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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) Few airlines around the world have had the opportunity to transport even one Pope, but Aeromexico have now had the privilege of transporting three.

The world’s first Latin American Pope is not the first Supreme Pontiff to board a plane belonging to Mexico’s oldest airline. In fact, both Pope Saint John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were also flown by the airline in 1979 and 2012, respectively.

Pope Francis will soar the skies in Boeing 737 and 787 Dreamliner aircrafts, and will be looked after by a full Aeromexico crew including flight attendants and pilots. Although the Dreamliner has been equipped to host a press conference, few special accommodations have been made on-board, keeping in line with the Holy Father’s renowned humility. A spokesperson for Aeromexico said, “True to his reputation, the Pope has very humble needs for a head of state.”

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Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has appealed for compassion for people who have been forced to migrate because of poverty and conflict around the world.  "Many of these forced migrants become victims of human trafficking and forced labor, the new forms of slavery," Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila said in his homily to mark National Migrants Sunday, Feb. 14.  Most migrants leave their homes because of job opportunities in other places, he said.  "The whole world is being challenged by this phenomenon. Where is humanity? Where is the human heart? Where do we find mercy and compassion? Where?" the prelate asked as he challenged Catholics "to be merciful to migrants and refugees" during the Year of Mercy.

Pope Francis declared the "Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy" in December last year until November 2016 as a period for remission of sins and universal pardon focusing particularly on God's forgiveness and mercy. "In a decent society, no one especially the most vulnerable should be taken advantage of," said Cardinal Tagle.  "Right now, the most vulnerable in our world are the migrants, the forced migrants and refugees," he added.  The prelate reminded Catholics to show mercy by respecting migrants and not treating them as objects.  "To people who are facing migrants at airports, piers, those who are handling their employment papers ... we are appealing to you to be merciful, be respectful," said Cardinal Tagle.  The cardinal urged Filipinos to take care of migrants, the foreigners in the country.

"Don't think that all foreigners who come here are millionaires. There are also those who are vulnerable and prone to abuses," Cardinal Tagle said.  "See Jesus in every refugee," he said. (Source: UCAN)

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Civilian casualties of the war in Afghanistan rose to record levels for the seventh year in row in 2015, as violence spread across the country in the wake of the withdrawal of most international troops, the United Nations reported on Sunday.  At least 3,545 non-combatants died and another 7,457 were injured by fighting last year in a 4-percent increase over 2014, the international organization said in its annual report on civilian casualties.  "The harm done to civilians is totally unacceptable," Nicholas Haysom, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said in a statement.  Fighting between Western-backed government forces and insurgent groups meant more non-combatants are being caught in the crossfire.   Heavy fighting in the northern city of Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban in late September, and a wave of suicide bombs which killed and wounded hundreds of people in the capital Kabul last year were the main factors behind the rise, while elsewhere casualties fell.

Since the United Nations began recording civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, it has documented nearly 59,000 deaths and injuries. (Source: Reuters)

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico on Monday, just before 09.00 local time (16.00 Rome time).

His Holiness was welcomed by the Archbishop of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Fabio Martínez Castilla at Ángel Albino Crozo Airport. Representatives from the indigenous population presented the Pope with a crown of flowers and a group of children played marimbas as he made his way across the tarmac.

However, the Holy Father did not stay long. He boarded a helicopter that took him to the municipal sports centre 50km away, in the town of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. There he presided at the celebration of Holy Mass with the indigenous people of the Mexican State of Chiapas. The Mass was celebrated in Spanish, with prayers and readings in three of the native languages.

You can watch the Mass, streamed LIVE on the Vatican’s YouTube channel, here.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday celebrated Mass for the largely indigenous population of the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, saying today’s world needs their ancient values and traditions.

The outdoor Mass, celebrated at a sports stadium in the town of San Cristobal de Las Casas, included prayers and readings in several of the local languages. Despite being rich in natural resources, the southern region remains significantly less developed than the rest of the country, with high levels of poverty and illiteracy.

In his homily, the Pope noted that “in a systematic and organized way” the indigenous cultures have been misunderstood and excluded from society.  “Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior”, Pope Francis said, while others, “intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them”.  He stressed that it would be worthwhile for each person “to examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!” 

In particular Pope Francis said indigenous peoples have much to teach the rest of the world about “how to interact harmoniously with nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a common home and an altar of human sharing”.

