Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis appointed Professor Joachim von Braun as the new President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.

Professor von Braun is Ordinary Professor of Economics and Technological Change, as well as Director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany.

He told Vatican Radio's Mario Galgano his goal as head of the Academy will be to seek solutions for inequality and the destruction of the environment.

Listen to the full interview:

Professor von Braun said the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has a unique role to play in the world of science because it is a "global academy" and not linked to any specific nation.

He said the 80 members composing the Academy are from different countries and religious backgrounds and many hold Nobel Prizes for their contribution to science.

This, he said, means the Academy "has become a very influential body in the world of science".

Professor von Braun said the Academy focuses on "the big issues with which humanity is confronted". 

"I find it particularly important that we find solutions to the two major problems of inequality - lack of justice, hunger, and poverty - on the one hand and the destruction of the environment and nature."

He said that, because these two themes are interrelated, "academicians from diverse science backgrounds can view these problems in new ways and offer solutions to overcome them."

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Nearly 70 of priests of Ruteng Diocese in eastern Indonesia have sought the mediation of the Vatican to help resolve a bitter dispute with their bishop, whom they accuse of misappropriating more than US$100,000 in church funds.

Representatives of the priests, accompanied by a bishops' conference official met Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi on June 16, seeking his help for a complete overhaul and transparency from Bishop Hubertus Leteng regarding how things are run in the diocese.  The move comes after dozens of priests in the diocese on Catholic-majority Flores Island quit their posts in protest against their bishop.

Father Alfonsius Segar, one of the priests who met Arch. Filipazzi, told UCANEWS that the Holy See’s representative to Indonesia, has promised to help resolve the dispute.  "He will immediately take this issue up with the Vatican," Father Segar said.  The priest also said the nuncio will send someone to the diocese to appraise the situation.  "We are looking forward to a swift Vatican decision on this," Father Segar added.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Antonius Agus Sriyono told Vatican Radio he was currently observing the crisis in Ruteng Diocese, but if “requested” he was ready “to become a mediator” of his government with the Vatican. 

Last year, Bishop Leteng was accused of secretly borrowing $94,000 from the Indonesian Bishops' Conference in Jakarta and $30,000 from the diocese but failed to provide an accountability report. In a meeting, the 58-year old bishop is said to have told the priests the money was used to finance the education of a youth from a poor family who was studying to be a pilot in the United States.  When asked for details, the bishop told them that it was none of their business.

However, the priests suspect the money went to a woman who they allege the bishop was having an affair with. The alleged affair surfaced in 2014 after a priest who chose to leave the priesthood went public with the allegation.  The bishop denied the allegation, calling it "slanderous."‎

58-year old Bishop Leteng has been heading Ruteng Diocese since April 2010.  The former rector of St. Peter Major Seminary in Ritapiret was appointed bishop by Pope Benedict on 7 November, 2009 and was consecrated bishop the following year on 14 April.   

On June 12, 69 dissenting priests in Ruteng Diocese quit their posts as episcopal vicars and parish priests, demanding Bishop Leteng completely change how the diocese is run.  The priests’ spokesman, Father Marthen Chen earlier told reporters an overhaul was desperately needed "so the church can be ‎truly in line with the guidance of the Holy Spirit."‎  ‎"We demand renewal in pastoral work as well as in church and financial management," Father Chen ‎said, without elaborating.‎  (Source: UCAN)

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(Vatican Radio)  The Holy See has expressed its concern for “the grave, widespread, and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population, religious institutions, and faith-based organizations” in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the Kasai region.

Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, made the comments to the Human Rights Council.

“These are the tragic consequences of tensions which have never been adequately addressed, despite subsequent recovery and reconciliation initiatives,” he said.

Archbishop Jurkovic said the Holy See “sincerely hopes” the government take “immediate action” regarding the following five points:

"1. put in place a ceasefire that guarantees an end to wanton violence and prevent arms trafficking; 2. uphold its duty to protect and respect civilians and humanitarian relief personnel; 3. promote effective, objective, open and transparent efforts at reconciliation, dialogue and peace-building; 4. assure unbiased mediation of the conflict and establish monitored democratic processes that include all sectors of the population; 5. Build conditions that will allow the safe and voluntary return of refugees to Kasai."

Please find below the full statement:

Statement by His Excellency Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic , Permanent Observer  of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations  in Geneva at the 35th Session of the Human Rights Council 

Item 10: Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Geneva, 21 June 2017 

Mr. President, 

 Given the dramatic and continuous deterioration of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Holy See expresses its deeply concern for the grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population, religious institutions and faith based organizations, particularly in the Kasai region. These are the tragic consequences of tensions which have never been adequately addressed, despite subsequent recovery and reconciliation initiatives.  

