Catholic News 2
ISE, Japan (AP) -- The leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies pledged Friday to "collectively tackle" major risks to global growth, including direct political threats to the international order from terrorist attacks, violent extremism and refugee flows....
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) -- Visitors to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Friday had this to say ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit later in the day. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to come to Hiroshima, a city devastated by a U.S.-dropped atomic bomb at the end of World War II....
ISE, Japan (AP) -- The latest news on the Group of Seven summit in Japan, where the leaders of the seven advanced economies are meeting for two days (all times local):...
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) -- Convinced that the time for this moment is right at last, President Barack Obama on Friday will become the first American president to confront the historic and haunted ground of Hiroshima....
Washington D.C., May 26, 2016 / 03:07 pm (CNA).- Renewed immigration raids against women and children fail to recognize the severity of situations faced by migrants, who leave Central America to escape death, the U.S. bishops said.“Sending women and children back to Central America will not serve as an effective deterrent to migration because this is a humanitarian crisis and individuals from the region are being forced to flee for their lives,” Bishop Eusebio Elizondo said May 25.Bishop Elizondo is an auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration.“These operations spark panic among our parishes,” the bishop continued. “No person, migrant or otherwise, should have to fear leaving their home to attend church or school. No person should have to fear being torn away from their family and returned to danger.”Reuters on May 12 reported that U.S. immigration officials are planning a series of raids in May and...
Washington D.C., May 26, 2016 / 03:07 pm (CNA).- Renewed immigration raids against women and children fail to recognize the severity of situations faced by migrants, who leave Central America to escape death, the U.S. bishops said.
“Sending women and children back to Central America will not serve as an effective deterrent to migration because this is a humanitarian crisis and individuals from the region are being forced to flee for their lives,” Bishop Eusebio Elizondo said May 25.
Bishop Elizondo is an auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration.
“These operations spark panic among our parishes,” the bishop continued. “No person, migrant or otherwise, should have to fear leaving their home to attend church or school. No person should have to fear being torn away from their family and returned to danger.”
Reuters on May 12 reported that U.S. immigration officials are planning a series of raids in May and June to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children who entered the country illegally.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, who will soon take over as chairman of the bishops’ migration committee, said the raids are “yet another depressing sign of the failed state of American immigration policy.”
The raids are expected to target individuals with deportation orders. The U.S. bishops said there was a lack of due process for many of these orders, given that they in many cases were issued to individuals who were absent from court or lacked legal representation. In a January 2016 letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, the bishops objected to any removal of migrants without confirming they had “meaningful opportunities to present their asylum claims” at immigration court hearings.
January immigration raids focused on Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, and detained 121 people, mostly women and children.
Bishop Elizondo said the U.S. bishops’ migration committee and Migration & Refugee Services aims to protect vulnerable populations.
Both Bishop Elizondo and Archbishop Gomez said enforcement actions that cause constant fear contradict long-standing American values and undermine every person’s God-given dignity.
Central American migration has increased in recent years, with migrants being detained for illegal entry into the U.S. In the period from October 2015 through March 2016, the U.S. border patrol detained more than 32,000 family “units,” meaning mothers and children traveling together. In that same period from 2014-2015 only 14,000 were detained, while in 2013-2014 about 19,800 were detained, according to Reuters.
Manila, Philippines, May 26, 2016 / 04:25 pm (CNA).- The president-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, recently described the country's bishops as corrupt and “sons of whores” for allegedly resorting to seeking favors from politicians.During a May 20 press conference, the president-elect described the Catholic Church as “the most hypocritical institution” and insulted the Filipino bishops: “You sons of whores, aren't you ashamed? You ask for so many favors, even from me.”It is estimated that more than 80% of Filipinos are part of the Catholic Church.Duterte won 38.5 percent of the vote for president of the Philippines, which was held May 9. While the nation's congress has not yet declared the result official, his lead is unassailable.Currently mayor of Davao City, Duterte has built his political image as a tough leader. Nicknamed “the Punisher” by Time Magazine, Duterte brought law and order to Davao – kn...
Manila, Philippines, May 26, 2016 / 04:25 pm (CNA).- The president-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, recently described the country's bishops as corrupt and “sons of whores” for allegedly resorting to seeking favors from politicians.
