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(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson has called for action in countries that are seriously affected by the HIV pandemic regarding the progress that has been made to stop the transmission of the HIV virus to children.

The words of the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace came in a message addressed to Caritas Internationalis and its global partners, many of whom are faith-based organizations, who are committed to improving diagnosis and care for children who are living with HIV.

The message follows a Vatican meeting on Pediatric Treatment that took place in the Vatican in mid May.

Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:

On a positive note, Cardinal Turkson said that based on "the discussions at the meeting that focused on early diagnosis and treatment of children, we expect real progress”.

He commended participants at the meeting for their desire to collaborate on improving access to life-saving medicines for children threatened by the HIV virus, and said that now is the moment to add practical and effective measures to earlier commitments  

“I hope especially for a focus on the seriously affected countries where little progress has been made to stop the transmission of the virus to children, and where national efforts have not sufficiently addressed the obstacles to accessing treatment in local communities. This reflects the sad reality that health care is not a right for all” he said.

Please find below the full text of the communiqué: 

Follow up Vatican meeting on Pediatric Treatment
Casina Pio IV, 16-17 May 2016

From 11-15 April 2016, Caritas Internationalis brought together global partners to discuss the role of faith-based organizations and the private sector in closing the global HIV testing and treatment gap for children living with HIV. Two events were held in the Vatican City and co-organized with UNAIDS, PEPFAR, and the Vatican’s Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital.

Pope Francis called on meeting participants to find “new possibilities of providing greater access to life-saving diagnosis and treatment” for children….. Let it (the dialogue) continue until we find the will, the technical expertise, the resources and the methods that provide access to diagnosis and treatment available to all, and not simply to a privileged few for…there is no human life that is qualitatively more significant than another.”[1]

Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, hosted and opened a high-level meeting with representatives from the private sector, including pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies; faith-based organizations responding to HIV; groups of people living with HIV; national governments; the United Nations and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In his opening remarks, the Cardinal drew from Pope Francis’ Laudato si’. In this Encyclical, the Pope challenges the world to take renewed and coordinated action against the factors, such as climate change, pandemics, poverty, conflict and violence that result in the deterioration of the natural and social environment. 

Participants at the earlier meeting debated and agreed upon the most urgent actions needed to strengthen equitable access to testing and treatment for children living with HIV. Delegates in the second meeting committed themselves to find collective solutions, such as multi-partner agreements to encourage more research on HIV treatment for children; accelerating the process of testing, approving and registering new HIV medicines for children; innovative solutions to present drugs and supplies stock-outs; and health system strengthening.

Please find below the full text of Cardinal Peter Turkson's message: 

Second Meeting of 
Directors of Pharmaceutical and Diagnostic Industries 
for children living with HIV: 

Consultation on “Fast-Tracking Paediatric HIV Diagnosis and Treatment” (to improve access to early diagnosis and effective treatment)

Your Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria,
Dr. P.D. Parirenyatwa, Minister of Health of Zimbabwe.
Dr. Luiz Loures, Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS,
Dr Bernard Bossiky, Deputy Executive Secretary of the National AIDS Council, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ms. Sandra Thurman, Chief Strategist, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, United States of America,
Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of the HIV/AIDS Programme of the World Health Organization, 
Rev. Canon Flora Winfield, Representative of the Anglican Communion to the United Nations,
Representatives from the private sector, including pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, people living with HIV, 
Staff of World Health Organization and UNAIDS,
Representatives of religious and non-governmental organizations responding to HIV 

It is my pleasure to welcome all of you in the name of the Holy Father. Pope Francis appreciates your important undertaking and extends his prayerful best wishes. On behalf of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, too, I welcome you to Casina Pio IV, the historic home of the Pontifical Academies. 

The goal of this gathering is to follow-up on a previous meeting last 15 April, 2016, and to formulate concrete responses to the drama of poor access to medication and diagnostics of such common, but prevalent diseases as child-HIV infection, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis. The pursuit of this goal, at this meeting, is well served by the active involvement of national governments, U.N. bodies, religious groups and leaders, the private sector, including pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, and people living with HIV.

So, when the question is put simply as: Why are we gathered here today? The answer can also be simply put as: our goal is to improve access to HIV treatment for children, motivated particularly in this Jubilee year of Mercy to consider the plight of children not only with the intelligence of the market place, but also with the intelligence of the heart!

