Catholic News 2

Vatican Radio’s English shortwave (SW) broadcast for Asia has come to an end, with its last transmission going out Friday evening, after nearly 60 years of service.  However this does not mean it has disappeared altogether. What ultimately closed on March 24 as Vatican Radio’s English Service for Asia, is however very much alive online on Vatican Radio’s website.  The gradual phasing out of Vatican Radio’s shortwave frequencies is seen as part of the reform of the Roman Curia or the central administration of the Catholic Church here in the Vatican, called for by Pope Francis.  The Pope established the new dicastery or office of the Secretariat for Communications on June 27, 2015, ‎bringing 9 media bodies of the Vatican, including Vatican Radio, under the Secretariat’s direction, with the purpose of overhauling, streamlining and ultimately merging them as a cohesive unit. 

What ended on March 24 as Vatican Radio’s English Service for Asia began way back in 1958. The only ‎English programme of Vatican Radio then, headed by Jesuit Father Thomas O’Donnell, was repeated a number of times in different directions, ‎including towards Africa and South Asia.   It was a weekly 10-minute news broadcast  for India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.   However, the need for special programmes adapted to the ‎distinctive cultural needs and tastes of Africa and South Asia gave way to independent programmes for ‎these two regions.   ‎In 1964 South Asia got a boost when Pope Paul VI visited Bombay (today Mumbai), India for the 38th International Eucharistic Congress from 2nd to 5th of December.  Hence in May 1965, the Indian Section officially came into being with a 10-minute broadcast twice a week each in the evening in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam , while English went on air daily Monday through Saturday.   In 1982, all the four languages began re-broadcasting their evening programmes the following morning.   Three years later – on May 12, 1985, the Malayalam programme got extra airing time, broadcasting for 15 minutes in the morning, whereas the rest continued broadcasting for 10 minutes.   

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited India from January 31 to February 11.   Just prior to this visit, on January 7th that year, Hindi, Tamil and English were given extra time, and so all the four languages began broadcasting daily for 15 minutes each, in the morning, which was a feature programme.  The evening transmission consisted of 6 minutes of news only.   By the end of 1986 the evening 6-minute news increased to 10 minutes and was repeated the following morning. 

On March 25, 1990, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and English began broadcasting for 15 minutes each, repeating it the following morning.  And from Sept. 23, 1993, the four languages were transmitting for nearly 20 minutes each, repeating the evening programme twice the following morning.

It was on Oct 24, 1993 that the fifth language, Urdu, that is spoken mainly in Pakistan but is also widely followed in India, especially in the north, was added to the Indian Section.  It began with a 7-minute Sunday programme, as part of the Hindi programme.  On March 30, 2003 Urdu became a stand-alone programme, broadcasting for 15-minutes on Sundays and Wednesdays, and repeated the following mornings.  The Urdu programme however closed down in  September, 2013, after nearly 20 ‎years of service. 

In recent years the English programme for South Asia broadened itself to cover the entire Asian continent becoming the English Service for Asia.  On May 16, 2015, Vatican Radio marked the 50th anniversary of its Indian programmes with a ‎Holy ‎Mass and a reception.  While the SW of the English Service for Asia has closed, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam continue to broadcast in SW as usual.  

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Saturday greeted the Rom, Islamic, and immigrant families of the ‘White Houses’ in the Forlanini quarter of Milan at the beginning of his one-day pastoral visit to the city.

Upon his arrival, residents gave the Holy Father two gifts: a priestly stole and a picture of a statuette of the Madonna.

Pope Francis thanked them for their gifts and said it was important for him to be welcomed to Milan by a community of families.

He said the stole was a reminder that he comes “as a priest: I come to Milan as a priest”.

He also recognized that it had been handmade by several residents of the Forlanini quarter: “It’s a reminder that the Christian priest is chosen from among the people and at the service of the people. My priesthood…is a gift from Christ, but it is ‘woven’ by you, by our people with their faith, labours, prayers, and tears.”

Pope Francis then said the statuette of Our Lady is a sign of his being welcomed to Milan by the Madonna.

“It reminds me of Mary’s care, who ran to meet Elizabeth. This is the care and concern of the Church, which does not remain in the city centre waiting but comes to meet all at the peripheries; she goes also to meet non-Christians and non-believers…; and she brings Jesus to all, he who is the love of God made flesh and gives meaning to our lives and saves us from evil.”

