Catholic News 2

Full Article

A would-be suicide bomber's explosives failed to detonate in a packed Catholic church in western Indonesia during Sunday Mass, and he injured a priest with an axe before being restrained, police said.  During Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, 17-year-old Ivan Armadi Hasugian left his bench and ran toward the priest at the altar, but a bomb in his backpack only burned without exploding, said national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar.  Before he was restrained by members of the congregation, the man managed to take an axe from the backpack and attacked the celebrant Fr. Albert Pandiangan, causing a slight injury to the 60-year-old priest's hand, Amar said. 

"From the cellphone that was seized by security forces, this youth was obsessed with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," Chief Security Minister Wiranto told reporters, referring to the leader of the Islamic State (IS), the Middle Eastern militant group.   Police were interrogating the man, who told them he was not working alone, Amar said, without providing details.

Indonesian authorities are increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, driven in part by a new generation of jihadis inspired by Islamic State (IS).    They say vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of the religion.  The country suffered its first IS-linked attack in January, when four people died in a gun and bomb assault.  

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, gave a keynote address for World Water Week on Monday, in which he examined the links between faith and development in the search to make drinkable water accessible to all people.

His words came at the conference taking place in Stockholm, Sweden on 28 August - 2 September.

In his address, Cardinal Turkson noted several contributions religious faith can make to societal development.

“Motivation to virtue is the valuable contribution that religious faith and spiritual practices can and must bring to development, through their spiritual leaders and the multitudes of believers and adherents.”

He also listed several contributions of faith-based organizations to making universal and sustainable access to drinkable water a reality.

- Educate youth to embrace solidarity, altruism, and responsibility. The latter of these virtues will help them to be honest administrators and politicians.

- In teaching Sacred Scriptures and spiritual traditions, show that water is a precious and even a divine element. It is used extensively in liturgy. This should inspire us to use water with respect and gratitude, reclaim polluted water sources, and understand that water is not a mere commodity.

-Organize interreligious campaigns for cleaning rivers or lakes, in order to foster mutual respect, peace and friendship among different groups.

-Reaffirm human dignity and the common good of the whole human family in order to promote a wise hierarchy of priorities for the use of water, especially where there are multiple and potentially competing demands for water.

Below is Cardinal Turkson's full speech:

World Water Week - Stockholm, Sweden

Session “Water and Faiths: Faith based Organizations contributing to the Water SDGs”

29 August 2016

Keynote Address - Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson

“Faith and Development”

Distinguished representatives of various Religions, Organizers, dear Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to greet you in the name of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Having been asked to speak on “Faith and Development”, I notice that many religions are represented here. This suggests that indeed there are many links between faith and development. Fruitful inter-religious collaborations and synergies have already started in several sectors, such as healthcare, food security, investment, education, stewardship of natural resources, and assistance to migrants.

From a Catholic perspective, our planet, its resources and ecosystems are a marvellous gift. So too, human life is a gift – we are not self-created, we receive our bodies and our first relationships through the same grand course of divinely-given nature. Hence, we readily understand that nature is intended to be shared between all the humans, one generation after the other, and that the whole human family is expected to take care of our common home. These fundamentals are easily found in other religions and spiritual traditions as well, regardless of their specific unique features.

Why is this shared fundamental understanding so important for development?

First of all, science can only explain concrete reality, its substances and causal relationships. Science can quantify the pollution in deep oceans or around a mining site, foreseeing its negative consequences and proposing remedies. But science cannot provide the motivation for virtuous action. The same holds beyond the realm of the natural sciences: sociologists, economists and lawyers can analyse and explain the negative effects of unemployment, speculation and corruption; they can warn us about rising inequalities, contradictory policies or geopolitical unrest. But in the end they cannot supply the motivation for virtuous action.

Pope Francis, in the Encyclical letter Laudato Si’, asks: “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? […] What is the goal of our work and all our efforts?” (§160). Observing numerous alarming environmental and social indicators leads us to the daunting question: why should I care? Science and technology will not help here. Any technical solution is powerless “if we lose sight of the great motivations which make it possible for us to live in harmony, to make sacrifices and to treat others well” (§200). Pope Francis shares his conviction “that change is impossible without motivation and a process of education” – and for those purposes he proposes “some inspired guidelines for human development to be found in the treasure of Christian spiritual experience” (§15), since “faith convictions can offer Christians, and some other believers as well, ample motivation to care for nature and for the most vulnerable of their brothers and sisters” (§64).