Jesus is reported by two of the evangelists to have said “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Mt 19:14, Lk 18:16) – he did not say ‘let the children suffer’. In order to reduce the suffering of children due to AIDS, I believe this meeting should focus on three objectives or responses to three questions:  

Why are we gathered here today? The answer can also be simply put as: our goal is to improve access to HIV treatment for children, motivated particularly in this Jubilee year of Mercy to consider the plight of children not only with the intelligence of the market place, but also with the intelligence of the heart!

Jesus is reported by two of the evangelists to have said “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Mt 19:14, Lk 18:16) – he did not say ‘let the children suffer’. In order to reduce the suffering of children due to AIDS, I believe this meeting should focus on three objectives or responses to three questions:  

1)    WHY: We should firmly state the foundations for this work – the underlying values, ethical imperatives and indeed spirituality that are the point of departure for faith-based organizations engaged in providing diagnosis and treatment for children living with HIV and in supporting their families and other caregivers.

2)    WHAT: Our task is to create an ambitious fast-track road-map or strategy to scale up effective treatment for children living with HIV. This plan of action will be launched at the high-level meeting on ending AIDS, 8-10 June in New York. It will include a model project for broad collaboration in selected high-burden countries.

3)    WHO: We must begin to form the coalition of partners, mirroring the inclusive representation of today’s meeting and seriously committed to following the map and implementing the strategy. 
This meeting, as observed above, builds on your discussions last month on early diagnosis and treatment of children, so we expect real progress. You already want to collaborate on improving access to life-saving medicines for children threatened by the HIV virus. Now it is the moment to add practical and effective measures to those earlier commitments. 

I hope especially for a focus on the seriously affected countries where little progress has been made to stop the transmission of the virus to children, and where national efforts have not sufficiently addressed the obstacles to accessing treatment in local communities.

This reflects the sad reality that health care is not a right for all. The testimonies of religious Sisters, Priests, and Brothers, and lay volunteers with whom I speak, confirm that health care is still a privilege only for a few who can afford it, in different parts of the world and especially in many regions of Africa. Access to health care, treatment, and medicines still remains a ‘dream’ for too many.  “Certain health issues, like the elimination of malaria and tuberculosis, treatment of so-called orphan diseases, and neglected sectors of tropical medicine, require urgent political attention, above and beyond all other commercial or political interests.”  How clearly this draws us back to our foundations: as Pope Francis said to the previous meeting, “there is no human life that is qualitatively more significant than another.” 

What is needed is sincere and open dialogue, with responsible cooperation on the part of all: political authorities, the scientific community, the business world and civil society. Positive examples are not lacking; they demonstrate that a genuine cooperation between politics, science and business can achieve significant results. 

Your coming together in this Academy of reflection and dialogue signifies your dedication to the wellbeing and the future of children who face the threat of a serious illness but still have the hope and the will to live. May your efforts make it possible for some of those children to grow to contribute to the advancement of science and of the common good, as you are doing at the present time. May God bless you, inspire you, and strengthen your resolve in your pilgrimage for the good of the human family.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis presided over the opening of the 69th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference – the “CEI” – on Monday afternoon, in the Synod Hall in the Vatican.

The main item on the agenda of the 69^th CEI General Assembly is the renewal of the clergy through ongoing formation.

In remarks to the participants prepared for the occasion, the Holy Father encouraged the bishops of Italy to listen to their priests and to learn from their example. “This evening,” said Pope Francis, “I do not wish to offer you a systematic reflection on the figure of the priest: let us rather try to turn the perspective on its head, and make ready to listen. Let us approach – almost in tiptoe – one of the many parish priests who spend themselves in our communities, let us leave his visage to pass before the eyes of our heart, and let us ask with simplicity: what gives life its flavor? For whom and for what does he do such dedicated service? What is the ultimare reason for his self-giving?”

The answers Pope Francis articulated included the cultivation of authentic friendship with God, a recovery of the courageous leadership role that priests – especially diocesan clergy – are called to play in the fundamental missionary activity of the whole Church, which must be at the center of every Christian life, and finally the Kingdom of God as the horizon and goal of the whole work of the Church and of each man called to serve as a priest.