Afterwards, the Holy Father made his way to Milan’s Duomo Cathedral to meet with priests and consecrated men and women.

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(Vatican Radio)  Archbishop Bernardito Auza has addressed the UN on the need to better integrate and coordinate the body’s water-related goals and targets, saying “our right to water is also a duty regarding water”.

The Holy See’s Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations said questions about the right to water are both “basic and pressing”:

“[B]asic, because where there is no water there is no life; and pressing, because there is urgency to protect and care better for our common home. Not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality,” he said.

Archbishop Auza repeated Pope Francis’ words to a Vatican workshop on the human right to water in February, saying “our right to water is also a duty regarding water, including the duty of every State to implement, also through juridical instruments, policies concerning the need for a secure supply of drinking water.”

He concluded with a call on international organizations to develop a culture of care and solidarity concerning water.

“Rather than remaining indifferent to the water-related challenges we face, we must develop a culture of care and solidarity, making our common home a more habitable and fraternal place, where no one is left behind and all are able to eat, drink, live healthy lives and grow in accordance with their dignity.”

Please find below the full text of the address:

“International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development”

First dialogue to discuss improving the integration and coordination of the work of the UN on the water-related goals and targets under its sustainable development pillar New York, March 22, 2017

Distinguished Co-Moderators, My delegation wishes to thank you for having prepared this working level dialogue and welcomes the opportunity to share its perspective on the questions related to water, also in view of the 2018-2028 International Decade for Action , “Water for Sustainable Development.” Questions concerning the right to water are not marginal, but basic and pressing: basic, because where there is no water there is no life; and pressing, because there is urgency to protect and care better for our common home. Not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality. Every day, waterborne diseases, like dysentery and cholera, remain a leading cause of death, especially among infants and children. Every day, millions of people imbibe polluted water, making them sick and pushing them ever deeper into extreme poverty. Access to safe drinking water is a basic human right and a condition for sustainable development. Thus, it needs to be put front and center in public policy, in particular in programs to lift people out of poverty. Inherent in the basic right to water is the equally basic responsibility to care for and share this life-sustaining resource. As Pope Francis affirmed a month ago, [1] our right to water is also a duty regarding water, including the duty of every State to implement, also through juridical instruments, policies concerning the need for a secure supply of drinking water. Competition for water can be very destabilizing, in particular where vital aquatic sources cross national boundaries, like rivers running through several countries and lakes territorially shared by several States. The implications of water for national, regional and international peace and security can hardly be overstated. Indeed, water experts and advocates ominously predict that the Third World War will be about water. When he visited the Food and Agricultural Organization in 2014, Pope Francis said: “Water is not free, as we so often think. It is a grave problem that can lead to war.” [2] Thus, rather than causing conflict, the need for water sharing should be an opportunity for cross-border cooperation and greater efforts toward adopting binding instruments to ensure stable and predictable transnational relations. Moreover, non-state actors, and each one of us, are called to assume our responsibilities in this field so decisive for present and future generations, indeed, for the future of humanity. Rather than remaining indifferent to the water-related challenges we face, we must develop a culture of care and solidarity, making our common home a more habitable and fraternal place, where no one is left behind and all are able to eat, drink, live healthy lives and grow in accordance with their dignity. Thank you, Co-Moderators.

[1] Pope Francis, Address to the Participants in the Fourth Workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences entitled “The Human Right to Water: An Interdisciplinary Focus and Contributions on the Central Role of Public Policies in Water and Sanitation Management”, Vatican City, 24 February 2017.

[2] Pope Francis, Greeting to the Staff of FAO, 20 November 2014.

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(Vatican Radio)  The Holy See has called on the United Nations to promote “responsibility for those who come after us”, in the areas of climate change and justice for the poor.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza’s words came in an address to a high-level discussion at the UN on “Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda”.

The Holy See’s Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer to the UN cited Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’: “how inseparable the bonds are between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and our own interior peace”.

He also repeated the Pope’s exhortation not to separate human existence from nature.

“The Holy Father thus urges us to consider that nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it.”