Please find below the full text of the Pope’s homily during Mass at the Municipal Sport Centre in San Cristóbal de las Casas

            ‘Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek’ – The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul.  Thus begins the psalm we have just heard.  The law of the Lord is perfect and the psalmist diligently lists everything that the law offers to those who hear and follow it: it revives the soul, it gives wisdom to the simple, it gladdens the heart, and it gives light to the eyes.

            This is the law which the people of Israel received from the hand of Moses, a law that would help the People of God to live in the freedom to which they were called.  A law intended to be a light for the journey and to accompany the pilgrimage of his people.  A people who experienced slavery and the Pharaoh’s tyranny, who endured suffering and oppression to the point where God said, “Enough! No more!  I have seen their affliction, I have heard their cry, I know their sufferings” (cf. Ex 3:9).  And here the true face of God is seen, the face of the Father who suffers as he sees the pain, mistreatment, and lack of justice for his children. His word, his law, thus becomes a symbol of freedom, a symbol of happiness, wisdom and light.  It is an experience, a reality which is conveyed by a phrase prayed in ‘Popol Vuh’ and born of the wisdom accumulated in these lands since time immemorial: “The dawn rises on all of the tribes together.  The face of the earth was immediately healed by the sun” (33).  The sun rose for the people who at various times have walked in the midst of history’s darkest moments.

            In this expression, one hears the yearning to live in freedom, there is a longing which contemplates a promised land where oppression, mistreatment and humiliation are not the currency of the day.  In the heart of man and in the memory of many of our peoples is imprinted this yearning for a land, for a time when human corruption will be overcome by fraternity, when injustice will be conquered by solidarity and when violence will be silenced by peace.

            Our Father not only shares this longing, but has himself inspired it and continues to do so in giving us his son Jesus Christ.  In him we discover the solidarity of the Father who walks by our side.  In him, we see how the perfect law takes flesh, takes a human face, shares our history so as to walk with and sustain his people.  He becomes the Way, he becomes the Truth, he becomes the Life, so that darkness may not have the last word and the dawn may not cease to rise on the lives of his sons and daughters.

            In many ways there have been attempts to silence and dull this yearning, and in many ways there have been efforts to anaesthetize our soul, and in many ways there have been endeavours to subdue and lull our children and young people into a kind of lassitude by suggesting that nothing can change, that their dreams can never come true.  Faced with these attempts, creation itself also raises an objection: “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.  We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.  The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.  This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22)” (Laudato Si’, 2).  The environmental challenge that we are experiencing and its human causes, affects us all (cf. Laudato Si’, 14) and demands our response.  We can no longer remain silent before one of the greatest environmental crises in world history.

            In this regard, you have much to teach us.  Your peoples, as the bishops of Latin America have recognized, know how to interact harmoniously with nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a common home and an altar of human sharing” (Aparecida, 472). 

            And yet, on many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society.  Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior.  Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them.  How sad this is!  How worthwhile it would be for each of us to examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!”  Today’s world, ravaged as it is by a throwaway culture, needs you!

            Exposed to a culture that seeks to suppress all cultural heritage and features in pursuit of a homogenized world, the youth of today need to cling to the wisdom of their elders!  

            Today’s world, overcome by convenience, needs to learn anew the value of gratitude!

            We rejoice in the certainty that “The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us” (Laudato Si’, 13).  We rejoice that Jesus continues to die and rise again in each gesture that we offer to the least of our brothers and sisters.  Let us be resolved to be witnesses to his Passion and his Resurrection, by giving flesh to these words: Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – the law of the Lord is perfect and comforts the soul.

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(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Seán O’Malley, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Monday issued a statement stressing the “moral and ethical responsibility” to report all suspected cases of sexual abuse to the civil authorities.

Speaking on behalf of all the Commission members, the cardinal said: “The crimes and sins of the sexual abuse of children must not be kept secret for any longer. I pledge the zealous vigilance of the Church to protect children and the promise of accountability for all”.

The statement also stressed the Commission’s “extensive education efforts” within local Churches over the past two years and reiterated the members’ willingness to provide this material at courses offered in Rome, “including to the annual training program for new bishops and to the offices of the Roman Curia for their use in their own child protection efforts”.

Please see below the full statement from Cardinal Seán O’Malley, President of the the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, together with all the Commission Members, issued today the following statement on the obligation to report suspected sexual abuse to civil authorities:

“As Pope Francis has so clearly stated: ‘The crimes and sins of the sexual abuse of children must not be kept secret for any longer. I pledge the zealous vigilance of the Church to protect children and the promise of accountability for all’. We, the President and the Members of the Commission, wish to affirm that our obligations under civil law must certainly be followed, but even beyond these civil requirements, we all have a moral and ethical responsibility to report suspected abuse to the civil authorities who are charged with protecting our society”.

