Catholic News 2

 WASHINGTON-On the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to Mexico, including the U.S.-Mexico border, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), invited Catholics to pray together "as one Church."

"The world is so often divided by culture, economic situation, politics, and fences. The Pope's message is that our faith, prayer, and love for Jesus are greater than what may divide us," said Archbishop Kurtz. "He is asking us to see our brothers and sisters - north and south - as fellow pilgrims journeying toward Christ."

The full message follows:

A Message to Catholic Faithful of Mexico and the United States Celebrating the Visit of Pope Francis
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville
President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

On the joyous occasion of the Holy Father's Apostolic Visit to our neighboring Church, I extend my prayerful best wishes to the bishops of Mexico and all the faithful. Pope Francis' own example of missionary discipleship in this season of Lent and Year of Mercy inspires the whole Church in America.

When Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Juarez, Mexico, I will be together with hundreds of Americans gathered along the levee in El Paso. Thousands more will be watching around the United States. It will be a grace filled moment to pray as one Church.

The world is so often divided by culture, economic situation, politics, and fences. The Pope's message is that our faith, prayer, and love for Jesus are greater than what may divide us. He is asking us to see our brothers and sisters - north and south - as fellow pilgrims journeying toward Christ. We will recall this profound unity and sense of solidarity in a special way when the Pope comes to the border to pray for those who have perished there.

Each of our local churches brings a valuable cultural heritage. Pope Francis has described these as "resources meant to be shared." The visit is another opportunity for us to learn from and share in this diversity, while being reminded we are one Church in America - whether from north, south or central. Our faith brings us together in the one body of Christ, under the maternal care of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

To my fellow Catholics in the United States, let us unite in prayer with our sisters and brothers in Mexico - especially those most in need of mercy and hope, those suffering most in poverty and fear - and celebrate the great blessing of the Holy Father's journey to their great nation.
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Keywords: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Pope Francis, bishops of Mexico, El Paso, Juarez, border, Our Lady of Guadalupe, poverty, journey, immigration, migrants
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(Vatican Radio)  Prime ministers of four Central and Eastern European countries have agreed on a controversial plan to effectively close the crucial Balkan route to refugees if in their words Greece is not able to protect its outer border. The announcement came at a summit of the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who form the Visegrad Group, as well as Macedonia and Bulgaria.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

The leaders used the 25th anniversary of their Visegrad Group, named after a Hungarian castle town, to unveil plan B, ahead of an upcoming European Union summit starting Thursday.

It is meant to create a new barrier on Macedonia and Bulgaria's borders with Greece. That includes building fences and boosting security.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told reporters that these measures are needed if Greece fails to protect the outer border of the EU's visa free Schengen zone and a European Union deal with Turkey does not result in substantially reducing the number of migrants. "The question whether we would build a second defense line between Turkey and the current Schengen border," he said.

Big question

"That is the big question for the future, for the upcoming European Union summit and for weeks and months to come. Hungary can offer its total support, be it financial, military or defensive to support such a building of a second line of defense that would be to the south of Hungary," the prime minister added.   

Yet, the plan is controversial. Critics say it effectively eliminates Greece from the Schengen zone and is a direct attack on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's more welcoming attitude towards refugees, though the Visegrad countries insist it is not aimed at any EU nation.

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov were also present at the summit in Prague, despite EU anger over their presence.

Hours before the Prague meeting the European Commission, the EU's executive, unveiled a further 10 million euros ($11.3 million) in finances to help Macedonia improve its borders and migration management. But European Commission spokeswoman, Tove Ernst warned: "We would to highlight in particular that this assistance will not help to finance the construction of any fence and that the Commission's work is aimed at managing borders and not closing them," she said.    

New report

However Hungary says it already supplied Macedonia with about 100 kilometers of razor-wire, part of was produced by inmates. The country also sold razor-wire to Slovenia and is ready to supply other European countries if required.

Hungary has some experience: It has been building fences along its borders with Croatia and Serbia and Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán told Parliament he wants to boost the structures and border security, involving police and army personnel, ahead of an expected migration influx this spring.

Orbán also said that Hungary wants to see Bulgaria joining the Schengen Zone, and that "sensible talks" should begin on Macedonia's EU membership.

He and other Visegrad leaders also made clear they oppose an EU plan to redistribute as many as 160,000 refugees among member states.

