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Vatican City, Feb 22, 2017 / 11:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met Wednesday morning with the families of nine of the victims of a terrorist attack which took place in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, last summer.

The attack was carried out July 1, 2016 during a hostage scenario in the Hotel Artisan Bakery café in Dhaka. Twenty-eight people died in the attack – including six gunmen and two police officers. 

Most of the 20 hostages killed in the attack were foreigners from Italy and Japan, with one from India and one from the U.S. Although the attack was staged by radical Islamist militants, authorities said the gunmen had no ties to the Islamic State, the BBC reports.  

Pope Francis met Feb. 22 with 36 family members of the nine Italian victims of the attack. During the visit he embraced and comforted the families, Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reports.

“It's easy to take the road from love that leads to hatred, while it is difficult to do the opposite: from bitterness and hatred to go towards love,” he said.

“You are left in anger, bitterness and desire for revenge, but you have embarked, with the pain inside, on the path of love to build and help the people of Bangladesh, especially young people so that they can study: this is to sow peace and I thank you, for me it is an example.”

The bishop of Alife-Caiazzo, Valentino Di Cerbo, was also present at the meeting and presented profiles on the lives of the nine victims to the Pope. During the visit, Francis was also presented with nine olive tree seedlings with the names of the victims written on pictures of doves attached.

Those present also shared about special projects they are working on following the tragedy as a way to honor their loved ones: one brother of a victim is leaving soon to volunteer in Dhaka with Aid to the Church in Need and another family has helped to build a church in a small town in the south of Bangladesh.

Another project provides study grants for young people in Bangladesh.

One day after the attack, the Pope sent a letter expressing his heartfelt condolence and condemning the “barbarous” act as an offence “against God and humanity.”

Signed on behalf of the Pope by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the letter said that in commending the dead to God’s mercy, “His Holiness gives the assurance of his prayers for the grieving families and the wounded.”

As he often does following violent attacks or deadly natural disasters, Pope Francis also remembered the victims during his Sunday Angelus July 3, praying for the conversion of persons “blinded by hate” who commit such acts of violence.

“I express my closeness to the families of the victims and the wounded in yesterday's attack in Dhaka,” he said after the Angelus, also leading the crowds in praying the Hail Mary.

It is believed that Pope Francis may make a trip to Bangladesh sometime in 2017, although no dates have been announced.

Newly installed Cardinal and Archbishop of Dhaka, Patrick D’Rozario, the first prelate from Bangladesh to receive a red hat, told journalists in November that if the Pope comes, it will likely be near the end of 2017, after the country’s monsoon season.

Pope Francis’ visit to Bangladesh will be “a great event for the whole Church in the country, especially for interreligious harmony, the rights of government workers and for climate change,” Cardinal D'Rozario said. 

“He’s a kind of ‘spiritual guru,’ the Holy Father,” the cardinal said, predicting the visit will “boost-up the spirituality, the communion of all the people.”

It is possible the Pope’s visit with the families of victims Feb. 22 means he will not be visiting the country after all. However, if he does go, it is a strong sign of Francis’ connection to the reality the country faces.

Islam is the major religion in Bangladesh by far. As of 2013, some 89 percent of the population was Muslim, with only around 10 percent Hindu, and Christians and Buddhists making up less than 1 percent of the population. 

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Baltimore, Md., Feb 22, 2017 / 02:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Both Pope Francis and St. Francis of Assisi provide the right perspective on caring for creation in a way that places care for humanity at its center, said Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta.

“They invite us to see and to respect the grandeur of God’s creation – beginning with the lofty dignity of the human person and our divinely inspired responsibility to care for the world which God has entrusted to us,” Archbishop Gregory said Feb. 16, delivering a keynote speech at the Mid-Atlantic Congress held in Baltimore.

The congress, co-sponsored by the Association of Catholic Publishers and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, aims to help form pastoral and administrative leaders. 

Archbishop Gregory’s keynote focused on care for creation. He said that creation is good in itself, not simply because it is profitable or useful or exploitable.

“First and foremost, it is good because it reflects God’s goodness itself. In the very act of creation, God was bestowing upon all of nature an undeniable reflection of His own divine goodness,” he said.

And human beings are the apex of that creation, he stressed.

