There is a raging conflict in Cameroon that the world seems to have forgotten about. The Central African nation, also known as “Africa in miniature” due to its diversity, has seen long-running tensions, pitting the […]
Washington D.C., Oct 9, 2018 / 11:00 am (CNA).- Nikki Haley will leave her post as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations at the end of the year, it was announced Tuesday. Haley has been a vocal champion of religious freedom during h… […]
Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 10:57 am (CNA).-
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.
CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.
Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 9 session:
The first session on October 9 was dedicated to thirteen reports collected in individual language groups. The novelty was that a Portuguese language group was included. The reports contained over 300 corrections.
“Every report has a different spirit since it reflects the character of the continent. The issues discussed in the reports concern the Instrumentum laboris. In the reports, a more positive look at youth is postulated, treating young people not as a group remaining next to the Church, but as a group belonging to the Church. The youth do not look at the Church, but are part of the great family that is the Church. Hence the desire that often appeared in today’s reports was that the Church would be presented as a great family, as well as a mother and teacher,” said Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań.
Some reports were in the form of narratives, others in the form of remarks. “They primarily concerned postulates so that the Church would be more empathic today, forming, but at the same time supporting, various movements and liturgies,” noted Archbishop Gądecki.
The President of the Polish episcopate noted that the salvific mission, for which the Church was established and in which young people participate, was also emphasized. “Not only the baptized and confirmed young people, who are in the Church, but the young all over the world, of different cultures and beliefs. In this context, attention was paid to the formation of pastors who would have better contact with young people through a better pastoral strategy. At the same time, there was emphasized the need to educate young people, leading to a personal encounter with Christ in faith, grace, being a witness of Christ, and an active participation in building a world open to spiritual and evangelical realities,” said Archbishop Gądecki.
Vatican City, Oct 9, 2018 / 06:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- From his perspective inside the Vatican’s youth synod, Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, told CNA that participating bishops have real opportunities – through the unique … […]
Seoul, South Korea, Oct 9, 2018 / 05:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has invited Pope Francis to meet in Pyongyang, a South Korean spokesman said Tuesday.
Pope Francis is already set to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Oct. 18 for an audience at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, where Moon will personally deliver the invitation from Kim Jong Un.
President Moon, a Catholic, will also participate in a Mass for peace on the Korean peninsula in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 17 celebrated by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
During the most recent summit between Korean leaders in September, Kim told Moon that he would “greatly welcome” the pope Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
On Oct. 7, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea to discuss details for a second summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim to continue negotiation of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, according to the State Department.
“One of the key pillars of the statement between Chairman Kim and President Trump was that we would have better relationships, confidence-building measures. We would fundamentally change the nature of North Korea’s relationship with the rest of the world,” Secretary Pompeo told press in South Korea on Oct. 8 after the meeting with Kim.
Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Paul Gallagher visited the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on July 5, where he said, “it is a very historic period, a period of hope and the Holy Father is supporting that movement.”
“I am sure with the prayers and support of Christians and other men and women in good faith around the world that many good things will be achieved in the coming months. We pray for that,” Archbishop Gallagher said during the visit.
Diplomatic negotiations continued at the third inter-Korean summit between Kim and Moon, which took place on Sept. 18 in Pyongyang during a week in which Catholics in South Korea celebrated the peninsula’s martyr saints.
The First Lady of South Korea, Kim Jung-sook, participated in the Mass with Korean bishops as a part of the festivities. She asked for prayers for the diplomatic negotiations at Seoul’s Myeongdong Cathedral days prior to heading to Pyongyang for the summit.
Twenty-five million people live in North Korea, which has one of the worst human rights records in the world. A United Nations investigation in 2014 produced a 372-page report that documented crimes against humanity, including execution, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, forced abortions, and knowingly causing prolonged starvation.
There are currently an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 people in North Korea’s six political prison camps, in which the U.S. State Department has found evidence of starvation, forced labor, and torture.
