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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Friday sent a message to the 39th National (Italian) Convention of Groups and Communities for Renewal in the Holy Spirit through the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The Holy Father sent his greetings to the convention - organized on the theme ‘I am the Door: The one who enters through me will be saved’ – expressing his desire that it renew the good intentions of profound reconciliation and unity.

The Pope’s message concludes by calling those present at the convention “to testify to the salvific love and tenderness of Jesus”, imparting upon them the Holy Father’s Apostolic Blessing.

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Vatican City, Apr 22, 2016 / 10:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Last year Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, and on Thursday she passed yet another milestone – becoming the first monarch to ever reach the age of 90.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday April 21 by unveiling a special plaque on Windsor's Queen's Walkway before lighting the first in a series of beacons marking the special day. Official gun salutes could be heard throughout the U.K.

Numerous events marking the event are set to take place throughout the coming months, culminating with a national service of Thanksgiving, a parade and large picnic outside Buckingham Palace in June when the Queen’s “official” birthday is celebrated, following a longstanding monarchal tradition.

The Vatican itself has decided to mark the Queen’s birthday by playing a cricket match against the Royal Household at the Capannelle Ground in Rome this Saturday, April 23.

St. Peter’s Cricket Club was established in the fall of 2013, and will play the Royal Household as part of their round of spring matches. Made up of 12 priests, deacons and seminarians, the team is two-thirds Indian, with other members hailing from England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Saturday will mark the second time the Vatican cricket team has played against the Royal Household. The first was Sept. 17, 2014, during their first international tour – the “Light of Faith Tour” in England.

The players were invited after to attend Evensong in Windsor’s Chapel of St. George, during the two teams offered prayers for Pope Francis and his ministry.

According to Vatican Radio, the Royal Household team on Friday morning visited St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums as part of their visit. Later that evening, Vespers was prayed at the International Pontifical College ‘Mater Ecclesiae,’ during which prayers were offered for the Queen in honor of her birthday.

Nigel Baker, British Ambassador to the Holy See, attended both the praying of Vespers as well as a special dinner during which the St. Peter’s Cricket Club presented a special gift for the Queen.

On Sunday, following Saturday’s match, Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, will celebrate Mass at Rome’s Venerable English College. The Royal Household cricket team has been invited to attend the Mass before returning to England in the afternoon.

Other matches in this year’s spring season for St. Peter’s Cricket Club have included an April 9 game against the Nomads of England at Rome’s Capannelle Ground, which they won by 79 runs, and on April 16 they played against the Cross Keys of England, also at the Capannelle Ground.

The team will hold a second “Light of Faith Tour” in England this fall, running Sept. 11-20.

Additionally, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has decided that at all Sunday Masses June 11-12, the Queen’s official birthday, each parish pray for her in honor of her 90th birthday by including the event in the intentions and by reciting the “Prayer for the Queen” prayer at the end of Mass.

The tradition of celebrating a monarch’s birthday twice a year – once on the day she was born and on an “official” birthday in June – dates back to George II in 1748, according to the Telegraph.

Since George was born in November, he thought the weather was too cold for his annual birthday parade, and decided instead to combine the celebration with the annual spring military parade, known as the Trooping the Colour, in which different regiments present their flags in order for soldiers to become familiar with them.

All British monarchs are given the option of having an “official” birthday, the Telegraph reports, and Queen Elizabeth has chosen to stick with tradition. This year’s Trooping the Color parade will take place June 11.

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

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Washington D.C., Apr 22, 2016 / 01:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Students at Georgetown University said that while a speaking invitation to the head of Planned Parenthood could have been an opportunity for honest dialogue, it was instead nothing more than a platformin favor of abortion and contraception.

Lilly Flashner, a junior at Georgetown who attended Cecile Richards’ April 20 lecture, told CNA that the event was a “rally for people who already agreed with her.”

“It was definitely not the free exchange of ideas,” as would be proper at a university, Flashner said. “There was no free discourse.”

“If they had had a debate, that would have been ok; but this was incredibly one-sided. That was frustrating for me.”

Richards was invited to speak at the Georgetown University by the Lecture Fund, a student organization that exists to invite outside speakers to campus for debate and discussion.

Previous lectures have been given by President Barack Obama, PayPal cofounder Peter Theil, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, and ballet dancer Misty Copeland. Lecture Fund events always include a question-and-answer period from the student body, typically around 30 minutes.

But in this case, Flashner said, the question-and-answer period for the student body was cut to 10 minutes, which allowed for four questions, with event organizers using the remainder of the time to ask personal questions of Richards.

The university drew heavy criticism, with thousands signing a petition protesting the lecture, and the Archdiocese of Washington saying that Georgetown was showing an “unawareness of those pushing the violence of abortion.”

Georgetown University defended the invite, saying that students are allowed to invite speakers to campus and the school “encourages the free exchange of ideas.” The university said that it does not endorse every speaker and some speakers represent views that are contrary to its “Catholic and Jesuit identity.” It also decided to move Richards’ lecture from the historic 700-person Gaston Hall, which is also used as a religious space for some Holy Days, to a smaller lecture space.

