Spanish Planned Parenthood subsidiary stripped of government benefits

Rome, Italy, Jun 27, 2018 / 02:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Referencing being nominated a cardinal, sometimes called “princes of the Church,” Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon said he thinks of himself only as a father, pastor, and servant.

“I say to the [Iraqi] people: I am a father, a pastor – not a prince,” the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church said to journalists June 27, one day ahead of the ordinary consistory which will create 14 new cardinals, including the patriarch.

“As the Father asks us: we are servants, we should serve… with the joy of the people,” he said, noting in an earlier interview with EWTN News Nightly that patriarchs, like cardinals, also wear a red cassock, which symbolizes a willingness to die for the faith.

It can also symbolize the martyrs of the Chaldean Church, he continued. “Even now we [still have] martyrs. And I do hope that the blood of the martyrs will be fertile, will bring us a future, will bring us a new situation [in Iraq].”

He said patriarchs of the Eastern Churches feel strongly that they are called to serve their people, to be close to them, and to help them in their need, not to seek “prestige or privileges.”

“This is the call of my nomination as a cardinal. It is not a prize or a personal reward. [It is] to be sent anew for my mission, a new vocation.”

Sako was born July 4, 1948 in Zakho, Iraq. He was ordained a priest of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Mosul in 1974.

In 2002 he was selected as Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, and was confirmed and consecrated bishop in 2003.

While Archbishop of Kirkuk, he served, from 2010, as the last apostolic administrator of the Chaldrean Eparchy of Sulaimaniya, until the see was suppressed in 2013.

He was selected and confirmed as Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon and Archbishop of Baghdad in 2013.

In 2008 and 2010 he was awarded the Defensor Fidei and international Pax Christi awards.

He has been vocal about the importance of disestablishing Islam in Iraq, to create an equal ground for all Iraqi citizens, especially Christians and other minorities, and has preached the need for mutual respect and cooperation between Muslims and Christians in the country.

The patriarch has also expressed concern at the exodus of Christians from Iraq since 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday, Patriarch Sako said he believes Pope Francis’ decision to make him a cardinal is a comment “on the universality of the Church – not dividing the [Eastern] Churches from other Churches.”

It shows the pope’s spiritual fatherhood and special care for the Middle East, he said. Being made cardinal shows Francis’ support for the Iraqi people “much more than money [would].”

Patriarch Sako will be the first Chaldean patriarch who may be able to vote in a papal conclave. His predecessor, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, was not elevated to cardinal until shortly after his 80th birthday.

He said that following his nomination, which was a “surprise” to him, there was “a feast, a big celebration, among Iraqis. Because for them this is really a sign of hope… a big support internationally.”

Sako also noted that he received calls and visits of congratulation upon the publication of the news, not only from Christians, but from many Muslims and many of the country’s leaders, including President Fuad Masum and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Though many believe the future of Christians in Iraq is bleak, the patriarch was confident things will improve, saying he is “convinced that the future will be much better than now” and that someday there will be complete freedom of conscience.

“Christians should also have patience and hope. We don’t have to think that we are persecuted… We have to be patient,” he said. “I am sure our Church will grow, that Christianity will grow.”

Material from EWTN News Nightly was used in this report.

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Rome, Italy, Sep 26, 2017 / 12:24 am (CNA).- After a long struggle with alcoholism and homelessness, Melanie Medina has turned her life around. She said that a recent pilgrimage to Rome has proven that change is possible, and that “good things can happen.”

Medina spoke to CNA at the end of a six-day visit to Rome. She is the fourth person selected to go on pilgrimage to Rome through Denver Homeless Ministries (DHM).

“It’s all just a blessing, everything’s been turning totally different than the way it was before, everything,” Medina said.

DHM is an organization working to provide opportunities to serve the homeless as both “equals and friends.” DHM offers the pilgrimage as a way to encourage those who have made steps to change their lives.

This year’s pilgrimage lasted from Sept. 9-14 and consisted of Medina, trip organizer Tanya Cangelosi, and chaperone Christine Logan.

The pilgrimage was organized with the help of the Catholic Travel Center (CTC), who payed for their hotel, limo transportation service to the airport, and Medina’s birthday dinner while in Rome. The CTC also took care of their flights after a delay left them stranded at the airport.

Until last year, Medina, 38, had been living on the streets and was struggling with alcoholism. She grew up in an alcoholic family, and from a young age she was often responsible for taking care of her parents and cleaning them up at night.

Medina left home at the age of 15, and went to stay with her older sister, who was also an alcoholic. She started hanging out with gangs and eventually entered an abusive relationship. She left the man after having two children with him by the age of 19.

After entering another long-term relationship and having her third child, Medina began to drink heavily herself, but eventually broke up with the man and entered rehab. When she got out, her ex-boyfriend offered to pay rent on their apartment so she and her kids could stay together while she got on her feet.

However, the man went back on his promise, leaving Medina on the streets, while her kids went to live with her mother.

Although she tried to stay sober, Medina started drinking again when the camp she made with a friend was raided and all of their things taken. When they moved camps, they would often have to put their food and belongings in the trees, so rats and mice didn’t get into them.

