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(Vatican Radio) A masked man who opened fire at a cinema complex in southwestern Germany has died.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:
 
The Minister of Interior of Germany's western Hesse state, Peter Beuth, said police shot and killed the man after he attacked the Kinopolis complex in the town of Viernheim, near Frankfurt. 

Heavily armed police surrounded the building. They had been told that the man fired several shots. Soon security forces were seen entering the compex. 

Initially reports emerged that   Dozens of people were injured in the turmoil, most of them apparently because of tear gas. But authorities later denied that 
people had been hurt.     

The gunman's motive was not immediately clear. But security officials spoke of a confused man and declined to call the incident an act of terrorism. 

Yet the incident, which lasted some three hours, came amid heightened concerns about possible terrorism across Europe. 

Militants of the Islamic State group have threatened to carry out attacks.   

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(Vatican Radio) After 51 years of conflict which has cost quarter a million lives and seven million displaced people, the Colombian Government and the main insurgent group the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, the FARC, are within reaching distance of a final peace settlement with an announced bi-lateral ceasefire. 

Listen to the report by James Blears: 

The peacefire-ceasefire, was jointly announced by both sides, and it`ll be independently verifiable.  Later today there will be a summit like no other to highlight what this means and the issues, which have now been largely resolved.

It`ll be chaired by Colombia`s President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC leadership.  Guests will include President Raul Castro of Cuba, President Michele Bachelet of Chile and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.  

It`s taken more than three years of painstaking and sometimes agonizing negotiation in Havana, Cuba to resolve key issues, which will end the five decades conflict and ease the FARC into civilian society.  

These  involve land reform,  the FARC agreeing to halt drug trafficking, which hitherto funded  its war chest, the FARC evolving into a political party converting its guerrillas into doves of peace. And significantly, the  prosecution of war crimes.  

Amidst all these back slapping handshaking congratulations, it must be remembered that the Government  has yet to conclude peace with the ELN, the National Liberation Army.  

There have been many false horizons and bitter sunsets over the years, but now peace is within sight and gunfire out of earshot.  Both sides hope a binding accord can be signed by July 20th. 

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(Vatican Radio) As people across the United Kingdom went to the polls on Thursday, here in the Vatican, Pope Francis met privately with Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, who had a farewell audience at the conclusion of almost five years in office.

Ambassador Baker presented his credentials to Pope Benedict XVI in September 2011, just after Britain had seen an outbreak of rioting in London and other major cities. Since then, he has welcomed Queen Elizabeth II and many high profile government delegations to the Vatican, as well as spearheading initiatives to highlight policies from brokering peace in Somalia to preventing sexual violence in conflicts.

Just after his papal audience, Ambassador Baker talked to Philippa Hitchen about the most memorable moments of his years here in the Vatican, about the challenges facing his country today and about the impact of Pope Francis’ vision of a strong and united European continent…

Listen:

The ambassador points to three highlights during his posting here: the very positive April 2014 visit of the Queen to the Vatican, noting that Pope Francis during Thursday’s farewell conversation quoted the words of his predecessor, Saint John Paul II, who described the British monarch as reigning “with great dignity”.

Secondly, he speaks of the excitement of being in Rome during a conclave “without losing a Pope (as) the Pope Emeritus is still with us which is wonderful!” Thirdly he talks about the centenary of diplomatic relations between Britain and the Holy See which were celebrated in Rome in 2014.

Latin American interests

Ambassador Baker also shares moments from his final meeting with Pope Francis, recalling that his previous diplomatic posting had been in Bolivia and Cuba, thus the two of them were able to speak Spanish as “the best lingua franca”. The conversation, he says, ranged from Latin American issues to underlining the importance of the family as “the bedrock of society”.

Global and local presence of the Church

Asked about his views as an Anglican diplomat after five years at the heart of the Catholic Church, the ambassador speaks of both “the global presence and the inner strength” of the Church which he has come to understand far better during his time in office.

Challanges in Britain today

Speaking of the challenges facing British society today, he notes areas of progress such as bringing down the unemployment rate and the way in which the government has been learning to better engage with the different sectors of society.