Analysts say the Hungarian prime minister's position has become stronger after a right-wing government was elected in Poland, which shares his anti-migration views. 

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(Vatican Radio)  Msgr. Simon Kassas, First Secretary of the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, spoke on Monday to the UN Security Council on "The Respect to the Principles and Purposes of the Charter of the United Nations as Key Element for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security". 

Msgr. Kassas reminded the Security Council of Pope Francis' words to the General Assembly on Sept. 25, 2015.

On that occasion, the Holy Father said, "When the Charter of the United Nations is respected and applied with transparency and sincerity, and without ulterior motives, as an obligatory reference point of justice and not as a means of masking spurious intentions, peaceful results will be obtained."

He also mentioned the address by Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, on Oct. 2, 2015 and his four areas of reflection "that could be useful to furthering the mission and commitment of the United Nations, including two that are especially relevant to the work of this Council: the “responsibility to protect” and the respect for international law".

Concluding, Msgr. Kassas reiterated Pope Francis' call for the restriction of the arms trade. "As technological advances are applied to weaponry, it appears to my delegation that we may know more about killing than we do about providing for the living. Have the words of the Charter to save future generations from the scourge of war been fulfilled? Each of us in the Chamber knows in the depths of our being the answer to that question."

The full text of Msgr. Simon Kassas's intervention is below:

New York, 15 February 2016

Mr. President,

My delegation extends to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela its thanks for bringing this topic to the attention of the Security Council.

As extremist ideologies grow within the human community, giving rise to terrorist groups and various non-state actors, it is important to look closely at the thoughts of the United Nations founding members as they were reeling from the devastation of two world wars in less than half a century. Their desire to save future generations from the scourge of war and to forbid war as an instrument of foreign policy speaks to a moral and ethical value to be highly esteemed as integral to human development.

Mr. President,

When Pope Francis addressed the General Assembly last September 25, he spoke of the means by which the hopes enshrined by the UN’s founding members in the Charter would be realized or frustrated. He stated, “When the Charter of the United Nations is respected and applied with transparency and sincerity, and without ulterior motives, as an obligatory reference point of justice and not as a mean of masking spurious intentions, peaceful results will be obtained. When, on the other hand, the norm is considered as an instrument to be used whenever it proves favorable, and to be avoided when it is not, a true Pandora’s Box is opened, releasing uncontrollable forces that gravely harm defenseless populations, the cultural milieu and even the biological environment.”

Mr. President,

In his address to the General Assembly last October 2nd, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, suggested four areas of reflection that could be useful to furthering the mission and commitment of the United Nations, including two that are especially relevant to the work of this Council: the “responsibility to protect” and the respect for international law.

What is needed, as Archbishop Gallagher highlighted, is a genuine and transparent application of Article 2 of the UN Charter, which established the principle of non-intervention, excluded all unilateral force against another member of the United Nations, and demanded full respect for lawfully constituted and recognized governments. Pacta sunt servanda, he said, and Article 2 of the Charter has definitively banned concepts like “preventive war,” attempts to redesign geographic areas and peoples under the pretext of a principle of security, or interventions of third party States in favor of one side in a situation of civil conflict. He added, however, that Article 2 cannot be used as an alibi to excuse grave violations of human rights. Where such violations persist and further intervention is considered necessary, there is no other recourse than to apply the measures set forth in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Charter.

Mr. President,

As the Holy See has indicated in previous interventions on the topic of war, hidden beneath the rhetoric of impunity against civilians and the difficulties of providing humanitarian aid to those suffering, is the harsh reality that the industrial complexes of the world are providing weapons and munitions either for money on the open or black market, or perhaps as gifts to client groups, governments or non-state actors. The arms trade must be restrained. Rather than attaining peace and stability, weapons proliferation has resulted in more deaths and injuries and has produced waves of fleeing refugees. To market and sell weapons for self-defense is one thing, but the aggressive nature of current technologies is cause for grave ethical concern. Indiscriminately to kill civilians is a heinous crime. As technological advances are applied to weaponry, it appears to my delegation that we may know more about killing than we do about providing for the living. Have the words of the Charter to save future generations from the scourge of war been fulfilled? Each of us in the Chamber knows in the depths of our being the answer to that question.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Gregorian University on Monday began its first Diploma Program on the Safeguarding of Minors.

