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(Vatican Radio)  The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke, on Monday made a declaration regarding the case of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou in China, who was "forcibly removed from his episcopal see some time ago".

The statement affirmed that: "The diocesan Catholic community and his relatives have no news or reasons for his removal, nor do they know where he is being held."

Mr. Burke went on to say the Holy See is "profoundly saddened for this and other similar episodes that unfortunately do not facilitate ways of understanding, expresses the hope that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to the diocese and that he can be assured the possibility of serenely exercising his episcopal ministry."

Finally, he said all are "invited to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and for the path of the Catholic Church in China."

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(Vatican Radio) As the process of review and renewal of the structures of the Roman Curia continues, Church leaders, educators, local reformers, and observers – along with bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay faithful all around the world – are trying to understand what Pope Francis is asking of them, specifically.

Will Pope Francis Pull It Off? is the title of a book by Fr. Rocco D’Ambrosio, a priest of the Diocese of Bari and Ordinary Professor of Political Philosophy in the School of Sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Click below to hear our extended conversation with Prof. Rocco D'Ambrosio

Originally published by Liturgical Press in 2015 in Italian under the title, Ce la farà Francesco?, the slim, insightful volume seeks to bring the challenges facing the project and its leader, Pope Francis, into better focus.

The result is an institutional analysis of the Catholic Church in the present day, which offers provocative insights and significant fodder for further consideration on the part of “insiders” and outside observers, alike.

“The question is not an academic one only,” he said, “it also involves simple people – priests, and laypeople around the world.”

He went on to say, “[T]hey appreciate, or they follow, or they are a bit suspicious of the reform that the Pope started, and when a reform is on, the first question is, ‘Where are we going?’ [Then], ‘Is the reform the good one – the right one for this moment?’ [Hence], the question, ‘Will Pope Francis pull it off?’”

“I hope so,” Fr. D’Ambrosio answered, adding that the question is meant really to put the issues in focus, before his readers.

“[To] start a conversation,” is the goal, D’Ambrosio said, “because not everything is related to the Pope: the Pope is the leader, the Pope is the shepherd of the Catholic Church, but we should ask if the Church – the Churches, to be correct – the dioceses, the parishes, the movements – are [they] following him? Are [they] understanding him and his reform?”

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(Vatican Radio)  Cardinal Peter Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, released the following message on the occasion of the International Day against Abuse and Illicit Trafficking of Drugs.

Please find below the full text of the message:

The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs, established by the United Nations, is an important opportunity for drawing attention to the fact that narcotics continue to “rage in impressive forms and dimensions”.[1] It is a phenomenon that is fuelled – not without concessions and compromises on the part of institutions – by “a shameful market that crosses national and continental borders”,[2] intertwined with mafias and drug trafficking.

Nowadays we are faced with a scenario of profoundly changed dependencies, compared to the recent past.[3] Drugs have become a consumer product made compatible with everyday life, with leisure activity and even with the pursuit of well-being.

Cocaine consumption is associated with a greater spread of heroin, which “still represents the highest percentage (80%) of new requests for opioid-related treatment in Europe”.[4] In addition, new intoxicating, psychoactive substances, available at low cost and anonymously on the market via the internet, also find their way into places of detention and mobilize in trafficking many people recruited from peripheral areas of hardship where they also find new consumers.

The most commonly consumed recreational drug, however, is cannabis, about which there is an international debate which tends to overlook the ethical judgment of the substance, by definition negative as with any other drug,[5] focusing on possible therapeutic uses, a field in which we await scientific data to be validated by monitoring periods, as for any experiment worthy of public consideration.

Before deciding on these issues, starting from various kinds of prejudices, it would be better to understand trends in the use of cannabis, related damages and the consequences of regulatory policies in the various countries, that push the illegal market to develop products intended to affect patterns of consumption and to reaffirm the primacy of the desire that is compulsively satisfied by the substance.

Pathological gambling or ludopathy has for some time been a rampant scourge that further diversifies addictions. The legalization of gambling, even when it is supported by the intention of unmasking its criminal management, exponentially increases the number of pathological players; moreover, taxation by the state is to be considered incompatible from an ethical standpoint and contradictory in terms of prevention. The definition of models of intervention and adequate monitoring systems, associated with the allocation of funds, is highly desirable to tackle the phenomenon.

