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MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- The Iraqi advance into Mosul's western half slowed Saturday as combat turned to urban warfare and Iraqi forces met stiff resistance from the Islamic State group. Hundreds of civilians poured out of Mosul on foot following the advances, but the vast majority of 750,000 estimated to still be in the city's west remain trapped, and describe deteriorating humanitarian and security conditions....
(Vatican Radio) On Sunday Pope Francis is scheduled to visit All Saints Anglican Church, where he will answer questions from the congregation, bless a newly commissioned icon of Christ the Saviour and witness a twinning with Rome’s Catholic parish dedicated to All Saints.The afternoon visit will take the form of a short Evensong service, presided over by the pope and by the bishop of the Anglican Diocese in Europe, Robert Innes. It’s the first time a pope has visited an Anglican church in Rome and it comes as part of All Saints’ 200th anniversary celebrations.As chaplain of All Saints for the past 18 years, Father Jonathan Boardman will be welcoming the pope to the central Rome parish, which began with a group of English worshippers back in October 1816. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the origins of the community and about the importance of this historic papal visit….Listen Fr Jonathan explains that there was no English community living in Rome ...
(Vatican Radio) On Sunday Pope Francis is scheduled to visit All Saints Anglican Church, where he will answer questions from the congregation, bless a newly commissioned icon of Christ the Saviour and witness a twinning with Rome’s Catholic parish dedicated to All Saints.
The afternoon visit will take the form of a short Evensong service, presided over by the pope and by the bishop of the Anglican Diocese in Europe, Robert Innes. It’s the first time a pope has visited an Anglican church in Rome and it comes as part of All Saints’ 200th anniversary celebrations.
As chaplain of All Saints for the past 18 years, Father Jonathan Boardman will be welcoming the pope to the central Rome parish, which began with a group of English worshippers back in October 1816. He talked to Philippa Hitchen about the origins of the community and about the importance of this historic papal visit….
Listen
Fr Jonathan explains that there was no English community living in Rome during the period of the Napoleonic wars, but when peace was declared in 1815 following the Battle of Waterloo, English visitors returned to Rome in significant numbers. He notes too that the papacy had been supported, and papal states restored, in part by British intervention, so “there was a good deal more tolerance…. to permit these foreigners to worship in their own rite”.
These visitors from the north arrived in their coaches at Rome’s Porta Flaminia, he says, and stayed close to that area. Before long, there was an English chemist, two or three English doctors and several tearooms, “so this area was the obvious place for English worship to be conducted”.
From granary chapel to neo-Gothic church
The first clergyman to celebrate a Eucharist according to the Church of England rite was the Dean of Jersey, who was spending six months in Rome and was asked to lead worship on Sunday 27th October 1816. Fr Jonathan says there were four worshippers that first Sunday, twenty the following week and fifty the week after that, so soon they had to move out of the private apartment where they had gathered and rent somewhere to celebrate the liturgies.
After the first few years, the community was given the use of a chapel outside the Flaminian gate in a converted granary, where they worshipped from 1827 to 1887, when the first Eucharist was celebrated on Easter Day in the current neo-Gothic church building. When the pontiff of the period, Pope Pius VII, was asked about permission for Anglican worship in the city, he reportedly replied, “what the pope doesn’t know, the pope doesn’t have to approve.”
From English ghetto to international community
Today, Fr Jonathan continues, the profile of the congregation has changed enormously to include members of over 20 nationalities, largely from Commonwealth countries and mainly English speaking. He notes there is an increasingly large number of children, thanks to an excellent education programme led by the assistant chaplain, Rev. Dana English.
