Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday greeted members of the Congregation of Don Orione, the Sons of Divine Providence, on the occasion of their 14th General Chapter.

The Congregation takes its inspiration from its founder, St Luigi Orione, whose motto was: “Do good to all; harm no one.” St Luigi Orione is remembered for his commitment to social justice and the service of those in need, a service guided and inspired by the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: 

In his address to the General Chapter, Pope Francis said, “The whole Church is called to journey with Jesus along the paths of the world, to encounter the humanity of today, which needs, as Don Orione wrote, ‘the bread of the body, and the divine balm of the Faith’.” To put these words into practice today, the Pope said, the members of the Congregation must keep in mind their identity as “servants of Christ and of the poor.” “You were called and consecrated by God,” he said, “to remain with Jesus and to serve Him in the poor and in those excluded from society." He called them to vigilance, that their faith “might not become an ideology,” or their charity a mere “philanthropy.”

Pope Francis recalled that, even during the lifetime of Don Orione, the Orionine Fathers were known as “running priests” because they “seemed to be always on the go, in the midst of the people, with the rapid pace of those who care.” He exhorted them, “with Don Orione, to to not remain enclosed within your particular environment, but to ‘go out’.”  At the same time, it is important to never “lose sight of the Church” or of their own religious community. Rather, he said, “your heart must be there in your ‘cenaculum’, but then needs to go out to bring the mercy of God to all, without distinction.”

Full Article

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis received the President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, who was accompanied by his wife and daughter, in the Vatican on Friday for a private audience. 

A press release from the Holy See Press Office called the meeting 'cordial', saying the Holy Father and Mr. Solís spoke about the good relationship between the Holy See and Costa Rica. 

Mr. Solís expressed his appreciation for the important contribution of the Catholic Church to Costa Rican society, especially in the areas of education, health care, the promotion of human and spiritual values, and charitable works. The two leaders also spoke about several themes of common interest, including the protection of human life, migration, and drug trafficking. Finally, mention was made of the regional situation and a number of international issues.

Following his audience with the Holy Father, Mr. Solís met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

Full Article

Washington D.C., May 27, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Earlier this month, a report from Gizmodo dropped the equivalent of a social media bomb – several former Facebook employees said the company routinely suppressed conservative news in the social media giant's “trending news” section.

These former Facebook news curators said they were sometimes instructed to insert stories into the “trending” section that had not earned enough attention to be a trending topic, or that they had the freedom to “blacklist” topics that they didn’t want to appear in the section, meaning that the section was not organically curated by the interests of other Facebook users, contrary to popular thought.

And since the majority of news curators at Facebook are 20 and 30-something Ivy League graduates who skew left-of-center politically: “I believe it had a chilling effect on conservative news,” one former curator told Gizmodo.

Although the former curators did not say whether or not the social media network also suppressed news from religious outlets and or with religious topics, some Catholic leaders think that faith groups could have been inadvertently targeted in the news selection process.

Ashley McGuire, a Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association, said the news is troubling because people’s religious beliefs often inform their political views.

“Seeing as faith certainly informs the political views of many, Facebook's censorship will have religious implications for sure,” she told CNA.

And because the alleged censorship targeted conservative news, it may have also targeted religious news. The Republican party skews not just right of center, but more religious: a recent Gallup study of more than 17,000 Republicans found that overall, 50 percent of the GOP identify themselves as highly religious, which is above the national average of 40 percent. While a 2015 study from Pew Research Center shows that among the left-leaning Democratic party, more party members than ever describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, representing a larger share of Democratic voters than any other religious denomination.

“Imagine all the Christians whose faith informs their pro-life views, for example, and their passion for the issue,” McQuire said. “Have those voices been deleted or pushed out of sight?”

It's possible. When it comes to abortion, a pro-life view is more widely held by Republicans and conservatives than by their left-leaning counterparts: 59 percent of Republicans say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 70 percent of Democrats say abortion should be legal in at least most cases.

“Pope Francis reminds us that, 'Politics according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good,'” McQuire said.

“Religion plays an important role in politics, and in censoring half of Americans, Facebook is also in a sense, censoring out the religious beliefs that inform their politics.”  

When the news broke of the biased trending topics, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other leadership in the company scrambled to deal with the fallout, which included the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee (which has jurisdiction over media and consumer protection issues, and internet communication) sending a letter to Zuckerberg, demanding answers to their questions about the site's news selection process.

Zuckerburg announced that he would be meeting with conservative politicians and leaders to listen to their questions and concerns. The company also announced on Monday of this week, after meeting with Chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee John Thune, that although an internal probe of the website’s news selection process could not prove the alleged liberal bias, it was nevertheless making changes to the way trending topics are selected.

In a blog post, the social media network explained that these changes would include the elimination of a top-ten list of approved websites, more training and clearer guidelines to help human editors avoid ideological or political bias, and more robust review procedures.

“...suppressing political content or preventing people from seeing what matters most to them is directly contrary to our mission and our business objectives and the allegations troubled us deeply,” Colin Stretch, Facebook general counsel, wrote in the post.

“We are proud of the platform and community we have created, and it is important to us that Facebook continues to be a platform for all ideas.”

Christopher White is the Director of CatholicVoices in the U.S., an organization that provides media training for Catholics through workshops, trainings, and media consulting.

