Month: July 2017

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In wake of North Korea threat, bishops call for elimination of nuclear weapons

July 6, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Jul 6, 2017 / 11:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just days after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach Alaska, bishops in the United States and Europe have called for the “total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

“Even a limited nuclear exchange would have devastating consequences for people and the planet. Tragically, human error or miscalculation could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe,” the Bishops said in a joint declaration on Thursday.

“We call upon the United States and European nations to work with other nations to map out a credible, verifiable and enforceable strategy for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

Entitled “Nuclear Disarmament: Seeking Human Security,” the declaration was issued to coincide with the conclusion of a meeting hosted this week by the United Nations “to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.”

While the United States and most European nations are not participating in the U.N. meeting, the bishops urged any country that is building up their nuclear arsenal to reconsider the effectiveness of this as a security strategy.

“…our world has become increasingly multipolar with a variety of threats reaching from terrorism, asymmetrical conflicts, cybersecurity to environmental degradation and poverty, which raises doubts about the adequacy of nuclear deterrence as an effective response to these challenges,” they said.

The also noted that building up a nuclear arms base is a waste of money, reiterating a point Pope Francis made in 2014, when he said that prioritizing spending on nuclear weapons “is a mistake and a misallocation of resources which would be far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the fight against extreme poverty.”

In another message in March 2017, Pope Francis said that peace and security were not built on a race to power and arms, but on “on justice, on integral human development, on respect for fundamental human rights, on the protection of creation, on the participation of all in public life, on trust between peoples, on the support of peaceful institutions, on access to education and health, on dialogue and solidarity.”

Francis is joined by numerous other Catholic leaders including Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI who all opposed the development of nuclear weapons.

The bishops closed their statement with another statement of Pope Francis, who said in 2014: “Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states. The youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more. They deserve a peaceful world order based on the unity of the human family, grounded on respect, cooperation, solidarity and compassion. Now is the time to counter the logic of fear with the ethic of responsibility, and so foster a climate of trust and sincere dialogue.”

The statement was signed by Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of the Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions, and by Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the committee on International Justice and Peace for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

 

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Pope St. John Paul II’s Former Spokesman Navarro-Valls Dies at 80

July 6, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Jul 6, 2017 / 08:23 am (National Catholic Register).- Pope St. John Paul II’s former spokesman, Dr. Joaquìn Navarro-Valls, has died at the age of 80.

A numerary of Opus Dei and a trained doctor, the Spanish journalist had been diagnosed with terminal cancer some weeks ago.

He passed away at 8:41 this evening at home after being discharged from the Opus Dei-run Campus Biomedico hospital in Rome.

His current successor, Holy See Press Office Director Greg Burke, announced the news yesterday with the following tweets:

Joaquin Navarro. RIP. Grace under pressure.

— Greg Burke (@GregBurkeRome) July 5, 2017

The Vatican’s chief spokesman from 1984 to 2006, Navarro-Valls had an influential role during John Paul II’s pontificate, helping the late Pontiff to communicate effectively and bringing the papacy into the modern age of social communications.

He resigned as spokesman on July 11, 2006 and was replaced by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

Joaquin Navarro, 1936-2017.
Keep Smiling. pic.twitter.com/VCqL4GH5sS

— Greg Burke (@GregBurkeRome) July 5, 2017

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Bishop responds: No, abortion isn’t a Canadian ‘core’ value

July 5, 2017 CNA Daily News 4

Ottawa, Canada, Jul 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Responding to a Canadian politician who called abortion a central aspect of the country’s human rights efforts, a local bishop said the procedure is in fact deeply harmful – especially to women.

“While the Catholic Bishops of Canada share your concern for advancing the respect and dignity of women…we feel the need to point out, with all due respect, that your statement above is erroneous, confusing, and misguided,” Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canada’s Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a June 29 letter.  

The letter comes in response to a recent speech given by Canada’s Minister in Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, to the House of Commons.

“Women’s rights are human rights,” she said June 6. “That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy.”

Bishop Douglas Crosby cited other major issues involving women’s rights that Freeland failed to mention, such as Canada’s economic partnerships with countries that allow societal oppression and outright brutality against women.

“Female infants are murdered for not being male; (countries) in which women earn less than men for the same job or where they do not enjoy the same privileges under the law, including the right to education or protection from rape, physical violence.”

He then said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision last year to pledge $650 million in support of abortion and reproductive rights globally showed misguided priority. He compared this to the nearly $120 million pledged in response to severe food shortages, striking heavily in many parts of Africa.

The bishop noted Freeland’s statement in her speech that “it is clearly not our role to impose our values around the world. No one appointed us the world’s policemen.”

Yet imposing the ‘value’ of abortion rights offends the views of many cultures around the world and domestically, he said. Belief in an unborn child’s right to life – held by Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, and even non-believers of good will – should be respected, the bishop added.

In his letter, Archbishop Crosby agreed with Freeland’s emphasis on Canada’s vital role in global progress, but said it must respect the rest of the world’s opinions and be conducive to the human person, both woman and child.

“If Canada’s foreign policy needs a stable ground it cannot possibly be abortion advocacy and ‘sexual reproductive rights.’ And if the dignity of women is to have a universal moral foundation it cannot be based on principles that override the rights of the unborn child.”

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Vatican says it has worked to resolve past issues at Pope’s hospital

July 5, 2017 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 03:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Vatican official confirmed yesterday that Bambino Gesu hospital has had past problems that the Vatican has worked to resolve.
 
