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(Vatican Radio) In this the final episode of a three part series on the famed Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, Vatican Radio continues its tour, this week exploring the Church’s lower level which includes a memorial to Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The Basilica’s Rector Fr Thomas McCarthy is our guide through this labyrinth of humid rooms which reveal herringbone brickwork and explains why the curious sound of water echoes around this historic level.

Listen to this programme produced and presented by Lydia O’Kane

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(Vatican Radio)  The Holy See has called on the international community to protect the rights of unaccompanied migrant children and condemned their detention as a "grave error".

The Vatican's Permanent Observer to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, made the remarks to the Human Rights Council panel discussion on the rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents.

"The grave error of the detention model is that it considers the children as sole, isolated subjects responsible for the situations in which they find themselves and over which they have little, if any, control. This model wrongly absolves the international community at large from responsibilities that it regularly fails to fulfill," Archbishop Jurkovic said.

He also appealed on behalf of the Holy See for the international community "to protect the dignity and fundamental rights of every person and to implement, without reserve, humanitarian law, principles and policies in response to people on the move, especially unaccompanied children: they must be considered children first and foremost, and their best interest must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning them."

Archbishop Jurkovic went on to denounce the detention of migrant children.

"Children should not be criminalized or subject to punitive measures because of their own migration status or that of their parents. The practice of detaining migrant children should not be an option, and the best interests of the child should always prevail."

Rather, he said, "The possibility of authentic integral human development should be guaranteed for all children."

Please find below the full statement:

Geneva, 9 June 2017 

Mr. President, 

The Holy See Delegation welcomes the attention given to unaccompanied migrant children during the current session of the Human Rights Council and wishes to thank the panelists for their presentations. In his Message for the 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis highlighted the hardships and dangers faced by migrant children. Because of the precarious situation in which they find themselves, children are very vulnerable, especially when they are unaccompanied, as they are “invisible and voiceless, hidden from the world’s eyes.” Too often, migrant children easily end up at the lowest levels of human degradation, with their hope and future destroyed. They have no access to education and health care and they face the great risk of vulnerability to human traffickers, sexual predators and other unscrupulous persons who wish to cause harm to children and adolescents. This is an insult to human dignity, and the entire international community should make every effort to respond to such suffering and deprivation of fundamental human rights that are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. During the last session of the Human Rights Council, the Holy See hosted a side event, together with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and Caritas Internationalis, to draw attention to the reasons why so many children are on the move without the protection of their parents and other family members and what is needed to respond to such a dramatic escalation of unaccompanied children on the move.  The Holy See reiterates its strong appeal to protect the dignity and fundamental rights of every person and to implement, without reserve, humanitarian law, principles and policies in response to people on the move, especially unaccompanied hildren: they must be considered children first and foremost, and their best interest must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning them.  

Mr. President,

To respect children is to respect all humanity, as they are our future and hope. Children should not be criminalized or subject to punitive measures because of their own migration status or that of their parents. The practice of detaining migrant children should not be an option, and the best interests of the child should always prevail. Indeed, even a brief period of detention can have life-long consequences on a child’s development. The grave error of the detention model is that it considers the children as sole, isolated subjects responsible for the situations in which they find themselves and over which they have little, if any, control. This model wrongly absolves the international community at large from responsibilities that it regularly fails to fulfill. While the protection of fundamental human rights and the dignity of every person is vital and essential, it is not enough. Wars, violence, human rights violations, corruption, abject poverty, environmental disasters are all causes of this humanitarian emergency of unaccompanied children on the move. A far-sighted approach is urgently needed to tackle the tragic and intolerable situations that drive such a drastic increase in the number of children who abandon their lands of birth and search alone for refuge and hope for the future. The possibility of authentic integral human development should be guaranteed for all children. In this regard, the Holy See urges that our considerations today be directly linked to the hundreds of millions of children who are living in appalling conditions in the countries of their birth. Even while we are engaged in discussion and debate today, any number of these children will have joined the already huge odyssey of children on the move – simply in search of safety, peace, and of a fair chance in life.  

