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BEIJING (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's hopes for China's help with restraining North Korea appear to have gone nowhere, with the two sides growing further apart as their approaches and concerns diverge....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Having lost patience with China, the Trump administration is studying new steps to starve North Korea of cash for its nuclear program, including an option that would infuriate Beijing: sanctions on Chinese companies that help keep the North's economy afloat....
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- On the eve of his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump questioned the veracity of American intelligence about foreign meddling in the U.S. election, arguing Thursday that Russia wasn't the only country that may have interfered....
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump's second official visit to Europe (all times local):...
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has called for greater attention to the needs of elderly people in respect for their inherent dignity.Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to the UN, made the appeal during a working group on Ageing, entitled “Measures to enhance the contribution of Older Persons to Social Development”.“A greater focus on the contribution of older persons to development should be combined with an enhanced attention to their needs,” he said.Archbishop Auza said, “Elders among us are disproportionately susceptible to poverty, ill health, disability, social isolation, violence, abandonment, abuse, and a lack of access to adequate food, dignified shelter, quality health care, reliable means of communication, and nourishing companionship.”Please find below the full address:Statement of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, at the Eighth Se...
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has called for greater attention to the needs of elderly people in respect for their inherent dignity.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to the UN, made the appeal during a working group on Ageing, entitled “Measures to enhance the contribution of Older Persons to Social Development”.
“A greater focus on the contribution of older persons to development should be combined with an enhanced attention to their needs,” he said.
Archbishop Auza said, “Elders among us are disproportionately susceptible to poverty, ill health, disability, social isolation, violence, abandonment, abuse, and a lack of access to adequate food, dignified shelter, quality health care, reliable means of communication, and nourishing companionship.”
Please find below the full address:
Statement of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, at the Eighth Session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing Item (5): Measures to enhance the contribution of Older Persons to Social Development
New York, 5-7 July 2017
Mr. Chair,
The Holy See avails itself of this Eighth Session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing to renew its commitment to promoting the respect for the inherent dignity of the elderly.
As the world’s aged and ageing population grows rapidly, both in actual numbers and as a percentage of the world’s population, attention to ageing and elderly people is ever more critical. The need to develop concrete, practical measures to ensure that the human rights of the elderly are protected and their needs answered is an urgent priority. As Pope Francis has observed, “Thanks to the progress of medicine, lifespans have increased: but society has not ‘expanded’ to life! The number of elderly has multiplied, but our societies are not organized well enough to make room for them, with proper respect and practical consideration for their frailty and their dignity.”1 My Delegation hopes that this session of the Open Ended Working Group on Ageing will further the efforts in advancing measures more responsive to the needs of the ageing and elderly persons.
Elders among us are disproportionately susceptible to poverty, ill health, disability, social isolation, violence, abandonment, abuse, and a lack of access to adequate food, dignified shelter, quality health care, reliable means of communication, and nourishing companionship. They also often bear the brunt of difficulties that arise from natural disasters, armed conflicts and financial crises, as their access to emergency services becomes limited by lesser mobility and other age-related factors. Special attention must be had, moreover, to the fact that among the elderly, there are those are in greater need and who can easily fall into the cracks and left further behind.
Mr. Chair,
My Delegation applauds the theme selected for this discussion, “Active Participation of older persons in development.” All too often, we see the elderly excluded from active participation in society and development, when the wisdom of years is truly, as Pope Francis has said, a “reservoir of wisdom for our people.”2 Policies, practices and prejudices can marginalize elderly people who were once at the center of our families and communities. Our efforts this week should address this and ensure that, through better participation of the elderly in development and in the life of our communities, we can overcome what Pope Francis decried as “the shortcomings of a society programmed for efficiency, which consequently ignores its elderly.”3 It is therefore imperative to work for policies and practices that enhance the active political participation of the elderly, their involvement in decision-making, their continued role as economic contributors, their extended participation in the labor market, their ability to enjoy a healthy secure retirement at an appropriate age, as well as access to continued training and lifelong education.