Mr. President,  

The Holy See Delegation sincerely hopes that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in close consultation and collaboration with this Council and other inter-governmental bodies, will take immediate action to:  1. put in place a ceasefire that guarantees an end to wanton violence and prevent arms trafficking;  2. uphold its duty to protect and respect civilians and humanitarian relief personnel; 3. promote effective, objective, open and transparent efforts at reconciliation, dialogue and peace-building; 4. assure unbiased mediation of the conflict and establish monitored democratic processes that include all sectors of the population; 5. Build conditions that will allow the safe and voluntary return of refugees to Kasai.  

Above all, let us keep our deliberations aimed at preserving and defending the human rights of the people of the DRC and its “many children torn from their families and schools to be used as soldiers.” A tragedy that, in the words of Pope Francis, is a call to” the conscience and to the responsibility of the national authorities and the international community, to take appropriate and timely decisions to rescue these brothers and sisters.”

Thank you, Mr. President.

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(Vatican Radio) Colombia’s bishops have appealed to the Government and to the National Liberation Army (ELN) to agree on a bilateral ceasefire.

The appeal came in a statement, signed by the President of the Colombian Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga and by other bishops including the Archbishop of Cali, Dario de Jesus Monsalve Mejia who heads the Catholic Commission for dialogue with ELN.

Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:

“We wish to fuel dialogue until a final agreement is reached between the parties (…) with the aim of ending the armed conflict” the statement reads.

The bishops continue pointing out that “happily, Pope Francis’ Apostolic visit is drawing close and this urges all to find common ground, without any exclusions, in order for each party to be able to take the first step.  

And they express their support for the ongoing negotiations between the Government and ELN rebels in Quito, Ecuador. 

“Thus, the bishops say, we appeal for a ceasefire and the bilateral cessation of hostilities; that it may represent an expression of your wish and of that of the Colombian people to receive the Holy Father with welcome for him as a person and for his message.”

A step such as this, the statement concludes, will significantly help to strengthen a social and political will for peace “which still wavers before the habit of resorting to violence and manipulating the truth”.

Pope Francis is scheduled to make a six-day trip to Colombia in September, with four cities on his itinerary, almost a year after the government and FARC rebels signed a major peace agreement.

Meanwhile members of ELN and government negotiators began talks in February in Quito, the capital  of  Ecuador, seeking to end more than five decades of conflict.

Since 1964, as many as 260,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in the civil war. International observers say that with more than 6.8 million forcibly displaced due to the conflict, Colombia has the world’s second largest population of internally displaced people, with Syria in first place.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has expressed his joy for the Pope’s upcoming visit and voiced his hope that Francis’ presence would help Colombians to unite around the “building of a more just and equitable country, with peace and more solidarity.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday met with members of ROACO, (Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches) who have been holding their 90th plenary assembly in Rome this week.

The meeting brings Church leaders from countries across the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe together with donor organisations which raise funds for Christians in the Eastern-rite Churches.

Listen to Philippa Hitchen's report:

The four day meeting has been focused on the difficult situation of Christians in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and the Holy Land, as well as reflecting on the training of priests and seminarians in all the Eastern-rite Churches.

In his message to participants, Pope Francis thanked them for their constant work of charity and solidarity over the past half century in support of Latin and Eastern-rite communities under the care of the Vatican’s Congregation for Oriental Churches.

Persecution and emigration

These Churches of the Middle East, as well as in Eastern Europe, he said, have often suffered from “terrible waves of persecution and pain”. Emigration has also significantly weakened the presence of these Churches in places where they flourished for centuries.

Freedom has now returned to some of those regions, the Pope said, but others, particularly in Syria, Iraq and Egypt, are still devastated by “wars and absurd violence perpetrated by fundamentalist terrorism.” These experiences are a source of both suffering and salvation, he said, as we experience the Cross of Christ.

Temptations of social status

Speaking about the formation of priests and seminarians, Pope Francis noted the dedication and heroic witness of so many prelates. But he also warned about the temptations of seeking social status that is associated with the priesthood in some parts of the world.

The Congregation for Oriental Churches and donor agencies must continue to support projects and initiatives which build up the Church in an authentic way, the Pope said. We must remember we are living stones, built around Christ as our corner stone, he added.

