Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) The head of the group of 19 European nations using the euro currency says the European Union's executive Commission appears to favor bigger member states in applying the bloc's budget laws, while smaller nations are treated more harshly. 

Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem told EU lawmakers Tuesday that European Union finance ministers are worried. 

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:

Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, said he and his colleagues have the impression that the European Commission, the EU's executive, shows less flexibility towards smaller member states than towards bigger nations using the euro when imposing strict single currency rules. 

"The role of the Commission is crucial. If member states feel that the Commission's decisions are very hard to understand 
and very hard to predict and are not objective, [that they] are perhaps distinguishing between small member states and large member states, that is a very big worry," Dijsselbloem told parliamentarians.   

He also referred to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who said last month that France was allowed flexibility on the rules known as the Stability and Growth Pact "because it is France."

Dijsselbloem said that comment "feeds into a concern that particularly small member states have, that large member states get different treatment". The official suggested that this could harm the confidence among EU nations. 

BUDGET RULES

Disregard for EU budget rules, which set a ceiling for budget deficits at 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product and for debt at 60 percent of GDP, was one of the factors behind a debt crisis that threatened the unity of the eurozone.

However France faces economic challenges, amid terror and massive strikes over the government's labour reforms, which have overshadowed the Euro 2016 football championships.  

The latest eurozone tensions was expected to be closely watched in Britain, which is not a member of the zone yet and is even holding a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. 

Britain's largest newspaper, The Sun, has now endorsed the "Leave" camp with a huge headline, "BeLEAVE in Britain". Opinion polls suggest it could go either way on June 23. 

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(Vatican Radio) After the mass killing of 49 people by a sole gunman in a nightclub that caters for the homosexual community in Orlando,Florida, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein - the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - has urged the United States to adopt robust gun control measures to pre-empt further killings

He said the U.S. leadership needs to live up to its obligations to protect its citizens from the “horrifyingly commonplace but preventable violent attacks that are the direct result of insufficient gun control.”

Listen to the report by Peter Kenny in Geneva:

Quoting Zeid, UNHCHR spokesman Rupert Colville said it is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms. People can buy assault rifles in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists – both domestic and foreign. 

Zeid asked: “How many more mass killings of school-children, of co-workers, of African-American churchgoers - how many more individual shootings of talented musicians like Christina Grimmie, or politicians like Gabrielle Giffords, will it take before the United States adopts robust gun regulation? Why should any civilian anywhere be able to acquire an assault rifle or other high-powered weapons designed to kill lots of people?” 

The UN right chief noted that irresponsible pro-gun propaganda suggests that firearms make society safer, when all evidence points to the contrary.

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Rome, Italy, Jun 14, 2016 / 11:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The first graduates of an international diploma course on safeguarding minors received a special greeting from Pope Francis, who encouraged the students and faculty to be courageous in their work against sexual abuse.

“I want to thank you and all your faculty for this commitment to the prevention of sexual abuse of minors,” the Pope said in a letter to the director of the Centre for Child Protection (CCP), the initiative that spearheaded the diploma course.

“You have undertaken great efforts for the prevention and healing of minors who have been sexually abused,” the Roman Pontiff said.

Addressing the new graduates, who received their diplomas June 14 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, Francis wished them “courage and patience; be brave and committed. I assure you that you will receive many signs of gratitude. I pray for you and I ask you to do the same for me.”

The aim of the one-semester diploma course is to educate international student to be experts in preventing sexual abuse of minors.

This year's course, which ran from February to June, marks the first of what will be an annual program. It is the latest initiative of the CCP aimed at creating a proactive prevention strategy against abuse.

“The Catholic Church can use its potential as the biggest global player,” Fr. Hans Zollner, CCP president and vice-rector of the Gregorian University, told the graduates, who hail from 15 countries. “The snow-balling effect can already be seen in some parts of the world where the Church is in fact the frontrunner of safeguarding.”

“There is no magical change; a generational task lies in front of us. We pledge to work persistently and sustainably towards a world in which children and adolescents are safe.”

Fr. Zollner stressed how Christ said that the “Kingdom of God belongs to the little and vulnerable ones.”

“As Christians we believe that we have to do what is within our reach, and that the grace of God will bear fruit amid our shortcomings. In this hope we commend us, our students and all safeguarding work to our Lord.

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which has supported the CCP, stressed that “the prevention of sexual abuse of minors is a priority for the entire Church.”

“In a special way we want to put our efforts into the young Churches, in order that everything possible is being done to counter this sad phenomenon in schools, kindergartens, universities and parishes.”

A speaker at the graduation ceremony was Johannes-Wilhelm Roerig, a German representative of abuse victims, who spoke about efforts to safeguard children in his native country.

He spoke about how the Church in Germany “was shaken to its core by an abuse scandal” in 2010 at a Jesuit school in Berlin and a Benedictine-run boarding school near Munich; while the nation has come far in safeguarding minors since then, he added, there is still a long way to go.

“It is well-known that sexual abuse does not happen unintentionally,” Roerig said, but is a “well-planned criminal act” seen both in families and in institutions.