Mr. President,

Unaccompanied children on the move are the dramatic evidence of existing inequalities and failing systems. As the consultations for the shaping of the Global Compact on Migration are in progress, how can we ensure that the rights of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents are duly protected and promoted?

Thank you, Mr. President.

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Sri Lanka police have arrested five people including a member of a hardline Buddhist organization for instigating religious violence against Muslims and a Muslim for defaming Buddhism, police said on Sunday.  The arrests come a week after diplomats condemned violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka and urged the government to uphold minority rights and freedom of religion. Earlier, legislators blamed the government for failing to stop a spate of attacks on minority Muslims.

More than 20 attacks on Muslims have been recorded since April 17, including arson at Muslim-owned businesses and petrol-bomb attacks on mosques while the police said at least 16 such cases had been reported since April.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe have ordered police to uphold the law, but the violence against Muslims has not ended.

Muslims, who account for around 9 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 21 million, have blamed the attacks on Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) or the "Buddhist Power Force", an organization that says the spread of Islam is a threat to Buddhism as the dominant religion.  The group denies any involvement.

"The police was able to arrest a 32-year-old person who is directly related to four (arson) attacks," police spokesman Priyantha Jayakody told reporters adding that all four businesses were owned by Muslims.  "This person has direct links with Bodu Bala Sena organization. Since 2014, he has been associating with the Bodu Bala Sena."  Police arrested four more people including a Muslim who posted a Facebook post against Buddhism and a Tamil national who attacked a mosque.

Buddhists make up about 70 percent of the population, and analysts say some hardline Buddhist organizations have been spreading hate speech against Muslims and encouraging people to boycott Muslim shops.

The Buddhist groups accuse some Muslim organizations of radicalizing the community and forcefully converting people to Islam and vandalizing Buddhist archaeological sites. Muslim leaders have denied the claim.  ‎(Source. Reuters) ‎

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Issele-Uku, Nigeria, Jun 12, 2017 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- It was supposed to be a quiet retreat weekend last April for Fr. Sam Okwuidegbe, a Nigerian Jesuit priest and director of a local spirituality center.

Before he left, he chatted with his new provincial, Fr. Chuks Afiawari, who joked with Fr. Sam: “Make sure where you are going they don't kidnap you."

“We laughed about it,” Fr. Sam recalled.

Little did the priests know that the joke would be an unfortunate foreshadowing of what was to come. In a testimony posted on the website of the Jesuit Superiors of Africa and Madagascar, Fr. Sam recalled how his faith carried him through a traumatic and harrowing experience of kidnapping.

On his way to the retreat, which was to be in Onitsha, in the state of Anambra, Fr. Sam took a familiar, seemingly safe highway on which he had traveled many times.

That’s why he was so surprised when he heard gunshots.

“On glancing back I saw all the vehicles behind me stopping, and trying to reverse … that's when it hit me that there was something dangerous ahead of me,” he recalled.

“On looking up I saw masked men with AK47 rifles shooting. I was so scared. I also stopped my car abruptly and began to reverse, but as I was trying to do that, a man suddenly appeared … and said, ‘If you don't get out of the car I'll shoot you.’”

The priest could see behind him that the men had also stopped another car, a black Mercedes, and were forcing two men out of the car. In a hurry, Fr. Sam left his phone in the car.

He quickly identified the armed kidnappers as Fulani herdsmen, a notoriously violent group whose clashes with farmers have killed thousands of people in Nigeria over the past two decades. According to the Global Terrorism Index, they were the fourth most violent militant group in the world in 2014.

Violence against Christians has also significantly increased in the country in recent years, particularly in Muslim-majority areas. In 2016, one Nigerian bishop lamented that Christians had essentially become “target practice.”

The Fulani kidnappers led Fr. Sam and the other two men into the forest at gunpoint for eight hours, barely stopping for breaks. They eventually let one of the two other men go, because he could not keep up with the pace, but they first cut his feet so that he could not escape quickly, Fr. Sam recalled.

“The pace in the forest was jogging, jumping over tree trumps, going over leaves, which often cut through our skin. So it was quite brutal!” Fr. Sam said.

“I was so shaken, and began to ask myself, is this happening to me? What am I doing in this forest? What am I doing here? I felt extremely cold and in my confusion … I'd mutter to myself, this can't be happening, God. This can't be happening,” he said.