Importance of first papal visit
Reflecting on the significance of the papal visit, he says “Of course it’s special, but in a sense it’s special because it should be normal” given the increasingly good relations between Anglicans and Catholics over the past 50 years. He adds that the visit marks the “crowning of our celebrations of 200 years, we feel immensely honoured, we’re full of joy, we know it’s going to be a very special moment in our memories and for our future”
Ecumenism at work in the parishes
Finally Father Jonathan recalls the “official strengthening of the IARCCUM (International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission) process last October with the archbishop of Canterbury and the pope commissioning pairs of Roman Catholic and Anglican bishops to go back to their dioceses and work together”.
Working together in service to the poor
The twinning of All Saints with the Catholic parish of Ognissanti on the Via Appia Nuova, he says, is an example of that at “grassroots level” As the only two churches in Rome dedicated to All Saints, they have worked together for the past decade and Sunday’s event will be further commitment in terms of “learning about each other’s traditions, sharing worship in as much as we can, growing in friendship and committing ourselves to working together for the service of the poor”.
(Vatican Radio) In the journey of the Christian, truth is not negotiable; rather, a Christian must be just in mercy, as Jesus teaches us. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father warned against hypocrisy and the deception of a faith reduced to a “casuistic logic.”Listen to Christopher Wells' report: “Is it lawful for a husband to put away his wife?” That is the question the doctors of the law put to Jesus in the day's Gospel.Jesus does not give in to a casuistic logic, but always explains the truthThey asked the question to once more put Jesus to the test, the Pope observed. Looking to Jesus' answer, the Pope explained what matters most in the faith:“Jesus does not answer whether it is lawful or not lawful; He doesn’t enter into their casuistic logic. Because they thought of the faith only in terms of ‘Yes, you can,” or “No, you can’t” – to t...
(Vatican Radio) In the journey of the Christian, truth is not negotiable; rather, a Christian must be just in mercy, as Jesus teaches us. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father warned against hypocrisy and the deception of a faith reduced to a “casuistic logic.”
Listen to Christopher Wells' report:
“Is it lawful for a husband to put away his wife?” That is the question the doctors of the law put to Jesus in the day's Gospel.
Jesus does not give in to a casuistic logic, but always explains the truth
They asked the question to once more put Jesus to the test, the Pope observed. Looking to Jesus' answer, the Pope explained what matters most in the faith:
“Jesus does not answer whether it is lawful or not lawful; He doesn’t enter into their casuistic logic. Because they thought of the faith only in terms of ‘Yes, you can,” or “No, you can’t” – to the limits of what you can do, the limits of what you can’t do. That logic of casuistry. And He asks a question: “But what did Moses command you? What is in your Law?” And they explained the permission Moses had given to put away the wife, and they themselves fall into the trap. Because Jesus qualifies them as ‘hard of heart’: ‘Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment,’ and He speaks the truth. Without casuistry. Without permissions. The truth.”
The logic of casuistry is hypocritical, deceptive
But if this is the truth, and adultery is serious, how then, the Pope asks, does one explain that Jesus spoke “many times with an adulteress, a pagan?” That He “drank from the glass of her who was not purified?” And at the end He said to her: “I do not condemn you. Sin no more”? How does one explain that?
“And the path of Jesus – it’s quite clear – is the path from casuistry to truth and mercy. Jesus lays aside casuistry. Not here, but in other passages from the Gospel, He qualifies those who want to put Him to the test, those who think with this logic of ‘Yes, you can’ as hypocrites. Even with the fourth commandment these people refused to assist their parents with the excuse that they had given a good offering to the Church. Hypocrites. Casuistry is hypocritical. It is a hypocritical thought. ‘Yes, you can; no, you can’t’… which then becomes more subtle, more diabolical: But what is the limit for those who can? But from here to here I can’t. It is the deception of casuistry.
From casuistry to truth to mercy: this is the Christian path
The path of the Christian, then, does not give into the logic of casuistry, but responds with the truth, which is accompanied, following the example of Jesus, by mercy – “because He is the Incarnation of the Mercy of the Father, and He cannot deny Himself. He cannot deny Himself because He is the truth of the Father, and He cannot deny Himself because He is the Mercy of the Father.”
