Chilean cardinal called to testify on abuse case, leaves papal advisory committee

A teddy bear sits beside a lantern outside the former Kamloops Indian Residential School where flowers and cards have been left as part of a growing makeshift memorial created in response to media reports that the "remains" of 215 chil… […]

Mexico City, Mexico, Apr 26, 2017 / 03:34 pm (Church Pop).- With abortion illegal in Mexico, a ship providing the procedure has landed on the country’s coast, drawing outrage from the local pro-life movement.

The boat, property of the the Dutch abortion NGO Women on Waves, was expelled from Guatemala in February this year and will be stationed off the Mexican coast April 21-23.

According to the Women on Waves website, during these days they will perform abortions on women “up to nine weeks pregnant.” The vessel dropped anchor in international waters across from the port of Ixtapa in the Mexican state of Guerrero.

Among the Mexican institutions that support the “abortion ship” are GIRE (Group for Information on Chosen Reproduction), the abortion multinational Catholics for Choice, and IPAS which funds abortion initiatives in various parts of the world.

The international pro-life website CitizenGo, however, said that Women on Waves is trying to “circumvent the law” and that “they are running interference by choosing precisely the dates prior to the tenth anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico City, Monday, April 24.”

In a petition drive addressed to the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto and senior military officials, CitizenGo said that “abortion in Mexico is in no case considered a right. It is decriminalized in the case of rape provided the rape has been reported.”

“And in the case of Mexico City it is decriminalized, not legalized – in specific circumstances,” the organization said. “Trying to circumvent the law is a malicious fraud. Attempting to change it is interference and an attack on national sovereignty.”

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Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 23, 2020 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- Organizers of the first international virtual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe said the social media livestream of the event reached more than 3 million people, including 106 groups.

“Spiritually and virtually, we joined together at the feet of the Virgin of Tepeyac to ask for her intercession to face the onslaught of the COVID pandemic. Once again, the Empress of America has united her people, today suffering from misfortune,” the organizers said in a statement.

The international pilgrimage took place Sept. 19 and included a rosary and livestreamed Mass, offered by Bishop Víctor Aguilar Ledesma, president of the Committee on Laity at the Mexican Bishops’ Conference.

Participants made a commitment to respect human dignity and to go out to the marginalized and needy.

In his homily, Aguilar, the auxiliary bishop of Morelia, noted that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic does not change the Church’s essential mission.

“We wanted to continue to fulfill the mission entrusted to us to keep on evangelizing. The methods and ways will change, but not the mission, which will be the same: to announce the Gospel,” he said.

“The Church was born to evangelize. By nature, she announces the Gospel, which we cherish,” he added. “The Church evangelizes or ceases to be the Church, no matter the circumstances.”

While the challenges surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are difficult, they are not the worst circumstances the Church has ever seen, nor will they be the last challenges Christians will be called to face.

“We must not forget that we are all called to be witnesses of Christ in the world, to be salt and light on earth,” he said.

Christ wants his followers to bear fruit, even in times of difficulty, Aguilar said. This requires a complete attachment to him.

“Detached from Christ, we, the branches, die,” the bishop warned. But when we remain firmly attached to Christ, who is our strength, he will help us weather any storm.

“We can lose our jobs, our health, a loved one, our money. But we can’t lose the faith that unites us, that joins us to Christ our Lord. Let’s not lose the faith. Ever,” he said.

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