The captors started questioning Fr. Sam and the other man, and were suspicious when Fr. Sam identified himself as a priest; they thought he might be a government spy. They stripped him of all his belongings – his watch, wallet, and rosary.

When they questioned Fr. Sam about his phone, the captors were enraged that he had left it in his car –  which was fortunate, the priest said, because he had saved financial information from his work on it.

The militants asked him if he could remember anyone’s number – someone to call who could negotiate for Fr. Sam’s life and pay off the herdsmen. Traumatized by his experience, Fr. Sam couldn’t remember one phone number.

“That triggered a series of beatings...they huddled me up, hands and feet tied to the back with a rope like a goat before a kill. They removed my cassock, then my shirt, threw me into the dirt on the ground, and began to beat me with the back of their guns, they'd kick me hard on my sides, slap across my face, push and pull me hard across the ground...one of them said ‘We are going to burn you alive!’” the priest recalled.

“I really believed that they were going to do it...I began to pray in silence...I said, ‘God, I commit to you, I commit my spirit' and I resigned to the thought of my fate, that I was going to die that day.’”

Finally, the beating stopped. Fr. Sam said he remembers praying constantly through the whole experience.

“I hoped for a miracle...every minute I'd pray saying all kinds of prayers, I'd pray to Saint Ignatius, say the rosary and the Divine Mercy (chaplet)...at one time I found myself singing heartily but in the inside, a Ghanaian song that says 'God speak to me...God where are you?’ I kept humming in my heart...it gave me hope,” he said.

Eventually Fr. Sam was able to get the phone number of another Jesuit priest through the contact of the other man in captivity. This priest, Jesuit provincial Fr. Jude Odiaka, began negotiations with the herdsmen.

And while at times he prayed for death, Fr. Sam said he felt better once he had made contact with the Jesuits.

“I knew that word must have gotten around about the kidnapping, and that the sisters at the retreat centre and people who knew me all over, must have been praying for me.”

The other man who had been captured with Fr. Sam also was a great comfort, he recalled.

“...the guy I was kidnapped with...he was a grace for me, a gift from God. I hope I was too for him because we exchanged words of encouragement silently, as we were not allowed to talk to each (other).”

Finally, the captors seemed to have gotten what they wanted, and started talking of letting the men go.

“I intensified my prayers and I prayed to God ‘Please God, make this end well,’” Fr. Sam said.

“I recalled a saying that ‘God will not bring you this far, then abandon you’, so this brought some assurance to my heart,”

When the militants decided to release the men, they were left to wander alone together through the forest, trying to find the pathway out. Eventually, they were able to make it to safety and back home.

While the experience was “painful and traumatizing,” Fr. Sam said one of the best consolations upon his return was hearing from many people, near and far, that they had been praying for him.

“In all these things God revealed to me that I was never abandoned while in the forest, even if I was out of reach and in danger, that God heard the prayers and was with me,” he said.

“It has renewed my faith in God, my faith in people...the human person, God's gift of friendship and that if what I do matters, then also those people I do it with are also very important.”

Fr. Sam said he also plans to use his experience to help other people in his work as a counselor.

“This has also given me an understanding to accompany those who come to me for help seeking solace, encouragement, strength, hope, renewal...you know...maybe that's why it happened,” he said.

“I'm going to use it in my work as a counselor, psychologist and help those who come to me for help, because what support can be given to people that have been kidnapped? What help can we give such people? I think I have become part of that help with what I have received, and experienced.”

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis has sent a message to the President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) on the occasion of its 33rd General Assembly.

Addressing his letter to Ms. Blanca Alcalá, the Parlatino president, Pope Francis reflects on migration in Latin America and the Caribbean, the theme of the Assembly.

He said the initiative “aims to help and make life more dignified for those who, having a homeland, regrettably do not find in their countries adequate conditions of security and subsistence, and are compelled to migrate to other places.”

The Holy Father goes on to highlight three words related to migration: reality, dialogue, and commitment.

Related to reality, he said that behind every emigrant lies “a human being with a history of his own, with a culture and ideals.”