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said at a Vatican press conference July 4 that a recently-released report on the hospital from the Associated Press contained some things that were “clearly unfounded” but also highlighted valid issues that the hospital has had in the past.
 
The AP report, which examined the hospital’s operations under its previous 2008-2015 administration, found among other things that the Vatican-owned hospital had shifted its focus from its patients to profits and had some subpar standards of care.  
 
“For what regards the problems that were found, there was serious attention and effort to resolve them,” Cardinal Parolin said.
 
In 2014, the Vatican conducted its own report on the hospital after fielding several complaints, and found many of the same things, including a focus on profits and breaches in accepted medical protocols including the reuse of disposable equipment, early awakening from surgery and risk of infection due to overcrowding.
 
After the report, a widespread overhaul of the hospital staff and administration was conducted, and a 2015 report found that many of the previous issues had been resolved.
 
The Hospital Bambino Gesù was founded in Rome in 1869 as the first pediatric hospital in Italy. In 1924 it was donated to the Holy See and became the “Pope’s Hospital”. While it receives funding from the Italian government, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Italian government’s health authorities.
 
Bambino Gesu fell under scrutiny again in 2016, when the Vatican reported that it was investigating whether former hospital president Giuseppe Profiti had allocated some $200,000 of hospital funds to refurbish the apartment where Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone lives.
 
In September 2016, Pope Francis warned the hospital’s new president and administration not to fall into corruption, which he called “the worst cancer” a hospital could have.
 
At the press conference yesterday, Cardinal Parolin and current hospital president Mariella Enoc also presented the hospital’s annual report for 2016.
 
Among other things, the report highlighted that the hospital had an increase of organ transplants and research projects that have identified 10 new “rare” diseases.
 
The Hospital Bambino Gesù is the only European pediatric hospital where all types of transplants are performed. In 2016, 339 organ and tissue transplants were performed, a four percent increase from the previous year.
 
In addition, 242 research projects and 423 clinical trials involving 5,300 patients were undertaken in the past year. In all, 750 physicians, biologists and other health professionals have been involved in hospital-driven scientific research projects. Bambino Gesù also reported a reduction in hospital infections from 7.6 percent in 2006 to 1.8 percent in 2016, or 76 percent less in 10 years.
 
Enoc said that while the problems in the AP report occurred before she was in charge, she urged anyone at the hospital who had issues in the future to come forward.
 
“I can say that the climate today is more serene, and I urge everyone when there is a problem … that we talk and talk and not keep it inside and then have it explode,” she said.

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Vatican, al-Azhar focus on papal trip speeches in latest meeting

July 5, 2017 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 02:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of Pope Francis’ whirlwind visit to Egypt, the Vatican and the prestigious Muslim al-Azhar University have held another meeting, focusing on the landmark speeches given during the Pope’s visit.

The meeting, which took place July 3 at the apostolic nunciature in Egypt, was arranged by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the al-Azhar Center for Dialogue (CAD).

It fell two months after Pope Francis’ April 28-29 visit to Cairo, visit to Cairo, the result of a recent thawing in relations between the Vatican and the university, which had been strained since 2011.

According to a July 4 Vatican communique, the meeting focused primarily on the speeches of both Pope Francis and the Grad Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed Muhammad al-Tayyib, during the Pope’s visit.

Specifically, “the joint commitment to continue shared reflections, aimed at promoting a fruitful and effective interreligious dialogue was expressed, focusing in particular on the promotion of peace and the building of a more just world.”

Hailed as one of the most important speeches he’s given so far in his time as Bishop of Rome, the Pope’s opening address to the International Conference on Peace, his first speech of the trip, issued harsh condemnation of religiously-motivated violence and a strong call for it’s rejection in the global sphere.

In the April 28 address, Francis said that “peace alone is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his Name.”

“Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear ‘No!’ to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God,” he said.

Going on, the Pope said we have “an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God.”

Violence and faith, belief and hatred, are incompatible, he said, and asked participants to join him in this affirmation: “together let us declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence, whether physical, social, educational or psychological,” he said, as the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause.

Likewise,  al-Tayyib, who in his role as Grand Imam of al-Azhar is widely considered to be the highest authority in the 1.5-billion strong Sunni Muslim world, said in his speech that humanity ought to “stress the value of peace, justice, equality and human rights regardless of religion, color, race, or language.”

“We need to liberate the image of religions from false concepts, misunderstandings, malpractices, and false religiosity attached to them. These evils bestir conflicts, spread hate, and instigate violence,” he said, adding that “we should not hold religion accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers.”

He thanked the Pope for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism,” and voiced his commitment to working together to establish peaceful coexistence and strengthen dialogue.

While many scholars are hesitant at to accept such messages from al-Azhar, claiming there is still a large discrepancy between what is said and what is taught in their curriculum, the restoration of ties with the Vatican is generally seen as a step in the right direction.

This most recent meeting between the Vatican and al-Azhar is the latest step in developing this dialogue.

It was attended by various representatives from both the Holy See and the Islamic university, including, on behalf of al-Azhar, Sheikh Prof. Mohey al-Din Afifi Ahmed, Secretary General of the Academy of Islamic Research of al-Azhar and Coordinator of dialogue at the CAD, and Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam, a member of the center.

The Vatican delegation included Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the council for interreligious dialogue; Msgr. Khaled Akasheh, head of the dicastery’s Office for Islam; and Fr. Jean Druel O.P., Director of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo.

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