Referendum on Europe

Commenting on the way the referendum has divided British voters, the ambassador says he believes it shows how passionate people from all walks of life are about the future of their country. Noting the sense of horror that followed on from the murder of MP Jo Cox, he says the government was right to suspend campaigning and insists that politicians must now work to draw on peoples’ passions in a more unified way.

Recalling Pope  Francis’ words about the future of Europe, both in Strasbourg and more recently in the Vatican, he says they show how well the Latin American pontiff understands the role the continent plays in maintaining stability and prosperity on the global stage.

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Washington D.C., Jun 23, 2016 / 10:07 am (CNA).- A meeting with Donald Trump in New York City on Tuesday was intended to answer the questions that some Christian leaders have about the presumptive Republican nominee.

But after the event, those in attendance had mixed reactions, with some saying it only raised further concerns.

“Donald Trump definitely won over the room, but the bigger story to me was why weren’t the big leaders there?” asked Christopher Hale, executive director at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, who attended the meeting.

“I think it’s important that a lot of the leaders within the Christian community are refusing to support him,” he told CNA, noting the absence of Christian leaders like Dr. Russell Moore, and adding that “I think they have the same concerns I do.”

The billionaire-turned-politician has run a presidential campaign brimming with controversy. He has drawn criticism for what many consider inflammatory rhetoric and derogatory comments aimed at women and minorities. His supporters say they find his blunt approach to politics refreshing.

Prominent Christian leaders, as well as influential members within the Republican Party, have been split on whether to support Trump, despite the fact that he has secured enough delegates to clinch the party’s nomination.

On Tuesday, he met with around 1,000 conservative and Christian leaders – mostly evangelicals – at his Manhattan hotel. He answered pre-selected questions from the audience on various issues like the family, abortion, guns, and foreign policy.

Some Christian leaders were noticeably absent from the meeting. Dr. Robert George, former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “declined to attend,” the Washington Post reported. Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, was not there.

One evangelical pastor in attendance, Dr. Jeremy Roberts, said that he entered the meeting with “skepticism” but came out “more optimistic.”

The candidate was “receptive” and “very conversational,” he said, and the meeting was not a “photo-op” but rather a “genuine conversation between Evangelical leaders and Donald Trump, for him to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

But according to another person in attendance, who wished to remain anonymous, the meeting was more a chance for Trump to say what he wanted rather than answer tough questions.

“There was a lot of teeing up,” the attendee told CNA, calling the questions asked of Trump “softball” and adding that he still “barely answered them.” Yet at the meeting Trump was compared to figures like Moses and David “who had great sins in their lives who turned out to be great leaders.”

On the family, “the only thing Trump said was that he told his kids not to do drugs, get in trouble,” the attendee continued, saying he “barely talked about abortion.”

“Going in my expectations were - I was open minded, but they were very low. But there was little of substance,” the attendee said, concluding that the meeting was “an enormous waste of time.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, told supporters in an email that Trump “related well, coming across confident and comfortable in such a large crowd of thought leaders whose opinions and actions will be so critical as we approach November.”

She said that she was encouraged when Trump reiterated a commitment to appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court.
 
Hale said that he did not doubt that Trump believes in pro-life policies, but added that “he doesn’t sound like someone who this is a bread-and-butter issue for.”

On religious liberty, which was also brought up at the meeting, Trump didn’t sound as if “he knows the specifics of religious liberty concerns” that are talked about by Catholics today, Hale continued.

He pointed to one incident, in which a photo of Trump with Jerry Falwell, Jr. – the president of Liberty University who endorsed Trump and has been named to his evangelical advisory committee – made headlines because of a Playboy magazine cover hanging on the wall of Trump’s office in the background of the photo.  

“I think that image epitomizes the difficult dance a Christian has supporting Donald Trump,” Hale said, voicing his agreement with Dr. Robert George who said that Trump is “manifestly unfit to be President of the United States.”

“Nothing he said yesterday changes my opinion of that,” Hale said.

Another Catholic in attendance, Joshua Mercer, co-founder of CatholicVote.org, said it was “good” that Trump met with Christian leaders, but recommended that he meet with Catholic leaders as well to “get advice” from them.

Eric Teetsel, who was the director of faith outreach for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, protested the meeting with a sign saying that various practices like torture, racism, misogyny, and murdering the children of terrorists were “not pro-life,” implicitly accusing Trump of supporting or condoning these practices at some point in his life.