During a May 20 press conference, the president-elect described the Catholic Church as “the most hypocritical institution” and insulted the Filipino bishops: “You sons of whores, aren't you ashamed? You ask for so many favors, even from me.”
It is estimated that more than 80% of Filipinos are part of the Catholic Church.
Duterte won 38.5 percent of the vote for president of the Philippines, which was held May 9. While the nation's congress has not yet declared the result official, his lead is unassailable.
Currently mayor of Davao City, Duterte has built his political image as a tough leader. Nicknamed “the Punisher” by Time Magazine, Duterte brought law and order to Davao – known in the '70s and '80s as the murder capital of the country – with drastic measures which included, according to various human rights organizations, allowing death squads to operate.
He has served as mayor of Davao since 1988, except a three-year period when he was term-limited, and another three-year period when he served as vice mayor, while his daughter Sara was mayor.
During the election campaign, the Church in the Philippines expressed its opposition to several of Duterte's proposals, such as re-instituting the death penalty.
Duterte admitted to cursing Pope Francis during his January 2015 visit to the Philippines, because he was upset by the traffic jams caused by the Roman Pontiff.
According to the president-elect himself, he said at that time, “Pope, you son of a whore, go home, don't visit us again.”
Duterte said he met with the Archbishop of Davao in December 2015, where he was admonished for his habit of cursing, and lectured on Christian values. He claimed he would curse less, and donate 1,000 Philippine pesos ($21) to Caritas Davao each time he did.
Within hours of his attacks on the Filipino bishops, Duterte announced a call for a three-child policy across the Philippines.
“I only want three children for every family,” Duterte said May 21. “I'm a Christian, but I'm a realist so we have to do something about our overpopulation. I will defy the opinion or belief of the Church.”
He was a supporter of the Reproductive Health Law passed in 2012, and has been supportive of LGBT initiatives in Davao. He has stated his opposition to abortion, however.
Duterte, who was raised Catholic, says he has ceased going to Mass and that he could not be both mayor and a good Catholic: “If I obey the Ten Commandments or listen to priests, I would not be able to do anything as a mayor,” he said in January.
According to the BBC, Duterte “has promised to continue his tough stance as president, but has offered few specific policies.”
Duterte won the Filipino election despite his incendiary comments. He has openly admitted to being a womanizer, and vowed to execute large numbers of criminals and dump their bodies in Manila Bay.
And while campaining in April he commented on the 1989 rape and murder of a Protestant missionary from Australia, which had taken place in Davao, saying: “Was I mad because she was raped? Yes, that's one of the reasons. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first.”
After Duterte's inflammatory comments about the Church, the Archdiocese of Davao responded by saying that it “respects and listens with humility to the views and statements of our incoming President Rodrigo Roa Duterte about the Church, including those that may be difficult to accept and things that may be contrary to our teachings,” according to GMA News, a Filipino television network.
Msgr. Paul Cuison, the Davo archdiocese's spokesman, also said that the archdiocese has “always maintained a peaceful relationship with him and our doors are always open to him,” and added that “we are one with the people of Davao in acknowledging all the good things that he has done especially to the poor and the marginalized.”
But Archbishop Oscar Cruz, the Archbishop Emeritus of Lingayen-Dagupan, responded to Duterte's claims of hypocrisy in the Church by asking for evidence.
“He should say who did something, what was committed and where we can get evidence … He really should expose those sins because the Church will not just accept it. The Church has laws against such sins along with proper punishments,” Archbishop Cruz said, according to The Standard of Manila.
Duterte will be sworn into office June 30 for a six-year term as president.
SHIMA, Japan (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday that foreign leaders are "rattled" by Donald Trump and have good reason to feel that way, as he accused the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of ignorance about world affairs....
CHAPMAN, Kan. (AP) -- Severe weather spawning numerous tornadoes roiled large stretches of Kansas for a second day Thursday, prompting residents to anxiously watch the skies but causing only scattered damage in rural areas and no injuries or deaths....
NEW YORK (AP) -- A rapper who police say was seen on surveillance footage firing a gun in a packed hip-hop concert where artist T.I. was set to perform was arrested Thursday on attempted murder and other charges....
HORSE CAVE, Ky. (AP) -- A group of college students trapped by flash flooding on a field trip to a Kentucky cave Thursday walked through neck-deep water to get to safety, authorities said....
