Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Indonesia is preparing to host two major Catholic youth events during 2016-2017. The first event is Indonesian Youth Day, which takes place from 1 - 6 October, 2016, in Manado.  The next year, Indonesia will host Asian Youth Day from 30 July – 6 August, 2017, in Yogyakarta.

“We hope by having those two big events, we would like to expose that … Catholics are part of the Indonesian people,” said Antonius Agus Sriyono, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the Holy See. “They have to have tolerance to other religions.”

Listen to the interview with Antonius Agus Sriyono, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the Holy See:

Indonesia is nearly 90% Muslim, but Christians make up almost 10% of the population, or over 25 million people.

Manado, the host-city of Indonesian Youth Day, is in the predominantly-Christian North Sulawesi province.  Yogyakarta is on the island of Java, which is home to the majority of the population in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s government said it wants the two events to build up solidarity in the country.

“We want Indonesian young Catholics to be aware of the importance of, for instance, unity and nationalism in Indonesia,” the Ambassador told Vatican Radio.

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Vatican City, May 11, 2016 / 04:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said the father’s embrace in the Parable of the Prodigal Son is a reminder that we never ought to despair, because nothing and no one can take away our dignity as children of God.

Pointing to how the father in the parable had watched and waited for his younger son’s return, Francis noted how “tenderly he saw him from afar, meaning that he waited for him constantly, from above.”

“The mercy of the father is overflowing, unconditional and manifests itself even before the son speaks,” he said. Even though the son recognizes his sin and voices remorse, “these words dissolve in front of the forgiveness of the father.”

Our state as sons of God “is a fruit of love from the heart of the father,” the Pope said, adding that “it doesn’t depend on our merits or our actions, and therefore no one can take it away. No one can take this dignity away from us, not even the devil! No one can take this dignity!”

Pope Francis spoke to the thousands of pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience.

Before beginning his address, he noted how due to the rain, the sick and disabled were watching from a screen in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, and encouraged those present in the square to send them a greeting. The invitation was met a hardy round of applause as Francis spoke.

He continued his catechesis on mercy as understood in scripture, focusing his speech on the final scene in the Parable of the Prodigal Son when the younger son returns and is embraced by the father, while the older son is resentful.

When the younger son finally returns home, his declaration that “I am no longer worthy to be called your son” is “unbearable for the heart of the father,” who interrupts him and rushes to restore to him the signs of his dignity as a son, such as a fine robe, a ring and sandals on his feet.

Jesus, the Pope observed, doesn’t describe a father that is “offended and resentful who says ‘I will make you pay!’” but on the contrary, illustrates that the only thing the father is concerned about is that “this son in front of him is healthy and safe.”

This parable teaches us “to never despair,” he said, and pointed specifically to parents who, like the father, see their children becoming distant and taking “dangerous paths.”

He also noted that the same can be said of pastors and catechists “who at times ask themselves if their work is in vain,” as well as prisoners, “those who have made poor choices and aren’t able to look to the future (and) those who hunger for mercy and forgiveness but believe they aren’t worthy.”

No matter what situation life brings, “I must never forget that I’ll never cease being a child of God, of a father who loves me and waits for my return. Even in the worst situations in life God waits, wanting to embrace me,” he said.

Pope Francis then pointed to the figure of the older brother, who although he was always at home with his father, “is so different” from him.

When he speaks to his father, the older son “speaks with contempt,” never once using the words “father” or “brother,” but instead boasts of how he had always been near the father and served him, the Pope observed.

Neither has this son ever lived the joy of being close to his father, but accuses him of not ever giving him a young goat to celebrate, Francis said, adding “Poor father! One son went away, and the other was never truly close!”

The father’s suffering in this passage “is like the suffering of God and of Jesus when we distance ourselves or when we think we are close and instead we are not,” he said.

Francis noted that the older son “also needs mercy,” explaining that that he “represents us when we ask ourselves whether it’s worth it to struggle so much if we don’t get anything in return.”

However, when the father responds telling his older son telling him that “everything I have is yours,” his logic “is that of mercy!”

In their conversations with the father, both sons miss the point, Francis said: “the two brothers don’t speak to each other, they live different stories, but both reason in a logic foreign to Jesus: if you do good you get a reward, if you do bad you get punished.”

