Manila, Philippines, Jan 6, 2020 / 10:48 am (CNA).- The Supreme Court of the Philippines has reiterated its dismissal of a petition to redefine marriage in the country to include same-sex couples.
The court had initially dismissed the petition in Sept… […]
Vatican City, Jan 6, 2020 / 04:15 am (CNA).- On the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis said worship of Christ reveals the true meaning of our journey of life, as it did for the magi in the Gospel.
“When we do not worship God, we… […]
As one may expect of any institution with a 2,000-year history, there is no shortage of myths and misinformation regarding the history of the Catholic Church. There are tales of intrigue and espionage; conspiracy theories […]
Jesus assured us that the gates of hell will not prevail against his Church. But we’re not told how much damage will be done to the Church in the meantime. So much damage has been […]
Melbourne, Australia, Jan 5, 2020 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- As fires throughout parts of Australia continue to worsen, the Archbishop of Melbourne called for prayers and encouraged Catholics to donate to those in need.
“On this first weekend of the New… […]
Vatican City, Jan 5, 2020 / 04:41 am (CNA).- The Gospel is more than a nice story – it is the concrete revelation of God’s plan for the world and calls people to holiness, Pope Francis said Sunday.
The first chapter of the Gospel of John &… […]
When life’s tragedies strike, people’s hearts can ache with the question: “Where was God when we needed him?” Variations on this question, infused with a heavy dose of accusation, sometimes come from the lips of […]
Boston, Mass., Jan 4, 2020 / 04:20 pm (CNA).- In the latest move from Massachusetts state legislators to block abortion restrictions and expand access to the procedure, state Sen. Harriet Chandler has introduced a bill that would remove the longstanding requirement for teens to obtain parental consent before getting an abortion.
Currently, Massachusetts state law requires that minors obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before getting an abortion, a rule that can only be bypassed if the minor is granted permission for the abortion by a state judge.
The bill, entitled “An Act to remove obstacles and expand abortion access,” would also grant physicians the right to perform an abortion on a patient who is past 24 weeks of pregnancy if it “is necessary to protect the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or in cases of lethal fetal anomalies, or where the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.”
The bill also seeks to establish a state right to an abortion, which would stand even if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision mandating legal abortion nationwide.
“The Commonwealth shall not interfere with a person’s personal decision and ability to prevent, commence, terminate, or continue their own pregnancy consistent with this chapter. The Commonwealth shall not restrict the use of medically appropriate methods of abortion or the manner in which medically appropriate abortion is provided,” the bill states.
Those in favor of abortion have ramped up efforts to protect and expand the procedure in light of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump’s second appointment to the court.
Sen. Chandler, 82, told NPR that she believes the bill in part anticipates what could happen if Roe v. Wade were overturned.
“I think if people realize what a post-Roe world would be, that would make it even more reasonable to do this bill,” she said.
Pro-life advocates told NPR that laws requiring parental consent in the case of minors seeking abortions is meant as a protective measure for the minor as well as her unborn child.
“In our laws, we need to do as much as we can – especially given the kind of epidemic abuse that we’re facing – to interrupt that cycle,” David Franks, chairman of the board of the group Massachusetts Citizens for Life, told NPR.
Michael New, a visiting professor of political science and social research at The Catholic University of America, said in testimony against the new bill that the parental consent restriction has helped to save an estimated 10,000 – 44,000 lives since the enactment of the current law.
“…every peer-reviewed study I have seen, 16 in total, finds that state-level parental involvement laws reduce the in-state abortion rate for minors,” he said in his testimony.
“I think most people are uncomfortable with minor girls obtaining abortions without their parent’s knowledge,” he added to NPR.
Twenty-five other states have similar laws to current Massachusetts law, regarding parental consent for minors seeking an abortion. Some such laws have faced added scrutiny in recent years.
In August of last year, a federal appeals court upheld an injunction against part of an Indiana law that allowed judges to notify parents if their daughter is seeking to have an abortion without their consent. In 2017, a federal judge struck down an Alabama law requiring more scrutiny for minors seeking to procure abortions through judges. The law would have allowed for hearings on the maturity level of the minor in question, and for her parents or guardians to partake in the proceedings if they found out about them.
The Massachusetts bill also comes roughly 6 months after the state’s passage of the “NASTY Women” abortion act, which repealed an 1845 ban on “procuring a miscarriage.” The full title of the act is the “Negating Archaic Statutes Targeting Young Women Act,” a reference to a comment made by then-candidate Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton during a presidential candidates debate on Oct. 19, 2016.
A Massachusetts state law prohibiting protests and prayer vigils within a 35-foot “buffer zone” of an abortion facility was unanimously struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014.
Mother Seton and Bishop Neumann were persons of a deep and abiding faith in Divine Providence. They didn’t conduct massive and expensive feasibility studies to […]
Managua, Nicaragua, Jan 4, 2020 / 05:53 am (CNA).- As political tensions continue in Nicaragua, the archbishop of Managua stressed that for peace to be achieved, people need to look past their differences and foster dialogue without exclusion or manipulation.
“Only by choosing the path of respect will it be possible to break the spiral of vengeance,” said Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes on the World Day of Peace, celebrated Jan. 1.
“Peace as the object of our hope is a precious good to which all humanity aspires,” he said.
“War often begins because of intolerance of other people’s diversity, which foments the desire to possess and the will to dominate,” Brenes stressed, adding that war “is born in the heart of man because of egoism and pride, because of hatred that incites people to destroy, to frame others in a negative image, to exclude them or eliminate them.”
War feeds on broken relationships, abuse of power and ambitions, and fear of others and their differences, he said.
The cardinal said that peace is only achieved by a change in the human heart, which leads to a political willingness to reconcile and unite people and communities.
“The world doesn’t need empty words, but convinced witnesses, artisans of peace, open to dialogue without exclusion or manipulation,” he said.
Cardinal Brenes’ comments come amid continued heated protests against the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Anti-government protests in the country began in April 2018. The crackdown from security forces and pro-government militias resulted in more than 320 deaths that year, with 2,000 injured and tens of thousands fleeing the country as refugees.
Modest pension reforms triggered the unrest but protests quickly turned to objections to what critics said was Ortega’s authoritarian bent.
Ortega, who previously led the country for over a decade after the Sandinistas’ 1979 ouster of the Somoza dictatorship, has been president of Nicaragua since 2007, and oversaw the abolition of presidential term limits in 2014.
The Catholic Church has served as a mediator in on-again, off-again talks between the government and opposition leaders. Church leaders had suggested that the elections scheduled for 2021 be held in 2019, but Ortega rejected the idea.
Ortega’s government has accused many bishops and priests of supporting the opposition. The president’s backers have said that a demand for the president to leave office early and to hold early elections are tantamount to a coup attempt. Some have labeled the protesters as terrorists, the Associated Press reports.
Rosario Murillo, Nicaragua’s vice president and Ortega’s wife, criticized “those who claim to speak in the name of the faith,” calling them “repugnant wolves who spread hatred.”
Since the protests began, there has been a series of attacks against clergy, churches and church facilities targeted by pro-government bands.
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