As the landscape of addictions diversifies, indifference and at times indirect complicity in this phenomenon contributes to diverting the attention of public opinion and governments, focused on other emergencies. But faced with surprising events, which require unexpected efforts, resources and responses, it is often the emergency solution that prevails over a serious culture of prevention capable of being equipped with goals, tools and resources to ensure consistency and durability in addressing the problems.

This is confirmed in many countries by the collapse of planned efforts, institutional services and resources; the offering that has for decades seen the advancement of addictions has, in many cases, been reduced to a marginal bulwark, invested in the task of curbing in solitude the desertification caused by years of inattention.

The present-day picture of addictions shows, in many cases, gaps in planning, policies and prospects, the sign of sluggish progress, inadequate faced with the drug market, which is highly competitive and flexible to demand, and always open to novelties such as recently-created, extremely powerful synthetic opiates, ecstasy and amphetamines. It is precisely the growing and widespread consumption of ecstasy that may serve as an indicator of how the use of illicit substances has now spread into everyday areas of life, and how the user no longer identifies with the heroin addict, but rather with the new profile of the user of multiple substances and alcohol.

As a result, intervention strategies can not solely specialist or directed at damage reduction, nor can drugs still be considered as a phenomenon that is collusive with social disorder and deviance. Damage reduction must necessarily involve taking on board both the toxicological aspect and integration with personalized therapeutic programs of a psycho-social nature, without giving rise to forms of chronic use, which are harmful to the person and ethically reprehensible. Designed to avoid the collateral damage of addiction, risk reduction instead expresses a more epidemiological rather than therapeutic approach, taking the form of a strategy of social control strategy and hygienic prophylaxis. The real risk is that this can lead in a more aseptic and less visible way to the psychological and social death of the addict, by differentiating it from the physical one.

Considering people as irrecoverable is an act of capitulation that denies the psychological dynamics of change and offers an alibi for disengagement from the addict and the institutions that have the task of preventing and treating. In other words, it can not be accepted that society metabolizes drug use as a chronic epochal trait, similar to alcoholism and tobacco, withdrawing from exchange on the margins of freedom of the state and the citizen in relation to substance use.

Naturally, one must not minimize the addictions that arise and develop with complex characteristics related to existing clinical evidence or that which is consequent to the use of psychoactive substances: it is the case of the so-called “double diagnosis”, in the field of psychiatric disorders, which is very demanding during treatment.

“Clearly there is no single cause of drug addiction. Rather, there are many factors that contribute to it, among which are the absence of a family, social pressures, the propaganda of drug dealers, and the desire for new experiences. Every drug addict has a unique personal story and must be listened to, understood, loved, and, insofar as possible, healed and purified. We cannot stoop to the injustice of categorizing drug addicts as if they were mere objects or broken machines; each person must be valued and appreciated in his or her dignity in order to enable them to be healed”.[6]

“Good practices” against resigned standardization, or delegation to the few with good will, require us to assume the duty of prevention, an attitude of concern oriented towards taking care, in terms of promoting health in its broader and more comprehensive sense. Broad policies and strategies, based on primary prevention, cannot but invoke all social actors, starting from the commitment to education.

The scenario which we must all face is marked by the loss of the ancient primacy of the family and the school, the emptying of authority of adult figures and the difficulties that arise in terms of parenting; this proves that this is not time for “protagonism”, but rather for “networks” capable of reactivating social educational synergies by overcoming unnecessary competition, delegation and forms of dereliction. To prevent young people from growing up without “care”, bred rather than educated, attracted by “healing prosthetics”, as drugs appear to them, all social actors must connect and invest in the shared ground of basic and indispensable education values aiming at the integral formation of the person. In this regard, the commitment and perseverance of private social workers and volunteers is to be noted; since the emergence of the drug problem they have provided the first responses. Their work, often undervalued, deserves concrete support and careful attention. From the therapeutic communities, among other things, there come signs of change of high educational value, useful in rehabilitation paths and even more so in the field of prevention.

