Catholic News 2
NEW YORK (AP) -- Powered by a strong showing in California, Hillary Clinton declared victory in her yearlong battle for the heart of the Democratic party, seizing her place in history and setting out on the difficult task of fusing a fractured party to confront Donald Trump....
CHICAGO (AP) -- The fans stood and cheered when Clint Dempsey headed off the field in the second half, and the forward responded with his own round of applause....
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- The nail-biter race for Peru's presidency remained tight Tuesday night as the daughter of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori gained ground on her rival thanks to votes trickling in from remote rural areas and embassies abroad....
COOPER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Police were seeking a pickup truck due to reports that it was driving erratically minutes before five adults in a group of bicyclists were struck and killed on a street in western Michigan, a prosecutor said Tuesday night....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bernie Sanders said Tuesday he was "really disappointed" and "upset" that The Associated Press declared rival Hillary Clinton the presumptive Democratic nominee on the eve of primary elections in six states, adding a somewhat muted voice to the outrage expressed by many of his supporters....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on campaign 2016 as California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota vote. (all times Eastern):...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Claiming her place in history, Hillary Clinton declared victory Tuesday night in her bruising battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, becoming the first woman to lead a major American political party and casting herself as the beneficiary of generations who fought for equality....
Jerusalem, Israel, Jun 7, 2016 / 02:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Jewish youths’ stone-throwing attack on Catholics attending Mass in the Israeli city of Rehovot last month has drawn a rebuke from Church authorities.“It is sad that people in prayer, for [the] most part, women working in Rehovot Jewish homes, were the victims of a hail of stones,” said Bishop William Hanna Shomali, an auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.The faithful were attending Mass May 28 in the courtyard of the small chapel of the Community of St. Therese of Lisieux. The Catholic community in Rehovot, located 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, is mainly composed of migrant workers from Africa, India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, as well as university students.A group of Jewish boys about 14 years old hurled stones at the large congregation. The stones “did hit a few of the people although again thank the Lord no one was seriously hurt,” the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew-...
Jerusalem, Israel, Jun 7, 2016 / 02:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Jewish youths’ stone-throwing attack on Catholics attending Mass in the Israeli city of Rehovot last month has drawn a rebuke from Church authorities.
“It is sad that people in prayer, for [the] most part, women working in Rehovot Jewish homes, were the victims of a hail of stones,” said Bishop William Hanna Shomali, an auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The faithful were attending Mass May 28 in the courtyard of the small chapel of the Community of St. Therese of Lisieux. The Catholic community in Rehovot, located 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, is mainly composed of migrant workers from Africa, India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, as well as university students.
A group of Jewish boys about 14 years old hurled stones at the large congregation. The stones “did hit a few of the people although again thank the Lord no one was seriously hurt,” the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew-speaking Catholics reported.
Bishop Shomali expressed his anguish at the attack and his solidarity with the victims, the Latin Patriarchate reported. He said there is a need for a concerted effort to educate youth to help them grow in mutual respect for others’ traditions and to understand the beliefs of other faiths.
“Once again, we draw attention to the culture of contempt for others that exists in some Israeli circles, and the need to find solutions to cure society of radicalism and intolerance,” he said.
The bishop noted that while the youths were only 14 years old, “adults and teachers” who influence them should take responsibility for their formation.
Father Eric Wyckoff, S.D.B., the outgoing chaplain of the community, presided at the Mass with other concelebrating priests: Fr. Matthew Coutinho, the incoming chaplain; and Fr. David Neuhaus, the Latin Patriarchal Vicar and diocesan official responsible for migrants in Israel.
The worshippers who came under attack were in the courtyard because the chapel interior was too small to accommodate their numbers.
The youths began throwing small pebble-sized stones into the courtyard. Then they hurled bigger stones and neighbors called the police. After the Mass the faithful collected some of the stones and placed them at the foot of the cross on the altar.
The vicariate for Hebrew-speaking Catholics said that in light of the event it becomes urgent for the community to find a bigger hall to accommodate the faithful. Rent in the area is “exorbitant” and the vicariate appealed for benefactors to fund the effort.
Christians and their institutions in Israel have suffered from intolerance and attacks. Properties have been vandalized with anti-Christian slogans, including Catholic and Orthodox monasteries and convents as well as Baptist churches. Some attacks have affected religious sites intimately connected with Christian history.
