Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has written a letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in reference to the situation in the country. The chief of the Vatican Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi sj confirmed the news without giving information about the letter’s contents, on Monday.

Amid triple-digit inflation rates, Venezuela is undergoing one of the most serious economic crises of its history and basic goods and food are increasingly difficult to find. Shortages have led to smuggling and a thriving black market while power outages have led to looting.

"The Pope is following with great attention and participation the situation in Venezuela,” Lombardi said and cited the pontiff’s “most recent public remarks” and the “ample passage, very eloquent” which the Pope dedicated to Venezuela on Easter Sunday in the message before the Urbi et Orbi Blessing.

The Pope said: “With the weapons of love, God has defeated selfishness and death. His son Jesus is the door of mercy wide open to all. May his Easter message be felt ever more powerfully by the beloved people of Venezuela in the difficult conditions which they are experiencing, and by those responsible for the country’s future, that everyone may work for the common good, seeking spaces of dialogue and cooperation with all. May efforts be made everywhere to promote the culture of counter, justice and reciprocal respect, which alone can guarantee the spiritual and material welfare of all people.”

"The seriousness of the situation appears clearly from the recent Statement of Bishops on 27 April,” Fr. Lombardi stated.  “For his part, the Nuncio, S.E. Msgr. Giordano, has committed very clearly to encourage the dialogue desired by the Pope.”

“In this context, I can say that the Pope himself did recently have a personal letter given to President Maduro, with reference to the situation of the country," Lombardi said.

Venezuelan Bishops press government to permit Church to help

In their 27 April statement, Venezuela’s bishops urged the government of President Maduro to allow the Church to bring in much-needed supplies such as food and medicine.

They warned that never before had the country suffered from such an “extreme lack of goods and basic food and health products” combined with “an  upsurge in murderous and inhuman crime, the unreliable rationing of electricity and water, and deep corruption in all levels of the government and society.”

They recalled that the government is duty-bound to “encourage all forms of assistance to its citizens” and to provide basic goods and services.

Authorization, the bishops said, “is urgently needed for private institutions in the country, such as Caritas or other programs of different religious denominations…to bring in food, medicine, and other basic needs from national and international aid groups, and to organize distribution networks in order to meet the urgent needs of the people.”
 

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South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has called on his new cabinet ministers, in the newly formed Government of National Unity (GNU) to see themselves as colleagues belonging to one big family. President Kiir said the new unity government should work to overcome insecurity in the country. He cautioned cabinet members against disunity.

Kiir warned the new cabinet to avoid the blame game if they were to make tangible progress in delivering services to the people. He was speaking during the first cabinet meeting of the GNU shortly after ministers were sworn-in.

The South Sudan President further said the unity government must forget about what had happened in the past and instead look to the future. He emphasised the government’s commitment to accepting collaborative efforts saying this was the only sure way to stabilising the country’s political, socio-economic situation.

The President believes some issues of disagreement between the government and SPLM/A-in-opposition would eventually be resolved amicably.

Making reference to the international community, Kiir told his cabinet colleagues that the peace agreement was something imposed on all parties without negotiation. It was, therefore, incumbent, he said, on the international community to assist South Sudan rebuild the country now that the unity government was in place.

(Catholic Radio Network, South Sudan)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio) The Syrian army confirmed on Monday that a “regime of calm” has been extended for a further 48 hours around Damascus, the country’s capital.

This cessation of hostilities in the capital comes after a resurgence of violence in the country’s northern Aleppo region, which has seen more than 250 people killed in the last 9 days, and threatens to destabilize the 9 week truce put in place by UN officials.

Vatican Radio’s Georgia Gogarty spoke with Patrick Nicholson, the Director of Communications at Caritas Internationalis, about the current situation, following his trip to Damascus last week.

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Nicholson described Damascus as “calm when you go there”, however there is an “air of tension”. People are choosing to continue with their daily lives, and attempting to live as normally as possible despite the constant threat of air strikes and suicide attacks, as was the case last week.

When asked about the state of the rest of the country, Nicholson said people “need everything”, from healthcare to clean drinking water. Although there is general impoverishment throughout Syria due to “rampant” inflation and lack of basics, areas that aid agencies cannot reach in particular face “a severe humanitarian crisis”.

Caritas Syria is providing “an array of help and aid across the country”, including food, clothing, paying rent and counselling in order to help those, particularly children, to overcome some of the trauma they have experienced.

Talking about the future of Syria, Nicholson said all parties should be involved in continued dialogue and that the international community “must stop sending guns and fighters and supporting different warring factions” in order to ensure peace. He stressed the importance of Pope Francis’s call for all to respect the cessation of hostilities, saying that not only do his words have an impact on the work of Caritas but in Syria itself. According to Nicholson he is the “one world leader who is speaking out on the subject” and reminding the world about the terrible situation the country is facing. 

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(Vatican Radio)  The Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano reported Monday that Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, is the winner of the "Golden Pen" award.  The prize, awarded by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, is given to journalists and writers who have brought honor to the country. Established in 1957 in memory of Giovanni Papini, the "Golden Pen" has been assigned in recent years to Salvatore Quasimodo, Eugenio Montale, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Giuseppe Prezzolini, Alberto Moravia, Ugo Spirito, Bacchelli, Mario Soldati and, in the last two editions, to Paolo Mieli and Eugenio Scalfari. The decision was taken unanimously by a panel of jurists. The award ceremony will take place on 2 July during celebrations organized by the Ischia Prize Foundation in Lacco Ameno on the southern Italian island.  It  will be preceded by a series of debates involving journalists, politicians, economy and foreign policy experts .

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Gaby Maniscalco

ROME (CNS) -- The Trevi Fountain, a Rome landmark, was lit up in red April 29 in a graphic commemoration of the thousands of modern Christians martyred for their faith.

The event was sponsored by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which wanted to "draw attention to the dramatic issue of anti-Christian persecution."

The evening event also featured four guest speakers who shared the personal stories of Christians killed for their faith. After the speeches, the fountain was lit to represent the blood of the Christian martyrs. Throughout the night, images of Christians persecuted for their faith were projected onto the fountain. The photos included the four Missionaries of Charity murdered in Aden, Yemen, in early March.

Pope Francis frequently mentions his belief that today, "perhaps more than in the early days" of Christianity, Christians are "persecuted, killed, chased out, robbed just because they are Christians."

In ecumenical gatherings, the pope has noted how the persecution unites Christians of all denominations. During an audience Feb. 29 with Patriarch Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the pope said: "Just as in the early church the shedding of the blood of martyrs became the seed of new Christians, so today the blood of the many martyrs of all the churches has become the seed of Christian unity."

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(Vatican Radio) The Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni has appealed for prayers following the latest violence in the country.

Two car bombs in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on Sunday killed 31 people and wounded dozens more.

The incident was the latest in a series of large attacks claimed by the Islamic State group as the country grapples with a worsening political crisis.

Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Alessandro Gisotti, Bishop Warduni described the situation.“Our situation is very bad, it never becomes better and better, always we are going towards worse and worse…this war we want it to finish”.

Listen: 

The Bishop also spoke of the effect the conflict is having on the Iraqi people, “our people are waiting to go to their houses, homes because they are under tents or caravans and this is very bad.”

On Sunday, the United Nations said at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence.

In its monthly report, the U.N. mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month.

In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded.

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