Catholic News 2
LONDON (AP) -- Roger Moore, the suavely insouciant star of seven James Bond films, has died in Switzerland. He was 89....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday sent Congress a $4.1 trillion spending plan that relies on faster economic growth and steep cuts to programs for the poor in a bid to balance the government's books over the next decade....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former CIA Director John Brennan said Tuesday he personally warned Russia last summer against interfering in the U.S. presidential campaign, telling the Russians that continued meddling would backfire and prevent any warming of relations after the election....
LONDON (AP) -- The names of the 22 victims killed by a suicide bomber at a Manchester concert on Monday night have not been officially released, but here what's known about them so far:...
MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- The Latest on the blast at an Ariana Grande concert in northern England (all times local):...
MANCHESTER, England (AP) -- Investigators hunted Tuesday for possible accomplices of the suicide bomber who attacked an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and sparking a stampede of young concertgoers, some still wearing the American pop star's trademark kitten ears and holding pink balloons....
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, has released his prepared remarks to the second of two panel discussions of issues surrounding sustainable development and poverty eradication, in connection with the Global Compact on safe, orderly and regular migration. Please find the full text of Archbishop Auza's prepared remarks, below********************************************************************Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Global Compact on safe, orderly and regular migration:Informal Thematic Session on Addressing drivers of migration, including adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters and human made crisis, through protection and assistance, sustainable development, poverty eradication, conflict prevention and resolutionPanel 2: Human-made crises as drivers of Migr...
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, has released his prepared remarks to the second of two panel discussions of issues surrounding sustainable development and poverty eradication, in connection with the Global Compact on safe, orderly and regular migration. Please find the full text of Archbishop Auza's prepared remarks, below
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Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations Global Compact on safe, orderly and regular migration:
Informal Thematic Session on Addressing drivers of migration, including adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters and human made crisis, through protection and assistance, sustainable development, poverty eradication, conflict prevention and resolution
Panel 2: Human-made crises as drivers of Migration
United Nations, New York, 22 May 2017
Distinguished Ambassadors and Panelists,
In paragraph 43 of the New York Declaration, the International Community committed itself to addressing “the drivers that create or exacerbate large movements” in order to “cooperate to create conditions that allow communities and individuals to live in peace and prosperity in their homelands.”
In this regard, the Holy See continues to insist on the right of all to remain in their countries in peace and economic security. If conditions for a decent life are met and the drivers of migration are adequately addressed, people would not feel forced to leave their homes.
My Delegation thus urges that the Global Compact underline the right to remain as prior to the right to emigrate. This does not mean that one right is more important than the other, but that by ensuring this prior right, migration flows will become voluntary, regular and safe, and consequently more manageable and sustainable. When the right to remain is respected, migration becomes a choice rather than something forced or involuntary. For this right to become effective, however, the factors that constrain people to emigrate must be attended to through international cooperation founded in mutual trust, responsibility and solidarity.
There is no worse human-made crisis that drives people forcibly to migrate or internally displaces populations than wars and violent conflicts. More than half of the world’s refugees, forced migrants and internally displaced persons have been forced to abandon their homes and properties and, indeed, to flee their countries, because of conflicts and violence, the tremendous negative impact of which continues in the odyssey of the victims. They face the dangers of trafficking in persons, starvation and many forms of abuse. Upon arriving at their destination, rather than finding a safe haven, in many places they find mistrust, suspicion, discrimination, extreme nationalism, racism and a lack of clear policies regulating their 2 acceptance. Clearly, the most effective way to stop massive movements of forced migrants and refugees is to stop the wars and violent conflicts that cause them.