Simply put, motivation to virtue is the valuable contribution that religious faith and spiritual practices can and must bring to development, through their spiritual leaders and the multitudes of believers and adherents. They “must constantly feel challenged to live in a way consonant with their faith and not to contradict it by their actions” (200). They must contribute, for example, to the adoption and further extension of ambitious and ethically-rooted frameworks for development action such as those pertaining to the implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals.

A second perspective grounded in faith touches on human dignity. We are much more than items or data to be measured and represented by GDP. We are not simply factors of production and consumption. When human beings are just human resources, they cease to be the measure of success of policies. Instead, humans become disposable. Throw these people away in favour of better producers. Displace those people in favour of more profitable consumption of water.

Our vision of being human must be much more complex. Pope Francis teaches that we must integrate spirituality, social relationality, and our connections with nature. This lies behind his conviction that “what is at stake is our own dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn” (§160).

Since we are gathered during the World Water Week, I would like to conclude by giving a few examples of the contributions that Faith-based-organizations can provide concerning water.

- Educate youth to embrace solidarity, altruism and responsibility. The latter of these virtues will help them to be honest administrators and politicians.

- In teaching Sacred Scriptures and spiritual traditions, show that water is a precious and even a divine element. It is used extensively in liturgy. This should inspire us to use water with respect and gratitude, reclaim polluted water sources and understand that water is not a mere commodity.

- Organize interreligious campaigns for cleaning rivers or lakes, in order to foster mutual respect, peace and friendship among different groups.

- Reaffirm human dignity and the common good of the whole human family in order to promote a wise hierarchy of priorities for the use of water, especially where there are multiple and potentially competing demands for water.

All this will help in making universal and sustainable access to drinkable water a reality. This most vital challenge has been a focus for the Catholic Church for many years. It is a continuing shame that so many of our brothers and sisters are systematically thirsty or compelled to drink unsafe water; that their needs are secondary to industries which take too much and that pollute what remains; that governments pursue other priorities and ignore their parched cries. We already know how Jesus judges these matters. In the Gospel of Matthew (25:35), Jesus teaches what we are supposed to do: “I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink”. I pray that this conference will help the world to be more alert to the thirst of Jesus and give him sufficient, clean water to drink! Thank you.

Full Article

The Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan was blessed last week with a windfall of five new priests.   Archbishop Sebastian Shah of Lahore celebrated the ordination Mass on Friday in the presence of hundreds of faithful and the relatives of the new priests in Lahore’s Sacred Heart Cathedral.  According to the archbishop, the group is the largest since 1994.  "So far we had only had one or two priests (a year). Five priests are really a record," he told AsiaNews.  This year, a total of 21 priestly ordinations took place in Pakistan.  There will be three in October in Karachi Archdiocese. 

Fr Joseph Louis, a former executive secretary of Caritas Lahore, believes that the rise of terrorism since the attacks on 11 September 2001 in the United States has "increased local vocations."  "People are getting closer to faith. They feel that they must do something because the rulers do not give hope. People attend church more because there is a great thirst for comfort and spiritual knowledge."

In his homily at Mass, Archbishop Shah spoke to the newly ordained about the challenges that await them.  "First, you have to think about whether the priesthood was the right choice. Be careful about the obsession of money because there is no remedy to it,” he warned.  “Do not affiliate yourself to one person, family, parish, project or institution. The only authority of priesthood is service to others, and being humble is the first standard," he said.

One of the five new priests, Fr. Imtiaz Nishan, a native of the village of Easson, in Sheikhupura District (near Lahore), taught philosophy at the Major Seminary of Saint Francis Xavier in Lahore for six months.  “Our Christian community is behind in education and thus does not get enough opportunities,” he said about the tasks ahead of him. “I plan to help school dropouts and serve in poor Christian slums.”

“Also many Catholics are distracted by pastors of mushroom churches. People need spiritual strength against increasing materialism”, he added.  (Source:AsiaNews)

Full Article

India is failing to help and protect journalists who are facing violent threats or attacks for their work, an international watchdog agency said Monday, noting a pattern of resistance in investigating crimes targeting reporters.   The Committee to Protect Journalists counted 27 journalists killed for their work since 1992, and noted that it was still investigating more than two dozen cases to determine whether those journalists' deaths were also work-related. Most at risk are small-town journalists investigating corruption, rather than journalists in big cities like New Delhi or Mumbai.  The New York-based watchdog said in a report released Monday that it could find only one case in 10 years in India in which a suspect was prosecuted and convicted for killing a journalist, but that the suspect was later released on appeal.

