Dubuque, Iowa, May 7, 2019 / 01:20 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa was hospitalized on Friday due to a heart attack. The archbishop was taken to Mercy Hospital on the evening of May 3.
He had two stents installed in his heart, A… […]
Atlanta, Ga., May 7, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has approved a controversial law that bans abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. The law will come in to force January 1, but is expected to be the subject of immediate l… […]
Salford, England, May 7, 2019 / 11:56 am (CNA).- The English and Welsh bishops’ lead on environmental issues welcomed Thursday the publication of an advisory group’s report encouraging the British government to cut greenhouse gas net emissions to zero by 2050.
“In achieving this target, we must all play our part, and I’m proud that the Catholic community has taken a leading role in showing what can be achieved. Thousands of our churches are running on renewable energy and schools and parishes in dioceses around the country have committed to living simply and sustainably,” Bishop John Arnold of Salford said May 2.
He called ‘net zero’ an “ambitious target which will be welcomed by the thousands of Catholics in this country who have responded to Pope Francis’s call for us to protect our common home.”
Bishop Arnold said that “we look forward to seeing the government embracing its role in delivering this agenda urgently and enthusiastically.”
“The report represents a welcome recognition that as a country we must be a good ‘global’ neighbour and must think about the millions of our brothers and sisters around the world who already face danger and suffering, and the millions more who will increasingly be affected by climate change.”
The Committee on Climate Change, which issued the report, said the 2050 goal is possible to meet through lowered costs of renewable energy.
Net zero emissions would be achieved by reducing, storing, and offsetting emissions.
Skopje, North Macedonia, May 7, 2019 / 11:31 am (CNA).- Pope Francis encouraged youth in North Macedonia Tuesday to follow Mother Teresa’s example and make something beautiful out of their lives.
“Each of you is called, like Mother Teresa,… […]
Skopje, North Macedonia, May 7, 2019 / 10:59 am (CNA).- In the first-ever papal visit to North Macedonia Tuesday, Pope Francis lauded the lasting legacy of Mother Teresa, a saint unafraid to offer her life for love.
“This land was able to give t… […]
Harrisburg, Pa., May 7, 2019 / 09:15 am (CNA).- The lawmaker who confronted a woman praying outside Planned Parenthood May 2 was the subject of an investigation by Pennsylvania’s State Ethics Commission, after questions were raised in 2017 regard… […]
Skopje, North Macedonia, May 7, 2019 / 04:17 am (CNA).- Following the example of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata, hunger for Jesus, partake in the Bread of Life, and then feed Jesus hidden in the poor, Pope Francis said in North Macedonia on Tuesday.
&ld… […]
Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 7, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- As Fr. Eranga De-Silva finished celebrating Easter Sunday Mass at his parish in Sri Lanka, he noticed policemen guarding the three entrances to the church.
He was celebrating the 8 a.m. Mass, and had just given the final blessing at Our Lady of Lourdes, the parish where De-Silva is a parochial vicar, when his pastor approached the altar, and whispered to him that he had “sad news.”
De-Silva’s pastor, who had just come from celebrating Mass at a different parish, then took to the pulpit, interrupting the final hymn.
The pastor announced the news to the congregation: bombs had been detonated at two different Catholic Churches, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo and St. Anthony’s in Colombo. Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Raddolugama, where De-Silva was finishing Mass, is just nine miles to the south of Negombo.
“People had no clue and were instructed to move quickly to their residences safely,” De-Silva told CNA. “Then the police asked (us) to close all the gates of the church. All were wondering what was happening and what (they) were to do.”
Around noon, De-Silva decided to head to Colombo to offer his assistance as a priest, despite the risk to his safety. He heard several more blasts by the time he reached the city, he told CNA.
The next day, he headed to Negombo, where priests were needed for help with prayer services and burials. “I saw hundreds of priests gathering, despite the prevailing risk, to help the flock,” he said.
Fr. Sachitra Perera was another priest who rushed toward danger after he heard of the attacks. He was heading to visit his parents on Easter when another priest told him of the bombs.
“My parish priest Fr. Manjula Fernando called me and said that there had been a blast so let’s rush to Katuwapitiya (St. Sebastian’s in Negombo),” he told CNA. It was about 8:45 on Easter morning.
When the priests arrived, they couldn’t believe what they saw, Perera said.
“Bodies were everywhere. People were dumbfounded, scared. Police had rushed to the place…I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said. “(I) felt so sad and for a while I felt numb and speechless.” Perera said he helped clear paths for ambulances and emergency workers to reach the victims. He said he knew one family personally who lost their father, mother, and youngest son in the attacks. The two older children were away in Japan.