Moreover, factors such as extreme poverty, the lack of basic goods and services, and severe environmental degradation and disasters are also major drivers of migration. Helping distressed populations where they are, rather than procrastinating and hoping for the best, is the most effective way to prevent their becoming involuntary migrants. It could also be the most cost effective way to help them and to spare them from all forms of exploitations. When vulnerable individuals and populations are forced to move, human rights abuses and sexualrelated violence against women and children become all too common; families are separated; many are forcefully detained upon arrival or fall victim to human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery. While in transit and especially upon arrival in countries of destination, forced migrants are often perceived as taking advantage of host communities, rather than hapless peoples who deserve assistance and human sympathy.
My Delegation would like to emphasize that the tremendous cultural, social and economic loss that is now being suffered in many countries of origin due to human-made crises and other drivers of migration makes the adoption of a Global Compact for migration even more pressing. The migrants who are massively crossing international borders, the forced migrants in search of safety and protection, and the many millions more internally displaced persons look to us for hope and action. The most comprehensive and cooperative way to assist them would be through a strong, effective Global Compact on Migration.
I thank you.
The cutting of thousands of century-old trees by a mining company in Palawan, Philippines has drawn the ire of a Catholic bishop who urged for action so that it won’t happen again.Bishop Socrates Mesiona emphasized the importance of protecting the province’s environment and its remaining natural resources and described it as the country’s “last ecological frontier” because of its unique biodiversity,“This is a tragedy because Palawan is the last frontier so we hope that our environment will be protected, especially the century-old trees,” Mesiona said over Manila archdiocese-run Radio Veritas.Thousands of trees in Brooke’s Point town were cut just days after former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. Lopez, who took to Facebook in exposing the “massacre”, accused the Ipilan Nickel Corp. of cutting trees “without a permit and protected area clearance”.The forme...
The cutting of thousands of century-old trees by a mining company in Palawan, Philippines has drawn the ire of a Catholic bishop who urged for action so that it won’t happen again.
Bishop Socrates Mesiona emphasized the importance of protecting the province’s environment and its remaining natural resources and described it as the country’s “last ecological frontier” because of its unique biodiversity,
“This is a tragedy because Palawan is the last frontier so we hope that our environment will be protected, especially the century-old trees,” Mesiona said over Manila archdiocese-run Radio Veritas.
Thousands of trees in Brooke’s Point town were cut just days after former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. Lopez, who took to Facebook in exposing the “massacre”, accused the Ipilan Nickel Corp. of cutting trees “without a permit and protected area clearance”.
The former Cabinet official said the cutting of trees will affect 3,000 hectares of agricultural land and 30,000 people in at least five barangays.
The prelate then lauded the unity among the people and local officials who fought to protect the environment. “It’s a good thing that the people themselves who led the fight because they realized that the environment is really important,” he said.
“My instruction to our Social Action Director is to do whatever we can to help the people because we see the initiative that’s really coming from the public,” he added.
Local officials are also planning to sue the mining company and demand for the cancellation of the firm’s environmental plan permit and a mineral sharing agreement with the government.
The once spectacular primary forests of the Philippines are now a relic of a bygone era. What little primary forest did remain existed on the island of Palawan, the last sanctuary for the Palawan eagle which is now being destroyed. Between 1990 and 2005 the Philippines lost a third of its forest cover, according to FAO estimates, but the country's deforestation was down since its peak in the 1980s and 1990s.
Widespread logging was responsible for much of the historical forest loss in the Philippines. Despite government bans on timber harvesting following severe flooding in the late 1980s and early 1990s, illegal logging continued.
After temporarily lifting the log export ban in the late 1990s, the government had increasingly tried to crack down on timber smuggling and forest degradation. Additional threats to Philippine forests came from legal and illegal mining operations — which also caused pollution and had been linked to violent conflict — agricultural fires, collection of fuelwood, and rural population expansion. In recent years, deforestation had been increasingly blamed for soil erosion, river siltation, flooding, and drought; environmental awareness was rising in the country. (CBCPNews)
(Vatican Radio) The bombing of an army hospital in Bangkok, Monday, that also treats civilians has been condemned by Human Rights Watch as an unjustifiable act of lawlessness. The detonation of a pipe bomb on 22 May in the dispensary waiting room of Phra Mongkutklao Hospital, injured at least 24 people – three critically. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which occurred on the anniversary of the 2014 military coup that brought the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta to power, overthrowing a democratically elected government. “The bombing of a hospital is an outrageous rights abuse that shows total disregard for human life,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Bombing hospitals not only risks the lives of patients and medical workers, but disrupts medical care for many more.”The New York-based rights group said authorities should conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent invest...