“Human beings are God’s creation that most perfectly reflects His own divinity. If we are to begin to safeguard God’s creation, we must launch an increased reverence for every human life,” the archbishop said.

For Archbishop Gregory, Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” proposes an “integral ecology” that reminds us “that we are the custodians of creation and not its exploiters.”

“God’s creation invites us to enter into a threefold relationship – with God, with one another and with nature itself,” he explained. “Each of these relationships is interconnected and ultimately they are intended to enhance and to strengthen one another.”

Despite important concerns for the planet’s fragility, safeguarding human life is “the very starting point of environmental security,” he said. 

Respect for human life extends from those in the womb to frightened immigrants who may or may not have documented status. It extends to the mentally or emotionally fragile, prisoners guilty of “horrendous crimes,” and the neglected poor who “may be seen as inconvenient but who nonetheless are our brothers and sisters in the Lord,” the archbishop said. 

Archbishop Gregory, who was the first African-American to serve as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also discussed recent racial tensions, unrest and violence.

Baltimore itself witnessed protests and severe unrest in April 2015 after an African-American man arrested by police died after injuries apparently received in police custody. 

“For  the  past  several  years,  our  nation  has  faced  a  tragic  eruption of widespread violence that has directly impacted the  African-American  community  as  well  as  the  law enforcement communities in too many different locations – including this City of Baltimore,” the archbishop reflected.

The violence has put neighbors “on edge” and has threatened the peace of neighborhoods.

“We Americans have begun to discuss our common future as though the civil rights achievements of the past generation had not taken place,” he said. “Our public language has grown so more severe and offensive.”

“Some people have begun to question if not even to doubt our future as a home community unified by a sense of national identity,” Archbishop Gregory continued.

He noted the U.S. bishops’ conference has worked to discuss these trends. Archbishop Gregory praised the leadership of the Archbishop of Baltimore William E. Lori in aiding an ecumenical and inter-faith response to the Baltimore unrest. These efforts are “signs of hope,” he said. 

Returning to environmental issues, Archbishop Gregory said the Atlanta archdiocese partnered with the University of Georgia’s environmental department to prepare a local response to the encyclical.

The archbishop lamented the “destructive exploitation” and the “wanton damage” done to the environment and reminded his audience that the poor are especially harmed by environmental destruction. 

He cited the example of St. Francis of Assisi, who “saw God’s fingerprints throughout every element of creation.” 

In the face of threats to the earth from technological exploitation and greed, he suggested Catholics need to ask St. Francis “to rekindle within each one of us a share of his profound spirit of wonder, awe and gratitude for God’s creation.” 

“Without the benefit of our modern scientific acumen and expertise,” he noted, “Saint Francis was able to view all of nature as a precious treasure that God has entrusted to us to be shared and preserved for those who will follow us.”
 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Alexander Ermochenko,

By Carol Glatz

ROME (CNS) -- The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church called on the international community to "stop the aggressor" in Ukraine's "forgotten conflict" and help the 1 million children in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

"I am appealing to the international community to defend Ukrainian children, victims of war, keeping in mind that in our country we are experiencing a humanitarian emergency in Europe that has not been experienced since the Second World War," said Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Despite efforts the past three years, a "stable cease-fire" has never been achieved, "therefore, we ask international organizations to continue diplomatic approaches to stop the aggressor and end the war so that true peace can be reached," he said in a written statement received by Catholic News Service Feb. 22.

The archbishop made the appeal after UNICEF released report Feb. 17 saying that 1 million children in Ukraine were in urgent need of humanitarian aid -- nearly double the number of kids in need the same time last year.

The increased numbers were due to the ongoing fighting and deteriorating economic situation of families, loss of housing and reduced access to health care and education, the report said. One in five schools in eastern Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed.

"Hundreds of daily cease-fire violations put children's physical safety and psychological well-being at risk," the UNICEF report said. Thousands of children face the danger of landmines and unexploded ordinance as well as active shelling in their neighborhoods, it said.

"Teachers, psychologists and parents report signs of severe psychosocial distress among children including nightmares, aggression, social withdrawal and panic triggered by loud noises," it said.

In his appeal, Archbishop Shevchuk said the Catholic Church has a moral obligation to speak up for the voiceless, particularly the children.

"The increasingly tragic situation of the nation -- there are 1.7 million people displaced -- remains invisible in the eyes of the general public," he said. Such tragedy, he said, "cannot and must not remain invisible."