Justice and mercy: This is the path that makes us happy
“And this street that Jesus teaches us,” the Pope noted, is difficult to apply in the face of the temptations of life:
“When the temptation touches your heart, this path of going out from casuistry to truth and mercy is not easy: It takes the grace of God to help us to go forward in this way. And we should always ask for it. ‘Lord, grant that I might be just, but just with mercy.’ Not just, covered by casuistry. Just in mercy. As You are. Just in mercy. Then, someone with a casuistic mentality might ask, “But what is more important in God? Justice or mercy?’ This, too, is a sick thought, that seeks to go out… What is more important? They are not two things: it is only one, only one thing. In God, justice is mercy and mercy is justice. May the Lord help us to understand this street, which is not easy, but which will bring us happiness, and will make so many people happy.”
The Holy Father Pope Francis on 30 December 2016 appointed Very Rev. Fr. Benjamin Kituto Maswili as the Apostolic Administrator of the Military Ordinariate in Kenya.In a recent interview, Fr. Maswili, expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for entrusting him with the responsibility. He also thanked the Bishops of Kenya for their support.Fr. Maswili said his immediate undertaking is to offer spiritual and psychological support to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and their families affected by the attacks and killings at the hands of al-Shabaab militants while on peacekeeping mission in Somalia. “We need to train more Catechists and priests to help in counselling affected families of fallen soldiers and those of wounded soldiers to be able to live normal lives again,” He said.He added that he would promote the Pontifical Society of the Missionary Childhood or Holy Childhood amongst the children of the military forces and encourage the association to be embraced in famili...
The Holy Father Pope Francis on 30 December 2016 appointed Very Rev. Fr. Benjamin Kituto Maswili as the Apostolic Administrator of the Military Ordinariate in Kenya.
In a recent interview, Fr. Maswili, expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for entrusting him with the responsibility. He also thanked the Bishops of Kenya for their support.
Fr. Maswili said his immediate undertaking is to offer spiritual and psychological support to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and their families affected by the attacks and killings at the hands of al-Shabaab militants while on peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
“We need to train more Catechists and priests to help in counselling affected families of fallen soldiers and those of wounded soldiers to be able to live normal lives again,” He said.
He added that he would promote the Pontifical Society of the Missionary Childhood or Holy Childhood amongst the children of the military forces and encourage the association to be embraced in families.
Until his appointment by Pope Francis, Fr. Maswili who is a Religious priest from the Congregation of the Apostles of Jesus was the Principal Chaplain in the Military Ordinariate.
The position of Apostolic Administrator to the Military Ordinariate fell vacant in 2013 following the retirement of Bishop Alfred Rotich who attained the retirement age of 55 years required in military service.
Born on 25 January 1964, Col Dr Fr. Benjamin K. Maswili holds a Doctorate in Theology with a specialisation in Sacred Liturgy.
(Rose Achiego in Nairobi)
(Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va)
Vatican Weekend for February 25th, 2017 features a report on Pope’s Francis’ general audience where he urges aid for famine victims in South Sudan, a religious sister in the war-torn country tells us about the children who are already dying from hunger there, we explore the significance of Pope Francis’ historic visit to the Anglican church of All Saints in Rome and we have two reflections to mark the start of the Lenten season.Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:
Vatican Weekend for February 25th, 2017 features a report on Pope’s Francis’ general audience where he urges aid for famine victims in South Sudan, a religious sister in the war-torn country tells us about the children who are already dying from hunger there, we explore the significance of Pope Francis’ historic visit to the Anglican church of All Saints in Rome and we have two reflections to mark the start of the Lenten season.
Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:
Vatican Weekend for February 26th, 2017 features a moving testimony from a former supervisor of executions at a U.S. prison who describes how this harrowing experience led him to become a strong opponent of the death penalty and our resident Vatican watcher Joan Lewis reviews the past week’s events in the Vatican.Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:
Vatican Weekend for February 26th, 2017 features a moving testimony from a former supervisor of executions at a U.S. prison who describes how this harrowing experience led him to become a strong opponent of the death penalty and our resident Vatican watcher Joan Lewis reviews the past week’s events in the Vatican.
Listen to this program produced and presented by Susy Hodges:
(Vatican Radio) A 2-day seminar focusing on the contribution of science, culture, politics and technology in improving water and sanitation management came to a close on Friday in the Vatican. The workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences was entitled “The human right to water: An interdisciplinary focus and contributions on the central role of public policies in water and sanitation management”.Present at the seminar Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the new Vatican office for Integral Human Development, said policies for a just and fair water management are urgently needed in the quest for greater social justice and solidarity. Speaking to Vatican Radio, he said the seminar is a precious occasion to push for good water management policies:Listen: Cardinal Turkson said the meeting is important because it provides an occasion to draw attention to the fact there is still no formulation regarding access to water in terms of it being a &l...
(Vatican Radio) A 2-day seminar focusing on the contribution of science, culture, politics and technology in improving water and sanitation management came to a close on Friday in the Vatican.
The workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences was entitled “The human right to water: An interdisciplinary focus and contributions on the central role of public policies in water and sanitation management”.
Present at the seminar Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the new Vatican office for Integral Human Development, said policies for a just and fair water management are urgently needed in the quest for greater social justice and solidarity.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, he said the seminar is a precious occasion to push for good water management policies:
Listen:
Cardinal Turkson said the meeting is important because it provides an occasion to draw attention to the fact there is still no formulation regarding access to water in terms of it being a ‘right’.
He said it is high time to do that pointing out that it is general knowledge that without water human life is not possible.
He mentions the crisis situations of famine which have been declared in various parts of the world because rain patterns have failed coupled with the fact that there are populations who simply do not have access to water.
Turkson expressed his hope that proposals coming out of the Vatican seminar will reach the ears of world authorities who have to find ways to draw up good water management policies.
“We have the technology these days to make water drinkable and to grow crops in tough conditions, for example through drip irrigation” he said.
Turkson also decried the waste of water and the fact that so many take water for granted.
He said we have the responsibility to stop famine or other injustices through a legislation that guarantees access to clean water: “that would be the greatest thing we can do for our world”.
(Vatican Radio) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States – NASA – made an announcement this week about a major astronomical discovery: seven planets orbiting a star, three of which are in the so-called “habitable zone” of the solar system some 40 light-years from Earth.Scientists have named the star TRAPPIST 1 – an acronym for the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope, which is located in Chile and was the instrument chiefly used in the original discovery of the system, the planets of which are identified simply as TRAPPIST b-h.No other known system contains so many Earth-sized and probably rocky planets.Scientists say they need to study the planets’ atmospheres before determining whether they are capable of supporting life.To learn more about the discovery, we spoke with Fr. Brian Reedy SJ, a biophysicist who has designed experiments on life forms conducted aboard the International Space Station&hell...
(Vatican Radio) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States – NASA – made an announcement this week about a major astronomical discovery: seven planets orbiting a star, three of which are in the so-called “habitable zone” of the solar system some 40 light-years from Earth.
Scientists have named the star TRAPPIST 1 – an acronym for the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope, which is located in Chile and was the instrument chiefly used in the original discovery of the system, the planets of which are identified simply as TRAPPIST b-h.
No other known system contains so many Earth-sized and probably rocky planets.
Scientists say they need to study the planets’ atmospheres before determining whether they are capable of supporting life.