Witness to the Gospel

Finally, the Pope remembered all those Christians – Catholics, Orthodox or Protestant – whose blood continues to be spilled because of their witness to the Gospel. When Eastern-rite Christians are forced to emigrate, he said, they must be welcomed in their new countries and allowed to continue their worship according to their own traditions

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(Vatican Radio) A shepherd must be passionate, must know how to discern and how to denounce evil. Those were Pope Francis’ words during Mass on Thursday at the Casa Santa Marta, where he focused on the figure of the Apostle Paul and then turned his attention to the example offered by Don Milani. Like the parish priest of Barbiana, the Pope said, one should take care of one’s neighbour.

"The Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep," said Pope Francis during his homily, drawing inspiration from the readings of the day and dwelling on the characteristics that a shepherd should have. The Pope noted in Saint Paul, the figure of the "true shepherd", who does not abandon his sheep unlike a "mercenary". The first quality, therefore, the Holy Father indicated, is that St Paul  is "passionate". Passionate,  he added, "to the point of telling his people, 'I feel for you all a kind of divine jealousy'." He  is "divinely jealous," the Pope commented.

The true shepherd knows how to discern, on guard against at the seduction of evil

A passion therefore becomes almost "madness", "stupidity" for his people. "And this – the Pope added - is that which we call apostolic zeal: he cannot be a true shepherd without this fire." A second characteristic, he continued, the pastor must be "a man who knows how to discern":

"He knows what seduction in life is. The lying father is a seducer. The Shepherd, is not. The shepherd loves. Instead, the snake, the father of lies, is a seducer. He is a seducer trying to turn away from fidelity, because that divine jealousy of Paul was to bring the people to a single groom, to keep the people loyal to their bridegroom. In the history of salvation, in Scripture many times we turn away from God, disloyalty towards the Lord, idolatry as if it were a maternal infidelity. "

You must know how to report evil, not be naïve

The Shepherd’s first characteristic, then, "is to be passionate, zealous, zealous". The second feature is, "someone who knows how to discern: to discern where the dangers are, where the graces are... where the real road is". This, the Pope said, "means he always accompanies his sheep: in beautiful moments and even in bad moments, even in moments of seduction, with patience he brings them to the fold." And the third feature: is "the ability to denounce":

"An apostle cannot be naive: 'Ah, it's all right, let's go ahead, eh? It's all right ... Let's party, everyone ... everything is possible ...'. because there is the fidelity to the only groom, to Jesus Christ, to be defended. And he knows how to condemn it: that concreteness, to say ' no,' like the  parents say to the baby when he starts to clap and goes to the electric socket to put his fingers in : 'No, no! It's dangerous!'. But, I think so many times of that 'tuca nen' (do not touch anything ndr) that my parents and grandparents told me at those moments where there was a danger. "

Take care of others  as Don Milani did

 "The Good Shepherd – Pope Francis said - can denounce, by name and surname" as St. Paul did.

The Holy Father returned to his visit to Bozzolo and Barbiana, this week, referring, "to those two good shepherds of Italy." And speaking of Don Milani, he recalled his "motto" when he "taught his boys":

"I care. But what does it mean? They explained to me that he wanted to say 'I care'. He taught that things were to be taken seriously, against the fashion motto at that time that was 'I do not care,' but said in another language, which I dare not say here. And so he taught the kids to move on. Take care: take care of your life, and this no! '"

Paul's apostolic zeal, was passionate, zealous. Man, commented the Holy Father knows how to discern because he knows the power of seduction and knows the devil seduces.

The Pope then concluded with a prayer "for all the shepherds of the Church, for Saint Paul who intercede before the Lord, for all of us pastors in order to serve the Lord."

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The Catholic bishops of the Philippines are urging their faithful to fight false information and news, especially on the internet and social media, saying it is against charity.  The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a pastoral exhortation on Wednesday saying fake news is “a sin against charity” because it leads the people to wrong decisions. 

 “Our Catholic faith obliges us to refrain from patronizing, popularizing and supporting identified sources of ‘alternative facts’ or ‘fake news’,” the bishops said in the pastoral exhortation entitled, “Consecrate Them In the Truth.”  “Refuse to be themselves purveyors of fake news and to desist from disseminating this whether on social media or by word of mouth or through any other form of public expression,” they said in the exhortation signed by CBCP president Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan.

Freedom of expression is a bedrock of democracy but its irresponsible exercise, the bishops said, is something that Christians cannot be part of.  “Sadly, we see this happening today,” they said, lamenting that there are people who have given themselves to the service of sharing lies and concealing the truth. "Crucial decisions — personal and social," the bishops explained, "depend on the accurate grasp of facts." "'Alternative facts' and 'fake news' engender faulty decisions many times with disastrous long-term consequences to persons and to communities." To help stop the spread of “deceit and lies,” they encouraged the faithful “to rebut falsehood whenever they are in possession of facts and of data”. 