The one-semester course is conducted under auspices of the Centre for Child Protection, as a unit of the University’s Institute of Psychology.

In a speech to the first class of the programme, the  Rector of the Gregorian University Father François-Xavier Dumortier, S.J., said it was a “relevant part” of the academic structure of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

“Since 2011-2012, we did our best to confront the sad phenomenon of the sexual abuse of minors – especially within the Church,” Fr. Dumortier said.  “Responding to Pope Benedict XVI’s and to Pope Francis’ call to root out this evil, we set up this Centre for Child Protection … In the face of situations and facts that wounded, so deeply, many people but also damaged the Church’s witness and credibility, there was a crucial need to address this challenge.”

The diploma course is designed for those presently working in the field of safeguarding, or who will be doing so in the future.  This would include child protection officers for dioceses, religious congregations, and other institutions; as well as those who advise or offer training on the issue in educational institutions such as seminaries, formation houses, and schools.

Father Dumortier said the Gregorian University was offering the course because “if the sexual abuse of minors is a sad reality, it’s also a complex and many-sided reality.”

The twelve-week course will be interdisciplinary, bringing together psychology, social sciences, theology, and canon law. The seminar method of teaching will allow students to actively participate and to discuss practical problems and case-studies with respect to sexual abuse and the safeguarding of minors.

“The way of proceeding is marked by courage – the courage of confronting problems and tragedies - of intelligence in order to understand better the roots of such events – and of humble commitment to get rid of this evil,” said Fr. Dumortier.

The full remarks by Father François-Xavier Dumortier, S.J., are below

I am very happy to be with you this evening and, as Rector of the Gregorian University, to welcome and to greet all of you at the beginning of this Diploma Program. I wish you a good and fruitful time of formation and I thank especially Professor Demasure for offering such a valuable program, with this seminar method of teaching and taking an interdisciplinary approach.

This one-semester program of a Diploma in the Safeguarding of Minors is a new proposal and a very significant one.

It has been proposed and is under the responsibility of the Centre for Child Protection, as a unit of the Institute of Psychology, and for this reason it is a relevant part of the academic structure of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Why? I would like to share with you some reasons:

1.- First: since 2011-2012, we did our best to confront the sad phenomenon of the sexual abuse of minors – especially within the Church. Responding to Pope Benedict the sixteenth’s and to Pope Francis’ call to root out this evil, we set up this Center for Child Protection conceived, founded and promoted by Fr. Hans Zollner. In the face of situations and facts that wounded, so deeply, many people but also damaged the Church’s witness and credibility, there was a crucial need to address this challenge. The CCP was established in January 2012 in Munich in conjunction with the Symposium “Towards Healing and Renewal” at the Gregorian University in Rome, as a global initiative within the Catholic Church and beyond for the prevention of the sexual abuse of minors. After a first successful stage until the end of 2014, the CCP moved to Rome in January 2015. At the opening of the new location, His Eminence Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said: “The prevention of sexual and other kinds of abuse of minors is of greatest importance for the universal Church. I am confident and pray that the CCP will make a substantial contribution to this long-term effort”.

The CCP aims at growing into an international and educational facility of excellence in training and education. For this reason, the CCP, in addition to the elearning training program for the prevention of sexual abuse, conducts interdisciplinary research and a doctoral program, organizes international conferences on abuse prevention and safeguarding, and has developed this program, that is, the “new born” of the Centre. The "Diploma in Safeguarding of Minors and 2 Vulnerable Persons" is aimed primarily at people who work in abuse prevention or want to specialize in it. You are the first students of this program … and we are very happy to welcome you and to give you the best of our support.

2. – Second: why did the Gregorian want to give its own response to such a challenge? Because, if the sexual abuse of minors is a sad reality, it’s also a complex and many-sided reality. Moreover, it’s not only a Church issue: protection of children must be a major concern for our contemporary societies. Therefore, it was obvious that a University such as the Gregorian, which has many intellectual resources that are crucial for coping with this issue, would allow and offer an interdisciplinary approach; such an approach is indeed crucial and decisive.

As you know, there were and there are many people prompt to denounce and to condemn, but there were and there are few to respond proactively to facts which are not only sins but crimes because the wounds caused by such acts run deep. So, the problem was not only: how to help to respond to the tragedy of child abuse? How to study with an interdisciplinary approach?... but also: how to prevent it by promoting a policy and a culture of effective safeguarding?