The family were faithful, daily Mass goers, Perera said. “And this son who died is very innocent, always with a bright smile. Even though he (was in 10th grade), he is so loving and innocent.”
De-Silva said that while he didn’t know any of the people who were injured or killed, he had heard of a family in which the father and his youngest daughter, Fathima Azla, were Muslim, while the mother and eldest sibling were Catholic.
“Although Fathima Azla was not baptized, she used to come for the Sunday Mass. Prior to this Easter, she had seen Jesus and some angels in dreams, and once very recently she had told the family members that she saw Jesus sprinkling some water on her,” De-Silva recalled. “Her mother has told her may be Jesus wants her to be baptized…and she had drawn some pictures of Jesus. However, Fathima Azla was one of the innocent victims of the terror attack.”
An evangelical church, three hotels, and a private residence were also struck by suicide bombers during the Easter attacks.
Both priests said the attacks have rocked a country that was just getting used to peaceful times, after war and terrorism reigned in the country from 1983 to 2009.
Sri Lanka is a majority-Buddhist country; the small minority of Christians in the country (fewer that 8%) are mostly Catholics. Roughly 10% of the population are Muslims.
It used to be that people saw churches as a place of refuge, Perera said.
“This is a major blow,” he said. “When something happens, people run to the church. In 2004 when the tsunami struck, they ran to church for safety. But now…”
“As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country Sri Lankans could be identified as a relatively rich country. It is well known for hospitality,” De-Silva said.
“But, after these attacks, there is an unnecessary tension. After that day full of surprises, people today are full of (suspicion). The friendly way of approaching has faded away for the past two weeks. I hope this will end soon,” he added.
Perera said that he wanted to credit Catholics in the country for their peaceful and faithful response to the attacks amidst so much tragedy.
“I must appreciate our faithful,” he said. “Sometimes as pastors we think people are not practicing what they believe, but this is a good example to show how strong we are because no one reacted to the Muslim community with violence.”
“I visited few houses of the affected people, they still have deep faith but they are in trauma. They have not lost their faith,” he noted.
Still, “the fear and uncertainty will slowly fade away but the scars will remain,” he added.
On May 5, for the second weekend in a row, Sri Lankan Catholics stayed in their homes and watched Mass on T.V. instead of going to church, due to ongoing security threats.
Although public schools in the country reopened after the attacks as of May 6, Catholic schools will remain closed until at least May 13. The risk, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith decided, is still too great.
De-Silva said he is not sure when churches will reopen for public Masses, but he and Perera both said they support Cardinal Ranjith’s decisions. Ranjith is the Archbishop of Colombo, and has been thrust into the spotlight as the leader of the Catholic Church in the country since the attacks.
Only on Monday, May 6, did the police chief of Sri Lanka announce that all suspects linked to the bombings were either arrested or dead, according to Reuters, which could effect whether or not Catholic churches open for Mass next weekend.
“It is said, ‘once bitten, twice shy.’ So I totally agree with my shepherd Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith who officially announced about not having Sunday Masses in our parishes in the Archdiocese,” De-Silva said. “His Eminence postponed the starting date of Catholuc Schools till May 13. Again, in my opinion, a very brave and a great idea.”
“The way he led his flock and the way he instructed us was amazing,” De-Silva added about the leadership of Cardinal Ranjith. “Buddhists appreciate his approach and all are amazed with the grace shared by his thoughts. May God continue to guide us through him.”
De-Silva, while a priest of Sri Lanka, has United States ties. He and several other priests from Sri Lanka spent several years studying in U.S. seminaries, through a partnership with the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, where they were affectionately called the “Sri-Lincolns.”
De-Silva said he was grateful for Bishop Emeritus Fabian Bruskewitz, who started the program, and was touched to hear from Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, who called each of the “Sri-Lincoln” priests to check on them after the attacks.
“Thanks for all who called and checked how we were doing,” he said. “I know that there are many still praying so hard. Please continue!”
Besides prayer, De-Silva asked that Catholics not forget what happened in the Easter attacks.
“Please do not forget what happened. We, as humans have the tendency to forget things easily. But (we’ll) not forget, especially for the sake of our future. Most of all – pray!”
Skopje, North Macedonia, May 7, 2019 / 01:54 am (CNA).- Speaking to North Macedonian authorities Tuesday, Pope Francis commended the country for its tradition of peaceful coexistence among its variety of cultures and religious and ethnic communities.