Throughout her time on the streets Medina was beaten several times, once until she was unrecognizable, and she was also raped. Last year she began having severe problems with her feet and could barely walk.

With no diagnosis, she bandaged her feet and quit wearing shoes. After awhile they began to heal, and it was around that time that Medina and her boyfriend, Christopher, decided to make a change and get off the streets.

In her comments to CNA, Medina said the turning point for her was Christopher: “ I met a really good guy out there, and we just wanted a better life for ourselves and to get my family back together,” she said.

After Medina’s visit to Rome this year, Christopher has been selected to go on next year’s pilgrimage.

In comments to CNA, trip organizer Tanya Cangelosi said she chose Medina for this year’s trip because she was an answer to a prayer on Easter morning last year.

Before driving to the Knights of Columbus hall where she kept all of the DHM outreach materials, Cangelosi said a prayer, and told the Lord that if he wanted her to take someone to Rome, he needed to put the person in her path that day, since time was getting short to make the arrangements.

As she drove up to the hall, Cangelosi said Medina walked up to her “and I didn’t even recognize her because she’d been alcohol free for several days and she look like a total different person.”

“I knew at that point she was the one that was supposed to go. And that’s how she was chosen totally by the Lord!”

Medina said that the main highlights of the Rome visit were seeing the Sistine Chapel and the Leonardo Museum, which showcases the inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci, who despite his widespread fame for painting, was also a prolific inventor.

Medina said she especially appreciated the art: “Everything is pretty much art around here, all the oldish stuff, I love how antique it is.”

“The drivers are a little bit crazy, and the scooters are nuts! But just to see…the people that actually live here, they’ve been good,” she said, explaining that Romans she met were friendly and welcoming.

Medina, Cangelosi and Logan also had front row tickets to Pope Francis’ general audience Sept. 13, which happened to coincide with her 38th birthday. Although she didn’t have an impression about the Pope beforehand, Medina said that as he was greeting people, “he seemed really friendly.”

“There was one little boy who got to meet him at the end, down near where we were sitting, and just the way he interacted with him, he didn’t seem any different,” she said, noting that Pope Francis even ruffled the boy’s hair while talking and taking pictures with the family.

“He treated them all the same, as if he were one of them, so to me that’s important,” she said, and voiced admiration for the fact that the Pope would hold the audience despite the fact that he had just returned from a six-day visit to Colombia the day before.

Francis, she said, “made time to still do this for his people, so to me that’s great. He didn’t say ‘I can’t do it this week because I’m out of town.’ He made it important to come back.”

She voiced her thanks to Cangelosi and DHM for the arranging the trip, saying it was “quite an experience, seeing a whole new place.”

“I’m a person that’s not good with change, and then to come across the world with people that I know, but not as well, I was very nervous but they’ve made me feel at home,” she said. “I’ve met some great people out here. I got to see a lot of great stuff, history, and I got to see the Pope. It’s been wonderful.”

Medina also commented on the difference between homelessness in Rome and homelessness in Denver, saying, “Rome treats there homeless so much better. They let them sleep at the train station. In Denver you cannot do that.”

“You go to Union Station out in Denver, and you just close your eyes and they’re kicking you out or making you wake up,” whereas in Rome “they let them just hang out, and the way I see it, a lot of them are a lot more mellow, I think because they have a lot more freedom. They have the right to rest.”

She recalled how, after her birthday dinner, the group went to Rome’s Termini train station near their hotel and handed out their leftovers to the homeless sleeping outside.

“I’ve been there before, so sometimes in the evening it was great to get a white box,” she said, referring to the typically white takeaway boxes given to customers at restaurants.

For Medina, most important was simply being acknowledged, because “I’m still a person, I’m here.”

Speaking to others in her situation who might want to get off the streets but are perhaps struggling to take the first steps, Medina told them to “have faith. That’s all we did.”

“If you want it and it doesn’t happen right away, nothing happens right away. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it takes time,” she said. “You just have to be positive about it and keep trying, because when it’s time and you’re ready, God will be there for you, he’ll help you out.”

In her comments to CNA, Cangelosi said that while it’s still too early to tell what overall impact the trip has made on Medina, having the incentive of Christopher come next year “has got to make a huge impact on their life as they both have to try to stay clean, meaning alcohol free.”

They have to keep their jobs and their apartments, she said, explaining that “that right there is life-changing for both of them.”

Cangelosi said a highlight for her was seeing Medina hand out their leftovers to the homeless at Termini, which was “beautiful.” Medina, she said, “was phenomenal. Honestly she made me laugh daily. It was a joy to see her joy.”

As far as previous participants in the Rome pilgrimage, Cangelosi said the first, Clarissa, is off the streets, has a three bedroom apartment, is holding down a job and has her two children living with her.

The second, Derrick, is now in an apartment and works part-time as a barista, and the third, Shyla, is now living in New York and working in customer service at a hotel.

Seeing where each is at now, Cangelosi said “all lives have changed and continue to be changed, totally by the Lord’s hand.”

[…]

Dublin, Ireland, Oct 14, 2017 / 05:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The student union president at University College Dublin said that a campaign to impeach her is a “bullying tactic” by a group of students who are intolerant of her pro-life views.
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