Cardinal Pell begins hearing in Australia over abuse charges

Colombo, Sri Lanka, Apr 24, 2019 / 04:36 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Colombo says that government officials in Sri Lanka should be fired for failing to act on tips that terrorists attacks were imminent in the hours preceding Easter Sunday bombings in the country.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable behavior on the part of these high officials of the government, including some of the ministry officials,” Cardinal Malcom Ranjith said April 23 in response to reports that Sri Lankan officials did not pass on credible warnings in the hours before the April 21 attacks, including some that specified that Catholic Church would be targeted.

Warnings reportedly came from the Indian government and from other intelligence sources, and said directly that churches could be targeted by Islamist terrorist attacks. Government officials have promised an inquiry into those reports.

“These kind of officials should be immediately sacked, removed from these positions. And human beings who have a feeling for the needs of others and for the people must be inserted into these positions,” Ranjith said.

The cardinal added that if he had been warned that Catholic Churches could be bombed on Easter Sunday, he would have cancelled Sunday Masses, “because, for me, the most important thing is human life. Human beings, they are our treasure.”

“I would have cancelled even the holy week itself,” Ranjith told Radio Canada.

Thousands of Catholics attended Easter Sunday Masses at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Negombo, both of which were bombed at 8:45 a.m. Easter morning, as was the evangelical Zion Church in Batticaolo, on Sri Lanka’s east coast.

One the same morning, three hotels were bombed, as were other locations across the country.

At least 359 people are dead.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and more than 60 Sri Lankans have been arrested or questioned.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has asked Hemasari Ferando, one of the country’s defense ministers, to resign, along with police Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara. Both are accused of mishandling intelligence reports.

Ranjith old EWTN News Nightly that the local Catholic community has suffered tremendously because of the horrible massacre on Easter Sunday.

“We lost so many valuable lives in both churches … a huge amount of people,” Cardinal Ranjith told EWTN News Nightly April 22.

The Sri Lankan cardinal said that he rushed to St. Anthony’s shrine as soon as he heard of the attack Sunday morning, but the police did not allow him to enter because they suspected that more bombs could be inside the church.

“From the outside I saw a lot of devastation outside the church,” Ranjith said. “When I saw so many bodies, I was completely moved and disturbed.”

The Knights of Columbus have pledged $100,000 in aid for victims of the Sri Lankan attacks to help Cardinal Ranjith rebuild and repair his Christian community.

Pope Francis renewed his prayers for the victims in Sri Lanka and appealed for international support during his Regina Coeli address Monday.

“I pray for the many victims and wounded, and I ask everyone not to hesitate to offer this dear nation all the help that is necessary,” the pope said April 22.

“I also hope that everyone condemns these acts of terrorism, inhuman acts, never justifiable,” he said.

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Jolo, Philippines, Jan 27, 2019 / 05:51 am (CNA).- At least 20 people were killed and 111 wounded after two bombs exploded minutes apart during Sunday Mass in a Catholic cathedral on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.

After the initial blast inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Jan. 27, which destroyed the wooden pews and glass windows, Mass-goers were rushing to get outside when a second bomb detonated near the cathedral’s entrance, the Associated Press reported.

Police and army troops stationed outside the cathedral were also caught in the second blast when trying to enter the cathedral.

According to police, at least 15 civilians and 5 soldiers were killed in the explosions. Among the wounded there were at least 90 civilians, 17 soldiers, two police officers, and two coast guards. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Philippines bishops’ conference condemned the attack as an “act of terrorism.”

“We condole with the families of the several soldiers and civilians who were killed by the explosions. We also express our sympathies with those who were wounded and extend our solidarity with the rest of the church-goers inside the Cathedral and the rest of the church community in the Apostolic Vicariate of Jolo,” they said Jan. 27.

The bishops also noted the recent creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARRM), which was created with the hope of ending a nearly five-decade long separtist rebellion in the southern Philppines.

The new autonomous region was endorsed by most Muslims in the majority Catholic nation, though it was rejected by Muslim voters in the Sulu province, where Jolo is located.

“As we begin a new phase in the peace process … we ask our Christian brethren to join hands with all peace-loving Muslim and Indigenous People communities in the advocacy against violent extremism,” the bishops said.

Jolo island has a population of more than 700,000. The island’s Catholics, estimated in 2014 to be around 31,000, mostly live in the capital of Jolo.

The country’s defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, said in a statement Sunday that he has directed troops “to heighten their alert level, secure all places of worships and public places at once, and initiate pro-active security measures to thwart hostile plans.”

There has long been a presence of Muslim Abu Sayyaf militants on Jolo island. The group is defined as a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines due to years of kidnappings, beheadings, and bombings.

A statement from the office of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Jan. 27 said, “We will pursue to the ends of the earth the ruthless perpetrators behind this dastardly crime until every killer is brought to justice and put behind bars. The law will give them no mercy.”

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Beijing, China, Aug 31, 2018 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- An official Chinese state media outlet has denied any imminent change to the country’s national two-child policy. The announcement follows media speculation that such a change was being considered in response to China’s rapidly aging population.

On Aug. 27, family-planning related clauses were removed from China’s marriage and adoption laws leading many major media outlets to report that this could signal an upcoming change for the two-child policy.

Chinese authorities responded on Aug. 28 with two explanatory articles in the “China Daily,” the state-sponsored English-language newspaper, which provided explanations from legislators that these “family planning-related clauses” were only removed to eliminate redundancy; the Population and Family Planning Law that stipulates that couples can have only two children still remains on the books.

China has strictly controlled its population for nearly four decades through a government policy of contraception, abortion, and sterilization.

Its former one-child policy was expanded in 2015 to a limit of two children per family in response to the growing age imbalance facing the country, with nearly 10 percent of the population over the age of 65.

“The statement from China Daily does not eliminate the possibility that China is considering the abolition of its brutal population control program.  It does, however, clarify that the deletion of family planning content from the civil code sections on marriage and adoption law is irrelevant to this potential policy change,” explained Reggie Littlejohn, the president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, a pro-life aid and advocacy organization focused on China.

Whether the standing committee of the National People’s Congress will amend the Population and Family Planning Law due to the changing demographic situation in the country “requires further consideration,” according to one of the publications.

Earlier this month, concerns were raised that Chinese population control efforts could reverse course entirely when two researchers proposed that the Chinese government force couples with fewer than two children to pay into a “procreation fund.”

“Given the desperation the Chinese government faces because of its rapidly aging population, I could see a move by the Chinese government to pressure all couples who are eligible to have a second child into having a second child, whether they want a second child or not,” commented Littlejohn, “The Chinese Government needs to stop functioning as womb police and let go of the idea that women’s bodies are domain of the state.”

“We continue to press for the complete elimination of all coercive population control measures, effective immediately.  Now, under the two-child policy, all couples can have two children.  Single women and third children, however, remain at risk for forced abortion,” she continued.

There have been at least 336 million abortions and 196 million sterilizations in China since the government first implemented population control measures, according to 2013 statistics from its national health ministry.

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