South Korean bishops have been leading Catholics in prayer for the reconciliation and unity of the divided Korean peninsula for decades.
“Since 1965, the Korean Catholic Church has been praying for the true peace of the two Koreas and the reconciliation of the nation,” Archbishop Kim Hee-Jung of Gwangju wrote in April following the first meeting between the Korean leaders. chairman of the Korean bishops’ conference in April.
“Through these prayers, something miraculous is happening in this land by the help of God for whom nothing will be impossible,” Archbishop Kim continued.
“Until the day when complete peace is established on the Korean peninsula and divided peoples are united, the Catholic Church of Korea will accompany the journey for reconciliation of the people in unity.”
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Dublin, Ireland, Oct 8, 2018 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Irish bishops on Friday lamented that the draft bill to legalize abortion in the Republic would require pro-life healthcare professionals to provide abortion referrals, calling the provision “an affront to conscience.”
“The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 poses a very real practical and moral dilemma for healthcare professionals who believe in the fundamental human right to life and in their own responsibility to serve life,” read an Oct. 5 statement from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
They noted that the bill envisages that in the first twelve weeks, abortion will generally be chemically induced.
“This presumes that pharmacists, whether in hospitals or in private practice, will routinely stock and dispense drugs whose specific purpose is to end human life. No provision is made for pharmacists to opt out on the grounds of conscientious objection.”
The bishops added that while the bill allows doctors and nurses to opt out of providing abortion, it nevertheless “requires that … they refer the patient to a colleague who will perform the procedure. This requirement may have the appearance of respecting freedom of conscience but, in reality, it requires a healthcare professional to cooperate in what he or she sincerely believes is doing harm to one patient and taking the life of another.”
“We ask the Government, and wider society, to respect the right of all healthcare professionals and pharmacists to exercise conscientious objection not only by refusing to participate actively in abortion but also by declining to refer their patients to others for abortion,” the bishops said.
They said, “Healthcare professionals, pharmacists and ancillary healthcare workers, should not face legal, professional or financial penalties or any form of discrimination for their commitment to respect life.”
A significant number of general practitioners in the Republic of Ireland are appealing not to be forced to refer patients to other doctors for abortions.
The bishops noted that in New Zealand, healthcare professionals “opt in” to the provision of abortion, rather than opting out; nor are those who object to the procedure obliged to provide referrals for it.
“We believe that the Government, by following this approach, could demonstrate respect for the freedom of conscience of healthcare professionals. We ask politicians, whatever their position on the termination of pregnancy, to work towards this.”
Irish Health Minister Simon Harris criticized the opt-in stance, which is supported by the National Association of General Practitioners. In June, the group of 2,000 practitioners unanimously voted in favor of the “opt-in” method.
The Irish bishops said that freedom of conscience is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that “to strip a person of the right to freedom of conscience is to undermine his or her fundamental dignity as a person.”
“At this challenging time, we encourage all Catholics to pray for healthcare professionals and to pray for politicians that they, and we too, may have the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do what is right.”
Ireland faces a potential shortage of doctors willing to participate in abortions; a March survey of Irish healthcare professionals found that that roughly seven out of 10 general practitioners in Ireland are unwilling to perform abortions.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar clarified to the Dáil in June that individual medical professionals will be able to opt out of performing abortions, but entire hospitals will not be able to do so. Many publicly-funded hospitals have historic ties to the Catholic Church and operate under Catholic ethics.
Brisbane, Australia, Oct 8, 2018 / 04:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A parliamentary committee reportedly supported a proposal Oct. 5 to significantly expand abortion in the northeastern Australian state of Queensland.
The proposed law, set to be debated in Queensland parliament this month, would allow women to terminate pregnancies up to 22 weeks gestation and until birth with the permission of two doctors. The proposed changes are based on a June report from the Queensland Law Reform Commission, which recommended removing abortion from the Criminal Code.
The proposal would also enforce 150 meter “safe zones” around clinics and medical facilities that perform abortions in order to exclude protesters.
