 people have been killed in his self-proclaimed ‎‎“war on drugs.” The most recent Philippine National Police data shows that from July 1 to September 4, ‎police killed an estimated 1,011 suspected “drug pushers and users,” more than 14 times the 68 such ‎police killings recorded between January 1 and June 15. Police blame the killings on suspects who ‎‎“resisted arrest and shot at police officers,” but refuse to launch an investigation into the deaths.‎

In 2009, Human Rights Watch published “‘You Can Die Any Time’: Death Squad Killings in ‎Mindanao,” which details the involvement of police and local government officials in targeted death ‎squad killings in Davao City during Duterte’s time as mayor. Another Human Rights Watch report ‎from 2014, “‘One Shot to the Head’: Death Squad Killings in Tagum City, Philippines,” documents ‎police involvement in what appeared to be a copycat policy of extrajudicial killings in a city close to ‎Davao City. (Source: HRW)

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A Myanmar military court has jailed seven soldiers for five years each with hard labour for murdering five ethnic minority villagers in June, state media said on Friday, in a rare prosecution of military personnel.  The seven, including four officers, will serve their time in civilian prisons, said a report from a court martial in northeastern Myanmar.  Soldiers have often been accused of serious human rights abuses in Myanmar's long-running wars with ethnic armed groups, but the allegations are rarely acknowledged, let alone heard in court.

Sai Kaung Kham, an activist who helped residents of northern Shan state's Mong Yaw village demand justice for the June killing of their family members, said he was surprised the military had taken action at all.  "The fact they have been sentenced to imprisonment is better than nothing," he said.

Myanmar's army ran the country for almost five decades before initiating a transition to civilian rule that saw Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi take power in April.  Military leaders, keen to build military-to-military ties with Western armies, have made efforts to present the still-powerful army as a responsible partner in country's transition.

After the killings in Mong Yaw, one of the military's highest-ranking officers held an unprecedented news conference in July to say that soldiers were responsible for the deaths of five residents. Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo said at time the military would support the victims' families.

Witnesses have told Reuters that soldiers entered Mong Yaw - populated mainly by members of the Shan and Palaung ethnic groups - on June 25 and rounded up dozens of men they suspected of aiding the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, a Palaung militia that has been fighting government forces in the area for several years.  Five badly beaten corpses were later pulled from shallow graves and identified as missing villagers.  (Source: Reuters)

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By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians are called to believe in the logic of the resurrection of the body and not succumb to heresies that reduce it to a mere spiritual experience, Pope Francis said.

When looking toward the future, the uncertainty about what happens after death often can lead to not understanding Christianity's "logic of the future," which proclaims that believers will rise will rise again in body and soul like Jesus did, the pope said Sept. 16 during a morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

"A spiritualistic piety, a nuanced piety is much easier; but to enter into the logic of the flesh of Christ, this is difficult. And this is the logic of the day after tomorrow. We will resurrect like the risen Christ, with our own flesh," he said.

In his homily, the pope reflected on St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, in which the apostle admonishes some of the early Christian community for saying "there is no resurrection of the dead."

"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty, too, is our preaching; empty, too, your faith," St. Paul wrote.

The pope said that, for some, it is difficult to understand and accept the "logic of the future" regarding what happens after death. The belief that, like Jesus, Christians will experience the resurrection of the body "is not easy."

"Yesterday's logic is easy, today's logic is easy. Tomorrow's logic is easy: We will all die. But the logic of the day after tomorrow, that is difficult," he said.

Some Christians "are afraid of the flesh" and may fall prey to "a certain type of gnosticism" that reduces the resurrection to a purely spiritual experience; a belief that was "the first heresy" denounced by the apostle John, the pope explained.

Believing and having faith that Christ did not rise from the dead "as a ghost" but rather in flesh and blood is "the logic of the day after tomorrow that we find hard to understand," he said.

While it is a sign of maturity to see the logic of the resurrection, Christians must also pray for the grace to understand it, Pope Francis added.

"You also need the great grace of the Holy Spirit to understand this logic of the day after tomorrow; after the transformation, when he will come and will carry us transformed above the clouds to be with him always. Let us ask the Lord for the grace of this faith."

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LONDON (AP) -- Music aside, the true power of The Beatles wasn't the volume of their fans or the popularity of their hairstyles - it was the pull of their politics....

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