Host and creator Steve Ray will present and discuss Elijah & Elisha: Conscience of the Kingdom, the ninth film in the popular series from Ignatius […]
Vatican City, Mar 2, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A “hackathon” is a hacking marathon: a collaborative computer programming event in which a group works under a tight deadline to find software or programing approaches to real-world problems.
On March 8-11, the Vatican will host its first hackathon, VHacks. 120 young adult programmers, graphic designers, project managers, and others from around the world will spend 36 hours “hacking” together over the course of three days.
The Vatican hackathon aims to help leaders develop technological approaches to the needs of social inclusion, interfaith dialogue, and migrants and refugees.
Jakub Florkiewicz, co-chairman of VHacks and a student at Harvard Business School, told CNA via email that the hackathon’s mission is “to inspire young people around the world to collaborate across divisions and to use technology to address social issues.”
“We think that technology could improve the scale and efficiency of those organizations which offer support and help to those in need.”
He pointed out that the Church is often at the forefront of helping people in remote places. Because churches “have the world’s most extensive distribution network,” he said, this “can be leveraged to do good.”
The event is being organized by a group of Harvard and MIT students, the Vatican Secretariat for Communication, and OPTIC, a global think-tank working on ethical issues related to disruptive technologies.
Co-organizers are the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Migrants and Refugee section of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. The event has also gained some big-name tech partners, including Google, Microsoft, and Italian telecommunications company TIM.
Inspiration for the event came, in part, from a remark from Pope Francis in a first-ever papal “Ted Talk” video published last year. He said: “How wonderful would it be if the growth of scientific and technological innovation would come along with more equality and social inclusion.”
Participants come from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, and Florkiewicz said he is excited “to see how we will be at the forefront of cross-faith collaboration, with representatives of all the world’s major religions, working together to solve problems we all care about.”
One of the event’s missions is to: “Encourage value-based institutions to embrace technology to further their missions.”
“We want to see religion as a binding force, uniting in goodness towards others, not dividing,” Florkiewicz stated.
Abuja, Nigeria, Mar 2, 2018 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid ongoing violence and attacks against human dignity in Nigeria, the Catholic bishops of the country released a pastoral communique promoting a culture of life within the Church and nation. &… […]
Rome, Italy, Mar 2, 2018 / 10:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday, Pope Francis continued his surprise “Mercy Friday” initiative with a visit to a home that keeps children with their mothers, who might otherwise be separated because of imprisonment.
Called “Leda’s House,” the home allows women who might have otherwise been imprisoned or put under house arrest for minor crimes to be rehabilitated while continuing to care for their children with supervision.
Located in the EUR neighborhood of Rome, the houses opened just one year ago and is the first of its kind in Italy. It currently houses five young mothers, between 25 and 30 years old, and their children. Most come from Rome, though one is from elsewhere in Italy and another is from Egypt.
According to a Vatican press release March 2, the women, children, and staff of the home all greeted Pope Francis with amazement. He spent some time speaking with the women and children before giving the kids giant chocolate Easter eggs.
According to the Vatican, the gift was “welcomed with great joy by the children, who invited him to have a snack with them.”
Today, #PopeFrancis continued his surprise “Mercy Friday� initiative with a visit to a home that keeps children with their mothers, who might otherwise be separated because of imprisonment.
Read the full story here: https://t.co/1u9xV5Ydqg
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— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) March 2, 2018
The women shared their appreciation of the opportunity to raise their children, despite the challenges. The Pope also left some gifts for the women, including a signed parchment to remember his visit.
During his visit, Francis was welcomed by Lillo Di Mauro, the head of the overseeing governmental department, along with the head of “Leda’s House,” who both highlighted the intense difficulties of children whose parents are imprisoned.
To avoid embarrassment, the children may make up stories about their incarcerated parents, they said, or they may become “aggressive and unmanageable,” although they are not bad children.
“The stay in the structure,” according to the Vatican’s press release, “allows mothers to accompany and take their children back to school, and to carry out activities useful for learning a profession, in view of future reintegration into the world of work and society.”
The women are able to continue living in a home environment and raising their children, while accompanied by staff and educators.
Pope Francis’ visit to “Leda’s House” is a continuation of his “Mercy Friday” custom, which he began during the Jubilee of Mercy, in 2016.
Originally planned once per month for the duration of the jubilee year, the Pope has continued these visits as a means of practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. He has met with refugees, children, women freed from sex trafficking, and the terminally ill, among others.
Vatican City, Mar 2, 2018 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his prayer video for March, Pope Francis asked for prayers that Christians be better educated to discern between the voices of the “culture of death” and the voice of God, calling th… […]
By end of this year, the number of refugees from South Sudan is expected to reach three million, making this Africa’s largest refugee crisis since […]
Melbourne, Australia, Mar 2, 2018 / 04:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday an Australian prosecutor withdrew a charge of abuse against Cardinal George Pell, who is currently undergoing a trial in Australia for accusations of historical sexual abuse.
The charge was dropped by Prosecutor Mark Gibson March 2 after its key complainant died in January. It is only one of the charges brought against Pell, though the exact number of charges and details are not yet public.
The next stage of the case begins March 5, with a four-week long preliminary hearing in Melbourne. The hearing, which Pell will be present for, will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to hold a jury trial for the charges of abuse brought against the cardinal.
