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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump was not aware that his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had worked to further the interests of the government of Turkey before appointing him, the White House said Thursday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional investigators are demanding documents and contacting witnesses in a wide-ranging probe of the Defense Department's troubled anti-propaganda efforts against the Islamic State....
NEW YORK (AP) -- WikiLeaks has offered to help the likes of Google and Apple identify the software holes used by purported CIA hacking tools - and that puts the tech industry in something of a bind....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican leaders drove their long-promised legislation to dismantle Barack Obama's health care law over its first big hurdles in the House on Thursday and claimed fresh momentum despite cries of protest from right, left and center....
(Vatican Radio) Europe and the United States must provide both humanitarian and political solutions for the millions of migrants who continue to flee from the conflicts in the Middle East.That was the message of the former Vatican observer to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, and the former Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who have just returned from a visit to refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Greece.At a press briefing on Thursday at the Migrants and Refugees section of the Vatican’s new office for Integral Human Development, the two Church leaders spoke about the vital work of Catholic agencies in the region and about the responsibility of the international community to welcome those fleeing from conflicts. Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report: The cardinal and the archbishop spent 10 days meeting and talking to people living in camps, in makeshift centres and in empty apartment buildings. They also saw fi...
(Vatican Radio) Europe and the United States must provide both humanitarian and political solutions for the millions of migrants who continue to flee from the conflicts in the Middle East.
That was the message of the former Vatican observer to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, and the former Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, who have just returned from a visit to refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Greece.
At a press briefing on Thursday at the Migrants and Refugees section of the Vatican’s new office for Integral Human Development, the two Church leaders spoke about the vital work of Catholic agencies in the region and about the responsibility of the international community to welcome those fleeing from conflicts.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
The cardinal and the archbishop spent 10 days meeting and talking to people living in camps, in makeshift centres and in empty apartment buildings. They also saw firsthand the practical and psychological support provided by local Caritas organisations, Jesuit Refugee Service and other NGOs through education, health care, skills training and reconciliation programmes.
Both men were struck by the countless stories of suffering, of families fleeing in the middle of the night, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, making perilous journeys on foot or by sea, with many of them now stranded after Western countries closed their borders and cut back their refugee resettlement quotas.
But in the midst of these heartbreaking stories of hardship and uncertain futures, Cardinal Mahoney said they also heard about moments of hope and small gestures of solidarity offered to those most in need:
“I remember one family from Afghanistan, mother, father and four children. The mother said we went a month and a half without a bath, without a chance to have clean clothes. But one day these two women came and said, ‘would you like to come over and have a bath?’ And the whole family went and washed their clothes and got clean, they fed them. And they said that kindness, we will never forget, and our children will never forget, as long as we live”
While there has been recent progress in the fight against so-called Islamic State forces in Iraq, there seem to be no political solutions in sight for Syria, Yemen or elsewhere in the region. When the fighting does finally end and the reconstruction process begins, the Church leaders say the biggest challenge will be to rebuild the trust that has been shattered between Christians and Muslims, between Sunni and Shia communities, that once lived in peace with each other. Cardinal Mahoney again:
“It’s going to be the single biggest hurdle to overcome. You can rebuild buildings you can put the power lines and water systems back, but when neighbours turned on neighbours, or abandoned one another or looted their homes, that’s something a handshake is not going to erase. I think Christian and Muslim leaders need to be mediators or instruments of reconciliation.”
In the meantime, these two men echo the words of Pope Francis in urging the U.S and Europe to be “far, far more generous” in offering a safe haven for those fleeing from the conflicts. In particular Cardinal Mahoney says the U.S. is “gravely at fault” for not recognizing its responsibilities and responding to the needs of people in the region:
“The invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the United States in a sense created the earthquake that upset the Middle East. then 2008 and 9 when the US administration abruptly abandoned Iraq and let everything disintegrate into chaos only gave birth to ISIS so we all have a responsibility.”
The cardinal and the archbishop hope their trip can serve to put a human face on the immense suffering of people in that region. Only in that way will be stop seeing them as a threat, a burden or a problem to be dealt with, and start seeing them instead as our brothers and sisters in need.
For this week's edition of 'There's more in the Sunday Gospel than meets the eye', Jill Bevilacqua and Sean Patrick Lovett present readings and reflections for the second Sunday of Lent.Listen: Gospel MT 17:1-9Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,and led them up a high mountain by themselves.And he was transfigured before them;his face shone like the sunand his clothes became white as light.And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,conversing with him.Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,"Lord, it is good that we are here.If you wish, I will make three tents here,one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."While he was still speaking, behold,a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,then from the cloud came a voice that said,"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;listen to him."When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrateand were very much afraid.But Jesus came and touched them, saying,"Rise, and do not ...
For this week's edition of 'There's more in the Sunday Gospel than meets the eye', Jill Bevilacqua and Sean Patrick Lovett present readings and reflections for the second Sunday of Lent.
Listen:
Gospel MT 17:1-9
Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,
conversing with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
"Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, behold,
a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said,
"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased;
listen to him."