In June 2015 an arson attack damaged the Church of the Multiplication, which is located on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus Christ fed thousands of people through the miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes.
Many Christians in Israel are concerned that their position will suffer due to an increase in extremism and a decay in moral and cultural values.
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2016 / 03:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While many in the developed world might consider leprosy a thing of the biblical past, the illness – officially called Hansen’s Disease – is still a problem for less-advanced nations coated with social stigma.In order to address the problem, representatives of the world’s major religions will gather in the Vatican to discuss ending the discrimination and marginalization of those infected with Hansen’s Disease, as well as prevention and treatment research.“It is a great power to have the leaders from all these major religions get together and talk about leprosy because the leaders from the different religions have the influential power to convince their believers,” Yohei Sasakawa told CNA June 7.These leaders, he said, will be able to ensure that their believers are aware that Hansen’s Disease is curable, and that the medicine to treat it is being distributed free of charge by vario...
Vatican City, Jun 7, 2016 / 03:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While many in the developed world might consider leprosy a thing of the biblical past, the illness – officially called Hansen’s Disease – is still a problem for less-advanced nations coated with social stigma.
In order to address the problem, representatives of the world’s major religions will gather in the Vatican to discuss ending the discrimination and marginalization of those infected with Hansen’s Disease, as well as prevention and treatment research.
“It is a great power to have the leaders from all these major religions get together and talk about leprosy because the leaders from the different religions have the influential power to convince their believers,” Yohei Sasakawa told CNA June 7.
These leaders, he said, will be able to ensure that their believers are aware that Hansen’s Disease is curable, and that the medicine to treat it is being distributed free of charge by various organizations.
Once people are cured of the disease, “it is wrong to discriminate” against them, he said, adding that the general public “should treat these leprosy-affected people as equally as they treat people with disabilities who could be living around them.”
“This is the message that the religious leaders would be able to make in a very influential manner.”
Sasakawa is president of the Nippon Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to carrying out various philanthropic activities. It is among the organizations which distribute medicine free-of-charge to individuals infected with leprosy.
He is also the Japanese government’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy and the World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.
Hailing from Japan, Sasakawa spoke during a June 6 news conference detailing the themes and events of an upcoming June 9-10 conference, called “Towards Holistic Care for People with Hansen’s disease, Respectful of their Dignity.”
The conference is set to take place in Rome’s Patristic Institute Augustinianum, and is being organized by both the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, the Good Samaritan Foundation and the Nippon Foundation.
While the modern presence of leprosy is widely unknown in advanced cultures, it’s still a problem for developing nations. According to Sasakawa, as many as 16 million people have been cured from the disease since the 1980s.
Roughly 200,000 new cases are discovered each year, the majority of which – about 70 percent – come from India, Brazil and Indonesia. Other cases of infection could exist, but are difficult to find due to the fact that many people in these countries live in remote areas that are either difficult or impossible to access.
In addition to hosting experts, doctors, diplomats and clergy from around the globe, the Vatican conference will also draw interreligious leaders from the world’s main religions – including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism – to discuss the contribution of faith communities in caring for individuals with Hansen’s Disease, as well as ending cultural stigma surrounding the illness.
The event will also welcome 30 individuals who have been cured from the disease, some of whom will share their testimonies of suffering and societal exclusion – at times even from their families – due to misconceptions and cultural prejudices toward those infected with Hansen’s Disease.
“The problem with leprosy is that even if these people are cured of this disease, they would still be facing stigma as well as discrimination from society and from the villages where they live, just because they used to be a patient of leprosy,” Sasakawa said.
Up until recently, certain countries had laws preventing people with the disease, even those who have been cured, from getting onto trains or public buses. Some laws have even allowed for divorce should one spouse become infected.
In some cases, those affected by leprosy were barred from competing to become a parliamentarian, Sasakawa explained, noting that even today countries make it impossible for those affected by leprosy to immigrate, barring entry for those either sick or cured.
“Many people talk about the disease of leprosy, however there aren’t many people who have shaken hands with those patients or the infected people, or who have touched them or who have heard human history directly from these people who experienced that disease,” he said.
The testimonies from cured individuals, then, will be key to ending the stigma surrounding the disease, he said, because many people have never had any real contact with the patients, who often live a “very harsh and painful life throughout their experience” of illness.
“It’s not us who should be speaking on behalf of these people, but the patients and the infected people themselves…so that the public would be able to feel more sympathy and show more empathy to these people and their lives of hardship,” Sasakawa said.