Educational aspects are crucial, especially in the vulnerable and incomplete time of adolescence, when there is an alternation of intense moments of discovery and curiosity, but also of depression, apathy and behaviour that may symbolically or genuinely endanger life. These forms of conduct, deliberately transgressive, are aimed at overcoming the suffering caused by the sensation of being in front of the insurmountable wall of a never-ending present and an unseen future. They are appeals to live, but also appeals for help and support addressed to adults who are able to convey the taste of life and the sense of how precious it is.[7]

Young people, as Pope Francis has said, “They look for that “vertigo” that makes them feel alive. So, let us give it to them! Let us stimulate all that which helps them transform their dreams into plans, and that can reveal that all the potential they have is a bridge, a passage towards a vocation (in the broadest sense of the word). Let us propose broad aims to them, great challenges, and let us help them achieve them, to reach their targets. Let us not leave them alone. So, challenge them more than they challenge us. Let us not allow that “vertigo” to reach them from others, those which only put their lives at risk; let us give this to them. But the right vertigo, which satisfies that desire to move, to go ahead”.[8]

To combat the ephemeral happiness of addictions requires creative love and adults capable of teaching and practising healthy self-care. A spiritual vision of existence, projected towards the search for meaning, open to the encounter with others, constitutes the greatest educational legacy that must be handed down between generations, today more than ever.

Otherwise, addictions will contribute to killing humanity, as we are well aware that he who does not love himself is not capable of loving his neighbour.

_____________________________________

[1] Pope Francis, Address to participants in the 31st Drug Enforcement Conference, 20 June 2014.

[2] Ibidem

[3] Department for Anti-Drug policies, Annual Report to Parliament on the use of illicit substances and drug dependency in Italy for the year 2016.

[4] European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, European Report on Drugs, 2017.

[5] The “No to any type of drug” has been reiterated several times by Pope Francis. Cf, for example, the General Audience of 7 May 2014.

[6] Pope Francis, Address to participants in the meeting organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Narcotics: Problems and Solutions of this Global Issue, 24 November 2016.

[7] Cf. David Le Breton, Shedding one’s skin in adolescence, Bologna, EDB, 2016.

[8] Pope Francis, Address at the Diocesan Pastoral Convention on the theme: “Let’s not leave them alone! Accompanying parents in the education of teenage children”, 19 June 2017.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday told believers not to look to horoscopes or to consult fortune-tellers to foresee the future; but to allow God to guide them in a journey full of surprises.

The Pope was speaking during the last Santa Marta Mass of the season before the summer holidays and his return from an apostolic visit to Colombia in September.

Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:

Inviting Christians not to be “too settled, stationary, fixed,” Pope Francis reflected on the liturgical reading of the day in which God asks Abraham to leave his country, his homeland, his father’s house and go forth with his kinsfolk, and Abraham – who was seventy five years old – went, as the Lord directed him. 

“There is a Christian life-style” the Pope said, “a life-style based on three dimensions: “renunciation”, “promise” and “blessing”.

"To be a Christian always implies this dimension of stripping oneself” of something, it’s a dimension that reflects Jesus’s renunciation on the Cross, he said. 

There is always the need to “go forth”, to take a first step and “'leave your land, your family, your father's house.”

The Bible and the Gospels, the Pope said, are full of stories and episodes in which the prophets and the disciples are called to go forth.

Christians, he continued, must a have the “capacity” to be “stripped and to renounce” otherwise they are not “authentic Christians.”

Abraham, he said, obeyed the Lord in faith, and set out for an unknown land to “receive an inheritance.”

"A Christian does not read the horoscope to foresee the future; a Christian does not consult a fortune teller who looks into a crystal ball or reads your palm…” the Pope said.

A Christian, he said, allows himself to be guided by God who takes us on the path towards the fulfillment of his promise.

“We are men and women who walk towards a promise” he said – the way Abraham walked towards a new land”.

And yet, Francis continued, Abraham did not build a house, he pitched a tent, indicating  that “he was on a journey and trusted God”;  he built an altar “to worship Him” and then he kept on walking: he was always on the go.

The journey of a Christian, the Pope explained, starts anew every morning, trusting in the Lord and open to his many surprises.

He pointed out that at times these surprises are good, at others bad – “think of an illness or of a death” – he said – but we must always be open because we know that He will take us to a safe place, to a land that has been prepared especially for us.