3. – Third: how can this be done as an academic unit belonging to the Institute of Psychology of the Gregorian University?

- according to a way of proceeding

- and aiming at a specific target

3.1. The way of proceeding is marked by courage – the courage of confronting problems and tragedies - of intelligence in order to understand better the roots of such events – and of humble commitment to get rid of this evil.

3.2. The specific target is to train people who will be promoters of such a policy and of a culture of safeguarding, who will be multipliers because they will transmit to others what they understand and know better.

In conclusion, I would say:

- it’s an issue of paramount importance for the Church and for our societies and it requires the best of our human abilities, the best of our hearts and minds.  

It will be a long-term task and it’s a wonderful commitment. So …. I wish not only that you would specialize in the field of safeguarding, but also in that of creating, or participating in the creation of, safeguarding strategies.

We share indeed the same desire of moving ahead because the awareness of the crucial needs of the Church and of the world are pushing us to contribute “to this long term effort”.

François-Xavier Dumortier February 15, 2016

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis greeted well-wishers outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico City on Monday evening.

He had spent most of Monday in the southern region of Chiapas, and returned in the evening by airplane. The roads from the airport were lined with people holding Vatican flags, and cheering the Holy Father. He arrived at his residence shortly before 8:30 pm.

He wished the people “good night”, as two young children rushed up and hugged the Holy Father. He hugged them back, and gave them rosaries.

"We will ask the Virgin to protect us all," Pope Francis said, adding she looks after us so much.”

He then led the crowd in a Hail Mary, and gave them his apostolic blessing.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis had lunch with representatives from Mexico’s indigenous communities after his Mass in the southern region of Chiapas.

The indigenous population is 15% of the total for the nation, and much higher in the southern region.

Vatican Spokesman Father Frederico Lombardi, SJ, explained that the meeting followed the same format which the Pope has used on other trips, such as World Youth Day, meeting groups of refugees, or visiting the poor.

Eight representatives from different Indigenous communities sat down for lunch with the Holy Father. They included an indigenous priest, who was dressed as a normal indigenous man, rather than in any particular clerical dress.

Other representatives included a permanent deacon and his wife, a religious sister, a representative for indigenous youth and a catechist. The group represented a cross section of the indigenous community of Mexico.

Father Lombardi went on to say: “The Pope had a simple, normal conversation with them.” 

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The Indian vice president Hamid Ansari hailed the late Syro-Malankara Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregorios of Trivandrum as an example of selfless service at a National Conference in New Delhi on Feb 15.

"His life serves as an example for us all. His selfless dedication for betterment of society, improving living conditions of poor and advocacy of education could be contemplated in building a strong nation," said Mr. Ansari.

Speaking at the conference to mark the concluding ceremony of the yearlong birth centenary celebrations of the archbishop Mr. Ansari said, "He was a promoter of interreligious dialogue and harmony who was ever willing on behalf of the administration to solve the issue of communal tension."

Archbishop Gregorios headed the Syro-Malankara Church for over four decades until his death on Oct. 10, 1994. He was also the first Syrian president of the Indian Catholic bishops' conference of India (1989-91), and he chaired several of its commissions.

Archbishop Gregorios is known for his work for the poor. He fought against luxury and extravagance and was known for his social welfare activities, development initiatives, interreligious dialogue and promotion of political harmony.

"The true motto of all his religious and social involvements was his spiritual depth. He was not limited to any particular caste, creed or religion and believed that integrity could be achieved through maximum possible development of all," said Cardinal Baselios Cleemis of Trivandrum, head of the Syro-Malankara Church and president of the Indian bishops' conference.

"The vision needs to be continued for bringing up the poor and interreligious harmony. We lack people like him and that is why there are so many problems in this world," Syro-Malankara Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of Gurgaon told ucanews.com.

Archbishop Gregorios joined the Bethany Ashram of the Order of the Imitation of Christ, the Syro-Malankara Church's only religious congregation. He became Benedict and took monastic vows in 1935.

When he became bishop in 1953, he wore saffron, the color of Bethany priests. Since saffron is the color of Hindu hermits, in those pre-Second Vatican Council days, his choice raised many eyebrows among Catholics.  He was busy with more than strictly church work. For poverty alleviation in villages, the archbishop recommended scientific and systematic farming of fish, poultry and vegetables. He used his church land for model farming.

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