Catholic News 2

New York City, N.Y., Jan 7, 2016 / 07:01 am (CNA).- It’s not hard to think of a myriad of reasons why people today might be afraid.

Terrorists at home and abroad choose seemingly random cultural and civil events at which to gun down the innocent and incite fear in the rest of the world. Economic instability and political uncertainty have brought the United States to a point where presidential candidates are campaigning on the fears of their constituents.

But fear is not a new human emotion, it is one that has been experienced throughout history.

That’s why the New York Encounter, a cultural event hosted by the Communion and Liberation movement, will aim to explore the universal feelings of fear and desire, and whether fear can be overcome for a greater good.

“We long to sail on the sea of life and yet we are afraid of leaving our safe harbor,” the event’s introduction reads. “What is the final word on man’s desire? Is there an attraction capable of overcoming our fears and drawing us out to the open waters that our hearts yearn for?”  

The Encounter, an event that has grown and evolved over the past seven years, is set to take place next week at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, Jan. 15-17. The entire event is free and open to the public, and requires no registration.

The event will include speakers and performances from people of various fields and walks of life – artists, medical professionals, priests, architects, astronauts and businessmen. It will also feature exhibits on persecuted Iraqi and Syrian Christians, the life of newly-canonized St. Junipero Serra, outer space, and international development.

“What we try to do is to find people who have been facing this challenge between fear and desire, taking their risks, trying to build something, trying to give this desire more room than their fear,” said Maurizio Maniscalco, the event’s president.

Of the speakers, Maniscalo said is most excited to hear from Archbishop Amel Nona, an exiled Chaldean Catholic bishop of Mosul, Iraq, and Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a priest from the Holy Land.

The idea of an “encounter” of faith is also central to the event, and is something that Pope Francis has often spoken about during his papacy – the need for people to experience a real and living faith in their everyday lives. Pope Benedict XVI also said that "the intelligence of faith has to become the intelligence of reality."

The Encounter event therefore seeks to be an example of a faith that is incarnate and alive in various aspects of people’s lives.

“Yes, there are spoken words, but there are human beings, there are faces, there are testimonies, there are witnesses,” he said. “And possibly, when you return home, this flesh has become like a little seed in your own conscience, in your own heart, that reignites your desire and allows it to prevail over the many fears that haunt you.”

The program is packed with simultaneous speakers and events in order to give attendees a variety of options and to decide which events will most speak to them, Maniscalo said.

Although put on by a Catholic lay movement, Masicalo said the event is open to people of all faiths and traditions, and is a chance for imperfect people to witness to the Gospel in the public square.

“I think that’s the beauty of it,” he said. “We’re ordinary, screwed up, passionate people, and all ordinary and screwed up people are invited to the encounter, and I’m certain that they will feel at home.”

“But we’re screwed up ordinary people, used as servants who try to bring that testimony to the public square. And in the public square you can run into anybody, all kinds of people.”

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

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Vatican City, Jan 7, 2016 / 10:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- One year after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris that left 12 dead, the Vatican daily newspaper has condemned the French satirical paper’s anniversary cover which depicts God as an armed terrorist.

The illustration on the paper’s front cover “is insulting toward faithful of all religions,” Anouar Kbibech, President of the Conseil français du culte musulman said in a Jan. 7 article in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.



“It is a caricature which is not at all helpful at a time when we need to stand by each other.”

On Jan.7, 2015, exactly one year ago, armed Muslim extremists stormed the Paris headquarters of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. They claimed the attacks avenged the cartoons printed in the publication that depicted offensive images of the Prophet Mohammed.

Hebdo’s cover for the one-year-anniversary of the tragedy uses Christian iconography to depict God as a terrorist covered in blood, who is running away with a Kalashnikov slung on his back. The title of the cover reads “L’assasin court toujours,” translating roughly as “the assassin is still at large.”

In the L’Osservatore Romano article, the Vatican said the decision to use this specific image begs the question: “is the kind of controversy France needs right now?”

France has been site of numerous terrorist attacks over the past year, the most recent of which was a series of coordinated attacks   by Islamic terrorists in Paris Nov. 13 that left 129 people dead.

However, the Vatican said the cover choice is “nothing new,” and that behind their flag of “uncompromising secularism,” Hebdo has forgotten that religious leaders have for some time insisted that “using God to justify hatred constitutes true blasphemy,” as Pope Francis has often repeated.

Charlie Hebdo’s decision, they said, “illustrates the sad paradox of a world that is becoming so sensitive to political correctness it is verging on the ridiculous, but which doesn't want to recognize or respect the faith in God of every believer, whatever creed they profess.”

In comments to AdnKronos news agency, Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieto-Vasto and secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, described the French weekly’s choice as “distressing, as well as unfounded.”

“It offends the sensitivity of all people, not only Christians, Jews or Muslims. It also offends those who despite not being believers sense how important it is to respect the religious conscience and dimension in life.”

The paper’s insinuations, he said, “are far from the truth, because all religions, not just Christianity, but also the Jewish and Muslim faiths, preach non-violence in the name of God. If anything, one shows violence by adopting an ideological stance, claiming to possess the truth, judging and excluding others.”

Charlie Hebdo is known for its provocative paper covers, and has a history printing such cartoons about the prophet Mohamed. In February 2006 it reprinted cartoons from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that provoked outrage among many Muslims; the newspaper’s offices were firebombed in November 2011 after publishing one cartoon of Mohammed.

In September 2012 the newspaper published cartoons showing Mohammed naked. The cartoon came at a time of violent protests over a low-budget film made in the U.S. that was insulting towards the founder of Islam.

Shortly after the last year’s massacre took place, Pope Francis commented on the incident, saying that killing in God’s name is never acceptable, but neither is insulting faith.

While on his way to the Philippines Jan. 15, 2015, the Pope held an in-flight news conference, during which he was asked by a French journalist if he saw freedom of expression as a fundamental human right.   

In response, Francis said that “You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith.” If you do, he said, you “can expect a punch.”

On the other hand, he stressed that one “cannot kill in the name of God, This is an aberration. Killing in the name of God is an aberration against God. I think this is the main thing with freedom of religion. You can practice with freedom but without imposing or killing.”

He said that every person has not just the freedom or right, but also an obligation “to say what he thinks” in order to build the common good: “We have the obligation to freely have this liberty, but without offending.”

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By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his first video prayer message of the year, Pope Francis asked people to join him in praying that interreligious dialogue lead to "peace and justice."

The video message was part of a prayer initiative coordinated by the international Apostleship of Prayer, a Jesuit-run outreach that has given Catholics the pope's monthly prayer intentions since 1890.

In the video, the pope called for dialogue among religions and asked that people "not stop praying for it and collaborating with those who think differently."

"Many think differently, feel differently, they seek God or meet God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty we have for all: We are all children of God," the pope said.

Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Catholic religious leaders were also featured in the video, first declaring their personal beliefs followed by each one declaring: "I believe in love."

"I hope you will spread my prayer request this month," the pope said. "That sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice. I trust in your prayers."

Pope Francis will deliver his monthly prayer intentions on video over social media in Spanish with subtitles in 10 languages throughout the Holy Year of Mercy.

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Editors: The video can be viewed at http://thepopevideo.org/en/video/interreligious-dialogue.html.

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