Teetsel “wasn’t invited” to the meeting, he later tweeted, but said if he had gone he would have asked Trump the following question:

“Mr. Trump, you are a very wealthy man. You claim to be a Christian. You say you are pro-life, pro-religious liberty, and pro-marriage. There are many fine organizations working on life, marriage and religious liberty. Which ones do you personally support financially?”

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org, was in attendance at the meeting. He told TIME magazine that Trump “came across as reasonable, not reckless.”

“Probably the biggest takeaway was not what Trump will do for them as president, but what Christians can do if they throw off the perception that they are a significant minority that are not relevant,” he added.

Photo credit: Christopher Halloran via www.shutterstock.com.

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Can a Catholic in good conscience vote for Trump? https://t.co/4juFV3VNOc #Election2016

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) March 17, 2016


 

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Washington D.C., Jun 23, 2016 / 12:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A divided Supreme Court allowed a hold on the Obama administration’s immigration policy to continue, disappointing Catholic advocates of immigration reform.

The Court’s decision “shatters the hopes of millions of immigrants who might otherwise have obtained temporary relief from immigration enforcement under two Obama administration programs,” the Catholic Legal Immigration Network stated on Thursday.

With a 4-4 tie vote, the Supreme Court let stand the lower courts’ decisions in United States v. Texas. In 2015 the district court, had allowed a temporary block on the Obama administration’s executive actions on immigration. This was upheld by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court.

The executive actions initially came in the form of a 2012 program entitled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The program would allow children of undocumented immigrants – children who were born in the U.S. and had met certain conditions – to stay for up to two years without deportation.

In November of 2014, the administration expanded that program and created the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA.

Under the new program, certain undocumented immigrants – parents of children born in the U.S. and who met certain conditions – could stay in the U.S. for up to three years without deportation. To be eligible they had to have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, passed a background check, and would have to pay taxes.

“An estimated 5 million people could have potentially benefited from the two programs,” CLINIC stated.

Twenty-six states, led by Texas, asked that the 2014 actions – the creation of DAPA and the expansion of DACA – be checked from going into effect until the matter was decided in court. A district court granted the stay in 2015. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. The administration then appealed to the Supreme Court to overrule the lower courts’ decisions.

In an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in March, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops argued that the administration’s immigration action keeps families together and prevents immigrants from living in the shadows to avoid deportation. “Family unification is an integral consideration in the application of immigration law,” the brief stated.

However, since the Supreme Court was divided in a 4-4 vote, it stated that the lower courts’ “judgment” was “affirmed by an equally divided Court.”

Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of CLINIC, said the organization was “extremely disappointed” over the court’s decision.

“The tied vote means millions of long-term U.S. residents continue to be blocked from the chance to live with their families without fear of deportation, while working legally and attaining a college education,” she stated.

These people are living “in fear of law enforcement and at risk of mistreatment in the workplace, by landlords and from abusers due to threats of deportation,” she continued.

Congress should work to pass long-term immigration reform to provide a lasting solution, to the problem she added, “ensuring that millions of families have a path to legal residency and eventually citizenship in their adopted country.”

 

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IMAGE: CNS/UCAnews

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican said it has had no direct contact with Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin of Shanghai, who apparently wrote a blog post in June that gave many people the impression he had recanted an earlier decision to abandon the Chinese government's Catholic Patriotic Association.

At his episcopal ordination in 2012 -- an assignment that came unusually with the approval of both then-Pope Benedict XVI and the Chinese government -- Bishop Ma said he would no longer hold any position in the Catholic Patriot Association so that he could focus on pastoral work and evangelization. He was immediately placed under house arrest at Sheshan Seminary and the government rescinded his appointment.

Paying homage to the late Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai in a blog attributed to Bishop Ma June 12, he said cooperation with the patriotic association was one of the reasons why Bishop Jin was so successful in his ministry.

With Bishop Ma under house arrest, the Diocese of Shanghai has been without a bishop since Bishop Jin died in 2014 at the age of 96.