(Vatican Radio) The bombing of an army hospital in Bangkok, Monday, that also treats civilians has been condemned by Human Rights Watch as an unjustifiable act of lawlessness. The detonation of a pipe bomb on 22 May in the dispensary waiting room of Phra Mongkutklao Hospital, injured at least 24 people – three critically.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which occurred on the anniversary of the 2014 military coup that brought the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) junta to power, overthrowing a democratically elected government.
“The bombing of a hospital is an outrageous rights abuse that shows total disregard for human life,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Bombing hospitals not only risks the lives of patients and medical workers, but disrupts medical care for many more.”
The New York-based rights group said authorities should conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the bombing and ensure full respect for due process rights.
Six explosions in Bangkok since coup
Since the coup, at least six explosions have occurred in the Thai capital. Similar pipe bombs exploded in front of Bangkok’s National Theater in Bangkok on May 15, and near the Government Lottery Office on April 5. No one has claimed responsibility or has been apprehended in those attacks. Most of the bombs in Bangkok have caused only minor damage, except for a blast in August 2015 that killed about 20 people near a popular Hindu shrine. “This bomb was meant to cause casualties as it was packed with a large number of nails,” said army chief, Gen. Chalermchai Sittisart.
"Thai authorities should ensure those responsible for this heinous crime are apprehended and brought to trial,” Adams said. “Upholding due process rights for those accused of the attack is critically important to deliver justice to the victims and deter such vicious attacks in the future.”
Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias has condemned late Monday’s suicide bomb attack at a concert in Manchester, England, as “senseless violence”. The blast that took place as U.S. singer Ariana Grande was ending her concert at an arena in Manchester, killing at least 22 people and injured many more. "I am deeply pained by the attack on the innocent people in Manchester most of them who were young people and many were children,” the cardinal, Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) said in a statement to AsiaNews. “We pray for them and entrust our innocent victims to the Merciful Love of God.”Numerous leaders from across the world, including Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have condemned the terrorist attack expressing their closeness with the injured and the families of the deceased.“This senseless violence snatched away so man...
Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias has condemned late Monday’s suicide bomb attack at a concert in Manchester, England, as “senseless violence”. The blast that took place as U.S. singer Ariana Grande was ending her concert at an arena in Manchester, killing at least 22 people and injured many more. "I am deeply pained by the attack on the innocent people in Manchester most of them who were young people and many were children,” the cardinal, Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) said in a statement to AsiaNews. “We pray for them and entrust our innocent victims to the Merciful Love of God.”
Numerous leaders from across the world, including Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have condemned the terrorist attack expressing their closeness with the injured and the families of the deceased.
“This senseless violence snatched away so many lives,” Card. Gracias grieved, adding, “the Church in Asia mourns the loss of lives, our hearts grieve with the families and we pray that God consoles them.” While entrusting to “the mercy of God the innocent victims of this tragedy,” the Indian cardinal prayed for the injured. “We renew our call for prayer for peace to Our Lady of Fatima, that the prayer for peace may arise in our hearts in the struggle between good and evil. Let us pray ever more fervently for Peace in our World”.
Card. Gracias prayed that through the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, God may touch the hearts of those who have perpetrated this violence. However, he said, “We must never lose our hope for peace; evil never conquers anything; peace is the only answer - peace, which is a gift of God. Let us all Prayer for Peace,” the cardinal urged. (Source: AsiaNews)
