Washington D.C., Feb 6, 2020 / 04:39 pm (CNA).- The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has updated its annual “Dirty Dozen” ranking of mainstream companies or entities that it says are not doing enough to stop the spread of sexual explo… […]
Manila, Philippines, Feb 6, 2020 / 03:21 pm (CNA).- Catholic leaders in the Philippines have voiced concern that a bill aiming to legalize divorce is progressing without significant debate.
“I was expecting exhaustive deliberations and discussio… […]
Washington D.C., Feb 6, 2020 / 02:49 pm (CNA).- The world must raise their voices and stand up for persecuted Christians, Hungarian State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians Tristan Azbej said Thursday.
Azbej was one of eight speakers at a Feb. 6 side-event of the National Prayer Breakfast that was sponsored by the organization Save the Persecuted Christians.
“All of humanity should stand up and come to the aid of persecuted Christians,” said Azbej.
Christian lives have the same dignity as those who follow other religions, he said. He questioned why stories of Christian persecution, such as the recent murder of a Nigerian seminarian, do not make the news, but when people of other religions are discriminated against, the stories are broadcast worldwide.
“Why is (Christian persecution) not on the agenda of the United Nations, of the European Union, and so on,” he asked.
“And I know there is no such thing as competition of martyrdom, but we have to talk about the proportions,” he said, noting that nearly 300 million Christians in the world are persecuted for their faith. This, he said, represents 80% of the total number of people who face persecution for their religion, meaning Christians are “the most persecuted religious group in the world.”
“It doesn’t get even a passing mention at the major human rights forum,” he said.
As the State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, Azbej said that he has a “two-fold” mission. His first priority, he said, is “saving lives,” which he does through the government-run nonprofit “Hungary Helps.”
The other part of his mission, he explained, is “to be the voice of those that are not heard. To be the voice of those who are suffering.”
Azbej is, in his words “the only one with a government title that has the term ‘persecuted Christians’ in it,” something that he hopes changes as more countries move to address the plight of persecuted religious groups.
He especially called on historically-Christian countries to move to protect their fellow Christians, and he accused these countries of attempting to shed their Christian identities, which Azbej said was indicative of an “identity crisis.”
Azbej explained that when he started in his position in 2016, his main focus was on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Now, he said, his priorities have shifted to the plight of the Christian community in west Africa.
“As we have learned more about the nature and extent of Christian persecution, now we are turning more and more focused on Africa,” he said. “In west Africa, there is a genocide going on, and the whole world is turning a blind eye.”
Part of the aid work Azbej’s organization does is the rebuilding of churches and communities that have been destroyed by the Islamic State. One Northern Iraqi town renamed itself Tel Askouf, meaning “Daughter of Hungary,” in appreciation for the approximately 2 million euros ($2.2m) donated by the Hungarian government to rebuild the town.
This, said Azbej, is something that can be replicated around the world.
“We wouldn’t only want to see ‘Sons and Daughters of Hungary,’” he said. “We would like to see daughters and sons of the United Nations, or of the United States or Germany or of the European Union.”
Salta, Argentina, Feb 6, 2020 / 02:27 pm (CNA).- The head of an indigenous ministry team in Argentina has called on Catholics not to be indifferent to the plight of suffering indigenous people, but to make an effort at outreach, encounter, and prayer.
“The indigenous reality is alien and distant, especially for those who live in the big cities, due to the great diversity and expanse of the national territory,” said Deacon Eduardo Bertea, a member of the indigenous pastoral team for the Diocese of Orán in Salta, Argentina.
Bertea spoke to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, after local media outlet Infobae reported last week the deaths of six children from the Wichí ethnic community due to poverty and malnutrition. The Wichí are an indigenous group in the Salta province in the country’s north.
Responding to the news, Salta governor Gustavo Adolfo Ruberto Sáenz declared a “social and health emergency” for six months, to prioritize initiatives in the areas of comprehensive health, identifying emergency cases, and undertaking actions to reverse this situation, according to local reports.
One of the major challenges facing the Wichí people is a lack of access to clean drinking water.
Government minister Ricardo Villada told local media that the government is working to assemble food packages, establish a water purification plant, and arrange for the construction of rainwater collection cisterns.
Deacon Bertea, who has 30 years of experience ministering to indigenous peoples, explained that the rainy season threatens the Wichís annually.
“The infrastructure is very shaky: there are bad roads, unreliable communications, no access to safe drinking water and unreliable health services. But this is nothing new, it happens every year,” he said.
Wichí communities face threats from new genetically modified crops, as farmland encroaches on their territories, Bertea said.
“They live under the constant threat of being evicted from their homes because the still don’t hold the title to these lands,” he explained.
Many of these communities also face discrimination and cultural separation from much of society, he added.
The Diocese of Salta’s indigenous people ministry seeks to promote the dignity of the Wichís and similar communities, the deacon explained.
“It seeks their recognition as children of God, going beyond government welfare,” he said, adding that the ministry seeks to “promote the recognition of the fundamental rights of these communities, for example water, a vital element; access to land and its natural resources; and that the indigenous are not treated as the object of welfare benefits, but that they’re listened to, that it’s a two-way conversation.”
Bertea invited Catholics in Argentina to get to know indigenous communities and to “recognize them as brothers, in imitation of the Virgin of Guadalupe, as she did with the indigenous Juan Diego.”
“All Christians are called to listen to the [indigenous peoples], to have an attentive ear and an open heart…to listen to their cries, their claims, their wisdom,” he said.
Kochi, India, Feb 6, 2020 / 01:59 pm (CNA).- The cause for beatification of Father Varkey Kattarath, founder of the Vincentian Congregation, was opened Wednesday at a ceremony in India.
