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In a Pentecost message, the leader of the Catholic Church in Singapore has urged his faithful to be proud of Christ and renew their commitment to society. "We cannot afford to remain as spectators on the sidelines when our faith is challenged, denigrated and ridiculed,” Archbishop William Goh wrote in a pastoral letter for the occasion of Pentecost, on Sunday, May 15. “If the call to be proud to be Singaporean means to stand up for Singapore, so too, is the call to stand up for Jesus if we are proud to be Catholic,” the letter said..  He urged Catholics to make Jesus known and loved by being united in love and truth.  And “the Christian answer to true unity is the Holy Spirit who leads us to Jesus who is the fullness of truth.” Hence, “being proud to be Catholic means that we should be even more patriotic as citizens.” He said Catholics “must be ready to individually speak up and stand up for our faith and Catholic values,” utilizing technologies such as the internet, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, mass media and forums.  But before that, Archbishop Goh, said Catholics need to strengthen their prayer and spiritual life and doctrinal faith.   He lamented the serious limits in the knowledge of faith and spiritual life of Singaporean Catholics, saying less than 10 per cent of the community is actively involved in the service of the Church.  He noted the sadness caused by lay people and clerics who are lukewarm in their faith or betray it for money.  (Source: AsiaNews)

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India's Maharashtra state has become the first in the country to ban village councils from imposing "social boycotts" that ostracise individuals or families for defying tradition.  Women and lower caste Dalits often bear the brunt of such judgments, passed as punishment for perceived misdeeds such as marrying between castes or dressing immodestly.  The western Indian state last month passed the law against a decades-old practice of village panchayats, or councils, ordering social boycotts

Under village council orders, individuals and families have been banished from the community, and denied access to temples, wells, markets and celebrations.  In some cases, panchayats have even branded women as witches, and ordered gang rapes or killings as punishment.

Maharashtra's new law declares social boycotts a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison, a fine of 500,000 ($7,500), or both.  .  "The Act was required against the backdrop of atrocities inflicted on people in the name of tradition, caste and community," said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.  "It is necessary to prohibit social boycotts as a matter of social reform in the interest of public welfare," he said. 

Human rights campaigners called for other Indian states to follow Maharashtra's example.  (Source: Reuters)

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Pakistan’s Lahore District Government has provided more than US$ 30,000 to repair the dome of Lahore’s Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral. An earthquake last November had damaged the over 50-metre tall dome and brought down the cross on top.  The dome, which engineers until recently were reluctant to work on at that height, will regain its former glory thanks to Muhammad Ishtiaq, a Muslim who is a town planning officer.   Archbishop Sebastian Shah on Wednesday came to view the work that started a couple of months ago.  Masons have begun to remove the bricks that fell from the damaged parts.  

The Rector Fr Joseph Shehzad thanked Ishtiaq and his family at a ceremony in his honour.  Ishtiaq told AsiaNews, “The cathedral is a national heritage.”  “There are personal clashes between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan. The leaders of both religions should stop anyone who spread hatred between the two communities," Ishtiaq added.

Lahore's Sacred Heart Cathedral was built in 1907 by E. Dobbeleers, a Belgian architect from Antwerp. In 2007, the church celebrated its first centennial. For the occasion, Pope Benedict XVI sent a congratulatory message to the local congregation. For its part, the government issued a commemorative stamp.  In 2008, the cathedral, the Caritas Lahore building, the bishop's residence and the rectory were seriously damaged in a suicide bomb attack.    Last year, the cathedral received an award for Belgian heritage abroad.   (AsiaNews)

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Vatican City, May 14, 2016 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Economic worldviews based only on material well-being cannot contribute to dignified labor and new models of economic progress are needed, Pope Francis told a gathering of business experts on Friday.

“An economic vision geared to profit and material well-being alone is – as experience is daily showing us – incapable of contributing in a positive way to a globalization that favours the integral development of the world’s peoples, a just distribution of the earth’s resources, the guarantee of dignified labour and the encouragement of private initiative and local enterprise,” Pope Francis said May 13 to the members of the Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation.

The foundation is in the midst of its international conference on “Business initiative in the fight against poverty: the refugee emergency, our challenge.” The foundation was founded in 1993 by St. John Paul II to study and promote Catholic social teaching.

Pope Francis addressed the conference participants in the Vatican's Clementine Hall, where he expressed his gratitude for their “readiness to bring your expertise and experience to the discussion of these critical humanitarian issues and the moral obligations that they entail.”

