Chilean Church opens greenhouse to employee youth with Down syndrome

Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 25, 2018 / 04:20 pm (ACI Prensa).- By foot and by bicycle, some 60,000 people arrived at the Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City on July 22, for a pilgrimage that covered more than 185 miles from Querétaro state.

The pilgrims came in three groups, arriving at the basilica after 17 days of travel. The first to arrive, at around 6:00 a.m. on Sunday, were 300 cyclists, followed by 23,000 women at noon, and then 34,600 men, known as “soldiers of Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

Bishop Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez of Querétaro accompanied the faithful for more than 185 miles of the pilgrimage.

In the first of three Masses he celebrated with the pilgrims, Bishop Armendáriz Jiménez encouraged them to not be afraid “to give our time to Christ.”

“Let’s not be afraid to spend our free time with Jesus and to have a time shared with him! Yes, let us open up our time to Christ so he can illuminate and direct it,” he said.

At the Mass he celebrated for the women who made the pilgrimage, the bishop stressed that only by resting with Jesus “can you find true and complete peace, the fruit of reconciliation within yourself, in all your relationships: with God, with others and with the world.”

To the men’s pilgrimage that arrived shortly afterwards, the bishop lamented that “many of our adolescents and young adults go about like sheep without a shepherd.” However, he cautioned that “if we don’t have our hearts renewed in Christ and on fire with the Spirit, it will be impossible to feel compassion for them and sadly we will thus be unable to do anything.”

“Let’s not say that it’s harder today; it’s different. But let’s learn from the saints who have preceded us and faced their own difficulties in their times,” he encouraged.

In a video posted on the Facebook page of the Diocese of Querétaro after the pilgrimage was over, Bishop Armendáriz Jiménez highlighted that it was “an extraordinary experience of faith, that certainly strengthens us.” 

He said that accompanying people on the pilgrimage allowed him to “interact and especially to get to know [them] better and more personally.”

“Knowing our people makes us love them more,” he emphasized.

Bishop Armendáriz Jiménez congratulated the Diocese of Querétaro “for this treasure that we have,” and assured that God will continue blessing this community “with many spiritual fruits.”
 

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San Luis, Argentina, Mar 24, 2021 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- A provincial judge in Argentina on Thursday declared the law legalizing elective abortion in the country unconstitutional. The ruling applies to the province, and must be ratified by higher courts.

Judge María Eugenia Bona issued the sentence March 18 in response to a suit filed by former senator Liliana Negre.

Negre had filed for an injunction against San Luis Province to end “the state of uncertainty” caused by the contradiction between articles contained in the abortion law and the Civil and Commercial Code.

Elective abortion was legalized in Argentina Dec. 30, 2020. Previously, Argentine law allowed abortion in cases when the mother’s life or health was in danger, or in cases of rape.

The former senator requested the prohibition of “the medical or clinical surgical practice of abortion” with the exception of those grounds that allow abortion in cases of rape or danger to the life or integral health of the mother.

The judge declared Article 19 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which recognizes the “existence of the human person from conception”, fully to be in force.

On this basis, she also declared unconstitutional several articles of Argentina’s abortion law, which permit elective abortion up to the fourteenth week of gestation, speak of the right to decide on abortion, of abortion care “in the services of the health system”; and about “post-abortion care in the services of the health system, without prejudice to the fact that the decision to abort would have been contrary to the cases legally authorized in accordance with this law.”

The judgement is in accordance with what is described in the Vienna Convention, the Human Rights Convention or the Pact of San José of Costa Rica; the National Constitution, and the Constitution of the Province of San Luis.

Bona noted that the law for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents “gives precedence to the right of the child, in the face of a conflict.”

“It is worth wondering, because in the questioned law (of abortion), only the situation of women is defended, their rights … forgetting, for example, that this child has a father who may love him, that there are grandparents, who have an obligation of maintenance and may also love that grandchild. But they are the great absentees”.

Furthermore, according to the American Convention on Human Rights, “everyone has the right to have their life respected” and this right is protected by law and in general from the moment of conception: “no one can be arbitrarily deprived of life”.

Likewise, article 49 of the Provincial Constitution of San Luis says, “the state protects the human person from conception to birth and from this to full development.”

Bona also recalled the statements of the College of Lawyers and Attorneys of the Province of San Luis and the National Academy of Law, which questioned the abortion law even before its approval.

However, Negre explained to ACI Prensa that abortions will continue to be procured in the province as long as the sentence is not ratified. For this, she must go through several judicial instances until reaching the Supreme Court of Argentina.

The abortion law was an electoral promise by president Alberto Fernández, whose bill was debated in less than a month in both houses of Congress.

To reverse the law, some pro-life organizations and lawyers have filed writs of amparo to declare it unconstitutional, in provinces such as Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Salta.

In addition, numerous statements of conscientious objection from doctors, health personnel, and clinics have been added.

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Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dec 15, 2017 / 12:05 am (ACI Prensa).- The Supreme Court of Guatemala has ruled that the distribution of a manual promoting abortion must be stopped.

The manual, “Human rights, sexual and reproductive rights and healthcare for girls and adolescents,” had been financed by the UN Population Fund.

It had been promoted since 2015 by the Ombudsman for Human Rights at the time, Jorge De Leon Duque.

The Guatemalan judiciary issued its ruling Dec. 8. A press conference held by the Family Matters Association (FMA) and congressman José Rodrigo Valladares discussed the decision.

The Family Matters Association had filed for an injunction on June 22, 2017 against De Leon Duque “to invalidate the use of the manual and to demand the ombudsman’s office stop promoting abortion.” Congressman Rodrigo Valladares subsequently joined the injunction filing.

The Supreme Court’s ruling also ordered the Ombudsman’s Office for Human Rights “to refrain from carrying out any activity which entails supporting or promoting abortion or abortion practices, their presentation (of it) as a right, the promotion of its legalization or the violation of the right to life from conception,” the FMA reported.

It also set a deadline of three months for the current ombudsman, Jordan Rodas Andrade, “to develop the necessary materials to counteract the harm done by the manual in question.”

In addition, the FMA stressed that the court has recognized that the ombudsman “has the grave and solemn obligation to defend life from its conception, an obligation he freely and voluntarily assumed by the oath to uphold the Constitution which he took in Congress at the time he accepted his office, if he wants to serve the nation.”

The court ruling states that “any report, study, investigation, publication, campaign or activity that the Ombudsman carries out must seek to defend the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Otherwise he would be exceeding his authority as provided by law.”

The FMA also emphasized that the court enjoined Rodas Andrade to avoid “reverting to the actions of your predecessor, and to refrain from carrying out any activity which promotes abortion directly or indirectly” and to not join the campaigns or use the slogans “ of those who in the supposed defense of the rights of women in vulnerable situations are promoting abortion under the disguised label of ‘sexual and reproductive rights.’”

Current Ombudsman Jordan Rodas posted on his office’s website a statement in which he disclaimed any responsibility for the manual promoted by his predecessor.

He pointed out that the manual “was not developed under my management,” but “was presented, published and distributed by the administration of my predecessor, Jorge De Leon Duque.”

In addition, Jordan Rodas emphasized that “starting August 20, the day I took office, until this very day, at no time have I made a statement about abortion.”

The FMA offered that it is “at the disposal of the ombudsman and his entire team, to give priority to and timely compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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