White said the he had not personally experienced or noticed a liberal or political bias on Facebook, and said that he would remind Catholics that social media is still one of the best ways to engage in the New Evangelization.

“Just think about Pope Francis, who is the most popular figure on Twitter and Instagram,” White said.

“Those aren't just press plays, they're actual message-sharing devices, and I think that’s something that we can celebrate. As Catholics we can use these platforms as a means to witness and to share what is and should be the joy that we have as Catholics,” he said.

The media can also play an important role by holding the Church accountable, White noted, such as in the case of the sex abuse scandal uncovered by reporters from The Boston Globe.

“One of the things that many commentators were quick to say (after the sex abuse scandal) is that the media did the Church a great service, and so there are times in which the media is really an ally for us, and they have a right to keep us accountable,” White said.

However, White added, Catholics also have a duty to speak up when the Church is inaccurately or falsely misrepresented, and the media has a duty to remain an open marketplace of ideas.

“These (social networks) are, in a sense, marketplaces in a sense for an exchange of ideas,” he said. “And no one should be targeted – conservative, progressive, Christian or secular – no individual group should be targeted.”

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Unsurprisingly, the Group of Seven rich economies of the world wrapped up its summit with a statement concerned with economic issues. Their priorities: the looming Brexit vote, economic growth, terrorism and refugee flows. 

Listen to Alexander MacDonald's report:

The host of the summit, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, delivered the summit’s final statement and outlined three priorities: expanding the Pacific tariff free economic zone to the entire world, ensuring economic opportunity for women and the underprivileged and dealing in a united way to global health threats. This, Prime Minister Abe said, is the foundation of growth for the whole world.

On economic issues, Abe says we should not be pessimistic about the state of the world economy, although G7 economies are sluggish and the conditions are right for another global financial crisis. G7 countries therefore committed to beefing up policies to stimulate growth. “We remain committed to ensuring that growth is inclusive and job-rich,” the G7 statement said, “benefiting all segments of our societies.”

As a demonstration of this willingness, G7 members met with the leaders of seven developing countries, including Laos, Papua New Guinea and also some of its most dynamic emerging economies, like Vietnam and Indonesia. The president of Chad represented the African Union, and top international leaders such as Christine Lagarde of the IMF also attended.

World economies do not take well to political risk and so the possibility of Britain leaving the EU was also addressed. Four of the G7 countries are European – Britain, France, Germany and Italy – and the leader of Britain, David Cameron is in the midst of a tight campaign to convince reluctant voters in Britain to remain in the troubled EU. The G7 statement said Britain’s exit from the EU may be a shock for the global economy.

It may be debatable whether Britain’s exit will be bad for Britain but there’s certainly no doubt it will be bad for a teetering EU.

In an implicit criticism of China, President Abe underlined that movement of shipping traffic and maritime freedom must be guaranteed.

The summit declaration also highlighted joint efforts on corruption, cybercrimes, terrorism, global health and migration which has become an overwhelming challenge especially for European nations.
 

Full Article

Geneva, Switzerland, May 27, 2016 / 12:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican has voiced support for global health care goals and has said that Catholic institutions are committed to combating problems like communicable diseases.

“The Holy See delegation welcomes the vital emphasis on the dignity of the human person and the strong focus on equity expressed in the pledge that ‘no one will be left behind’,” said Bishop Jean-Marie Mupendawatu.

The bishop headed the Holy See’s delegation to the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly, held in Geneva May 23-28.

The assembly reviewed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has 17 goals and 169 associated targets. The agenda was adopted by the U.N. Sustainable Development Summit.

The agenda’s goals through the year 2030 include ending poverty and hunger while providing universal health care and education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, energy access, economic growth and employment, security, sustainability, and conservation.

Bishop Mupendawatu said the agenda’s implementation was “ambitious” and will ensure “the promotion of an economically, socially and environmentally viable future for our planet and for present and future generations.”

The bishop praised the goal of ensuring health and well-being for people of all ages. He noted its key aim of universal health care.

Bishop Mupendawatu said the Holy See wanted to reiterate Catholic health care institutions’ commitment to end the AIDS epidemic, tuberculosis, and malaria as well as tropical disease and other communicable diseases.

He said practical action is more critical where health interactions are less clear, like the link between climate change and the spread of vector-born disease.

“With regard to action to combat climate change and its impacts on health, my delegation wishes to underscore the need for more political will and strong commitment from civil societies in order to reach truly meaningful and effective global agreements on the environment,” he said.

He criticized obstacles to global agreement like countries that “place their national interests above the global common good.”

The bishop cited Pope Francis’ encyclical on the care of creation, “Laudato Si,” which recommended a global perspective for proposed solutions.

“A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries,” the Pope wrote. “Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water.”

Bishop Mupendawatu also pointed to several upcoming events relevant to global health.

The Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers and the Nippon Foundation will host a June 9-10 symposium on the subject of holistic care for people with leprosy. The Knights of Malta, the Raoul Follereau Foundation and the Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation are supporting the symposium in Rome.

Additionally, the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers will host its 31st International Conference Nov. 10-12. The subject of this conference is the issue of rare and neglected tropical diseases. Experts from over 60 countries are expected to attend.

“You are all invited to offer your valuable contribution towards this initiative,” the bishop told assembly delegates.

Photo credit: megaflopp via www.shutterstock.com.

Full Article