By responding with the logic of mercy, the father not only recovers his lost son but can now restore the relationship between the brothers, the Pope said, adding that “the greatest joy for the father is to see his sons recognizing each other as brothers.”

Each of the sons can decide to either unite themselves to the joy of the father, or to refuse, he said, and noted how parable ends leaving us in suspense, because we don’t know what the older son decided.

Pope Francis closed by saying that this cliffhanger is “is a motivation for us. This Gospel teaches us that we all need to enter the house of the father and participate in his joy, in the feast of mercy and brotherhood.”

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(Vatican Radio) Hungary's Parliament has adopted strict new measures towards asylum seekers and also approved a government referendum on whether to accept a European Union quota plan to distribute as many as 160.000 refugees among member states. The vote came amid rising tensions in the region after Slovak border guards shot at refugees near the Hungarian border.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report

Hungarian legislators approved tougher conditions for asylum seekers, including cutting allowed stays at reception centers from 60 days to maximum 30 days and gradually reducing their already meager social benefits and subsidies.

Human rights activists condemned the measures saying they are meant to discourage refugees from seeking asylum in Hungary and forcing them into increasingly worse and unpleasant situations.

Hungarian authorities have acknowledged that only 197 people were granted asylum or some other sort of international protection this year in the January-April period.

CONTROVERSIAL REFERENDUM

Hungary's parliament also endorsed a government-proposed referendum to be held later this year on the European Union's plan to resettle as many as 160,000 refugees within the 28-nation bloc.

The referendum question is: "Do you want the European Union to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary even without the consent of parliament?"

The vote came as a boost for Hungary's anti-migration Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

He says voting "no" in the referendum will be "in favor of Hungary's independence."

Orbán has condemned EU proposals to fine member states a quarter of a million euros for every migrant they refuse to take, as part of controversial quotas. "Those who should be our leaders in Brussels are sitting in an ivory tower, isolated from the world," Orbán told Hungarian radio. "They don’t know the reality, they don’t have a clue what they are talking about.

How can some draw up a proposal like this?”

He says the focus should be on protecting the EU's borderless Schengen zone and the running of refugee camps.

RISING TENSIONS

Orbán's comments come amid rising tensions in the region.

The United Nations refugee agency is urging authorities in neighboring Slovakia to investigate an incident in which a woman was shot Monday when border guards fired at a car carrying refugees.

A Budapest-based UNHCR regional spokesman confirmed that the 26-year-old Syrian woman is out of danger but still in intensive care.Slovak police reportedly wanted to stop four cars and opened fire when one driver tried to flee.

Slovakia's state-run television said 11 migrants and six smugglers had been detained and all would be expelled.

It was the worst known incident in the border area, but authorities are on edge saying at least 11.000 migrants entered Hungary this year alone despite fences an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees into Europe.

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Vatican City, May 11, 2016 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new phase in relations between the Holy See and mainland China could begin with a new vacancy in the apostolic nunciature now based in Taiwan.

The presence of an apostolic nunciature in Taiwan dates back to the Chinese Civil War; it has been a hurdle for diplomatic relations for decades.

The People’s Republic of China (mainland China) has never acknowledged the existence of Taiwan as the Republic of China. It considers Taiwan a rebel province that should be re-absorbed by its homeland.

Relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China enjoyed a mild thaw in November 2015, when mainland China president Xi Jinping and Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou met in Singapore.

In recent decades, the nunciature has no longer been headed by a nuncio. Rather, its head is a lower-ranked diplomat, a chargé d’affairs. The most recent chargé d’affairs in Taiwan was Monsignor Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, a U.S. citizen who is 57 and who hails from Greenfield, Mass.

On March 19 the Holy See announced that Msgr. Russell had been appointed apostolic nuncio to Turkey and Turkmenistan.
 
The appointment leaves a vacancy in Taiwan. The fact that he has been moved to a new post may signal some developments in Holy See – mainland Chinese relations. This could mean that the Holy See wants to leave the post vacant, while in the process of normalizing relations with People’s Republic of China.
 
Pope Francis has showed great interest in restoring relations with mainland China, and it is no secret that one of his dreams would be a visit to Beijing.
 
Under Xi, the Holy See’s relations with mainland China improved at a diplomatic level. It is noteworthy that Pope Francis has been the first Pope allowed to fly through the country's airspace, during his flights to South Korea and the Philippines.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, recently said that relations with mainland China “have been and are part of a long path with different phases. This path is not concluded yet, and we will finalize it according to God’s will.”
 
