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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- President Donald Trump is upset that all states aren't fully cooperating with his voting commission's request for detailed information about every voter in the United States....
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Clubgoers screamed and scrambled for cover as dozens of gunshots rang out during a rap concert in downtown Little Rock early Saturday, leaving 28 people injured from an 11-second melee that police quickly said was not related to terrorism....
Zambia’s Diocese of Solwezi Bishop, Charles Kasonde, this week presided over Holy Mass to launch and commission the locally translated Catholic Bible in three local languages namely, Kaonde, Lunda and Luvale. The three languages are widely spoken in the Diocese of Solwezi.Speaking in a homily at St. Daniel’s Cathedral Parish, Bishop Kasonde said that Christians need to deepen their knowledge and assimilation of the Word of God by making it the basis of their Christian lives. Before delivering the homily, the Bishop presented Bibles to six senior citizens present in the congregation (three men and three women). He then gave Bibles to two of the youngest babies who were in the Cathedral. This was a symbolic gesture of the Word of God passing from one one generation to another. “Before the homily, I would want to perform a ritual of two generations as we receive the Word of God,” Bishop Kasonde said. “I want to connect the two generations of pe...
Zambia’s Diocese of Solwezi Bishop, Charles Kasonde, this week presided over Holy Mass to launch and commission the locally translated Catholic Bible in three local languages namely, Kaonde, Lunda and Luvale. The three languages are widely spoken in the Diocese of Solwezi.
Speaking in a homily at St. Daniel’s Cathedral Parish, Bishop Kasonde said that Christians need to deepen their knowledge and assimilation of the Word of God by making it the basis of their Christian lives.
Before delivering the homily, the Bishop presented Bibles to six senior citizens present in the congregation (three men and three women). He then gave Bibles to two of the youngest babies who were in the Cathedral. This was a symbolic gesture of the Word of God passing from one one generation to another.
“Before the homily, I would want to perform a ritual of two generations as we receive the Word of God,” Bishop Kasonde said. “I want to connect the two generations of people who helped to plant Ekklesia (the Church) and the younger generation who are growing and who are going to continue to carry out the work of planting Ekklesia...all these I am going to give a Bible each,” explained the Bishop amid applause from the congregation. Bishop Kasonde pointed out that since 1959, the Church in Solwezi has been using the Protestant Bible for its pastoral and liturgical needs.
Earlier in the week, the Bishop had witnessed the offloading of the Bibles from a truck driven by a Muslim man who drove over 2,000 Kilometres to make the delivery.
The Bishop, in particular, expressed appreciation to the Overseas Bible Outreach; the people of South Korea and the Bible Society of Zambia for their invaluable assistance. The translations were carried out by the Solwezi Diocese Pastoral and Liturgical Commissions. The Bishop thanked members of these Commissions for the long hours they put into the work of translation.
“Worth mentioning also is the magnanimous cooperation of the Bible Society of Zambia who allowed us to use their text for the realisation of the Catholic translation of the Word of God,” the Solwezi Bishop said in his acknowledgement note.
Bishop Kasonde said there was the need to be grateful to God and the Korean people for enabling the Diocese reach the stage of having the Word of God translated into the local languages.
“I would like to express and pay tribute of thanks to the Overseas Bible Outreach for funding the printing cost of these Bibles. We will commit ourselves to pray for the success of its apostolate. I am particularly grateful to the Archbishop of Seoul, His Eminence Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo Jung, Rev. Fr. Francis Lee and the Catholic Publishing House of South Korea for their contribution to facilitate the printing of these Bibles in Kaonde, Lunda and Luvale. May God bless and reward you for the work you are doing: Bringing the Word of God closer to the people,“ the Solwezi Ordinary said.
The Catholic Bible contains additional books and some additions. It has a total of 73 books, 46 in the Old Testament while the Protestant Bible has 39 books in the Old Testament. Both the Catholic and Protestant Bible have 27 books in the New Testament.
The additional books in the Catholic Bible are known as the Deuterocanonical/Apocrypha books. These are Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch. The Catholic Bible also includes additions to the books of Esther and Daniel.