Meanwhile, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council during an open debate Feb. 21 that "all necessary steps should be taken to enforce the cease-fire and to implement the measures agreed upon" for Ukraine while respecting basic human rights and international laws.

All efforts must be made to end "this unresolved conflict and to find a political solution through dialogue and negotiation," he said. It is also "the obligation of states to refrain from actions that destabilize neighboring countries and work together to create the necessary conditions for peace and reconciliation."

In March 2014, Russia annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine, and about a month later, fighting began along Ukraine's eastern border. Russian-speaking separatists with support from the Russian government and its troops have been battling Ukrainian forces.

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IMAGE: CNS/Dennis Sadowski

By Dennis Sadowski

MODESTO, Calif. (CNS) -- The push for sanctuary was on a lot of minds at the U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements.

Concerns about President Donald Trump's intention to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants rose throughout the Feb. 16-19 gathering of more than 600 grass-roots and church leaders in California's Central Valley.

Declaring sanctuary for people fearing forced removal and the breakup of family life was one way to resist government actions, activists and Catholic clergy said.

Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Deliman of Philadelphia, who also is pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in suburban Bensalem, received a standing ovation when he told the gathering Feb. 18 that "what would be disruptive would be if we would declare our parish a sanctuary church."

"If that would spread and every parish in the diocese would do the same, we certainly could do what Jesus would want us to do," said Bishop Deliman, who has ministered alongside Latinos in the archdiocese for most of the 44 years of his priesthood.

Afterward, the bishop told Catholic News Service that offering sanctuary at the parish is being considered and that he planned to discuss the idea with Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

Representatives of community and church organizations working with unauthorized immigrants reported throughout the meeting that they have seen a rising level of fear and uncertainty among Latinos since Trump took office Jan. 20 and started to make good on campaign pledges to crack down on people in the country illegally.

In the government's most recent action, the Department of Homeland Security Feb. 21 outlined guidelines that White House officials said would enhance enforcement of immigration laws inside the country as well as prevent additional unauthorized immigration.

Meeting participants blamed the institutionalization of racism and the widening acceptance of demonizing "the other," people who are not part of the dominant American culture, for the backlash at brown and black-skinned people including Muslims.

Ingrid Vaca, of Dreamers Moms USA International, implored participants throughout the meeting to step up to protect all people being targeted for deportation and who may be on the receiving end of unwanted racial epithets.

"Now more than ever we need to work in unity and scream and shout in unity," Vaca said during one discussion.

Arthur McFarland, a member of St. Patrick Parish in Charleston, South Carolina, and a leader with Charleston Area Justice Ministry, said prayer was helpful, but action also was necessary.

"If you want change, you have to get off your knees," he said.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the assembly Feb. 17 that fear has spread since Trump's election in November even though it was President Barack Obama who presided over the deportation of a record 2.5 million people in his eight-year presidency. Children at archdiocesan schools are "terrified" that they will return home to find their parents deported, he said.

He noted that he did not appreciate "the sense of indifference and cruelty that seems to be coming from this new administration in Washington."

"It is not right that people are being forced to live this way," Archbishop Gomez said. "No matter if they have broken our immigration laws. They are still human beings. They have dignity and human rights."

The archbishop reiterated the USCCB's stance on the need for comprehensive immigration reform as an issue of social justice. Neither the new Congress nor the current administration has proposed legislation addressing the country's immigration concerns, however.

Such comments were welcomed, but grass-roots activists implored clergy, particularly Catholic bishops, to speak more often from the pulpit about such concerns and to step up to lead demonstrations protesting racism, discrimination and deportations.

Addressing another perspective of world migration, Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugee Section of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, told the gathering that while millions of people today are on the move globally, the situation is not a crisis because the migration of people has occurred throughout human history.

Father Czerny recalled how he and his brother as children fled communist Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1948 with his family because his parents wanted a better life for their sons. The same situation characterizes migrants today, he said.

The Jesuit called for people to respond to the needs of migrants because families do not make a decision to flee their homelands without deep thought and reflection.

"Migration should be a step toward life and hope," he said, "and not falling to fear and repression."

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Editor's Note: All sessions from the World Meeting of Popular Movements can be viewed online at http://popularmovements.org/live-stream.

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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.

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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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