“Only with clear structures, rules and basic knowledge of sexual abuse can criminal strategies and plans be foiled,” he said. He stressed the importance of “laws for the introduction of prevention concepts,” which he said are absent in Germany and “probably in the majority of countries around the world.”

The CCP, which falls under the institute of psychology at the Gregorian University and was launched in 2012, is the global initiative of the Catholic Church aimed at advocating safeguarding measures and the protection of minors and vulnerable people on the international level.

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Vatican City, Jun 14, 2016 / 12:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On June 29 Benedict XVI will celebrate the 65th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood – a milestone he will commemorate in a special ceremony with Pope Francis inside the Vatican’s apostolic palace.

Announced by the Ratzinger Foundation, the ceremony will take place at the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace June 28, the eve of the anniversary. Both Pope Francis and Benedict XVI, who rarely appears outside of the monastery where he lives inside Vatican City, will be present.

Benedict, the Pope Emeritus, will be given a book on the priesthood created specifically for the occasion of the anniversary of his priestly ordination.

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, now known as Benedict XVI, was ordained a priest June 29, 1951 – the feast of Saints Peter and Paul – in the cathedral of Freising by the then-Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Michael von Faulhaber. His older brother Georg, who is still alive today, was ordained with him.

Benedict himself spoke of the day he was ordained in his 2005 autobiography titled “Milestones: Memoirs, 1927-1977”, which he published shortly before his election as Bishop of Rome, thinking he would instead be going into retirement.

“It was a splendid summer day, which remains unforgettable, as the most important day of my life,” he wrote, explaining that there were more than 40 candidates for ordination, and “when we were called we responded ‘Here I am.’”

Cautioning the reader not to be superstitious, Benedict recounts how when the elderly archbishop laid his hands on the future Pope’s head, “a small bird – perhaps a lark – rose up from the high altar of the cathedral and san a joyful little song.”

“For me it was as if a voice from on high were telling me: it’s okay, you’re on the right path.”

While standing in the same cathedral in which he was ordained, Benedict spoke off-the-cuff to priests and deacons Sep. 14, 2006, recalling the day of his ordination.

“Here I lay prostrate, enveloped by the litany of all the saints, by the intercession of all the saints. I realized that on this path we are not alone, that the great multitude of saints walk with us, and the living saints, the faithful of today and tomorrow, sustain us and walk with us,” he said.

“Then came the laying on of hands, and finally Cardinal Faulhaber proclaimed to us: ‘Iam non dico vos servos, sed amicos’ – ‘I do not call you servants, but friends’; at that moment, I experienced my priestly ordination as an initiation into the community of Jesus’ friends, called to be with him and to proclaim his message.”

In his June 11, 2010, homily for the conclusion of the Year for Priests, which he called to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests throughout the world, Benedict emphasized the importance of the sacramental element of the priesthood.

The priesthood, he said, is not “simply an office, but a sacrament: God makes use of a poor man in order to be, through him, present for men and to act in their favor.”

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By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than a year after the conclusion of the Vatican's apostolic visitation of U.S. communities of women religious, the Vatican began asking more than a dozen orders to send their superiors to Rome to discuss concerns that surfaced.

"We did a very positive report at the conclusion of the visitation," a report that looked at the life of women's congregations in the United States as a whole and was released in December 2014, said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

But "there remained about 15 -- more or less -- congregations that we needed to speak with about a few points," the cardinal told Catholic News Service June 14. The cardinal had attended a news conference about a new document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith looking at the relationship between the hierarchy and communities or movements that arise from "charismatic gifts."

"When you are speaking of religious orders, secular institutes and the order of virgins, all of this is part of the charismatic side of the church," he said. More than 2,000 orders and institutes are recognized by the Vatican as "paths of a special encounter with God," the cardinal said, but it is the responsibility of bishops and the church's hierarchy to support and guide them.

When he announced the conclusion of the visitation, Cardinal Braz de Aviz had told the press that "individual reports will be sent to those institutes which hosted an onsite visitation and to those institutes whose individual reports indicated areas of concern -- because there are some of those, too."

Speaking to CNS June 14, the cardinal said, "I don't know if the Sisters of Loretto are still in the phase of the review of the visitation that the Holy See conducted, but I believe so."

In early June, the Global Sisters Report said that Sister Pearl McGivney, president of the Sisters of Loretto, had been asked to come to Rome to discuss alleged "ambiguity" in the order's adherence to church teaching and its way of living religious life.

The cardinal told CNS that his office's questions were not a judgment and, because the actual site visits took place between 2009 and 2012, "we do not know yet if they are still of concern or not because many years have passed."

"We are in dialogue" with the congregations, he said. "And it is going very well. We already have spoken with six or seven. It is going very well. It is a serene dialogue, a dialogue to see where and how we can help."

"We are calling some to Rome in order to better understand," the cardinal said. "With some there is no longer anything that needs to be done because they already have completed a whole process" of adjusting issues that were of concern to the Vatican. In those cases, he said, "we embrace and get back to work."