Archbishop Auza concluded with a call for “intergenerational solidarity”:

“My Delegation urges generosity, solidarity and selflessness as we implement both the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, in order not to leave future generations pay the extremely high price of environmental deterioration.”

Please find below the full text of the address:

High-Level Event: Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda New York, 23 March 2017

Mr. President, The Holy See wishes to thank you for gathering together the various stakeholders to explore the connections between climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in view of invigorating both the momentum and the will to propose and implement concrete solutions for the benefit of all the people of the world and the “common home” that we share. Pope Francis reminds us that “the urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development.” [1] In the same manner, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda that represents the most ambitious universal development agenda ever. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change is similarly ambitious. Together they reflect the reality that global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. As this gathering seeks to pursue these two ambitious plans together, we are reminded that without a commitment to specific, coordinated, quantifiable and meaningful steps forward, these plans will fail to live up to their potential and remain mere rhetoric. As specific solutions are sought, we should also be mindful of “how inseparable the bonds are between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and our own interior peace”. [2] Our concern to take greater care for nature should also arouse in us an empathy with those left behind, those who are affected by environmental degradation, and those who are excluded from economic and political processes. Pope Francis warns that “to seek only a technical remedy to each environmental problem which comes up is to separate what is in reality interconnected and to mask the true and deepest problems of the global system.”[3]

The Holy Father thus urges us to consider that nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it. This symbiosis implies that a crisis of the environment necessarily means a crisis for us. We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis that is both social and environmental. Thus, “strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded and protecting nature”. [4] The same principle of interconnectedness binds together the three biggest United Nations processes in 2015, namely, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. There are not three separate challenges of financing development needs, agreeing on new development goals and tackling climate change, but one overarching challenge of how to orient our politics, economies, technology, businesses and personal behavior — indeed, all our efforts — toward a sustainable, integral and authentic development in harmony with nature. “It cannot be emphasized enough how everything is interconnected.” [5]

Mr. President, My Delegation welcomes the way in which both the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement acknowledge the central importance of the human person. The 2030 Agenda rightly begins by noting that “the dignity of the human person is fundamental.” In the same vein, Pope Francis has urged that all environmental and development initiatives focus on the innate dignity that we all share in equal measure. This dignity must remain at the center of our debates. In particular, those who are weak and marginalized, those who are poor and ill, the unborn and the elderly alike, the refugees and victims of war and violence, and those disproportionately impacted by greed and indifference must have a special place in the initiatives we pursue. Their sufferings and anxieties, their fears and hopes should not fail to raise an echo in our hearts. The 2030 Agenda’s “determin[ation] to end poverty and hunger… and to ensure that all human beings live in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment”[6] should lie at the heart of our efforts.

My Delegation would also like to underline our responsibility for those who come after us. As Pope Francis affirms, “Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us”. [7] We cannot speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. My Delegation urges generosity, solidarity and selflessness as we implement both the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, in order not to leave future generations pay the extremely high price of environmental deterioration.

Mr. President, The implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement separately and in harmony with each other involves complex technical, economic, social, political, and legal aspects. Goals and targets will be thoroughly evaluated using indicators and all sorts of measures to gauge success or failure. At the end of the day, their positive impact on the human person, particularly on those left behind, will be the true measure of our success.

Thank you, Mr. President.

1 Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, n.13 [hereafter “LS”].

2 LS, n.10.

3 LS, n.111.

4 LS, n.139.

5 LS, n.138.

6 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Preamble.

7 LS, n.159

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday is making a one day pastoral visit to Milan. This morning he paid a call on Milan’s Duomo and traveled to the peripheries of the city to meet with immigrant families.

Listen to our report:

For the curious pilgrim or tourist a trip to Milan is not complete without a visit the “Duomo” or Cathedral Church. And it was here in front of this iconic building that Pope Francis recited the Angelus on Saturday greeted by thousands of well- wishers.

A short time earlier inside this magnificent building, the Pope met with priests and consecrated persons, listening to their questions and offering words of advice. During the question and answer session the Holy Father said that in a world that is multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic,  the Church, over its entire history, has had much to teach us and to help us towards a culture of diversity. The Holy Spirit, Pope Francis noted “is the master of diversity.” The Pope also underlined the importance of prayer and of service in the church; service by priests, religious and consecrated to the poor and to the Word of God.