The country’s patrimony is “the multiethnic and multi-religious countenance of your people, the legacy of a rich and, indeed, complex history of relationships forged over the course of centuries,” he said May 7 at the Mosaique Hall of the presidential palace in Skopje.
Speaking to the authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps, Francis noted it is the first time a pope has visited North Macedonia. He pointed to the land’s time under both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, calling it “a bridge between East and West and a meeting-point for numerous cultural currents.”
“This crucible of cultures and ethnic and religious identities has resulted in a peaceful and enduring coexistence in which those individual identities have found expression and developed without rejecting, dominating or discriminating against others,” he said.
“They have thus given rise to a fabric of relationships and interactions that can serve as an example and a point of reference for a serene and fraternal communal life marked by diversity and reciprocal respect.”
These features are “highly significant for increased integration” with Europe, the pope said. The country has applied to join both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Indeed, its name, North Macedonia, was adopted only last year in an agreement with Greece after a dispute over the use of the name Macedonia.
Pope Francis expressed his hope that North Macedonia’s increased intregation with Europe “will develop in a way that is beneficial for the entire region of the Western Balkans, with unfailing respect for diversity and for fundamental rights.”
He said that in North Macedonia “the different religious identities of Orthodox, Catholics, other Christians, Muslims and Jews, and the ethnic differences between Macedonians, Albanians, Serbs, Croats, and persons of other backgrounds, have created a mosaic in which every piece is essential for the uniqueness and beauty of the whole. That beauty will become all the more evident to the extent that you succeed in passing it on and planting it in the hearts of the coming generation.”
“Every effort made to enable the diverse religious expressions and the different ethnic groups to find a common ground of understanding and respect for the dignity of every human person, and consequently the guarantee of fundamental freedoms, will surely prove fruitful,” according to Pope Francis. “Indeed, those efforts will serve as the necessary seedbed for a future of peace and prosperity.”
He welcomed North Macedonia’s “generous efforts … to welcome and provide assistance to the great number of migrants and refugees coming from different Middle Eastern countries” in 2015 and 2016.
“With you, they found a secure haven. The ready solidarity offered to those in such great need … does you honour. It says something about the soul of this people that, having itself experienced great privations, you recognize in solidarity and in the sharing of goods the route to all authentic development.”
The pope also pointed to the example of Mother Teresa, “one of your illustrious fellow-citizens, who, moved by the love of God, made love of neighbour the supreme law of her life.”
“You are rightly proud of this great woman,” he said. “I urge you to continue to work in a spirit of commitment, dedication and hope, so that the sons and daughters of this land, following her example, can recognize, attain and fully develop the vocation that God has envisaged for them.”
Bogotá, Colombia, May 7, 2019 / 12:28 am (CNA).- Thousands attended pro-life marches in cities across Colombia on May 4, under the theme “I choose both lives.”
March events were held in major cities, including Barranquilla, Bogotá, Medellín, Bucaramanga, Popayán, Cartagena, Villavicencio, Cali, Manizales, Pereira, and Bucaramanga.
According to organizers, the 13th annual National March for Life drew more than 500,000 in more than 60 cities across the country.
“We simply want to express our infinite gratitude because we have demonstrated that Colombia is a country that loves and defends life from conception to natural death,” the promoter of the event, United for Life, said in a statement.
In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency, Jesús Magaña, president of the United for Life, said the 2019 march was a “complete success because in the largest cities, the main plazas were filled” and “different politicians, candidates and members of Congress joined us.”
Magaña assured that with the massive support in the streets, they will demand the Constitutional Court strike down ruling SU-096 which “promotes abortion as a ‘fundamental right,’ something incredible.”
The Constitutional Court of Colombia decriminalized abortion on May 10, 2006 in the cases of rape, fetal deformity and danger to the life of the mother. On October 17, 2018, the court issued a new ruling in which establishing that abortions can be performed at any point throughout the pregnancy.
The demonstrations also protested euthanasia, advanced by the Constitutional Court after a 2017 ruling which asked the Congress to issue a regulation for its administration.
In a statement published April 10, the Colombian Bishops’ Conference expressed its support for the march.
“It is appropriate, then, that we apply ourselves to the task of defending life, which involves welcoming it, receiving it as a sacred gift, offering it all the opportunities for it to grow and develop in dignity, personally take on this task with responsibility and commit ourselves to a life project,” the prelates said.
The bishops stressed that every life is sacred “from its inception till its natural end” and warned of various threats to life including abortion, euthanasia, murder, suicide and other acts of violence.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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