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate
and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
"Rise, and do not be afraid."
And when the disciples raised their eyes,
they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
Jesus charged them,
"Do not tell the vision to anyone
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.
(Vatican Radio) We must must be honest and admit that the full participation of women in the life of the Church "remains stymied on many fronts". Those were the words of the Jesuit Superior General, Fr Arturo Sosa, at the opening of the 2017 Voices of Faith event in the Vatican on Wednesday.The annual event marking international women’s day brought together voices of Catholic women from around the globe with the theme ‘Stirring the waters: making the impossible possible’.Noting that faith provides the audacity to strive for the’ impossible’, Fr Sosa spoke of the resilience and courage he has witnessed firsthand among women working on the border between Colombia and his native Venezuela.He said while Pope Francis’ efforts to bring Vatican II to life and focus on the needs of the poor have opened the way for women’s voices to be better heard, we must acknowledge that their gifts have not yet been fully recognized. Click here&n...
(Vatican Radio) We must must be honest and admit that the full participation of women in the life of the Church "remains stymied on many fronts". Those were the words of the Jesuit Superior General, Fr Arturo Sosa, at the opening of the 2017 Voices of Faith event in the Vatican on Wednesday.
The annual event marking international women’s day brought together voices of Catholic women from around the globe with the theme ‘Stirring the waters: making the impossible possible’.
Noting that faith provides the audacity to strive for the’ impossible’, Fr Sosa spoke of the resilience and courage he has witnessed firsthand among women working on the border between Colombia and his native Venezuela.
He said while Pope Francis’ efforts to bring Vatican II to life and focus on the needs of the poor have opened the way for women’s voices to be better heard, we must acknowledge that their gifts have not yet been fully recognized.
Click here for the full text of Fr Sosa's opening address to the conference
The co-president of Pax Christi International, Marie Dennis, endorsed Fr Sosa's view in her closing remarks at the conference. She said the full participation of women is central to the Church’s promotion of active non-violence, as spelt out by Pope Francis in his message for World Peace Day in January this year.
Please find below the full text of Marie Dennis’ closing address to the conference
Voices of Faith 2017: Women at the Heart of Nonviolence
Almost a year ago, 85 people from around the world gathered here in Rome for what has been called a “landmark” conference on nonviolence and just peace. Invited by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Pax Christi International, participants came together to imagine a new framework for Catholic teaching on war and peace that could help the world move beyond perpetual violence and war. Central to our conversation were the voices of people promoting active nonviolence in the midst of horrific violence and among them, the voices of women.
Many participants came from countries that have been at war or dealing with serious violence for decades: Iraq, Sri Lanka, Colombia, South Sudan, the DR Congo, Mexico, Afghanistan, Palestine, El Salvador, the Philippines, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Burundi, Guatemala and more. Their testimony was extremely powerful.
Iraqi Dominican Sister Nazik Matty whose community was expelled from Mosul by ISIS said, “We can’t respond to violence with worse violence. In order to kill five violent men, we have to create 10 violent men to kill them.... It’s like a dragon with seven heads. You cut one and two others come up.”
Ogarit Younan, who co-founded the Academic University for Nonviolence and Human Rights in Lebanon, shared her positive experience of equipping youth, educators and community leaders throughout the Middle East with nonviolent skills to end vicious cycles of violence and discrimination.
Jesuit Francisco DeRoux told the story of Alma Rosa Jaramillo, a courageous woman, an audacious lawyer, who had joined their team in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia to support displaced small farmers. She was kidnapped by the National Liberation Army, the ELN, and finally released. Then she was captured by the paramilitaries. “When we managed to recover Alma Rosa,” Francisco told us, “she was lying in the mud, dead; they had cut off her arms and legs, with a chainsaw.” Immediately, another women stepped in to take her place, as did Alma Rosa’s son, Jesus – and the team continued to talk with the guerrillas, the paramilitaries and the army, searching for a nonviolent solution a war that had gone on for 50 years. Over and over again they heard from campesinos, native people, afrocolombians – people whose youngsters had joined the guerrilla groups, the paramilitary groups and the army: "Stop the war, stop the war now, and stop the war from all sides!"
Gathered in Rome we heard similar stories from many of the conference participants - courageous people in local communities living with unimaginable danger who said … stop the militarization, stop the bombing, stop the proliferation of weapons - rely on nonviolent strategies to transform conflict.
Together during the conference we wrote an Appeal to the Catholic Church to Re-commit to the Centrality of Gospel Nonviolence, urging the Church to move beyond the language of “just war” that has been central to Catholic theology on war and peace for centuries and to “integrate Gospel nonviolence explicitly into the life, including the sacramental life, and work of the Church through dioceses, parishes, agencies, schools, universities, seminaries, religious orders, voluntary associations, and others.” ?We asked Pope Francis to write his World Day of Peace message, and someday an encyclical, on nonviolence.
Obviously, we were delighted with his 2017 World Day of Peace message on “Nonviolence A Style of Politics for Peace.”