Cardinal O’Malley’s statement continued, “In the United States, our Bishops’ Charter clearly states the obligation that all dioceses/eparchies and personnel report suspected abuse to the public authorities. Every year at our November meeting, at a training session for new bishops, this obligation is reaffirmed, and every other February the Conference runs a second training program for new bishops which also clearly and explicitly includes this obligation. As the Holy Father’s advisory commission for the protection of minors, we recently shared with Pope Francis an overview of the Commission’s extensive education efforts in local Churches over the past two years and reiterated the Members’ willingness to provide this material at courses offered in Rome, including to the annual training program for new bishops and to the offices of the Roman Curia for their use in their own child protection efforts”.

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Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, Feb 15, 2016 / 08:45 am (CNA).- Read the full text of Pope Francis' homily during Holy Mass with representatives of the indigenous communities of Chiapas in the municipal sport center in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico on February 15, 2016.

FULL TEXT:

Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul. Thus begins the psalm we have just heard. The law of the Lord is perfect and the psalmist diligently lists everything that the law offers to those who hear and follow it: it revives the soul, it gives wisdom to the simple, it gladdens the heart, and it gives light to the eyes.

This is the law which the people of Israel received from the hand of Moses, a law that would help the People of God to live in the freedom to which they were called. A law intended to be a light for the journey and to accompany the pilgrimage of his people. A people who experienced slavery and the Pharaoh’s tyranny, who endured suffering and oppression to the point where God said, “Enough! No more! I have seen their affliction, I have heard their cry, I know their sufferings” (cf. Ex 3:9). And here the true face of God is seen, the face of the Father who suffers as he sees the pain, mistreatment, and lack of justice for his children. His word, his law, thus becomes a symbol of freedom, a symbol of happiness, wisdom and light. It is an experience, a reality which is conveyed by a phrase prayed in Popol Vuh and born of the wisdom accumulated in these lands since time immemorial: “The dawn rises on all of the tribes together. The face of the earth was immediately healed by the sun” (33). The sun rose for the people who at various times have walked in the midst of history’s darkest moments.

In this expression, one hears the yearning to live in freedom, there is a longing which contemplates a promised land where oppression, mistreatment and humiliation are not the currency of the day. In the heart of man and in the memory of many of our peoples is imprinted this yearning for a land, for a time when human corruption will be overcome by fraternity, when injustice will be conquered by solidarity and when violence will be silenced by peace.

Our Father not only shares this longing, but has himself inspired it and continues to do so in giving us his son Jesus Christ. In him we discover the solidarity of the Father who walks by our side. In him, we see how the perfect law takes flesh, takes a human face, shares our history so as to walk with and sustain his people. He becomes the Way, he becomes the Truth, he becomes the Life, so that darkness may not have the last word and the dawn may not cease to rise on the lives of his sons and daughters.

In many ways there have been attempts to silence and dull this yearning, and in many ways there have been efforts to anaesthetize our soul, and in many ways there have been endeavours to subdue and lull our children and young people into a kind of lassitude by suggesting that nothing can change, that their dreams can never come true. Faced with these attempts, creation itself also raises an objection: “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22)” (Laudato Si’, 2). The environmental challenge that we are experiencing and its human causes, affects us all (cf. Laudato Si’, 14) and demands our response. We can no longer remain silent before one of the greatest environmental crises in world history.

In this regard, you have much to teach us. Your peoples, as the bishops of Latin America have recognized, know how to interact harmoniously with nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a common home and an altar of human sharing” (Aparecida, 472).

And yet, on many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society. Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them. How sad this is! How worthwhile it would be for each of us to examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!” Today’s world, ravaged as it is by a throwaway culture, needs you!

Exposed to a culture that seeks to suppress all cultural heritage and features in pursuit of a homogenized world, the youth of today need to cling to the wisdom of their elders!

Today’s world, overcome by convenience, needs to learn anew the value of gratitude!

We rejoice in the certainty that “The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us” (Laudato Si’, 13). We rejoice that Jesus continues to die and rise again in each gesture that we offer to the least of our brothers and sisters. Let us be resolved to be witnesses to his Passion and his Resurrection, by giving flesh to these words: Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – the law of the Lord is perfect and comforts the soul.

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