Bishop Ma -- if he wrote the blog -- said it may have been unwise to renounce all ties with the government-run association. The decision, the blog said, was influenced by "outside pressure" and the bishop has been struggling in conscience ever since.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, in a blog post June 22, reportedly called on the Vatican to "clarify and give guidance" in the wake of the news about Bishop Ma. With Catholics confused about cooperating with the government's control of the church, "not saying anything is irresponsible," the cardinal said, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

In response to questions, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said June 23 that all the information the Vatican has was obtained from Bishop Ma's blog and press reports. "No direct information is currently available," he said.

"The personal and ecclesial life of Msgr. Ma Daqin, like that of all Chinese Catholics, is followed with particular care and concern by the Holy Father, who remembers them daily in prayer," Father Lombardi said.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Andrew Gombert, EPA

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With a tie vote June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Obama administration's plan to temporarily protect more than 4 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation.

The court's 4-4 vote leaves in place a lower court injunction blocking the administration's immigration policy with the one-page opinion stating: "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court."

Legal experts have called it an ambiguous and confusing political and legal decision that leaves many in a state of limbo. It also puts a lot of attention on the vacant Supreme Court seat that may determine how the case is decided in an appeal.

Religious leaders were quick to denounce the court's action as a setback for immigrant families and stressed the urgency of comprehensive immigration reform.

Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, called the court's decision "a sad ruling" and said the president's immigration plan had been "the result of years of painstaking work and committed efforts by migrant advocates, grass-roots organizations, some legislators and the faith community."

The bishop was joined in the statement by Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, and the Hope Border Institute, a community organization on the U.S.-Mexico border. The statement also said the court's decision exposes how the current immigration policy in the U.S. "criminalizes and scapegoats immigrants who fight for a better life for their children and families that contribute every day to our economy and communities."

In a news briefing, President Barack Obama said the country's immigration system is broken and the Supreme Court's inability to reach a decision set it back even further.

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin praised the court's decision for making clear that "the president is not permitted to write laws -- only Congress is," which he said was a "major victory in our fight to restore the separation of powers."

At issue in the United States v. Texas case are Obama's executive actions on immigration policy that were challenged by 26 states.

"I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision ... putting millions of families at risk of being ripped apart," said Dominican Sister Bernardine Karge of Chicago, speaking for the Washington-based group Faith in Public Life.

"The stories of immigrant families are intimately woven into the tapestry of this great country, and today's decision threatens our nation's commitment to justice and compassion," she said, adding that she hoped the presumptive presidential nominees and Congress makes comprehensive immigration reform a priority.

Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. or CLINIC, similarly expressed disappointment in the court's decision and said the responsibility is more than ever on Congress to come up with comprehensive immigration reform.

She said the court's decision will put "millions of long-term U.S. residents in fear of law enforcement and at risk of mistreatment in the workplace, by landlords and from abusers due to threats of deportation."

The case, argued before the court in April, involved Obama's 2014 expansion of a 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and creation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, known as DAPA.

The programs had been put on hold last November by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, upholding a Texas-based federal judge's injunction against the executive actions. The original DACA program is not affected by the injunction.

The states suing the federal government claimed the president went too far and was not just putting a temporary block on deportations, but giving immigrants in the country without legal permission a "lawful presence" that enabled them to qualify for Social Security and Medicare benefits.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who defended the government, said the "pressing human concern" was to avoid breaking up families of U.S. citizen children, something echoed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, CLINIC, and at least three Catholic colleges, which joined in a brief with more than 75 education and children's advocacy organizations.

When the case was argued before the high court in mid-April, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stressed that the 4 million immigrants who might be given a temporary reprieve from deportation "are living in the shadows" and "are here whether we want them or not," adding that the government had limited resources available for deportations.

Thomas Saenz, a lawyer representing three mothers in in the country without documentation who have U.S. citizen children, told the court his clients live in "daily fear that they will be separated from their families and detained or removed from their homes."

On the day the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, the plight of families was visible with many gathered in front of the court hours before the arguments began carrying placards saying: "Fight for families," and "Love your neighbor" while a mariachi band played alongside them.

Two months later when the court issued its opinion, a small crowd stood on the steps with placards saying: "The fight continues" and "Keep families together." One speaker emphasized that supporters of the president's plan should not go home sad but should be prepared to vote on the issue in November.

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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

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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.

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