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(Vatican Radio) At least 700 forced migrants may have died at sea this past week in the crossing from Libya to Italy.

About 14,000 have been rescued since last Monday, and there have been at least three confirmed instances of boats sinking. But the number of dead can only be estimated based on survivor testimony, which is still being collected.

Migrants interviewed over the weekend in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo told of a large fishing boat that overturned and sank on Thursday with many women and children on board.

The forced migrants -  fleeing wars, persecution and poverty -  often do not know how to swim and do not have life jackets. They pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to make the crossing from Libya to Italy which is proving to be the most dangerous border passage for migrants in the world.

Jesuit Father Tom Smolich, Director of Jesuit Refugee Service International, told Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni that the fact that people are drowning at sea as they attempt to seek shelter and protection in Europe is a scandal and it is immoral.

Listen:

Fr Smolich says at this moment “the fundamental  thing to say is that this is a human tragedy”.

And borrowing from someone else’s words:  “enough poetry, it’s time to do the plumbing”.

Smolich says “these are issues we can all do better on”, issues that  Europe can do better on.

“To keep letting people drown in the Mediterranean Sea is a scandal and it is immoral” he says.

Regarding the possibility of opening legal pathways for people to be able to make their crossings in safety Smolich says first of all it is necessary to take into account that this phenomenon is going to keep on happening.

“Europe, he points out,  is certainly able - it’s just a question of willingness to provide pathways for folks to enter Europe without risking their lives”.

As far as preventing further tragedy at sea Smolich says he does not have the answer, but attitudes must change:

“The status quo is not going to do it; destroying boats in Libya is not going to do it. Making passages safe and humane, working with people before they come to Europe, dealing with the phenomenon of refugees and migrants in a systemic and fundamentally humane way is the only way to do it” he says.

When asked why some EU member states don’t even want to participate in a plan to distribute so,e 160.000 refugees among other member states, Smolich says “there is a lot of fear out there.”

He says that most often that fear is generated by those who have something to gain from the fear: “ but fear is never a good place from which to make a decision. Fear does not come from God, fear is an evil spirit.

Smolich concludes with an appeal: “can we first remember we are brothers and sisters and figure out what to do from there”.

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According to the Holy See’s representative to South Korea, the natural expression of Christian faith is found in acts of charity and service to others.  True Christian love is "love in action" especially when people concretely help answer the needs of others in matters physical, emotional, or spiritual, said Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, the Apostolic Nuncio to Korea.  "Christian love has to be put into practice," the Filipino archbishop said in uring his homily at a Mass for the 12th “Love in Action School” at the Church-run Kkottongnae social welfare institute in Eumseong, Choongbuk province.  "We have to give ourselves for others in love in action" in a "selfish world" that insists on the progress and need of one’s comfort, reported the news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.  "This is the purpose of the Year of Mercy — God has been merciful to us — for this reason, we have to be merciful to others, because God has pardoned us, Archbishop Padilla said.

“Love in Action School” invites people from all over the world and provides them with education and experience of charity through volunteer works for the poor.  Kkottongnae, which runs “Love in Action School”, is a home where the sick, destitute and handicapped are rendered Christian care.  (Source: UCAN)

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A Pakistani health official says that for the first time in the country's history, all the previous month's environmental samples for polio have tested negative - a sign of progress in the campaign to eradicate the virus in Pakistan.  Dr. Rana Safdar, the head of the National Emergency Operation Center, said on Monday that a total of 40 samples were collected from 14 cities in mid-April under the supervision of the WHO, the World Health Organization. The negative samples, he says, show that the virus could eventually be eradicated through continued immunization campaigns.  Safdar says new campaigns have been planned in vulnerable areas starting in July after the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Polio invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours - and WHO's ‎repeated warning is that as long as any polio virus is circulating, people are at risk.  But the world is ‎now on the brink of wiping out polio forever, with only 12 cases of the contagious viral disease ‎recorded worldwide so far this year - in Pakistan and Afghanistan.   ‎

In a related development, the United Nations chief on Saturday praised the “invaluable partnership” between Rotary International and the UN, telling delegates gathered in Seoul, South Korea, for the organization's annual international conference, that Rotarians had been instrumental in working with the UN to defeat polio.  “Our common activities are saving lives. And they are based on a spirit of trust. My main message is simple.  Just four words: 'thank you very much,'” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, adding: “You help the United Nations reach our goals. And you help the world understand the United Nations.”

 Ban noted that when Rotary International launched its campaign in 1985, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed by polio every year.  While individual Rotarians have generously contributed an astounding $1.2 billion to the campaign, they have also engaged donor governments to secure an additional $6 billion in funds, Ban  said.   “I congratulate Rotary International for helping reduce polio by 99 per cent,” said the UN chief, emphasizing that from hundreds of thousands of cases each year, now there are fewer than two dozen.  Africa is polio free, he continued, and also noted that while Afghanistan and Pakistan are still affected, the organizations are working hard to help them stamp out polio.

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Vatican City, May 30, 2016 / 06:32 am (CNA).- When Pope emeritus Benedict XVI resigned as pontiff three years ago, he added a new dimension to the papacy, said his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Ganswein.

Archbishop Ganswein remains prefect of the Pontifical Household. He works closely with both Benedict and Pope Francis.

The archbishop spoke about Benedict’s pontificate and its wake at a May 20 book presentation of “Oltre la crisi della Chiesa” (Beyond the Church’s Crisis) by Father Roberto Regoli, an historian and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The book aims to be the first history-based evaluation of Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

Archbishop Ganswein stressed that there is only one legitimate Pope – Francis. However, for the last three years, Catholics have lived “with two living successors of Peter among us.” He said Benedict and Francis “are not in competition with each other, though they have an extraordinary presence.”
 