“Dialogue,” he said, “is essential to foster solidarity with those who have been deprived of their fundamental rights, as well as to increase willingness to accommodate those who flee from dramatic and inhuman situations.”

Turning to commitment, Pope Francis renewed his call “to stop human trafficking, which is a scourge. Human beings cannot be treated as objects or commodities, for each one carries with him the image of God.”

In conclusion, the Pope urged governments to protect all those who reside in their territory, despite their provenance.

“I reiterate the commitment of the Catholic Church, through the presence of the local and regional Churches, to responding to this wound that many brothers and sisters of ours carry with them.”

Please find below the English translation of the letter:

To Ms. Blanca Alcalá

President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament

Madam President,

On the occasion of the Forum “High Level Parliamentary Dialogue on Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean: Realities and Commitments towards Global Compact”, I greet you as President and, along with you, all who will take part in this event. I congratulate you on this initiative that aims to help and make life more dignified for those who, having a homeland, regrettably do not find in their countries adequate conditions of security and subsistence, and are compelled to migrate to other places.

From the title of your meeting I would like to highlight three words, which invite reflection and work: reality, dialogue and commitment.

First, reality. It is important to know the reason for migration and what characteristics it presents in our continent. This requires not only analysis of this situation from “the study desk”, but also in contact with people, that is to say with real faces. Behind every emigrant there is a human being with a history of his own, with a culture and ideals. Aseptic analysis produces sterile measurements; on the other hand, a relationship with a person in the flesh helps us to perceive the deep scars that he carries with him, caused by the reason, or the unreason, of his migration. This meeting will help to provide valid responses for migrants and host countries, as well as ensuring that agreements and security measures are examined from direct experience, observing whether or not they conform to reality. As members of a large family, we must work to place the “person” at the centre (cf. Address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 9 January 2017); this is not a mere number or an abstract entity but a brother or sister who needs our help and a friendly hand.

Dialogue is indispensable in this work. One cannot work in isolation; we all need each other. We have to be “capable of leaving behind a throwaway culture and embracing one of encounter and acceptance” (Message for the World Day of the Migrant and the Refugee, 2014). Joint collaboration is necessary to develop efficient and equitable strategies for the reception of refugees. Achieving a consensus between the parties is a “craft”; a meticulous, almost imperceptible task but essential for shaping agreements and regulations. All elements must be offered to local governments as well as to the international community in order to develop the best pacts for the good of the many, especially those who suffer in the most vulnerable areas of our planet, as well as in some areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. Dialogue is essential to foster solidarity with those who have been deprived of their fundamental rights, as well as to increase willingness to accommodate those who flee from dramatic and inhuman situations.

In order to respond to the needs of migrants, commitment is needed from all parties. We cannot dwell on the detailed analysis and the debate of ideas, but we are forced to give a solution to this problem. Latin America and the Caribbean have an important international role and the opportunity to become key players in this complex situation. In this effort, “there is a need for mid-term and long-term planning which is not limited to emergency responses” (Address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 11 January 2016). This serves to establish priorities in the region also with a vision of the future, such as the integration of migrants in host countries and assistance in the development of countries of origin. To these are added many other urgent actions, such as care for minors: “All children … have the right to recreation; in a word, they have the right to be children” (Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2017). They need our care and help, as do their families. In this regard, I renew my call to stop human trafficking, which is a scourge. Human beings cannot be treated as objects or commodities, for each one carries with him the image of God (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 197-201).

The work is enormous and we need men and women of good will who, with their concrete commitment, can respond to this “cry” that rises from the heart of the migrant. We cannot close our ears to their call. I urge national governments to assume their responsibilities to all those residing in their territory; and I reiterate the commitment of the Catholic Church, through the presence of the local and regional Churches, to responding to this wound that many brothers and sisters of ours carry with them.

Finally, I encourage you in this task that you are carrying out, and I implore the intercession of the Holy Virgin. May She, who also experienced migration in the flight to Egypt with her spouse and her Son Jesus (Mt 2: 13), keep and sustain you with her maternal care.

Please, I ask you to pray for me; and I ask the Lord to bless you.

Vatican City, 7 June 2017

FRANCIS

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