Other topics on the Bishops’ agenda include the recent revision of the rules on ecclesiastical tribunals (with the reform Pope Francis introduced between the Synod Assemblies), questions of economic resource management, and some other legal and administrative business.

A press conference is scheduled for 1:30 PM on Thursday to present the work of the General Assembly.

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Sixty Indian nuns from the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel last week pledged to donate their organs, saying it was their contribution for the Year of Mercy.  The nuns of Dehradun province in northern India's Uttarakhand state made the pledge on May 11 to state sports and forest minister Dinesh Aggarwal.  "We have been helping people through our social services when we are alive and now after death our organs will be helpful to those in need," Sister Jaya Peter told UCANEWS.  She said 110 Carmel sisters in Kerala made the same pledge last month.  Lamenting that not many people are aware about organ donation in the country, the nun said that it was imperative to educate people about its importance.

In India, people are hesitant to donate their organs despite the fact that the country has been facing acute shortage of donor organs.  More than 3,000 organs transplants occur in the country annually while more than 1 million people nationwide are in need of an organ transplant. About 90 percent of the people on waiting lists in India die without getting an organ. 

Father Mathew Abraham, director of the Catholic Health Association of India, said the demand for organ transplant is greater than the supply for several reasons.  People still do not know the importance of organ donation and how it can help them and others, he said. Other factors include ignorance among the people about how the organ donation is carried out.  Religion too sometimes can have a negative impact on this as there are some beliefs of life after death," he said.   Father Abraham said association partners are spreading awareness across India to encourage people to donate their organs.  He said that a massive campaign needs to be launched at the national level to sensitize people to the issue.  (Source: UCAN)

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The International Federation of Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has pledged $110 million to a new initiative to help drought-stricken southern African countries.

In South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, last year's poor rains have been followed by an El Nino-driven drought that has delayed planting and stunted crops.

An estimated 31.6 million people across the region are struggling to feed themselves, and the figure is expected to rise to more than 49 million by the end of the year, the IFRC said in a statement.

The organisation aims to help a million people over the next five years with emergency food distribution, training in irrigation schemes and new farming practices.

South Africa said last week its 2015 winter wheat crop had fallen 18 percent from the previous year, and it would have to import around 60 percent of its needs in this marketing year.

(Reuters)

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Washington D.C., May 16, 2016 / 08:53 am (CNA).- In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court sent the Little Sisters of the Poor HHS mandate case back to the lower courts on Monday, in light of new developments in the case.

“We are very encouraged by the Court’s decision, which is an important win for the Little Sisters. The Court has recognized that the government changed its position,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead attorney for the Little Sisters of the Poor.

“It is crucial that the Justices unanimously ordered the government not to impose these fines and indicated that the government doesn’t need any notice to figure out what should now be obvious – the Little Sisters respectfully object,” he continued.

Religious charities including the Little Sisters of the Poor had sued the federal government saying that they were being coerced, under threat of heavy fines, to violate their consciences. They said that despite revisions, the Obama administration’s federal contraception mandate requires them to cooperate in actions they believe to be immoral.

The mandate began as part of the Affordable Care Act, which required coverage for preventative care in employee health plans. The Department of Health and Human Services, in its regulations released after the law was passed, interpreted this to require employer coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations, and drugs that can cause abortions.

Churches and their immediate affiliates, like schools and parish groups, were exempt from the mandate but religious non-profits, charities, and universities were not. Some large corporations were exempt from the mandate because their health plans that existed before the health care law were “grandfathered” into its regulations.

Heavy fines are the punishment for not complying with the mandate. Many religious institutions objected to complying with the mandate, saying they were being forced to violate their consciences by providing coverage for practices they believed were immoral. They were being coerced to cooperate in such acts, they said.

After the mandate was issued, the government offered an “accommodation” to objecting parties – they could notify the government of their religious objection, and it would then direct their insurer to provide the mandated coverage free-of-charge. The government argued that contraception can be offered without cost because it reduces later costs associated with births and provides “tremendous health benefits” to women.

The Little Sisters and other charities said this “accommodation” still required them to violate their consciences, because they were effectively acting as “gatekeepers” for the contraception coverage. They also voiced concern that because it was still part of their health plan, they would ultimately end up paying for the coverage they found immoral.