Under the proposal, doctors would be permitted to refuse to perform abortions if they have moral objections to doing so, but they must refer patients to another doctor.
Although the Labor party controls the majority of Queensland’s parliament, Health Minister Steven Miles urged the opposition Liberal National Party to allow a conscience vote on the bill. Miles said if the LNP allows a vote to take place, “the bill will likely pass,” and “if they don’t it will be very difficult for it to pass,” as reported by the Australian Associated Press.
Tim Mander, deputy leader of the LNP, has refused to confirm or deny if his party would allow a conscience vote, saying it would be decided at a party room meeting Oct. 9. He said the Health Minister’s demands indicated that the majority party was uncertain whether they had enough votes from its own members to pass the bill.
Abortion is currently illegal in Queensland except when a doctor believes a woman’s physical or mental health to be in serious danger.
Opponents of the bill have argued that while the legislative proposal is being presented as a matter of health, it will instead legalize abortion based on financial, social, or eugenic reasons.
Dr. Jovina James, a general practitioner from Queensland, objected to the bill’s inclusion of a requirement for conscientious objectors to abortion to refer women to another doctor for the procedure.
“Do they even know what conscientious objection means?” she said in September as reported by the diocesan newspaper The Catholic Leader.
“It is not a distaste for abortion. It’s a deep, unshakeable belief that this act is contrary to the human good…that this is not healthcare, and this is not what I signed up for when I promised to ‘do no harm.’”
Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane weighed in on the proposed legal changes in August.
“According to the draft bill, abortion will be permitted until the moment of delivery if two doctors consider that ‘in all circumstances, the termination should be performed’,” Archbishop Coleridge told The Catholic Leader.
“So, it’s not a health issue. It’s an essentially moral issue that concerns the good of society as a whole because it touches on questions of life and death.”
He cautioned that many women choose abortion out of desperation, believing that they have no other options, because those who support abortion do not present other choices.
“Those MPs who favor the legislation should say why they can accept that Queensland babies who may have reached 40 weeks gestation can be aborted when health isn’t a factor,” he said.
Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA).-
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.
CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.
Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 8 session:
A compass for the Instrumentum Laboris, the irreplaceable role of both father and mother in the family, tasks of Catholic schools, and the importance of memory – these are some of the issues raised in language groups during the synod on Monday.
October 8 was entirely devoted to working in language groups.
“We tried to center our attention on the first part of the Instrumentum Laboris. We have found that this text needs a compass, that is, an orientation, that would give meaning to the whole. This compass could be the passage in the Gospel of John about the young man who brings five loaves and two fishes (Jn 6:9–13). The little that he has with him is distributed by Jesus and nourishes many people. This would indicate that every young person has something to offer not only to the Church but also to the world, simply because he or she exists and has gifts to share,” said Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań, President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.
Another topic was the attention to the fact that both the father and the mother are responsible for the family and share the duty of education in the family. “Not mother or father separately, but mother and father together, thus avoiding the phenomenons of paternalism or matriarchy, linked to the different situations on different continents. In the African context, it is the mother who bears the main responsible for the family’s life, whereas in other places in the world the father alone makes the decisions,” noted Archbishop Gądecki.
The third issue that the bishops talked about, and which was missing in the working document, is the ‘memory’, that Pope Francis often speaks about. “You have to give value to the memory. Young people tend to run towards the future, to diminish the value of the present, so they should be taught to appreciate memory,” emphasized Archbishop Gądecki.
The bishops also drew attention to the question of the Catholic schools, emphasizing the common good they create. “Catholic schools do not work for themselves, they are not only for Catholics, but they serve the common good. In this sense, they are worthy of state support, because they fill gaps that the state cannot fill,” said Archbishop Gądecki.
On Tuesday, October 9, the results of the group discussions will be presented in the Synod Aula.
Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 01:59 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta told reporters Monday that Catholics should “trust Pope Francis that there is going to be a solution” to the Church’s clerical […]
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