A statement posted June 9 on the Sisters of Loretto's website said Cardinal Braz de Aviz asked Sister McGivney to "come to Rome to discuss some areas of concern which surfaced during the apostolic visitation process."

"The Loretto community engaged wholeheartedly in the apostolic visitation process and, through it, affirmed our Loretto charism and our lives together," the statement said. "Four sisters from other congregations visited us at our motherhouse. They interviewed 90 sisters as well as co-members, students, teachers in our schools and other colleagues. The visitors seemed warm and genuinely interested in our lives. They did not inquire about these 'areas of concern' with our elected leadership during this visitation, and we had no expectation that six years later we would find ourselves being asked to come to Rome to address any outstanding issues."

Still, the statement said, "we are confident that our dialogue with the Vatican will be fruitful."

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Andrea Navarro, Florida Catholic

By Christine Young and Teresa Peterson

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- In Orlando and major cities around the nation and the world, people gathered June 13 to pay tribute to those killed and injured in the shooting rampage in Orlando the previous day.

About 700 people also gathered to pray for those attacked and for peace in the world at St. James Cathedral, less than two miles up the street from where the shootings took place at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.

The interfaith prayer service was led by Orlando Bishop John G. Noonan, who was joined on the altar by Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, 10 priests of the Orlando Diocese and other religious leaders.

"Our presence here tonight is a symbol of hope. We come to pray," said Bishop Noonan.

He was joined by Imam Tariq Rashid, of the Islamic Center of Orlando; Bishop Greg Brewer, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida; Deacon Michael Matheny, of St. Luke Episcopal Cathedral; Huseyin Peker, the Atlantic Institute-Central Florida; the Rev. Tom McCloskey, of First United Methodist Church in Orlando; and the Revs. John Harris, Downtown Baptist Church, and the Rev. Robert Spooney, of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

"We come not as different religions but one in the Lord," said Bishop Noonan, who noted that he was familiar with violence in his home country of Ireland and stressed that people will only find peace when they recognize the dignity of all people as children of God.

The half-hour service -- with readings about love and peace and songs echoing that message -- was a somber one. Those in the congregation lit candles and exited quietly after singing "Let There Be Peace on Earth."

When he invited the local community to attend the service, Bishop Noonan said he hoped it would provide an opportunity for all to join each other in prayer that would "bring about an outpouring of the mercy of God within the heart of our community."

He urged people to pray "for healing from this vicious assault on human life," for comfort for those suffering loss and "a sincere conversion of heart for all who perpetrate acts of terror in our world."

Natalia Gil, a 22-year-old parishioner of St. Isaac Jogues in Orlando, attended the prayer service with 10 others from her parish. "We're all one big family. We're here in the name of Jesus," she told the Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Orlando.

"We are gathered here because maybe not all of us have someone in common that we know, but we are all one community no matter the religion, what they believed in or who they were," she added. Some in her group knew the victims either by face or by name. One young woman in the group held back tears and was unable to speak as she mourned for a cousin who was at Pulse nightclub that night.

Gil said she spoke for the group when she said faith is the source of their strength.

"It's making us want to help our community more. The strength God has given us, the faith he has given us. The spirit he has given us to move forward to want to help others and console others. We are here to receive so we can give back," she said.

Imam Rashid, who was invited to participate in the prayer service by his friend Father John Giel, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Orlando, has lived in Orlando for 22 years and has three children in the schools in the city.

"I consider this my city and the city of my children. I feel the same sentiments. I feel extra pain because I have dedicated my life in service to the community. This is the time when the local community from different religions should come together and show terrorists that no matter how much evil they do, they cannot break our unity or break our strength," he said.

Maria Torres, an accredited representative for Comprehensive Refugee Services at Catholic Charities of Central Florida, attended the prayer service to help translate for Spanish speakers and offer support and consolation to victim's families.

Torres, who volunteered at the agency's headquarters where family members were told to wait to hear notifications if loved ones had survived, said it was a blessing to be at the cathedral.

"We can pray anywhere, but it is a special blessing to be here at this vigil, to join with other members of our community in prayer for the victims and their families," she said.

In the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, Bishop Curtis J. Guillory celebrated Mass at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica for those affected by the mass shooting, which left 50 dead (including the gunman) and more than 50 wounded.

Police said a lone gunman identified as 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen -- opened fire inside the Pulse club in Orlando in the early morning hours of June 13. News reports said that Mateen, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, died in a gun battle with SWAT team members.

In his homily, Bishop Guillory said it is OK to be angry about what happened, as he was, but that anger shouldn't take over. "We cannot allow our anger to be the GPS that moves us. Rather, it ought to be our faith," he said.

He also urged the congregation not to "pass judgment as the perpetrator did on a group of people. It's easy for us to do. It's easy for us to blame the whole Muslim world simply because this individual was a Muslim."

"Think about it, we did not blame all of the Germans for Hitler nor did we blame all Anglos because of what happened in Charleston," he said, referring to the white shooter who killed nine people at a historically black church in South Carolina.

"This is where we cannot be guided by our anger," Bishop Guillory added.

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Young and Peterson write for the Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Orlando. Contributing to this report was Carol Zimmermann in Washington.

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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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