A total of more than 300 plaintiffs have sued to challenge the mandate. In the case currently before the court, Zubik v. Burwell, the Little Sisters are joined by other plaintiffs including the Archdiocese of Washington, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, the pro-life group Priests for Life, and several Christian colleges and universities.

The Supreme Court, in a rare move in the middle of a case, had ordered both parties to come up with alternative solutions, if possible, of guaranteeing both contraceptive coverage for employees and religious freedom protections for the non-profits.

“Following oral argument, the Court requested supplemental briefing from the parties addressing ‘whether contraceptive coverage could be provided to petitioners’ employees, through petitioners’ insurance companies, without any such notice from petitioners’,” the court’s statement read.

“Both petitioners and the Government now confirm that such an option is feasible.”

The Little Sisters and other plaintiffs, in their brief, outlined an acceptable alternative: when setting up their health plan with their insurer, they would express their wish for a health plan without coverage for the contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-causing drugs. The insurer would take note and offer employees “cost-free contraception coverage” on the side and outside the health plan.

For their part, “the Government has confirmed that the challenged procedures ‘for employers with insured plans could be modified to operate in the manner posited in the Court’s order while still ensuring that the affected women receive contraceptive coverage seamlessly, together with the rest of their health coverage,” the statement read.

Because of the new developments in the case, the court then sent the group cases back to their respective federal courts – the Third, Fifth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals.

“Given the gravity of the dispute and the substantial clarification and refinement in the positions of the parties, the parties on remand should be afforded an opportunity to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise while at the same time ensuring that women covered by petitioners’ health plans “receive full and equal health coverage, including contraceptive coverage,” the court stated.

The Supreme Court did not say if the government’s mandate and “accommodation” violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Under that federal law passed in 1993, if the government action “substantially burdens” a person’s free exercise of religion, the government must establish that it has a “compelling interest” for the action and that it is using the “least-restrictive means” of furthering that interest.

“In particular, the Court does not decide whether petitioners’ religious exercise has been substantially burdened, whether the Government has a compelling interest, or whether the current regulations are the least restrictive means of serving that interest,” the court stated, leaving that decision for the lower courts.

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Alessaandro Bianchi, Reuters)

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True piety and evangelical pity are found together in those who are moved by the pain of others, take action to help them and, therefore, share God's mercy, Pope Francis said.

"We are called to cultivate attitudes of pity in the face of many situations in life, shaking off the indifference that prevents us from recognizing the needs of our brothers and sisters and liberating ourselves from slavery to material well-being," the pope said May 14 at a jubilee general audience.

During the Year of Mercy, the pope is holding special general audiences one Saturday each month and using the occasion to speak about the importance of experiencing God's mercy and sharing it with others.

"For Jesus," he said, "experiencing pity means sharing the sadness of those one encounters, but at the same time, working to transform sadness into joy."

True piety and true pity are not superficial feelings, he said, but are expressions of compassion and mercy.

Pity must not be confused "with the compassion we feel for the animals that live with us," he said. "In fact, it sometimes happens that one feels pity toward animals, but remains indifferent to the suffering of our brothers and sisters. How many times do we see people so attached to cats and dogs and yet they leave their neighbor without the help they need."

Also during the jubilee year, as an example of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, the pope is making a private visit each month to people with special needs. He has visited a home for the elderly, a community for recovering addicts and a refugee camp in Greece.

He went to a L'Arche Community in Ciampino, near Rome, May 13 and spent the afternoon with 18 people who have developmental disabilities and the volunteers who have built a home with them. He brought pastries, peaches and cherries with him and took part in the community's afternoon snack break before praying with the community in the small chapel.

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By Ann Carey

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) -- The University of Notre Dame conferred it prestigious Laetare Medal on Vice President Joe Biden and former House Speaker John Boehner without incident at graduation May 15, but the controversy over the recipients still hung in the air.

From the moment the university announced the 2016 medal recipients March 5, criticism swirled over the decision because the medal is supposed to honor Catholics for "outstanding service to the church and society."

Many critics find Biden, a Democrat, to be an inappropriate awardee because his stand on abortion and his support for redefining marriage to legalize same-sex marriage clash with church teachings. Some others find Boehner, a Republican, inappropriate because of his support for the death penalty, which the church also opposes.

