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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb 4, 2016 / 05:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In its first statement related to the health crisis sparked by the Zika virus, the Brazilian Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the disease is “no justification whatsoever to promote abortion.”

In the statement, released Feb. 4, the Brazilian bishops say that it is not morally acceptable to promote abortion “in the cases of microcephaly, as, unfortunately, some groups are proposing to the Supreme Federal Court, in a total lack of respect for the gift of life.”

Early this week, a group of feminist organizations asked the Supreme Federal Court in Brazil to legalize abortion in cases of “malformation of the fetus.” Abortion is illegal in Brazil, except in cases of rape, situations deemed to be health emergencies, or if the baby has a fatal abnormality known as anencephaly.

Concerns over the Zika outbreak continue to grow as the virus – spread by mosquitos and sexual contact – has reached at least 29 countries. World Health Organization estimates suggest that 3 to 4 million people throughout the Americas will be infected in 2016. 

While the symptoms are usually mild to moderate, the virus can have serious consequences for pregnant women. It has been linked to a rise in microcephaly – a condition in which babies are born with small heads and other complications. As a result, some groups have called for an expansion of abortion in Latin America.

Regarding the World Health Organization decision to declare a global health emergency because of the Zika virus, which has significantly expanded in Brazil, the bishops said that “we should not give in to panic, nor act as if we were in a situation that, despite its gravity, is not invincible.”

Brazil's ministry of health announced today that its investigation has reported 3,670 cases of microcephaly. So far, 709 have been discarded and 404 confirmed, out of which only 17 are related to the Zika virus. 

“The connection between the Zika virus and microcephaly deserves special attention, even though it has not been scientifically proven,” the bishops also say. 

They called “all Catholics in Brazil to continue cooperating in the fight against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito” – which transmits the Zika virus as well as the Dengue and Chikungunya viruses – and called politicians to “secure medical assistance to the persons affected by the disease, especially babies with microcephaly and their families.”

“Health is a right that must be guaranteed. Without a comprehensive and effective national health policy, all efforts to fight the decease will be compromised.”

Finally, the bishops asked lay Catholic leaders across the country to “get organized and help the people to acquire awareness of the dire situation, as well as the best ways to prevent the decease. With the help of each one of us, we will prevail.”
 

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Vatican City, Feb 4, 2016 / 05:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday the “Pope of Surprises” made an unscheduled stop at the welcoming center for pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Mercy, before heading to three Vatican departments for a lengthy visit after.

Francis dropped by the Jubilee Welcoming Center at 9 a.m. Feb. 4, where he surprised the roughly 10 workers and the different groups of pilgrims who were present when he arrived through the back entrance.

The center, which provides resources to pilgrims that have come to Rome specifically for the Holy Year as well as registration for tickets to go through the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, is located right next to the office for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, which the Pope also visited.

Pope Francis visited three different Vatican departments today as part of his continued tour of various dicasteries in the Roman Curia.

Among them were the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, which share the same building, and then the Pontifical Congregation for Eastern Churches.

Once he left the welcoming center, the Pope continued on to the rest of Curial departments next door.

According to sources inside, Francis spent about 60 minutes with the council Cor Unum, speaking to them about their work, expectations and interactions with other offices.

Similarly, in his last stop Francis spent nearly an hour with the Congregation for Eastern Churches and talked with department members about the current issues Eastern Churches face.

Officials familiar with the visit said the Pope showed that clearly understands and shares the concerns of department members.

In a Feb. 4 interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the council for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, said that his department is “deeply grateful” to the Pope for his visit.

“The Pope gave us a great lesson on how to carry forward the New Evangelization, above all (on) the theme of pastoral conversion…as well as the theme of catechesis, which is a great challenge that is in our hands but is a great challenge for the Church,” he said.

He said that the Pope was also very open in answering questions from different collaborators of the council, and that Francis also brought up the procession that will take place Saturday, bringing the relics of Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and Saint Leopold Mandic to St. Peter's Basilica.

The Pope “made reference to that, recalling his deep devotion to Fr. Leopold in particular,” the archbishop said, noting that Francis wanted draw attention to the “great example” the saints are of confession.