``Perpetrators are seldom arrested,'' said Sujata Madhok, a member of the watchdog. ``The torturously slow Indian judicial system, together with corruption in the police force and the criminalization of politics, makes it possible to literally get away with murder.''  The watchdog's findings are supported by another report, released in 2015 by India's own media watchdog, the Press Council of India. That report found that even though the country's democratic institutions and independent judiciary were strong, people who killed journalists were getting away with impunity. ``The situation is truly alarming,'' the Press Council said, warning that the trend could hurt India's democracy, and pressing Parliament to pass a nationwide law ensuring journalists' safety.

The Committee to Protect Journalists blamed successive Indian governments and local officials for doing little to address a problem that has existed for decades.  It noted that while newspaper reports on corruption scandals made for attention-grabbing headlines, those same corruption investigations tended to end abruptly if an involved journalist was killed.   ``No government in India has been an ardent champion of press freedom,'' the report said. ``Small-town journalists, even if a handful work for big media, will often find themselves alone and abandoned when trouble strikes.''

The report focused on three cases of journalist killings in India, including the death in July 2015 of investigative reporter Akshay Singh, who was working on a story linked to an alleged $1 billion racket for providing jobs and college admissions in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.  A month before that, freelance reporter Jagendra Singh died after being set on fire while reporting on allegations of rape and land fraud leveled against a local minister in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.  And in 2011 in the eastern state of Chattisgarh, journalist Umesh Rajput was shot dead while investigating alleged medical negligence as well as separate claims that a politician's son was involved in an illegal gambling business.  (Source: AP)

Full Article

Vatican City, Aug 29, 2016 / 06:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday Pope Francis met with Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of social networking giant Facebook, at the Vatican, marking the latest in a string of visits from other major tech-heads this year.

According to an Aug. 29 communique from the Vatican, Francis and Zuckerberg, who was accompanied by his wife Priscilla Chan, “spoke of how to use communication technologies to alleviate poverty, encourage the culture of encounter and bring a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged.”

The theme of poverty and bringing a message of hope to the poor and marginalized is something Francis has spoken about ceaselessly since his election, barely stopping to take a breath in the past three years.

Though he has publicly admitted in interviews to not owning a cell phone or using the computer, it seems that Pope Francis sees the value of the digital age, specifically in terms of the benefits new technologies can bring to evangelization and promoting human dignity.

His meeting with Zuckerberg and Chan marks the fourth time he has met with a major tech head this year.

On Jan. 15 he welcomed Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, for a private meeting at the Vatican. A week later, he granted another private audience to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

The Pope has also made an effort to engage with big name celebrities who share topics of interest such as Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he met Jan. 28 in an encounter that focused on issues related to climate change and the environment.

He has also started to make waves on social media, opening a Twitter account in 2012 and launching his own Instagram March 19, just weeks after his Feb. 26 meeting with the CEO and co-founder of Instagram, Kevin Systrom at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

The reason behind Francis’ meeting with Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook with college roommates and fellow students at Harvard in 2004, could be prompted by Zuckerberg and Chan’s decision in 2015 to give away virtually all of their $45 billion in Facebook Inc. shares.

As of August 2016, Zuckerberg has an estimated net worth of $53.7 billion, making him one of the top 5 richest people in the world.

When Pope Francis notes, then, as he has frequently done, that according to some studies “80% of the world’s riches are in the hands of 17% of the population,” he’s referring to Zuckerberg.

However, after their daughter Maxina was born in late 2015, Zuckerberg and Chan announced Dec. 2, 2015, in an open letter to her that they would be donating 99 percent of their Facebook stock during their lives through the “Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,” aimed at advancing human potential and promoting equality “for all children in the next generation.”

In their letter, the couple said they had a “moral responsibility” not just to their daughter, but “to all children in the next generation” to make the world a better place.

“Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here,” they wrote. “But right now, we don’t always collectively direct our resources at the biggest opportunities and problems your generation will face.”

The couple said their goals in donating their funds would focus on “advancing human potential and promoting equality,” and would consist of several long-term investments made in areas such as health and education, while at the same time working to decrease inequality and use technology to bring about positive change.

Previously, in 2012, Zuckerberg and Chan had agreed to put the majority of their wealth to similar use with The Giving Pledge, a campaign founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010 to encourage the world’s wealthiest people to use their money toward philanthropic causes.

In May, a report from Gizmodo dropped the equivalent of a social media bomb when several former Facebook employees said the company routinely suppressed conservative news in the social media giant's “trending news” section.

The former Facebook news curators said they were sometimes instructed to insert stories into the “trending” section that had not earned enough attention to be a trending topic, or that they had the freedom to “blacklist” topics that they didn’t want to appear in the section, meaning that the section was not organically curated by the interests of other Facebook users, contrary to popular thought.

Although Facebook denied any allegations of bias and said they had launched an investigation into the issue, the episode has left many skeptical, and doubts remain.