Fr. Kattarath founded the congregation, modeled on St. Vincent de Paul’s Congregation of the Mission, in 1904. The community’s charism is evangelization, particularly of the poor.
He was declared a Servant of God Feb. 5 at the headquarters of the Vincentian Congregation in Kochi. The cause was requested by the congregation, which is based in the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
Fr. Kattarath, born in 1851, was serving as a parish priest when he learned that his bishop wanted to start a community like the Congregation of the Mission. The bishop had visited the congregation’s mother house in Paris in 1895, and he returned to Ernakulam with a copy of its rule.
In 1904 the priest founded a residence for priests, and he was relieved of parish responsibilities. He lived with two fellow priests, but the community was dispersed with the bishop’s permission in 1913, according to the Vincentian Congregation’s website.
The community was revived in 1927 when three Ernakulam priests approached their bishop saying they wanted to live consecrated life. He directed them to Fr. Kattarath, and the congregation was re-formed.
The priest made his first profession in 1929, and perpetual profession in 1931. He died later that year.
Fr. Kattarath also served as a chaplain to convents, and cared for the ill.
The Vincentian Congregation says it has two bishops, 555 priets, and 184 professed seminarians.
Catamarca, Argentina, Feb 6, 2020 / 01:16 pm (CNA).- To commemorate the anniversary of a statue of the Virgin Mary being discovered in Argentina, 400 small grottos are being constructed in one region of the country.
Four hundred years ago, an indigeno… […]
Vatican City, Feb 6, 2020 / 12:20 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis will make the final decision on when to publish a highly-anticipated report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Thursday.
“I think that [the report] will come out soon, I cannot tell you exactly when,” Parolin told a small group of journalists Feb. 6.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on holiness, the cardinal said “we are trying to speed up the time to arrive” at the publication of the report on the Vatican’s internal investigation into the disgraced former cardinal.
Parolin did confirm that he expects the document to be released “in the near future.”
“However, the publication depends on the pope. The work that is done is done, but the pope must give the final word,” he added.
The Vatican announced that it would conduct an internal review of files on McCarrick’s career in October 2018. McCarrick was a cardinal and the archbishop of two major American sees before he was found guilty of serial sexual abuse and laicized in 2019, following a canonical process.
Since the review was announced, American Catholics – including many bishops – have repeatedly called for the release of its findings.
Over the past several months, the bishops of the United States have been meeting with Pope Francis for their ad limina visits, travelling to Rome in regional groups. While there, several bishops have raised the issue of the McCarrick report.
When the topic was came up during the USCCB meeting in Baltimore in November last year, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, recently returned from Rome, updated the U.S. bishops on the report’s progress, saying that the final draft was being translated into Italian for presentation to Pope Francis and was expected to be released at the beginning of 2020, if not sooner.
In the 87 days since Cardinal O’Malley gave that update, other bishops have said they also raised the issue while in Rome.
In December, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing told EWTN News that he asked about the status of the McCarrick investigation and was “very glad to hear that a report is coming.”
Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler also told reporters that he’d asked about the timing of the report’s release in a meeting with Pope Francis during his own ad limina visit in January.
McCarrick was laicized in February 2019, after he was found by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”
Pope Francis announced an internal Vatican investigation into the career of McCarrick in October 2018.
Washington D.C., Feb 6, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- President Donald Trump chastised political opponents, touted strong economic numbers, and asked for votes at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
At the beginning of his remarks,… […]
Vatican City, Feb 6, 2020 / 10:37 am (CNA).- He is a Heisman Trophy winner, a two-time college football champion, a sports broadcaster, and one of the most watched players ever to play professional football, even while his career was short-lived. At 32, he is also a minor-league baseball player, taking the field with almost no chance of a big league career, and against players ten years younger than him, solely for love of the game.
Tim Tebow is recognized, beloved, and respected by millions around the world, even years after his career as a spread option quarterback sputtered.
Those things, though, are not the most important to Tim Tebow. Most important to him is faith in Jesus Christ, Tebow says. Tebow is well-known as an Evangelical Christian, the son of missionaries, and an outspoken witness to his convictions about living the Christian life.
When he met Pope Francis at the Vatican Feb. 5, Tebow talked with the pope about his faith, and especially about the project, borne of that faith, that had brought him to Rome.
“Our visit to the Vatican was a great experience for our entire team and it was a joy to meet with Pope Francis to share with him our heart for people with special needs and the joy that we experienced at Night to Shine – Rome,” Tebow told CNA after the visit.
Night to Shine, the project Tebow talked about with Pope Francis, hosts proms – dances – for people with intellectual disabilities and other special needs around the world. Tebow began the project in 2014, and sponsors it through the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Tebow hosted the first Night to Shine in Rome earlier this week. He told CNA he hopes it is the first of many such events in Italy.
“Our hope is that Night to Shine could grow across Italy and the entire world, where we all celebrate and love people with special needs,” the athlete told CNA.
Tebow told EWTN News on Tuesday that part of Night to Shine’s purpose is to let people with special needs know “they matter, that they have significance — and more than just to us, but to the God of this universe, because we believe that everybody has value, everybody has meaning.
“God loves every single person. They were created in love, by love, and for love and God loves them just the way they are,” Tebow added.
When he met with Pope Francis on Wednesday, Tebow reiterated those things. He and his wife, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, spoke with Pope Francis after his Wednesday audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.
After Tebow explained the project, the athlete told CNA, he got some words of encouragement from Pope Francis.
“Thank you for the important work you’re doing,” Tebow says Pope Francis told him.
“Keep it up!”
Tebow has every intention of doing just that.
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb 6, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- The U.S. bishops’ conference praised a Trump administration plan to expand school choice Wednesday, as Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to a Catholic school in inner-city Philadelphia. … […]
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