For Archbishop Ganswein, Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement on Feb. 11, 2013 marked the introduction of a new institution into the Catholic Church: the Pope emeritus.

Pope Benedict used a key phrase in his resignation speech: “munus Petrinum.” This phrase is often translated “Petrine Ministry.” According to the archbishop, the Latin word “munus” has many meanings: service, commitment, guide, gift, even wonder.
 
“Benedict XVI thought of his commitment as a participation in that Petrine ministry,” the archbishop said. “That means that he left the papal throne, but he did not abandon this ministry.”
 
Benedict XVI now acts “with a collegial and synodal dimension” and a “common ministry” that appears to echo his episcopal and papal motto: ‘cooperatores veritatis,’ ‘cooperators of the Truth’,” he said.
 
Hence, “since Pope Francis’ election, there are not two Popes, but there is a de facto enlarged ministry, with both an active and a contemplative member.”
 
The archbishop said that this is why Benedict did not renounce his papal name or give up his white cassock.

“This is the reason why the correct appellation for him is ‘Your Holiness.’ This is finally the reason why he did not retire to an isolated monastery, but within the Vatican walls, as if he just took a step aside to make space for his successor and for a new step in the history of the papacy,” Archbishop Ganswein said.
 
This is how Benedict XVI has “profoundly and lastingly transformed” the papal ministry during his “exceptional pontificate.”

Archbishop Ganswein also reflected on the meaning of Benedict XVI’s election. He said that the election was “certainly the outcome of a clash” whose key interpretation had been given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger himself in his homily for the pre-conclave Mass on April 18, 2005.

Then-Cardinal Ratzinger reflected on the clash of two forces. He criticized “a dictatorship of relativism” that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desire.” With this, he contrasted Christians’ goal of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and “the true man.” This is “the measure of true humanism.”
 
This clash is epitomized in what Archbishop Ganswein described as “the dramatic struggle” between two parties in the conclave. He labeled one the “Salt of the Earth” party after the name of a book-length interview with Cardinal Ratzinger. This party gathered around Cardinals Lopez Trujillo, Ruini, Herranz, Rouco Varela and Medina Estevez.

Then there is the so-called St. Gallen group gathered around Cardinals Daneels, Martini, Silvestrini and Murphy-O’Connor. This is the group, Archbishop Ganswein noted, that Cardinal Daneels “himself amusedly described as ‘a sort of Mafia-club’.”
 
Archbishop Ganswein said that “the dictatorship of relativism” is now being channeled through the new media that could barely be imagined in 2005.
 
Once for all, Archbishop Ganswein rejected the notion that Benedict XVI’s resigned because of the scandals or following the “black year” of 2010. That year was marked by the breaking of new clergy sex abuse scandals in Europe and followed controversies like that of the Lefebvrist Bishop Richard Williamson, whose excommunication was lifted without knowledge of his remarks minimizing the death toll of Jews in the Holocaust.
 
Archbishop Ganswein said there are more personal reasons for the Pope to consider 2010 “a black year.” That was the year of the death of Manuela Camagni, one of the four consecrated lay women who were part of the pontifical household. She died after she was struck by a car.
 
“The media sensationalism of those years, from the Williamson case to escalating attacks on the Pope, did not strike the Pope as much as Manuela’s death did,” Archbishop Ganswein said.

The papal butler, Paolo Gabriele, was then exposed as the source of confidential information about the papacy, which news stories have labeled “Vatileaks.”
 
The archbishop stressed that “as the Pope was shocked by Manuela Camagni’s sudden death, he then suffered a lot from the betrayal of Paolo Gabriele.”
 
But he said that Benedict did not resign due to these, or due to “spicy news.” Rather, as the former pontiff said in his resignation announcement, his decision was based on his advanced age and declining strength, which led him to believe that he could no longer exercise the ministry entrusted to him.

“No betrayer or any journalist could push the Pope to that decision,” Archbishop Ganswein stressed, as “that scandal was too tiny” compared with the “well pondered historical step” Benedict XVI made with his resignation.

 

 

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Vatican City, May 30, 2016 / 08:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, Pope Francis praised Hollywood actors George Clooney, Salma Hayek, and Richard Gere at a conference promoting a Vatican education initiative that helps poor communities.

Speaking in the Paul VI's Synod Hall, the Pope reminded the celebrities of their responsibility to “help the world recover the language of gestures.”

During the gathering, the actors received the “Olive Medal” of peace, which were presented by the Scholas Occurentes initiative, who organized the Vatican conference.

Touching on a separate topic altogether, Francis said he does not intend to step down from the papacy, as Benedict XVI did when he became the first pope to resign in centuries.

“I never thought of quitting being pope, or of leaving because of the many responsibilities,” the pontiff said during a Q&A session.

The Argentine-founded Scholas Occurentes is an education initiative which aims to promote “integration of communities” – especially poor communities – through the use of “technology, sports, and artistic proposals,” according to its website.

The initiative, which works in various kinds of schools of different religious affiliations, is present in 82 countries and 400,000, with headquarters in Vatican City, Argentine, Spain, Paraguay and Mozambique.

The May 27-29 conference also marks the launch of the Scholas's latest initiative: a new website which allows anyone to ask Pope Francis questions.

Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis praised the gathering for its climate of communication and encounter, offering a bridge in a world which is at risk of being “fragmented.”

The Pope encouraged gestures such as smiling and making eye-contact, and being patient and tolerant. In contrast, “bullying is an aggression that hides a deep cruelty,” he said. “The world is cruel.”

“To build a new world, a better world, we must banish all kinds of cruelty. And war is cruel. But this kind of war more cruelly still rages because an innocent.”

The Pope said that the separation of peoples, families, and friends create animosity and hatred, where as “social friendship” defends “against every kind of throwaway culture.”

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