Richards’ speech focused on expanding access to abortion and artificial contraception, saying that this is necessary for the advancement of gender and racial equality. Richards also discussed her own life and experiences as an activist for Planned Parenthood and similar organizations, as well as current controversies such as legal battles over the HHS mandate and laws in Texas mandating health care requirements for abortion doctors.

In addition, Richards mentioned the role then-Senator Hillary Clinton played in making emergency contraceptives available over the counter, and returned to the topic during the question-and-answer section to explain Planned Parenthood’s support of Clinton over Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.

Responding to the invitation, Georgetown students scheduled their annual Life Week to coincide with Richards’ speech. During the week of April 18-22, students organized talks on euthanasia, healthcare alternatives to Planned Parenthood, memorials for victims of abortion, a talk by former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, and a Mass for Life offered by Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington.

In addition, a talk by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), chair of the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood, was organized by campus pro-life groups and co-sponsored by the Lecture Fund.

Teresa Donnelan, a senior at Georgetown, said that while both Richards’ talk and the pro-life panel were co-sponsored by the Lecture Fund, she does not think the events were of comparable prominence or promotion on campus. “I think it’s conciliatory,” she said of the group’s support for a pro-life event.

Donnelan told CNA that while she believe in the importance of free speech and discourse, the event “could have been more creatively handled.”

She suggested that Richards could have spoken alongside a pro-life speaker, or that a panel debating Richards’ position could have immediately followed her talk. “There really is more that could have been done to make this more of a dialogue.”

Sophomore Michael Khan, president of Georgetown Right to Life, said that while he was “encouraged by the pro-life students themselves,” he wished that Georgetown would do more to emphasize life issues and support pro-life students as part of the university’s emphasis on Catholic Social Teaching.

Kahn also suggested that the university could better enforce existing policies where events “gravely contrary to Catholic moral tradition and teaching” are denied funding. “She was paid have a platform on our campus, to speak unchallenged about her pro-abortion views,” he said of Richards’ talk.

Flashner commented that Richards “wasn’t prepared for people to disagree with her,” and presented the lecture as if Georgetown University and all young people at the talk agreed with her positions. When she did receive a challenge from the audience, Richards resorted to insults and “talking down to” the student who asked the question, she said.

Julie Reiter, a junior, asked one of the four questions permitted after Richards’ talk. She pointed to a report from the Guttmacher Institute – formerly a semi-autonomous division of the Planned Parenthood that is now an independent organization – which found that 94 percent of Planned Parenthood’s “pregnancy services” are abortion-related, and less than 1 percent are adoption-related.

“How can you say that when a woman walks into your clinic, she has a choice?” she asked. “From the outside, it would not appear that this is complete health care if one choice is so favored over the other.”

Richards told Reiter, “The Guttmacher is not Planned Parenthood, but I appreciate whatever statistics you’ve come up with,” prompting crowd members to applaud and laugh and Reiter.

She then encouraged Reiter to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic and stressed that women are “best suited to make their decisions about pregnancy.”

Reiter told CNA that she was shaken by Richards’ answer: “Her response was a chuckle and a laugh.” Reiter also observed that while her statistics from the Guttmacher Institute were questioned and mocked, Richards herself had cited the Guttmacher Institute as a source earlier in the lecture.

“She got her first challenge and she laughed at it,” Reiter said of the experience. “I don’t think she took it seriously or that there was a dialogue.”

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the new nuncio to the United States, said he is ready to learn about the Catholic Church in the country and will try his best to be Pope Francis' emissary, particularly in promoting a church that is close to those who suffer.

The archbishop, who had a private meeting at the Vatican with Pope Francis April 21, gave interviews the next day to the English and the Italian programs of Vatican Radio.

The 70-year-old French native has been in the Vatican diplomatic corps for almost 40 years and said a nuncio's job is to help the pope fulfill his ministry of building up the local churches, respecting their diversity, while keeping them united with the universal church.

"The difficulty or the challenge," he said, is "to listen, to be careful about what's going on, to understand, to exercise dialogue -- I think that's very important -- to discover the beauty, the richness of the culture of the people, the way the people live (and) to help the inculturation of the Gospel in a particular culture."

At the same time, he said, a nuncio's mission is "to help the pope understand -- the pope and those that work with him -- to understand what's going on."

"The richness of the Catholic Church," Archbishop Pierre said, comes from that combination of valuing peoples and cultures and their local expressions of faith while being united universally.

The archbishop told Vatican Radio's English program, "I'm quite excited -- sometimes fearful," about leaving Mexico and going to the United States. He said his reaction was "oh" when the pope told him of his new assignment "because it's such a big country, such a big history, but you know I'm trustful in God and very, very grateful for this mission which is given to me."

"I know I have to learn in the same way that when I arrived in Mexico nine years ago I had to learn a lot and I'm still learning, so I'm sure that during this year the American people -- particularly the bishops, the priests, the religious, the laypeople -- will be my teachers," he said. "I'm ready to learn."