To learn more about the discovery, we spoke with Fr. Brian Reedy SJ, a biophysicist who has designed experiments on life forms conducted aboard the International Space Station…
An international human rights organization is campaigning for the Vietnamese government to investigate recent police violence against some 700 marchers who were trying to file a lawsuit against a polluting Taiwanese steel plant. Amnesty International said on Feb. 20 that hundreds of marchers, including women and children, from Song Ngoc Catholic Parish in Nghe An province were attacked by police on Feb. 14 while travelling to a court in neighboring Ha Tinh province. They intended to submit 619 individual complaints against Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese company that spilled toxic waste into the sea in April 2016 causing Vietnam's worst ecological disaster, according to a Reuters report. The complainants want damages totaling $20 million for the devastation of fish stocks they depended upon for their livelihoods.Father Francis Xavier Nguyen Hong An, head of Vinh Bishop's House Office, issued a statement On Fe...
An international human rights organization is campaigning for the Vietnamese government to investigate recent police violence against some 700 marchers who were trying to file a lawsuit against a polluting Taiwanese steel plant. Amnesty International said on Feb. 20 that hundreds of marchers, including women and children, from Song Ngoc Catholic Parish in Nghe An province were attacked by police on Feb. 14 while travelling to a court in neighboring Ha Tinh province. They intended to submit 619 individual complaints against Formosa Plastics, a Taiwanese company that spilled toxic waste into the sea in April 2016 causing Vietnam's worst ecological disaster, according to a Reuters report. The complainants want damages totaling $20 million for the devastation of fish stocks they depended upon for their livelihoods.
Father Francis Xavier Nguyen Hong An, head of Vinh Bishop's House Office, issued a statement On Feb. 20, calling on local Catholics to show their solidarity and support and pray for victims to recover from their wounds soon. Father An said that dozens of people were badly beaten and some were still in hospital. Father An added that Catholics must pray for "justice to be implemented in Vietnam and for authorities to be aware of protecting people's proper rights." Last weekend Catholics from a dozen parishes in Vinh Diocese held prayers for the Song Ngoc parishioners and environmental protection. The Formosa unit is based in area covered by Vihn Diocese.
Amnesty International said that unidentified people who infiltrated the protest march started to throw stones at the police who responded with tear gas and flash grenades. While running away, the group was again attacked, this time by police, with fists, rods and electric batons.
In its urgent appeal, the organization called on people around the world to appeal to the Vietnamese government to "promptly investigate the attacks against the 700 people on the Feb. 14 and bring those suspected of responsibility to account in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty." They urged the Vietnamese government to "end its harassment of peaceful protesters, respect and protect the human rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and facilitate the lodging of complaints by those affected by the April 2016 ecological disaster."
Vietnam on Fe. 22 named for the first time 11 government, provincial and industry officials as being responsible for one of its worst environmental disasters, caused by Formosa Plastics. More than 50 violations identified at Formosa's steel mill, including the unauthorised use of a dirtier production process, led to the disaster and sparked several public protests, with coordinated rallies in major cities and an outpouring of anger on social media. After months of mystery over the cause of the fish deaths, and public outrage against both the Hanoi government and one of the communist state's largest investors, Formosa agreed in June to pay $500 million in compensation. (Source: UCAN/Reuters)
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Friday with participants in a conference on the human right to water, organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.Listen to the report by Philippa Hitchen: Pope Francis said the questions concerning the right to water are not marginal, but basic and pressing. Basic, because where there is water there is life, and pressing, because our common home needs to be protected.Yet we must also realise, he said, that not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality. The right to safe drinking water, he insisted, is a basic human right which cries out for practical solutions and needs to be given the central place it deserves in the framework of public policy. Our right to water, the Pope continued, gives rise to an inseparable duty. Every state, he said, is called to implement, also through juridical instruments, the Resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly since 2010 concerning the huma...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Friday with participants in a conference on the human right to water, organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Listen to the report by Philippa Hitchen:
Pope Francis said the questions concerning the right to water are not marginal, but basic and pressing. Basic, because where there is water there is life, and pressing, because our common home needs to be protected.