The director of prosecutions for the Melbourne Magistrates Court had indicated in a hearing Feb. 14 that the charge of key witness Damian Dignan, who died in January, would likely be withdrawn.
Dignan, who died of leukemia in early January, along with a fellow classmate at St. Alipius school in Ballarat, accused Pell in 2016 of inappropriate sexual behavior when they were minors. The cardinal had previously been accused of acts of child sexual abuse dating as far back as 1961.
Defense attorney Ruth Shann argued against Dignan’s credibility Feb. 14, saying that his complaints had a “domino effect” in terms of other people contacting the police, since he made the accusations nearly 40 years after the alleged abuse, and after reading about other cases in newspapers.
The start of Monday’s preliminary hearing is the next step in the ongoing case against the cardinal, who in June 2016 was charged by Victoria state police of multiple instances of historical sexual abuse.
After the charges were announced, Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy and a member of the Pope’s council of nine cardinal advisers, was granted leave from his post by Pope Francis in order to return to Australia for the trial.
The cardinal, who was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ballarat in 1966, has pleaded not guilty to the multiple counts of sexual abuse, and has maintained his innocence from the beginning.
“I am innocent of these charges, they are false,” he told journalists June 29, 2017, after the charges were announced, adding that “the whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.”
Vatican City, Mar 2, 2018 / 04:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday the Vatican confirmed an earlier announcement by the Swiss government that Pope Francis will visit Switzerland in June to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches.
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke announced the visit March 2, saying the day trip will take place June 21. No official schedule has been released, however, details of the visit are expected to be published soon.
Founded in 1948, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is a global fellowship of churches seeking to foster unity among different Christian confessions and has some 348 members worldwide.
Members are present in 110 countries and represent over 500 million Christians, including Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist churches, as well as many Reformed, United and Independent churches.
While the majority of the founding members came from Europe and North America, currently the bulk of the WCC membership is in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific.
The Holy See is not a member of the WCC, but it is an observer and routinely sends representatives to the organization’s meetings.
Though official details of the visit have yet to be announced, Swiss authorities have said that after touching down Pope Francis will be welcomed by a delegation from the Swiss Federal Council led by Swiss President Alain Berset.
The two are expected to hold official talks before Francis goes to the WCC headquarters for their anniversary celebration.
St. John Paul II was the last Pope to visit Geneva, stopping there in 2004 as part of a six-day pastoral visit to the country. A large number of the Swiss population are Christian, the majority belonging to the Catholic Church.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Mar 2, 2018 / 03:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An Ohio priest praised a proposed state law to criminalize the nonconsensual publishing of sexual videos or photos, known as “revenge porn.”
Monsignor John Zuraw, chancellor of the… […]
Austin, Texas, Mar 1, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has suggested churches in Texas sever ties with pro-life group Texas Right to Life, encouraging Catholic to volunteer with other pro-life groups in the state.
The TCCB’s advisory was read after Masses and printed in church bulletins in the Diocese of Fort Worth last Sunday. Texas Right to Life is the state affiliate of National Right to Life.
The TCCB urged in a parish advisory notice that Catholics not be involved with Texas Right to Life’s activities and that parishes not allow the organization to use their sites for events.
The TCCB cited Texas Right to Life’s opposition to incremental pro-life reforms, such as laws that restrict certain types of abortion rather than outlaw the act entirely, and mentioned “conflicts on end-of-life reform” and issues with the organization’s voter guide among their concerns about the organization.
“The bishops have been compelled to publicly correct Texas Right to Life’s misstatements on end-of-life care and advance directives,” the bishops stated.
“Texas Right to Life implied that the legislation the bishops were supporting allowed euthanasia and death panels rather than the reality that the legislation reflected the long-standing Church teaching requiring a balance of patient autonomy and the physician conscience protection.”
The TCCB claimed that Texas Right to Life’s voter guide excluded pro-life members of the Texas legislature, and “was not based on a fair analysis of a legislator’s work.”
“Unfortunately, a number of legislators who have consistently voted for pro-life and end of life legislation have been opposed by Texas Right to Life,” said the bishops.
The TCCB encouraged people to volunteer their time with other pro-life organizations as well as Church-sponsored pro-life ministries.
On its website, Texas Right to Life issued a statement defending themselves from the TCCB’s claims, saying they were “disappointed but not surprised.” Texas Right to Life stated that the bishops were being “uncharitable” in their description of the group, and that they had in fact worked hard to secure wins in the legislature.
“Uncharitable mischaracterizations of our political and policy goals serve only to dissolve the spirit of collaboration that yielded recent legislative victories to protect the most vulnerable in our state—victories that were hard-fought against the leadership of the Texas House,” they said.
Texas Right to Life also defended their voter’s guide, saying that they were seeking to endorse candidates who would commit to new legislative leadership in the state.
Joe Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life in Austin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that “some of [Texas Right to Life’s] goals are not well-founded in law.”
The group has come under criticism from others who claim that even pro-life legislators face reprisal from Texas Right to Life if they vote contrary to the group’s recommendations.
Republican Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life, told the Star-Telegram, “I thought our pro-life lawmakers would need protection from abortion-minded people. But no — we have to protect them from Texas Right to Life saying they’re not pro-life enough.”
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