But central to the Church’s process of studying and promoting active nonviolence must be the full participation of women:
* women who are theologians to help develop a new moral framework for Catholic social thought on war and peace, a rich theology of nonviolence, and excellent exegesis around the nonviolence of Jesus;
* women in politics and social sciences to help articulate effective nonviolent strategies to use in a dangerous world;
* grassroots women to design nonviolent practices that can in fact protect vulnerable communities;
* women in Catholic schools, Catholic universities, seminaries and parishes who can teach nonviolence;
* women who will bring Catholic values to the public debate on the use (or not) of violent force close to home or on the other side of the world;
* women who will insist that resources be devoted to meeting basic human needs and protecting the integrity of the natural world, not building more weapons for war;
* women who will help the world shape a just and sustainable peace that responds to the real needs of our families and local communities; and on and on.
What if … Catholics were formed from the beginning of life to understand and appreciate the power of active nonviolence and the connection of nonviolence to the heart of the Gospel – trained to understand the implications in the 21st century of love your enemy?
What if the Catholic Church committed its vast spiritual, intellectual and financial resources to developing a new moral framework and language for discerning ways to prevent atrocities, to protect people and the planet in a dangerous world?
What if women were central to articulating and implementing this shift in Catholic understanding of and commitment to nonviolence and just peace?
For Christians, nonviolence is a way of life, a positive and powerful force for social change, and a means of building a global community committed to the well-being of all. Active nonviolence is a multilayered approach that is fundamental to the teaching of Jesus and recognises the humanity of every person, even our sons and daughters who are perpetrators of terrible violence. It is a process for ending violence without lethal force, for transforming conflict, and for protecting the vulnerable. It is a process that women own in the depths of our souls.
Now more than ever it is time to put active nonviolence into practice in our own neighborhoods and around the world.
No one knows how to do this better than the women in any society and so Voices of Faith today honors women: makers of peace and promoters of active nonviolence in a troubled world.
IMAGE: CNS photo/Sam Tarling, CRSBy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Given the ongoing crises in theMiddle East, North American, European and other Western nations will need to bemore generous in coming to the aid of refugees and displaced peoples, said twoprominent church leaders.The answer is continued assistance, "not to closethe gates of the countries where people are knocking for survival," said ArchbishopSilvano M. Tomasi, former Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva.Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, retired archbishop of Los Angeles,told journalists that nations like Lebanon and Jordan have been "veryheroic" in accommodating large numbers of refugees, "as compared to manyother countries, especially the United States, which I think is gravely atfault here."The archbishop and cardinal spoke about a 10-day visit toIraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Greece to visit refugees and church-basedorganizations offering aid and assistance. The March 9 media event was hostedby the Migrants an...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Sam Tarling, CRS
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Given the ongoing crises in the Middle East, North American, European and other Western nations will need to be more generous in coming to the aid of refugees and displaced peoples, said two prominent church leaders.
The answer is continued assistance, "not to close the gates of the countries where people are knocking for survival," said Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, former Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, retired archbishop of Los Angeles, told journalists that nations like Lebanon and Jordan have been "very heroic" in accommodating large numbers of refugees, "as compared to many other countries, especially the United States, which I think is gravely at fault here."
The archbishop and cardinal spoke about a 10-day visit to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Greece to visit refugees and church-based organizations offering aid and assistance. The March 9 media event was hosted by the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
"We saw humanity at its worst and humanity at its best on this journey," Cardinal Mahony said. The worst was seeing situations "where men could so mistreat and maltreat other men, women and children."
"On the other side, in the midst of all this suffering and pain, we found the best in the people," who were involved in caring and bringing relief and aid to others, such as members of Catholic charities, international volunteers and nongovernmental organizations. "It was very inspiring."
Both Archbishop Tomasi and Cardinal Mahony noted how the current populist sentiments in parts of Europe and the United States were negatively affecting the health, lives and dignity of millions of people needing accommodation and assistance.
"I can understand that with the political development of populist movements and xenophobic groups that politicians are concerned about limiting the massive arrival of people in the (European) Union," Archbishop Tomasi said. However, he added, the consequence is people are trapped where they are, "they cannot go back and they cannot go forward," and families often are broken up because they find themselves stuck in different countries.
A country's right to regulate how many people come to them for resettlement needs to be respected, he said, but human rights and legal commitments to international conventions must also be respected, he said.
Making the problem worse, Cardinal Mahony said, was an approach taken during President Donald Trump's election campaign, which "posed people who are different from you, (as) a threat to you, a threat to your jobs" and "they're going to harm you."
"This generalization of people who are different as a threat just compounds the issue and the problem," he said.
The best way to handle resettlement, he added, is for the incoming family to have local families and communities, like a parish, reach out and help integrate them into the local culture.
While the world struggles to find a solution to the refugee crisis, "we need to support the programs that are making their lives less miserable," such as those run by Catholic Relief Services and Jesuit Refugee Service, Archbishop Tomasi said.
"Compassion fatigue should have no room at this moment," as millions of people are still in need, he said.
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