He voiced his expectation that religious leaders who gather for the conference would cooperate in disseminating the correct information about leprosy, and would spread the message to their faithful that “people should not discriminate against people infected with leprosy.”
Sasakawa also voiced his hope that individuals who have already been cured would become more vocal, rather than staying silent due to the fear of discrimination.
Fr. Jean-Marie Mate Musivi Mupendawatu, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance the Health Care Workers, was also present for the news conference.
He told journalists that while there is no scheduled encounter between Pope Francis and conference participants or those who have been cured from leprosy, the Pope is known for his “surprises.”
The conclusion of the event will be a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis this Sunday, June 12, for the Jubilee of Sick and Disabled Persons, he said, but added that “there could also be other surprises from Pope Francis. For now we’re waiting. We still don’t know what surprise” might come.
Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 7, 2016 / 04:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Just a few weeks after Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto announced measures to legalize gay marriage and homosexual adoption throughout the country, his party suffered a severe setback in the June 5 elections.Leading pro-family advocates have described the situation as a “protest vote” against the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), to which the president belongs.Elections were held June 5 for governor in 12 states. According to the preliminary tally, waiting for official results on June 8, the PRI lost the elections in 7 states.The Mexican press has called the vote a “severe setback” and “black Sunday” for the PRI. These elections, according to many analysts, serve as an indication as to what the 2018 presidential vote may be like.The president of the Mexican Council for the Family(ConFamilia), Juan Dabdoub Giacomán, told CNA that he clearly sees in the defeat of ...
Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 7, 2016 / 04:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Just a few weeks after Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto announced measures to legalize gay marriage and homosexual adoption throughout the country, his party suffered a severe setback in the June 5 elections.
Leading pro-family advocates have described the situation as a “protest vote” against the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), to which the president belongs.
Elections were held June 5 for governor in 12 states. According to the preliminary tally, waiting for official results on June 8, the PRI lost the elections in 7 states.
The Mexican press has called the vote a “severe setback” and “black Sunday” for the PRI. These elections, according to many analysts, serve as an indication as to what the 2018 presidential vote may be like.
The president of the Mexican Council for the Family(ConFamilia), Juan Dabdoub Giacomán, told CNA that he clearly sees in the defeat of the PRI the influence of the “protest vote” that pro-family and pro-marriage advocates called for in the country.
After Peña Nieto announced he would promote a constitutional reform to recognize gay marriage throughout the country, as well as amendments to the Federal Civil Code to allow homosexual adoption, more than 1,000 organizations joined together to form the National Front for the Family (FNF).
Heading up this front are the National Union of Parents, Family Network, ConFamilia, CitizenGo, HazteOir, Dilo Bien, and Mexico is One for the Children, among others.
“Yesterday was a historic day in Mexico,” Dabdoub Giacomán emphasized on June 6, and underscored that the protest vote called for by the National Front for the Family was “a mechanism to oppose the decision of President Peña Nieto to regularize so-called homosexual 'marriages' and adoption.”
“The important part was that in less than three weeks an organization was created that was able to mobilize an entire country against an initiative of the president attacking the family, calling for a protest vote against him and his party,” he said.
However, the president of ConFamila noted, “this doesn't end here, because this same week we are going to meet to plan actions that will continue until the 2018 presidential elections.”
“We don't want a repeat (in the presidency) of a party like the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has openly declared itself, through the voice of its president, as an anti-family party,” he stated.
For his part, Carlos Alberto Ramírez Ambríz, president of the Dilo Bien International movement and spokesman for the National Front for the Family, said that Peña Nieto “launched an attack against the family thinking that there would be no consequences for their political operations.”
“However, Mexico has spoken at the ballot box; the affront against the family has cost the president and the party that supports him dearly,” he emphasized.
Ramírez Ambríz underscored that “Mexican society is tired of the corruption, impunity and arrogance that the PRI represents in Mexico and that fatigue was seen reflected in the recent elections.”
“This weekend the family won! It was an historic event for Mexico; everything indicates that society is waking up and we're not going to go on allowing a corrupt political system to continue governing.”
The spokesman for the National Front for the Family said that his organization “is driving efforts to raise awareness about the initiative and join more and more Mexicans to it.”
“It will also continue efforts so that the political cost is wider not just against the party pushing the issue but against all those players that approve and encourage this type of initiative,” he said.