The bishops also urged the netizens to identify the sources of fake news so that other people may be alerted and be informed which media or sites to shun.   “The active involvement of citizens in creating a nurturing society steeped in justice depends on the truth,” they said.    (Source: CBCPNews)

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London, England, Jun 22, 2017 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Legal efforts to bar the parents of a British baby born with a disabling medical condition from seeking treatment overseas are based on deep ethical errors, a Catholic expert in medical ethics has warned.

“It seems to me completely wrongheaded that the state should be stepping in here when the decision that the parents are making is really aimed at the best interests of the child,” Dr. Melissa Moschella, a Catholic University of America philosophy professor, told CNA.

“It’s not crazy, it’s not abusive, it’s not neglectful. It’s the decision of parents who want to, however they can, to give their very sick child a chance for life.”

She said such a decision “should be completely within the prerogative of the parent,” citing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to Moschella, that declaration “clearly indicates that the parents, not the state will have primarily responsibility.”

Charlie Gard, now aged 10 months, is believed to suffer from a rare genetic condition called mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which causes progressive muscle weakness. The disorder is believed to affect fewer than 20 children worldwide. Charlie has been in intensive care since October 2016. He has suffered significant brain damage due to the disease and is currently fed through a tube. He breathes with an artificial ventilator and is unable to move.

His parents, Connie Yates and Chris Gard, have wanted to keep him on life support and transport him to the United States in order to try an experimental treatment.

However, their decision was challenged in court by hospitals and an attorney appointed to represent Charlie. The parents appealed a High Court decision, and their appeal to the U.K.’s Supreme Court was rejected.

Their final legal challenge is presently before the European Court of Human Rights. The court has said Charlie must continue to receive treatment until its judges make a decision.

Moschella said the legal decisions favoring ending life support for Charlie are effectively “telling the parents that their child’s life has no value and that therefore they should cease any effort to heal him of his disease.”

These decisions represent a “quality of life” ethic and an ideology that say human life is valuable only if it meets certain capacities.

“It’s the same ideology that underlies allowing euthanasia or physician assisted suicide,” she said. “That’s completely opposed to the Catholic view in which every human life has intrinsic value regardless of the quality of that life.”

 

  Patiently waiting........

A post shared by #charliesfight (@charliesfight) on Jun 19, 2017 at 7:28am PDT

 

Charlie’s parents have raised more than $1.6 million to help seek experimental treatment for him in the U.S. Their decision faced legal challenge from Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he is being treated.

In early April, the baby’s hospital challenged their efforts. The hospital’s experts argued in court that long-term life support should be withdrawn from the baby because his quality of life was so poor.

Charlie’s court-appointed lawyer argued before a High Court judge that any treatments in the U.S. would be experimental and long-term life-support would only “prolong the process of dying.”

Charlie’s parents had their own legal representative in the case, who argued that travel to the U.S. for treatment would not cause the boy significant suffering or harm and could give him another chance.

Yates, Charlie’s mother, has argued that she would welcome any treatment that could help him live. She also suggested anything learned during an experimental treatment could help treat future babies who suffer from the disorder.

According to Moschella, who has a background in parental rights and medical ethics, said parental rights derive both from the “special intimate relationship” they have with their child and from their primary obligations to care for their own children. Interfering with their conscientious best efforts is akin to violating religious freedom, she said.

“It is a deep violation of conscience, when, without a very serious reason, the state presents parents from fulfilling that conscientious obligation,” she said.

She noted that what Charlie’s parents are trying to do by helping secure extraordinary treatment is not ethically required by Catholic ethics.

“It would be perfectly morally acceptable should they choose to forgo seeking further treatment and take the baby off life support and allow him to pass away naturally due to the underlying disease,” the professor said. “But it’s also acceptable, on Catholic ethics, to do whatever you can to heal a person if you think that there’s any chance that a treatment could have a positive effect.”

She suggested that extraordinary treatment could be unethical only when “there is absolutely no hope of any benefit whatsoever” and the treatment is painful to the patient, or the treatment would take away “important resources that are needed to help other patients who could benefit.”

Moschella said there should only be legal intervention against the wishes of parents in cases “when there is a clear case of abuse or neglect or some significant threat to the public order.”

“Neither of those situations is the case here.”

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Mountain View, Calif., Jun 22, 2017 / 05:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A pro-life activist walks into Google’s headquarters and delivers a speech so compelling that within 24 hours, the online video of it surpassed a similar speech given by the head of Planned Parenthood.

It may sound like the start to a far-fetched joke, but on April 20th, pro-life speaker and activist Stephanie Gray did just that.