Another trait of the Christian is that he or she always carries a blessing. Christians speak well of the Lord and of others, and ask for God’s blessing to go forward on their paths.

This, the Pope said, is the pattern of our Christian life because everyone, “even lay people, must bless others, speak well of God and of others.”

Too often, he added, we speak badly of our neighbor, “our tongues wag too much” instead of following the order that God gave to “our father” Abraham as a lesson for life:

“That of walking, of letting ourselves be stripped by the Lord, of trusting in his promises and of being irreprehensible” he said.

“Deep down, Francis concluded, Christian life is so simple!”

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Vatican City, Jun 26, 2017 / 07:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday the Vatican issued a statement on the situation of the Chinese Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou, who has not been returned since being forcibly removed from his diocese by the Chinese state May 18.

“The Holy See is observing with grave concern the personal situation of Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou, forcibly removed from his episcopal see some time ago,” read the June 26 statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Greg Burke.

The Catholic community of the diocese and his family and friends remain with no news of the bishop’s whereabouts or of the reason for his removal, the statement continued.

The Vatican-approved Bishop Shao, who is not recognized by the Chinese government, was summoned by their religious bureau on May 18 and has since not been heard from or returned, La Croix International reports.

Following canon law, the Vatican confirmed Bishop Shao as the successor of the Wenzhou diocese on Sept. 21, 2016, following the death of his predecessor, Bishop Vincent Zhu Weifang. Since then he has been removed from the diocese or detained on four different occasions.

He is not a part of the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and is therefore part of the underground church not recognized by the communist government.

The Vatican’s statement was issued in response to questions from journalists. There were reports last week claiming that the bishop had been spotted in the local airport with government officials, though the claim has not been substantiated and his present whereabouts are still unknown.

“In this respect, the Holy See, profoundly saddened for this and other similar episodes that unfortunately do not facilitate ways of understanding, expresses the hope that Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin may return as soon as possible to the diocese and that he can be assured the possibility of serenely exercising his episcopal ministry,” the Vatican statement continued.

“We are all invited to pray for Bishop Shao Zhumin and for the path of the Catholic Church in China.”

Bishop Shao was first detained, along with three other priests, following the death of his predecessor, Bishop Zhu, preventing him from presiding over the funeral Mass.

He was also detained just one month prior to this current detainment, from April 12-17, which ostensibly was to prevent him from celebrating the Triduum and Easter liturgies, which would have been his first time as head of the diocese.

He is not the only Chinese bishop or Christian to be detained. Persecution of Christians in China varies by province, but certain provinces have seen an uptick in recent years.

In Zhejiang province, where the Diocese of Wenzhou is located, more than 1,500 churches have been desecrated or demolished. Churches in Zhejiang have been ordered to stop displaying crosses and Christians there have been detained.

Overall, the situation of religious freedom in China has deteriorated even more in recent years, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom noted in its 2017 annual report, as the country’s leader Xi Jingping has “further consolidated power” and worked to promote the “sinicization” of religion.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn

By Dennis Sadowski

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Christian faith leaders pledged anew to build a "circle of protection" around vital social programs identified for deep spending cuts under President Donald Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget, saying their action is consistent with biblical principles.

Coming together during a news conference at the National Press Club June 21, more than a dozen leaders, including representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in a unified front to defend a broad array of domestic and international aid programs that, they argued, sustain life.

They used strong language in criticizing planned cuts in food and nutrition, education, elderly services, health care, air and water protection, employment training and more. They said they feared that people will be harmed or even die if the budget as proposed is adopted.

"There is a troubling momentum at this time in Washington, D.C., for creating a serious imbalance in overall spending priorities, one that will place those who struggle on the margins of society, on the peripheries, in grave danger," said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Bishop Dewane and the others repeated a simple message: A budget is a moral document that reflects the values and priorities of a country and they are concerned that the priorities being eyed by Washington have gone askew.

What particularly concerns the Circle of Protection group is how the budget assembled by Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, slices $52 billion from programs that help Americans cope with sickness, unemployment and homelessness to pay for a corresponding increase in the Pentagon budget.

The Rev. Carlos Malave, executive director of Christian Churches Together in the USA, charged that "the few" at the top end of the U.S. economy "are denying the masses a future" in the pursuit of power and riches.