Responding to a question from a religious mother who asked how it was possible to continue to be a significant presence today despite being fewer and older, the Pope said, that it was most important not to become resigned to one’s fate. He said that realities today were a challenge, but religious orders who were in the minority were being invited to rise again like yeast with the help of the Holy Spirit, who also inspired the hearts of their founders.

This one day pastoral visit began on Saturday morning with the Holy Father’s going out to Milan’s peripheries to meet with Rom, Islamic, and immigrant families of the ‘White Houses’ in the Forlanini quarter of the city. Greeting the crowds of people that had gathered to see him, he told them that the Church “always needs to be restored” because he added, it is made by us, who are sinners.” Let us be restored, he said by God’s mercy.

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Austin, Texas, Mar 25, 2017 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Among the targets of Texas pro-life advocates are so-called ‘wrongful birth’ lawsuits and Planned Parenthood’s alleged involvement in the sale of unborn baby parts. Both are finding some success in the State Senate.

In some cases, parents of a child born with a disability such as Down syndrome have filed lawsuits against doctors claiming that they were not informed of a disability in time to procure an abortion. Such claims aim to secure the costs of raising the child, even lifetime costs.

Senate Bill 25 would prevent parents of children born with disabilities from suing their physician.

The bill, which has the support of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, passed the state senate by a vote of 21-9 March 21. It now heads to the Texas House of Representatives for consideration.

“We are thrilled that the Senate has passed S.B. 25, because it reverses a decades-old injustice and bad public policy that devalues babies, both unborn and born, who have a disability,” Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, told CNA March 23. “In our view, S.B. 25 eliminates wrongful birth lawsuits while holding doctors accountable to practicing good medicine.”

While opponents of the bill charged it would allow doctors to withhold information from parents about an unborn child, Pojman said the bill’s text explicitly excludes such a possibility.
 
He added that the bill is consistent with tTexas’ policy of promoting childbirth over abortion.

Meanwhile, Texas Alliance for Life’s top priority is the passage of S.B. 8, provisions of which would, in Pojman’s words, “shut down Planned Parenthood's harvesting and sale of body parts harvested from the bodies of aborted babies.”

The bill passed the state senate March 15 by a bipartisan vote of 24-6. The House considered its own version March 22.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had called for such a bill in his January State of the State Address.

The bill follows an undercover investigation from the Center for American Progress which found Planned Parenthood staffers and leaders appearing to encourage the illegal sale of fetal tissue and unborn baby body parts for profit.

A Dec. 7, 2016 letter from the Select Investigative Panel of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce referred an unnamed Houston abortionist to the State Attorney General for alleged violations of a federal partial-birth abortion ban.

S.B. 8 would also bar partial-birth abortion, creating a criminal penalty for the physician and a cause for civil action for the father.

The bill has the support of the Texas Catholic Conference.

Another bill, S.B. 415, passed the state senate by a 21-9 vote.

The ban on “dismemberment abortions” would bar “dilation and evacuation” procedures, which use surgical instruments to grasp the unborn baby and remove his or her parts while he or she is still alive. The procedure is the most common second-trimester abortion procedure.

However, the Texas Alliance for Life opposed it.

“We look forward to the day when laws protect all unborn babies from abortion and the courts uphold those laws,” Pojman said. “Unfortunately,  a ban on dismemberment abortion would never be enforced, and it would save no lives.”

He said the bill had zero chance to survive a federal court challenge and could create a precedent to make overturning Roe v. Wade more difficult.

“We believe it to be naive and harmful to pursue such legislation this session given the makeup of the Supreme Court now and for the foreseeable future. Since these bills will set the pro-life movement back rather than moving us forward, we cannot support these bills.”

A loss in federal court would also fund the abortion movement, as the state is required to pay plaintiff attorney fees if the plaintiff wins on constitutional issues.

Pojman pointed to the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case, which successfully challenged parts of a Texas law requiring more safety regulations at abortion clinics.

The abortion providers are asking for $4.5 million in legal costs.

“We do not know what they will end up receiving,” Pojman said. “We do know, however, that whatever the attorneys for the abortion providers receive will be used to attack other pro-life laws in Texas and in other states.”

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