The “great value” these saints add both in the life of faith and the individual life of Christians is owed to the Sacrament of Confession, Archbishop Fisichella said, “because it is celebrated with a deep warmth and with a sense of great mercy.”

#PopeFrancis visits more #Vatican dicasteries, today stopping by New Evangelization, Cor Unum & Eastern Churches pic.twitter.com/A6oGq5kaEI

— Elise Harris (@eharris_it) February 4, 2016

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Junno Arocho Esteves

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Tomorrow's priests and bishops must be good pastors and not just good scholars, said the secretary of seminaries at the Congregation for Clergy.

"The vocation is meant to be lived, not to be argued about, hypothesized over or talked about, because love is meant to be lived," Mexican Archbishop Jorge Patron Wong told Catholic News Service. "Young priests all the way up to bishops, we need to experience Christ's call every day and answer it every day."

The role of the Vatican secretary of seminaries is to help ensure those preparing for priesthood and those assisting them have that experience. It's part of an emphasis Pope Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis have had on not just educating priests, but forming apostles, the archbishop said.

Pope Benedict, in one of his final official acts as pope, transferred responsibility for seminary education from the Congregation for Catholic Education to the Congregation for Clergy. It was not simply an administrative decision, Archbishop Patron said.

"This is a new perspective," the archbishop said. The Congregation for Clergy now follows priests from their seminary days and can ensure a more holistic approach, "meaning that it's not just about intellectual formation but also spiritual, human as well as pastoral formation."

Archbishop Patron is not your typical prelate, or typical Mexican for that matter. Born in Yucatan, the archbishop's maternal grandfather was one of thousands of Chinese immigrants who made their way to Mexico.

"My grandfather was like all the Chinese who emigrated and whom I admire: They learned Spanish, became Mexican citizens, they became Catholics, and they did not wait for the next generation to live as Mexicans," he told CNS.

Although he doesn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese, Archbishop Patron said that his ancestry is a gift from God because it brings him closer to seminarians, priests and bishops who come to Rome from the Far East.

"Some tell me that with my Chinese features and Chinese blood, that I belong to half of the world," he said jokingly.

The easy connection he makes with seminarians and clergy from around the world is noticeable on his social media accounts. With more than 12,000 followers on Twitter, Archbishop Patron posts photos of events and his countless visits to seminaries and formation houses across the globe. Only on very rare occasions are the posts missing the words "thank you" and a mention of "friendship and priestly brotherhood."

When asked how many seminaries and houses of formation he visited in 2015, he replies with a slight grin, "I honestly don't know." Aside from normal duties at his office across the street from St. Peter's Square, he meets "with people every day from 7 in the morning until 11 at night." He also teaches a course every Thursday on priestly formation with 120 priests.

The rigorous schedule, he said, keeps him living many of the struggles and challenges facing seminarians and priests in giving priority to their ongoing formation and their prayer lives. The greatest concern, he said, is "how to live their vocation."

A priest doesn't just exercise his ministry in the church, the archbishop explained. A priest is the same 24 hours a day, "when he rests, when he eats, when he sleeps, when he is walking on the street, when he's on the bus, when he's getting an ice cream or coffee; he is a presence of Christ and today's world needs Christ's presence."

On a regular basis, Pope Francis talks about how seminarians and priests should live their vocations, about how often they should pray, where they should live and even about what kind of car they should drive -- used, preferably. For Archbishop Patron, the pope's words are for him as well as for seminarians and priests.

"The pope is inviting me to be a good priest, he's inviting me to live an ordinary and concrete spirituality and theology. And he's inviting me to be close to God and to the people," the archbishop said. "He's inviting me to be sincere and live the Gospel joyfully, and I can only live it joyfully if I live out my vocation faithfully."

Soft-spoken and often smiling, Archbishop Patron takes to heart the pope's call for priests who have "the smell of the sheep and the smile of a father."

"There can't be sad preachers of the Gospel. In order to be happy, to be joyful, it's important to live one's vocation freely and not as something imposed," the archbishop said.

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