(Wilbroad Musonda in Solwezi)
Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va
Pakistan authorities have arrested a journalist in Baluchistan province under a new electronic crime law aimed at combating terrorism and preventing blasphemy but which critics say is used to suppress political dissent. The journalist, Zafarullah Achakzai a reporter for the Daily Qudrat newspaper in Quetta city was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in police custody under the cyber law, an official from the police's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Reuters.He is one of the first reporters to be charged under the electronic crime law, which was introduced in August to the objections of media freedom and human rights activists. Achakzai's father, Naimatullah Achakzai, said some 50 officers from the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in overall charge of security in Baluchistan province, kicked down their door early Sunday morning and arrested his son. Police filed a case against his son under the cyber crime law on Wednesday.The Naimatulla...
Pakistan authorities have arrested a journalist in Baluchistan province under a new electronic crime law aimed at combating terrorism and preventing blasphemy but which critics say is used to suppress political dissent. The journalist, Zafarullah Achakzai a reporter for the Daily Qudrat newspaper in Quetta city was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in police custody under the cyber law, an official from the police's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Reuters.
He is one of the first reporters to be charged under the electronic crime law, which was introduced in August to the objections of media freedom and human rights activists. Achakzai's father, Naimatullah Achakzai, said some 50 officers from the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in overall charge of security in Baluchistan province, kicked down their door early Sunday morning and arrested his son. Police filed a case against his son under the cyber crime law on Wednesday.
The Naimatullah said he believed his son was in trouble because his social media activity. Zafarullah posted a comment on Facebook after a suicide bombing killed 13 in Quetta this month, in which he questioned why the Frontier Corps had responsibility for policing the city.
The FIA official, who declined to be identified, confirmed that the journalist had been arrested by the Frontier Corps, and then handed over to the FIA on Wednesday.
The Pakistani media watchdog Freedom Network said it was concerned about what it saw as "the authorities' zero-tolerance for critics on social media". "The arrest of journalist Zafarullah Achakzai is a grim reminder that more arrests will follow for the same reason in the near future," the group said.
Authorities began cracking down on social media in May, with security officials saying that more than 200 accounts were under investigation. Last month, a court in Punjab province served a death sentence to Taimoor Raza, 30, over posting allegedly blasphemous content against Muhammad on social media. Amnesty International described the sentence as the “harshest handed down yet for a cyber-crime related offence." According to Asma Jahangir, the co-founder and former director of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Journalists in Pakistan are being targeted not only by militants or criminals but also by government agencies or the military itself says. The New York-based non-profit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says 60 journalists and 10 media workers have been killed in Pakistan since 1992. (Source: Reuters/…)
By Cindy WoodenVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Promoting the secretary of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the office of prefect, Pope Francischose not to ask German Cardinal Gerhard Muller to serve a second five-yearterm in the post.The Vatican announced July 1 that the pope chose as prefectSpanish Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, 73, a Jesuit theologian who had beenappointed secretary of the congregation in 2008 by then-Pope Benedict XVI."The Holy Father Francis thanked His EminenceCardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller at the conclusion of his quinquennial mandate," theVatican announcement said. No new position was announced for Cardinal Muller,who at 69 is still more than five years away from the normal retirement age fora bishop. Anticipating an announcement of the pope's decision June 30,both the English Rorate Caeli blog and the Italian Corrispondenza Romana blogpresented the pope's move as a dismissal of the German cardinal, who originallywas appointed to the post by now-retir...
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Promoting the secretary of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the office of prefect, Pope Francis
chose not to ask German Cardinal Gerhard Muller to serve a second five-year
term in the post.
The Vatican announced July 1 that the pope chose as prefect Spanish Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, 73, a Jesuit theologian who had been appointed secretary of the congregation in 2008 by then-Pope Benedict XVI.
"The Holy Father Francis thanked His Eminence Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller at the conclusion of his quinquennial mandate," the Vatican announcement said. No new position was announced for Cardinal Muller, who at 69 is still more than five years away from the normal retirement age for a bishop.
Anticipating an announcement of the pope's decision June 30, both the English Rorate Caeli blog and the Italian Corrispondenza Romana blog presented the pope's move as a dismissal of the German cardinal, who originally was appointed to the post by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis had met that morning with Cardinal Muller, whose five-year term was to end July 2.
While Pope Francis wrote in his exhortation on the family, "Amoris Laetitia," that church teaching on marriage had not changed, both Rorate Caeli and Corrispondenza Romana implied Cardinal Muller was let go because he insisted that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics could not receive Communion unless they made a commitment to abstain from sexual relations with their new partners. Other bishops and bishops' conferences have read Pope Francis' document as presenting a process of discernment that in certain circumstances could allow some couples to return to the sacraments.