The first mission the pope gives his nuncios, and the whole church, obviously is to proclaim the Gospel, he said. Next there is "the way the pope wants us and the church to be close to people, especially those who suffer, the poor. This is also what I've perceived in what he has told me and I will try my best to be a faithful emissary of the pope."

Speaking to the Italian program, Archbishop Pierre said being nuncio to the United States is "an enormous, difficult" ministry, but he is ready to take up the task. "The first thing is to learn, to listen, and I think that one of the qualities the pope asks of us is to be able to listen and not go in with preconceived ideas."

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- People who closely follow the Supreme Court know it's a waiting game.

There's the wait to see if a case makes it to the court, the wait for a seat in the courtroom if it does, and then the wait -- in this day and age of instant answers -- for a court decision, which for major cases is typically at the end of the court's term in late June.

United States v Texas, the immigration case argued before the court April 18, is hardly an exception. The case examines two immigration policies announced by President Barack Obama in executive actions in 2014: his expansion of a 2012 program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and the creation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, known as DAPA.

The actions, which would allow more than 4 million undocumented immigrants to temporarily work and remain in this country, have been challenged by 26 states, including Texas, that insist the president went too far.

Immigrants and family members who would be directly impacted by the court's decision lined up overnight at the court hoping to get a seat inside and many joined them that morning outside to cheer, sing and hold placards of support.

Once the 90 minutes of arguments were over, those who will be impacted geared up for the likely two-month wait for the court to announce its verdict.

But waiting is something they know all too well.

Yara Hidalgo, who teaches middle school math and Spanish at Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose, California, certainly knows about it. Her family is from Mexico and her mother has been waiting for 15 years to get legal status through her sister's sponsorship. Her father does not see a realistic path to becoming a U.S. citizen.

Hidalgo, who came to U.S. when she was almost 2 with her parents, has four younger, U.S. citizen siblings. Through DACA, she was able to get a driver's license and Social Security number enabling her to apply for a job. She is currently in a master's degree program for teaching in Catholic schools at California's Santa Clara University.

Both her parents would likely benefit from DAPA. If either is deported, she would need to care for her siblings.

Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, wrote about Hidalgo in an April 18 commentary published on CNN's website.

"I see individuals like Yara every day in my archdiocese. I regularly witness the contributions that they make to our church and our neighborhoods," he wrote. He also said he sees their fear and disappointment from the constant threat of deportation and lost educational and professional opportunities due to their immigration status.

As families like the Hidalgos await the court's decision, they also know there might not be a clear answer if the court offers a split decision, which many court watchers think is likely.

A 4-4 vote would put the president's immigration policies on hold for the rest of his term and would be up for renewed discussion during the next presidency and add to a more heated presidential campaign.

Jeanne Atkinson, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, or CLINIC, an umbrella organization for Catholic legal services providers, said the immigration community is already reeling from the negative rhetoric from political candidates.

She said she is "cautiously optimistic," about how the court will rule in this case.

She was encouraged by strong points she said were made by U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., defending the Obama administration, that she didn't think were counteracted by Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller representing the states accusing the president of overstepping his power.

If the court rules against Obama's policies, she said it would be demoralizing for many immigrants, but it would not do away with other avenues that can be followed to help them achieve citizenship. And if the court rules in favor of these policies, there would also be long road ahead.

Atkinson noted that even with a victory, there still will be a need for "Congress to step up" and enact immigration legislation as these policies won't solve every issue.

Sitting in the second row in the courtroom April 18, she said she felt she was "watching history being made."

Looking around to see families and walking by groups outside reminded her of why people care about this issue so much.

"A positive outcome will benefit children and families and make our communities safe," she said. "We can't lose sight of that."

Archbishop Wester, a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' migration committee, had a similar message: "As we hear commentary on U.S. v. Texas, we must set aside partisan opinions. Remember: Human lives will be affected by the ruling. We must recognize that regardless of their immigration status, those who would benefit from DAPA and expanded DACA are our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and often our friends."

The archbishop noted these policies aren't perfect and would not "provide a long-term fix for our broken immigration system," but he still said they would at "temporarily ensure that hard-working, law-abiding immigrant families can stay together in anticipation of the time when our legislators will enact just and humane immigration reform."

Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, California, voiced a similar view in the Feb. 16 Sacramento Bee daily newspaper.

He said the case before the Supreme Court is "not an amnesty program, nor does it fix the broken immigration system. Any significant reform will have to wait for a more reasoned conversation in Congress."

For now, he said, the Obama administration was attempting to bring some security to many people living in ambiguity in a way that would allow "federal and local law enforcement to effectively allocate resources to protect our neighborhoods, not divide them."

The bishop also hoped the justices who were present during Pope Francis' address to Congress last September would remember the pope's description of Moses, who viewed the law as a force for unity.

"Ultimately, laws must serve people and the common good. While we wait for Congress to assume this duty with regards to comprehensive and humane immigration reform, the court can call on the wisdom of Moses to bring a measure of unity and security to immigrant families as well as the nation," he said.

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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

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