Yet we must also realise, he said, that not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality. The right to safe drinking water, he insisted, is a basic human right which cries out for practical solutions and needs to be given the central place it deserves in the framework of public policy.
Our right to water, the Pope continued, gives rise to an inseparable duty. Every state, he said, is called to implement, also through juridical instruments, the Resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly since 2010 concerning the human right to a secure supply of drinking water. Similarly, non-state actors are required to assume their own responsibilities with respect to this right which is so decisive for the future of humanity.
Noting that every day a thousand children die from water-related illnesses and millions of people consume polluted water, the Pope said we must give high priority to educating future generations about the gravity of the situation.
We cannot be indifferent to these facts, he said, but rather we must work to develop a culture of care and encounter, in order to make our common home a more liveable and fraternal place, where none are excluded, but all are able to live and grow in dignity.
Please find below the official English translation of the Pope's address:
Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Conference on the Human Right to Water
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
23 February 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good afternoon! I greet all of you and I thank you for taking part in this meeting concerned with the human right to water and the need for suitable public policies in this regard. It is significant that you have gathered to pool your knowledge and resources in order to respond to this urgent need of today’s men and women.
The Book of Genesis tells us that water was there in the beginning (cf. Gen 1:2); in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, it is “useful, chaste and humble” (cf. Canticle of the Creatures). The questions that you are discussing are not marginal, but basic and pressing. Basic, because where there is water there is life, making it possible for societies to arise and advance. Pressing, because our common home needs to be protected. Yet it must also be realized that not all water is life-giving, but only water that is safe and of good quality.
All people have a right to safe drinking water. This is a basic human right and a central issue in today’s world (cf. Laudato Si’, 30; Caritas in Veritate, 27). This is a problem that affects everyone and is a source of great suffering in our common home. It also cries out for practical solutions capable of surmounting the selfish concerns that prevent everyone from exercising this fundamental right. Water needs to be given the central place it deserves in the framework of public policy. Our right to water is also a duty to water. Our right to water gives rise to an inseparable duty. We are obliged to proclaim this essential human right and to defend it – as we have done – but we also need to work concretely to bring about political and juridical commitments in this regard. Every state is called to implement, also through juridical instruments, the Resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly since 2010 concerning the human right to a secure supply of drinking water. Similarly, non-state actors are required to assume their own responsibilities with respect to this right.
The right to water is essential for the survival of persons (cf. Laudato Si’, 30) and decisive for the future of humanity. High priority needs to be given to educating future generations about the gravity of the situation. Forming consciences is a demanding task, one requiring conviction and dedication.
The statistics provided by the United Nations are troubling, nor can they leave us indifferent. Each day a thousand children die from water-related illnesses and millions of persons consume polluted water. These facts are serious; we have to halt and reverse this situation. It is not too late, but it is urgent to realize the need and essential value of water for the good of mankind.
Respect for water is a condition for the exercise of the other human rights (cf. ibid., 30). If we consider this right fundamental, we will be laying the foundations for the protection of other rights. But if we neglect this basic right, how will we be able to protect and defend other rights? Our commitment to give water its proper place calls for developing a culture of care (cf. ibid., 231) and encounter, joining in common cause all the necessary efforts made by scientists and business people, government leaders and politicians. We need to unite our voices in a single cause; then it will no longer be a case of hearing individual or isolated voices, but rather the plea of our brothers and sisters echoed in our own, and the cry of the earth for respect and responsible sharing in a treasure belonging to all. In this culture of encounter, it is essential that each state act as a guarantor of universal access to safe and clean water.
God the Creator does not abandon us in our efforts to provide access to clean drinking water to each and to all. It is my hope that this Conference will help strengthen your convictions and that you will leave in the certainty that your work is necessary and of paramount importance so that others can live. With the “little” we have, we will be helping to make our common home a more liveable and fraternal place, where none are rejected or excluded, but all enjoy the goods needed to live and to grow in dignity.
Thank you.