Gray was the co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and served as its executive director for several year before starting the ministry which she now runs, Love Unleashes Life.

She spoke in April as a part of the Talks at Google series, a program that brings a variety of speakers to the company’s headquarters to discuss their work. Gray has participated in more than 800 talks and debates on abortion.

Gray’s talk centered around the idea that there are three qualities that lead us to call someone “inspiring:” They place others ahead of themselves, have “perspective” on their sufferings and situation in life, and do the right thing even in difficult situations. She linked these criteria to the process of dialoguing with others about abortion, emphasizing question asking.

She began by contrasting two stories, that of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia in Italy in 2012 and the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing in 2009. In the first story, she explained, the captain had jumped ship along with the rest of the crew. In the second, the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, had been the last off the flooding vessel, ensuring his passengers all exited safely.

In comparing the two stories, she noted that Sullenberger was lauded as a hero, and the captain of the Concordia internationally shamed.

“If you agree that it was correct for the pilot to put the passengers ahead of himself, to prioritize the needs of his dependents,” she said, “then wouldn’t it follow, that when it comes to the topic of abortion and an unplanned pregnancy, that a pregnant woman ought to prioritize the needs of her dependent?”

However, she noted that the comparison was only valid “depending on, indeed, whether embryos and fetuses are human beings, like the passengers on the airplane.”

To determine whether or not a fetus is a human being, Gray displayed an image of a human fetus and posed the question, “What are her parents?” It would logically follow that two human parents’ offspring must be the same species, she said.

Despite the ambiguity around the origin point of human life when it comes to abortion, she said, in discussing other topics “we have great clarity.” For example, an IVF specialist or dog breeder would agree that the life they attempt to create begins at fertilization.

Taking a look at what qualifies as “personhood,” Gray considered the terms used by pro-infanticide philosopher Peter Singer, that a person is a being which is “rational, conscious, and self-aware.” She contrasted a human embryo with an amoeba: the embryo lacks these qualities “because of how old she is,” where the amoeba lacks them “because of what it is.”

 “Should personhood be grounded in how old we are, or should personhood be grounded in what we are?” she asked.

“The quality of age shouldn’t be the basis for which someone has personhood status,” she answered, noting that the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the rights of “all members of the human family.”

She then addressed the question of the fetus’ dependence, arguing that the fetus’ greater dependent status as a weaker entity than a baby entitles it to greater, not less, protection. She related this to the story of a friend’s husband who, faced with the choice between rescuing a mother or her baby first from the roof of a sinking car, made the “obvious” choice to take the baby.

“Since you believe that we should prioritize weaker and more vulnerable people ahead of stronger people, then shouldn’t we actually prioritize the needs of the pre-born child?” she said.

She recalled meeting a Rwandan genocide survivor who, seeing a picture of a child killed in the conflict next to an aborted fetus, pointed to the image of the fetus and said, “That’s worse, because at least my family could try to run away.”

Considering the concept of perspective, she posed another question: “How can we change our perspective in an unplanned, crisis situation?” She recalled dialoguing with a college student whose stepmother had an abortion upon learning her baby was expected to die at birth. Responding with a thought experiment involving a terminal cancer diagnosis, she answered the student, “Why would we cut short the already short time we have left? Instead, wouldn’t we want to savor every moment of every day of the next 20 weeks (of the pregnancy)?”

Moving to her final criterion for what makes a person inspirational – “do the right thing” – she listed a number of circumstances that make pregnancy hard and often lead to abortion, including poverty or rape. But when we look at parents raising an already-born child in the same circumstances, she said, we can see that we ought to have the same attitude towards carrying an unborn child as towards parenting a child in the same situation.

Gray closed with a number of stories from people she knows personally, including a woman who was raped and had a child at age 12, a woman who cared for her baby daughter with respiratory issues, and a woman who regretted her own abortion and ended up counseling another woman to carry her baby to term.

“They’re inspiring because they put others ahead of themselves, because they had perspective, and because they did the right thing, even when it was hard,” she said of all the stories she had told throughout the talk. “And that’s the challenge that I leave all of you with today.”

In a question-and-answer session after her talk, she recommended that audience members seek to start dialogue on the difficult topic of abortion with open-ended questions, and to “seek to understand where (another) person is coming from.” She also used the analogy of a person choosing rape to address the thought that pro-life views cannot be “forced on” pregnant women, saying that just as it is illegal to make the choice to rape someone, it ought to be illegal to choose to end the life of a fetus.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards also gave a Talk at Google, in a video published March 7. Gray’s talk, published June 19, had surpassed Richards in views within 24 hours of being uploaded.

 

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