Cardinal Parolin told the Italian magazine San Francesco Rivista that mainland China-Holy See relations “are living a positive phase, as there had been signals from both side that there is the wish to keep on talking in order to find together solutions to the problems of the presence of the Catholic Church in that huge country.”

The cardinal granted that “perspectives are promising.” He hoped that “the blossom will flourish and bear good fruits, for the good of the same China and of all the world.” The interview was published May 4 on the occasion of the translation of the San Francesco Rivista into Mandarin Chinese.

In order to harvest the fruits of this diplomatic thaw, it is possible that the nunciature in Taiwan will be left without a high-ranking papal representative for a time.
 
This does not mean that the nunciature will be closed. A source familiar with the Chinese environment notes the possibility that the Vatican may decrease the rank of the nunciature to China to that of an inter-nunciature, which is not considered a diplomatic delegation. The news outlet China Post predicted this outcome some months ago.

Surprisingly, the inter-nunciature model can be compared to U.S.-Holy See relations before both states stablished full diplomatic relations in 1984.

In 1893, Pope Leo XIII had established a nunciature at a “non-diplomatic level” as a reference point between the Pope and the Catholic hierarchy in the United States.

This approach contrasts with the so-called “Vietnam solution.” Vietnam lacks diplomatic ties to the Vatican, but it is engaged in a series of bilateral meetings with the Holy See.

In 2011 it accepted a Holy See “non-resident representative.” However, this position implies a diplomatic role. At present the People’s Republic of China and the Holy See are not going to establish any kind of diplomatic ties.

The Holy See could move the headquarters of the nunciature from Taipei to Beijing. Xi might accept this if the Holy See also asks Taiwan to close its embassy to the Holy See.
 
The steps toward some kind of official relations between the two States should come together with an unspoken agreement on the appointment of bishops; the Chinese government has not always acknowledged the Holy See’s episcopal appointments.
 
Some experts have said the Church-State controversies in China should be seen in a different light.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication and involved in the Holy See-China dialogue from the 1980s, spoke on this topic during a book presentation in December 2015. He said the narrative insisting on a dichotomy between an “underground Church” and an “official Church” in China should be replaced, and that it is more correct to speak about the Church in China as being partially acknowledged by the government and partially not.
 
One idea to help the so-called underground Church out of the catacombs is to have the Pope appoint bishops from a roster proposed by (or at least acceptable to) the Beijing administration.
 
This procedure would smooth the process to get the twofold approval of the Holy See and the mainland Chinese government for bishops’ appointments. It would make easier the regularization of bishops who are still considered “clandestine” by the mainland Chinese government.

The Holy See established relations with China in 1922, though at a minor level. In 1946 the Holy See established an inter-nunciature to China. The Holy See’s diplomats left Beijing in 1951, ousted by the new government of the People’s Republic of China after the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek to Taipei.

The inter-nunciature was elevated to the rank of nunciature in 1966. It maintained its name of the Apostolic Nunciature to China, amid the disputed claims of the two governments.
 
Advances in mainland Chinese-Vatican relations in no way mean that the Holy See wants to forget Catholics in Taiwan.
 
In fact, Msgr. Russell has done remarkable work in Taiwan, which Ma acknowledged in his April 7 farewell to the Vatican diplomat.
 
The president, probably fearing weakening ties with the Vatican, noted that Taiwan-Holy See diplomatic relations had entered its 74th year. He emphasized some of the breakthroughs in relations achieved since 2008.
 
These include: a bilateral agreement for higher education on the recognition of studies, qualifications, diplomas and degrees; the concert of the Sistine Chapel Choir in Taipei in 2014; the 2015 exhibition “Treasures from Heaven” that took place in Taipei, displaying works of art from the Vatican; and the Taiwanese delegation led by Ma that took part in Pope Francis’ installation Mass in 2013.
 
While relations with the People’s Republic of China tend to improve, and a papal trip to China seems to be less of a dream and more of a possibility, Taiwan wanted to claim its long term link with China.
 
Time will tell if there will be a new chargé d’affairs in Taiwan or if Msgr. Russell’s tenure marks the end of an era. At the moment, he has been simply moved to Turkey, with the mission to improve and strengthen relations with the country that has become a gateway to Europe.

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