Mr. Chair,
A greater focus on the contribution of older persons to development should be combined with an enhanced attention to their needs. The elderly who live with illness, weakness, disability, isolation, or cognitive impairments may not be any more in a position to contribute to development, yet they are in their greatest moment of needc The weakest of the elderly, Pope Francis fears, are “thrown away” by an attitude that says, “[t]hey aren’t needed, and what isn’t needed gets thrown away. What doesn’t produce is discarded.”4
We observe this in the abandonment and abuse of the elderly, the lack of financial resources allocated for their care, a lack of intergenerational solidarity, and a growing acceptance of euthanasia and other measures that target “consumers of services” but no longer contribute to wealth generation.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
1 Pope Francis. General Audience, 4 March 2015.
2 Pope Francis, General Audience, 4 March 2015.
3 Pope Francis, General Audience, 4 March 2015.
4 Pope Francis, Address of Pope Francis to the Sant’Egidio Community, 15 June 2014.
Ottawa, Canada, Jul 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Responding to a Canadian politician who called abortion a central aspect of the country's human rights efforts, a local bishop said the procedure is in fact deeply harmful – especially to women.“While the Catholic Bishops of Canada share your concern for advancing the respect and dignity of women…we feel the need to point out, with all due respect, that your statement above is erroneous, confusing, and misguided,” Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canada's Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a June 29 letter. The letter comes in response to a recent speech given by Canada's Minister in Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, to the House of Commons.“Women's rights are human rights,” she said June 6. “That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy.”Bishop Dougl...
Ottawa, Canada, Jul 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Responding to a Canadian politician who called abortion a central aspect of the country's human rights efforts, a local bishop said the procedure is in fact deeply harmful – especially to women.
“While the Catholic Bishops of Canada share your concern for advancing the respect and dignity of women…we feel the need to point out, with all due respect, that your statement above is erroneous, confusing, and misguided,” Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canada's Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a June 29 letter.
The letter comes in response to a recent speech given by Canada's Minister in Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, to the House of Commons.
“Women's rights are human rights,” she said June 6. “That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy.”
Bishop Douglas Crosby cited other major issues involving women's rights that Freeland failed to mention, such as Canada's economic partnerships with countries that allow societal oppression and outright brutality against women.
“Female infants are murdered for not being male; (countries) in which women earn less than men for the same job or where they do not enjoy the same privileges under the law, including the right to education or protection from rape, physical violence.”
He then said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision last year to pledge $650 million in support of abortion and reproductive rights globally showed misguided priority. He compared this to the nearly $120 million pledged in response to severe food shortages, striking heavily in many parts of Africa.
The bishop noted Freeland's statement in her speech that “it is clearly not our role to impose our values around the world. No one appointed us the world's policemen.”
Yet imposing the 'value' of abortion rights offends the views of many cultures around the world and domestically, he said. Belief in an unborn child's right to life – held by Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, and even non-believers of good will – should be respected, the bishop added.
In his letter, Archbishop Crosby agreed with Freeland's emphasis on Canada's vital role in global progress, but said it must respect the rest of the world's opinions and be conducive to the human person, both woman and child.
“If Canada’s foreign policy needs a stable ground it cannot possibly be abortion advocacy and ‘sexual reproductive rights.’ And if the dignity of women is to have a universal moral foundation it cannot be based on principles that override the rights of the unborn child.”
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Hobby Lobby Stores has agreed to pay a $3 million federal fine and forfeit thousands of ancient Iraqi artifacts smuggled from the Middle East that the government alleges were intentionally mislabeled, federal prosecutors said....
CAIRO (AP) -- Cairo's subway is perhaps the cheapest in the world. For a fare equivalent to 11 U.S. cents, you can ride as far as you want across the overcrowded, traffic-choked Egyptian capital....
NEW YORK (AP) -- At the start of her midnight shift, Officer Miosotis Familia was in a New York Police Department mobile command post, writing in her notebook, when a gunman strode toward her....
TOKYO (AP) -- Despite North Korea's claim its intercontinental ballistic missile launch shows it can attack targets anywhere it wants, experts say it will probably be years before it could use such a weapon in a real-world scenario....