"We're here because we believe in a different world. We're here because we believe all can have life and life in abundance," he said, saying a massive increase in military spending does not uphold human dignity.

Bishop Dewane called it "scary" when the defense budget is contrasted with cuts in social services. While he said defense spending is needed, he suggested that some shaving there would be in order.

"One part of the budget (defense) is about defending killing, if you want to put it that way," he told Catholic News Service. "But the other (reduced social service spending) kills also."

There has been little appetite in Congress for the stringent Trump budget. Democrats, as expected, have voiced strong opposition to any change in spending priorities. Republicans have described the Trump budget plan simply as a starting point.

The budget that will emerge later this summer is expected to limit the size of the cuts while boosting military spending in some fashion. And there's likely to be changes in how programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps, function.

With those expectations looming, the Circle of Protection umbrella group of faith leaders is preparing to up its game to stop what these leaders see as an unfair targeting of poor people.

The Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, an ecumenical advocacy organization, said the group wanted members of Congress to stand up for the Christian values they hold and "speak as people of faith." He called for a mobilization of religious congregations to tell Congress that programs that promote human life must become a priority for the country.

"Underneath the headlines in Washington, there are moral choices we make," Rev. Wallis told CNS. "We want to make those moral choices clear. For us, this is not a matter of politics or partisan loyalty.

"What if a legislator can say, 'I'm hearing from my Christian constituents that we have to form a circle of protection because people are in jeopardy?' That circle has to be broadened. We're lifting that up," he said.

The Circle of Protection coalition released a two-page statement during the news briefing. In it, the leaders stressed that the country must address the national debt, but also called on Congress to "approve a budget that weighs the importance of providing for critical needs and that responsibly manages the country's fiscal issues; but the most vulnerable should not carry the burden of solving this challenge."

The statement cited how the recently House-passed American Health Care Act would cut more than $800 billion from Medicaid over the next decade and end health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for 23 million people, including 14 million poor individuals. On top of that, the administration's budget would cut another $600 billion Medicaid in the same period.

Such cuts would place people's lives at risk, the statement said. Released June 22, the Senate's health care reform bill, called Better Care Reconciliation Act, proposes similar cuts in Medicaid.

Bishop Dewane said the challenge ahead requires the Circle of Protection members to help lawmakers in Congress see the faces behind the numbers of the federal budget.

"There's where you make connections if you're looking at a budget," he explained to CNS. "Behind every number, there's human faces. And that's what I think they're not seeing. They're caught up in that number, but behind it are human faces and that's who we need to look to."

The leaders acknowledged they face a tremendous challenge in advocating for America's poor and vulnerable because powerful special interests carry great influence in Congress.

Still, they say they hope their message, rooted in the Bible will sway Congress to act on behalf of vulnerable Americans.

"Wouldn't that be a great cable news story to see legislators," Rev. Wallis said, "who expressed their Christian faith, to come together apart from party and say, 'We are together as Christians going to protect the poor. It's very simple. It's very clear. It's very unified and ... it's very biblical."

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Editors: The full Circle of Protection statement can be read online at http://bit.ly/2sKtOop.

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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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IMAGE: CNS/L'Osservatore Romano

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cancer prevention programs and campaigns need to reach everyone, Pope Francis said.

"Spreading a culture of life -- made up of attitudes and behaviors -- is greatly needed, a true culture (that is) of the people, serious, accessible to everyone and not based on commercial interests," he said in an address to members of the Italian League for the Fight Against Tumors June 26.

The pope praised the volunteer organization, which promotes education, prevention, research and support for those with cancer and their families.

He said their service represented a constant "decentralization toward the peripheries," emphasizing that the "peripheries" include any person who is marginalized by society or other people, and those who may be forced to compromise or abandon their daily routine and relationships because of illness.

Taking care of those who are ill "is a priceless richness for society," he said, and reminds both the church and civil society "to not be afraid of closeness, to not be afraid of tenderness, to not be afraid of 'wasting time'" by offering support, comfort and solidarity to those who need it.

"Since good health is a primary and fundamental necessity for every person, it is desirable that oncological prevention be extended to everyone, thanks to collaboration between public and private services and initiatives by civil society and charities."

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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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