Yet, the Notre Dame president, Holy Cross Father John I. Jenkins, has defended the choice, saying that the two men are not being honored for policy positions but for their public service and dedication to civility in public discourse.

Father Jenkins struck that chord again when he addressed the two medal winners at graduation before the conferral of the award, noting that each man had legislative achievements for which everyone should be grateful.

"Each of you, we must acknowledge, have cast votes and taken positions about which many among us have reservations -- in some cases grave moral reservations," the priest said. "We cannot and do not turn a blind eye to such reservations. We award you today the Laetare Medal not to endorse particular positions you've taken or votes you've cast, but because each of you have given your lives to serve the common good in political leadership by your own best lights."

A similar note was struck in the Laetare Medal citation that was read by Richard C. Notebaert, chairman of Notre Dame's board of trustees.

The citation said that the university was conferring its "highest honor, the Laetare Medal," on the two men "neither to advance your favorite causes nor to advance your respective policies, but to celebrate two lives and careers inspired by the Catholic call to service and admirably dedicated to the alignment of our democratic institutions with the contours of the common good through honest engagement with contentious issues, vigorous debate and responsible compromise."

Before the awardees were publicly announced in early March, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend had advised Father Jenkins against giving Biden the award. He explained this advice in a March 16 statement in which he wrote: "I believe it is wrong for Notre Dame to honor any 'pro-choice' public official with the Laetare Medal, even if he/she has other positive accomplishments in public service," and to do so would cause scandal.

"We should not honor those who claim to personally accept church teaching, but act contrary to that teaching in their political choices," Bishop Rhoades wrote, explaining that "trying to separate or distinguish the conferral of the Laetare Medal upon the recipients from their positions on public policies" is not "realistically possible or intellectually coherent."

Bishop Rhoades did not attend either the Notre Dame baccalaureate Mass a day earlier or the graduation ceremony. Instead, he celebrated the baccalaureate Mass and gave the graduation invocation at his alma mater, Mount St. Mary's University at Emmitsburg, Maryland, where his niece was in the graduating class.

Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington celebrated Notre Dame's baccalaureate Mass but did not attend graduation. When asked about Cardinal Wuerl's opinion of the Laetare Medal choices, an archdiocesan spokesperson said that the archdiocese does not comment on matters in other dioceses, and referred to Bishop Rhoades' March 16 statement.

In their remarks after the conferral of the Laetare Medal, neither Biden nor Boehner referred to the controversy, but spoke instead of the necessity to find common ground.

Boehner told the graduates that common ground can be found without compromising one's core beliefs, and that he and Biden had been able to find common ground even though they disagree on many issues. He advised the graduates that deciding what their future jobs will be is not as important as deciding what kind of people they will be.

Boehner credited Pope Francis and former Notre Dame football coaches Gerry Faust -- who coached Boehner in high school -- and Lou Holtz with helping him decide who he was going to be and what he would do with his life.

Biden cited Pope Francis' remarks to the U.S. Congress last September, when the pope told the lawmakers that their responsibility was pursuit of the common good. Calling the Notre Dame graduates "the most educated and the most tolerant generation" in the history of this country, he urged them to "engage in the tireless pursuit of finding common ground, because not only will you be happier, you will be incredibly more successful."

Citing the personal losses in his own life, Biden urged the graduates to choose family over career and to bounce back from setbacks they will experience.

A small group of protesters from area pro-life groups gathered peacefully on the public sidewalks at the main university entrance. Wearing his academic garb, Notre Dame professor emeritus Daniel Costello joined them and held a sign that read "Abortion: The Ultimate Child Abuse."

Costello told Catholic News Service that Biden has been opposed to almost everything the church tries to do in the areas of life, marriage and family, and to honor a person with that record sends the wrong message and is a source of scandal.

"I think it was a bad decision," Costello said, "and I'd like to see us get back to honoring people who are faithful to the church and faithful to church teaching, particularly on important matters like life and marriage."

Costello said that feelings on campus on the matter were mixed, and he praised the 800-member student pro-life group that offered an alternative to a sidewalk protest by providing graduates and their relatives "precious feet" life pins symbolizing the unborn to wear to commencement.

A statement from the Notre Dame Right to Life group explained: "We believe that this form of protesting is one of love and will still be respectful of the graduates and their families as they are rejoicing in their graduation from Our Lady's university."

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