Cardinal Muller was the first Vatican official formally confirmed in his post by Pope Francis after his election in 2013 and was among the 19 churchmen named cardinals that year by Pope Francis.
The prefect of the doctrinal congregation is responsible for promoting the correct interpretation of Catholic doctrine and theology; his office also is responsible for conducting investigations of clergy accused of sexually abusing minors.
Resigning from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Marie Collins, one of the founding members and the last remaining abuse survivor on the commission, said members of the Roman Curia were reluctant to implement the commission's recommendations and she particularly cited Cardinal Muller.
Speaking to reporters in May on his flight from Fatima, Portugal, to Rome, Pope Francis said Collins was "a little bit right" because of the slow pace of investigating so many cases of alleged abuse.
However, the pope said the delays were due to the need to draft new legislation and to the fact that few people have been trained to investigate allegations of abuse. Cardinal Muller and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, he added, were looking "for new people."
As head of the doctrinal congregation, the prefect also serves as president the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission and the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," which is responsible for the pastoral care of traditionalist Catholics and for the ongoing reconciliation talks with the Society of St. Pius X.
The new prefect, Archbishop Ladaria, was appointed congregation secretary by Pope Benedict after having worked with him as a member of the International Theological Commission in 1992-1997, as a consultant to the doctrinal congregation from 1995 to 2008 and as secretary general of the theological commission from 2004 until being named congregation secretary.
Archbishop Ladaria was born in Manacor, Mallorca, April 19, 1944, and earned a law degree at the University of Madrid before entering the Society of Jesus in 1966. After theology and philosophy studies in Spain and Germany, he was ordained to the priesthood July 29, 1973.
He earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1975 and began teaching dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University Comillas in Madrid. Nine years later, he began teaching at the Gregorian and served as vice rector of the university from 1986 to 1994.
Before the debate over "Amoris Laetitia," Cardinal Muller made headlines for his role in the Vatican critique of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious and for his friendship with Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez, considered the father of liberation theology.
In 2004, he co-authored a book, "On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation," with Father Gutierrez. In the 1990s, when then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the congregation before becoming Pope Benedict, Father Gutierrez was asked by the congregation to write and rewrite articles clarifying some of his theological and pastoral points.
In a 2012 interview with the Vatican newspaper, then-Archbishop Muller said he was invited to participate in a seminar with Father Gutierrez in 1988, and he went "with some reservations" because the doctrinal congregation had criticized aspects of liberation theology that it said were too influenced by Marxist ideology.
"One must distinguish between an erroneous and a correct liberation theology," Archbishop Muller told the newspaper. While a Catholic must reject Marxist ideas and analysis, he said, "we must ask ourselves sincerely: How can we speak about the love and mercy of God in the face of the suffering of so many people who do not have food, water, medical care; who don't know how to give their own children a future; where human dignity really is lacking; where human rights are ignored by the powerful?"
Before being named prefect of the doctrinal congregation, Cardinal Muller had served five years as one of its members and had been a member of the International Theological Commission from 1998 to 2003. Pope Benedict led both bodies until 2005, when he was elected pontiff.
Cardinal Muller has close ties to retired Pope Benedict and in 2008 helped establish the Pope Benedict XVI Institute, which is publishing a complete collection of works by the German-born pope and theologian.
When he was appointed prefect of the doctrinal congregation by Pope Benedict in 2012, he told the Vatican newspaper his job in Rome would be "to relieve part of his work and not bring him problems that can be resolved" at the level of the congregation. "The Holy Father has the important mission of proclaiming the Gospel and confirming his brothers and sisters in the faith. It's up to us to deal with the less pleasant matters so that he will not be burdened with too many things, although, naturally, he always will be informed of important matters."
Cardinal Muller is a native of Mainz, Germany. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1978 and served in his native diocese as a chaplain and high school religion teacher. With degrees in philosophy and a doctorate in theology, he was a professor of dogmatic theology in Munich from 1986 to 2002.
He was named bishop of Regensburg in 2002 and then-Cardinal Ratzinger attended his episcopal ordination. Then-Bishop Muller chose as his episcopal motto "Dominus Iesus" (Jesus is Lord), which comes from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans and is the title of the 2000 document on salvation through Christ alone, issued by the doctrinal congregation under then-Cardinal Ratzinger.
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