He said the refugee crisis is “especially close to my heart,” and recalled his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, where many refugees seek to enter Europe, in April.

“Apart from the immediate and practical aspect of providing material relief to these brothers and sisters of ours, the international community is challenged to devise long-term political, social and economic responses to issues that transcend national and continental boundaries, and affect the entire human family,” the Pope stated.

He recalled that “the fight against poverty is not merely a technical economic problem, but above all a moral one, calling for global solidarity and the development of more equitable approaches to the concrete needs and aspirations of individuals and peoples worldwide.”

Pope Francis referred to the insistence of his predecessor, St. John Paul II, that “economic activity cannot be conducted in an institutional or political vacuum, but has an essential ethical component; it must always stand at the service of the human person and the universal common good.”

He said that “an economy of exclusion and inequality has led to greater numbers of the disenfranchised and those discarded as unproductive and useless.”

In more developed societies “the growth of relative poverty and social decay represent a serious threat to families, the shrinking middle class and in a particular way our young people,” he lamented.

Pope Francis said high youth unemployment rates are not only an economic problem, but are also “a social ill, for our youth are being robbed of hope and their great resources of energy, creativity and vision are being squandered.”

“It is my hope that your conference will contribute to generating new models of economic progress more clearly directed to the universal common good, inclusion and integral development, the creation of labour and investment in human resources,” he told them.

The Pope then referred to the Second Vatican Council's teaching, in Gaudium et spes, that “for Christians, economic, financial and business activity cannot be separated from the duty to strive for the perfecting of the temporal order in accordance with the values of God’s Kingdom.”

“Yours is in fact a vocation at the service of human dignity and the building of a world of authentic solidarity,” he told the conference participants.

“May your work always contribute to the growth of that civilization of love which embraces the entire human family in justice and peace.”

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Vatican City, May 14, 2016 / 06:06 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his catechesis for this Saturday's Jubilee of Mercy audience, Pope Francis addressed the theme of piety, and how it manifests God's mercy through compassion for the suffering and afflicted.

“The piety of which we speak is a manifestation of God's mercy,” the Pope told the rain-soaked crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square.

The pontiff explained that piety, or “pietà”  – which in Italian can also be translated as compassion, pity, or mercy – should not “be confused with compassion which we feel for the animals who live with us.”

“It happens, in fact, that at times one feels this sentiment toward animals, and remains indifferent to the suffering of their brothers and sisters.”

He added in off-the-cuff remarks: “How often do we see people greatly attached to cats, to dogs,” he said, but fail to “help their neighbor, their neighbor who is in need... This will not do.”

The May 14 gathering at the Vatican was the latest in a series of special audiences for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which are being held throughout the year in addition to the weekly general audiences on Wednesdays.

The Jubilee of Mercy is an Extraordinary Holy Year that officially commenced December 8 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica. It will close Nov. 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Christ the King.

Pope Francis centered Saturday's catechesis piety with regard to those “who need love.”  Piety is an aspect of mercy, and one of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, he said.
 
As noted in the English language synthesis of the address, the word piety denotes a sense of “religiosity or devotion,” but it also relates to compassion and mercy.

The concept of piety existed in the Greco-Roman world, the Pope explained in Italian, where it referred to being submissive toward superiors, such as the gods, one's parents, the elderly, etc.

“Today, however, we must be careful not to identify piety with that pietism, fairly widespread, which is only a superficial emotion and which offends the dignity of others,” he said.

The pontiff cited the many instances in the Gospel in which persons who were sick, possessed, in poverty, or otherwise afflicted would call on Jesus to “Have mercy” (“Abbi pietà” in Italian).

“Jesus responded to everyone with his gaze of mercy and the comfort of his presence,” he said.

In asking Jesus for help or mercy, each of these persons demonstrated their faith, referring to him as “Teacher,” “Son of David,” or Lord, the Pope explained.

“They intuited that in him there was something extraordinary, that could help them leave behind the condition of sadness in which they had found themselves. They perceived in him the love of God himself.”

Jesus, in turn, took pity, and called the suffering and wounded persons “to have faith in him and in his Word.”

The pontiff explained that Jesus “shares the sadness of those he encounters,” while at the same time works in them to “transform them in joy.”

Pope Francis said “we too are called to cultivate” attitudes of compassion when confronted with situations which shake us from “the indifference that prevents us from recognizing the needs of our brothers and sisters,” and free us from the “slavery of material goods.”

He concluded his catechesis by invoking the example of Mary, who “cares for each of her children and for us believers,” and who is “the icon of piety.”

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