Full Article

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis said he wants to visit survivors and those affected by a deadly earthquake in central Italy as soon as possible.

He wants to go to the ravaged area to "bring you personally the solace of faith, the embrace of a father and brother, and the support of Christian hope," he said after praying the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square Aug. 28.

The pope expressed his closeness and concern for the people "hard hit by the earthquake" in the central Italian regions of Lazio, Marche and Umbria.

Before leading a prayer for the deceased and survivors, the pope praised the rapid response of the Italian government and volunteers, saying their efforts showed "how important solidarity is in order to overcome such painful trials."

The 6.2 quake rumbled across the region Aug. 24, collapsing roofs, leveling buildings and homes while people slept, and leaving 290 people dead. It also left 388 people injured, with more than 250 of them requiring hospitalization. Rescuers pulled some 238 survivors from the wreckage.

Bishop Giovanni D'Ercole of Ascoli Piceno led a state funeral for victims Aug. 27 inside a gymnasium. More than 2,000 people attended, including Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Set before the altar were dozens of caskets covered with flowers and photos of lost loved ones as well as two small white caskets representing all the children killed in the catastrophe.

"It's fair for people to say, 'But Lord, where are you?'" he said in his homily. However, if people look deeper they will find that "the earthquake can take away everything, everything but one thing -- the courage of faith."

"Seismologists try everything to predict an earthquake, but only faith teaches us how to overcome it," he said.

"Don't be afraid," he said. Don't hesitate to cry out in need, "but make sure you do not lose courage because only together will we be able to rebuild our homes and churches," he said.

He concelebrated the funeral Mass with the bishop of Rieti and archbishop of L'Aquila. Bishop D'Ercole had served as auxiliary bishop of L'Aquila in the months after a devastating earthquake there in 2009 left more than 300 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

The bishop also celebrated a Mass for survivors at an encampment in Arquata del Tronto Aug. 28. Firefighters built a cross made out of two rescue ladders and decorated it with the helmets of first responders. They wove through the rungs a bright red firehose, which took on the shape of limp arms and legs draped around the cross and the image of blood trailing downward.

Archbishop Renato Boccardo of Spoleto-Norcia celebrated a Mass Aug. 26 in one of the many large tents erected in towns and villages to provide provisional shelter for the 2,100 people rendered homeless by the quake and its strong aftershocks.

He visited areas in his archdiocese which were affected by the quake, whose epicenter was close to Norcia -- the birthplace of St. Benedict. Civil authorities have condemned all the churches in the area as unusable, he said.

"There is no longer any place of worship in the birthplace of St. Benedict where people can gather to pray," he told SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops' conference, Aug. 27. A local Caritas was to provide two temporary structures to be used for pastoral centers.

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Continuing his dialogue with leaders in the world of social media and technology, Pope Francis met with Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, met the pope Aug. 29 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the pope lives.

"It is an honor to be with you today," Zuckerberg told the pope, adding that he hoped to help spread the pope's "message of mercy and tenderness."

He also presented Pope Francis with a model replica of Aquila, a solar-powered aircraft that will beam internet connectivity to areas with limited or no connection.

Greg Burke, Vatican spokesman, said the pope and Zuckerberg spoke about "how communications technology can be used to alleviate poverty, encourage a culture of encounter and help deliver a message of hope, especially to the most disadvantaged people."

Pope Francis presented Zuckerberg and his wife with a copy of "The Name of God is Mercy," a book-length interview he did with Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli. In the book, he told them, "are my thoughts on tenderness and mercy."

In a message posted on his personal Facebook page, Zuckerberg expressed his admiration for the pope and "how he's found new ways to communicate with people of every faith around the world."

"It was a meeting we'll never forget. You can feel his warmth and kindness, and how deeply he cares about helping people," Zuckerberg wrote.

Throughout his papacy, the pope has highlighted the importance of social networks as a means to "facilitate relationships" while warning of their ability to "lead to further polarization and division" if used incorrectly.

"The digital world is a public square, a meeting place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks," the pope wrote Jan. 24 in his message marking the 50th World Communications Day.

Earlier this year, the pope met with several notable tech-giants in the world of mobile communications, including Google's Eric Schmidt and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

He also met with Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Instagram, two weeks before the Vatican launched the pope's Instagram account, "Franciscus." Upon its launch, the account broke a new record for gaining over 1 million followers in 12 hours.

Pope Francis' Twitter account, @Pontifex, has also left its mark in the social media landscape with over 30 million followers spread across nine different language accounts.

Twiplomacy, a study of the Twitter accounts of world leaders and their retweet rates, declared the pope "by far the most influential" world leader on Twitter.

- - -

Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article