Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, one of the most magnificent churches in the United States, is approaching the 100th anniversary of its groundbreaking. The shrine […]
Krakow, Poland, Mar 11, 2020 / 06:18 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow announced Wednesday that having obtained the approval of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the archdiocese has opened beatification processes for the paren… […]
Seattle, Wash., Mar 11, 2020 / 05:45 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Seattle will indefinitely suspend public Masses in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has left at least 31 dead in Washington, along with 375 people in the state who have teste… […]
Jerusalem, Mar 11, 2020 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- Mohammed Hamayal, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, was shot and killed by Israeli troops Wednesday during a clash in the West Bank.
He was killed during a March 11 Palestinian protest of Israeli settlers near Beita, some 40 miles north of Jerusalem.
According to Israel, 500 Palestinians were rioting, setting tires on fire and throwing rocks at its security forces.
In response to the rock throwing, Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas, a witness told the BBC.
According to Palestinian officials, another 17 people were injured in the clash.
The Israeli army said that “we are aware of a report regarding a killed Palestinian and several injured. The incident will be reviewed.”
Israeli settlers have been trying to gain control of a hill in the Beita area, according to Palestinians.
Beita residents have held daily sit-ins on the hill since Feb. 28, “when settlers made the first attempt to seize the mountain and turn it into an Israeli religious tourist route,” Wafa, a Palestinian news agency, reported.
Some 600,000 Israeli Jews live in about 140 settlements in the West Bank, according to the BBC. Under international law, the settlements are generally considered illegal, though Israel disputes this.
Israel has in recent years been building a security wall through Palestinian land in the West Bank believed to be linked to the protection of the settlers.
In January US president Donald Trump and Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a two-state peace plan for Israel and Palestine, which was rejected by the state of Palestine.
The US bishops have encouraged Israel and Palestine to “negotiate directly” with each other and to agree on a common resolution for peace.
“Intrinsic to a fruitful discussion is the necessity that each state recognizes and supports the legitimacy of each other,” Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, said in a Feb. 3 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump and Netanyahu unveiled their plan Jan. 28, which includes an independent Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem.
Despite this, Trump insisted that Jerusalem would also remain “Israel’s undivided— very important— undivided capital.” The United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in 2017.
A group of bishops from the United States and Europe visiting the Holy Land in January called on their countries’ governments to acknowledge the state of Palestine and to apply international law in Israel and the surrounding area in order to promote peace and justice.
“Our governments must do more to meet their responsibilities for upholding international law and protecting human dignity. In some cases they have become actively complicit in the evils of conflict and occupation,” the bishops said Jan. 16.
The bishops said it was “painfully clear” that living conditions for the people of the Holy Land are worsening, particularly “in the West Bank where our sisters and brothers are denied even basic rights including freedom of movement.”
The visiting bishops said that local bishops warn “that people are facing further ‘evaporation of hope for a durable solution’.” They added: “We have witnessed this reality first-hand, particularly how construction of settlements and the separation wall is destroying any prospect of two states existing in peace.”
The bishops encouraged their own countries’ governments to find political solutions to the conflicts in the Holy Land, including: “insisting upon the application of international law; following the Holy See’s lead in recognizing the State of Palestine, addressing the security concerns of Israel and the right of all to live in safety, rejecting political or economic support for settlements, and resolutely opposing acts of violence or abuses of human rights by any side.”
The Vatican recognized the state of Palestine in May 2015.
Louisville, Ky., Mar 11, 2020 / 04:32 pm (CNA).- Kentucky’s Governor Andy Beshear on Wednesday encouraged churches to cancel their services in fear of the spreading coronavirus. The Catholic archdiocese in the state does not plan to cancel Masses… […]
Rome, Italy, Mar 11, 2020 / 03:21 pm (CNA).- As the Diocese of Rome holds a day of prayer and fasting for victims of coronavirus, Pope Francis sent a message asking for the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, invoking her under her title of Salus Po… […]
Caracas, Venezuela, Mar 11, 2020 / 03:05 pm (CNA).- Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets March 10 in Caracas and other cities to demand democratic change, amid the ongoing economic, political and social crises in the country under the regime of President Nicholas Maduro.
“Today, March 10, the Venezuelan people have returned to the streets demanding their rights and manifesting their desire for a change of direction in the economy and the political order to permit democracy,” the president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, Archbishop José Luis Azuaje of Maracaibo, said in a statement
“The deterioration in the quality of life, which has led us to get by as best we can, without electricity, without water, without just compensation for our work, without gasoline, without peace, without family” has created “social instability and greater poverty,” the bishop added.
The march was led by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, and organized to present to the National Assembly a call for free and fair presidential elections.
As Guaidó led the marchers toward the National Assembly building, they were blocked by security forces.
Police used teargas to turn back the marchers before they reached the National Assembly. Opposition party lawmakers held an impromptu, but legally valid, outdoor session of the legislative assembly in a nearby city square.
In January 2019, Guaidó, as president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself interim president of the country, after president Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term, having won a contested election in which opposition candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Guaidó and the Venezuelan bishops held Maduro’s second term to be invalid, and the presidency vacant.
Much of the international community consider Maduro’s re-election illegitimate. Nearly 60 nations led by the United States have recognized Guaidó as the country’s acting president, but with the backing of the military, Maduro is firmly entrenched and Guaidó has no practical power other than the popular support he can muster.
The communications office of the interim president described a statement of demands passed during the impromptu legislative session, the National Conflict Statement, as “a legal instrument,” which following its passage, creates laws “to provide a response to the country’s social needs.”
The document has a legal character and compliance would be obligatory should a transitional government actually be constituted.
Azuaje said that the country can’t continue to go down the spiral of deterioration. Therefore “structural changes are needed in politics, the economy and the leadership that go beyond ideological interests or to holding on to power at all costs,” he pointed out.
“Hence the challenge to continue to build a citizenry that facilitates a more just and free society, which permits the promotion and protection of the dignity of the human person and encourages integral human development,” Azuaje noted.
The bishop also expressed his dismay that an unnamed member of Maduro’s government called for a “countermarch,” and he criticized the people “who have had to bow to official purposes for different interests.”
“Sent by their superiors, the military establishment has been present on a large scale since March 9, on different streets and avenues in the cities that belong to civil society, but are blocked by those who should be the servants of the people,” the bishop lamented, urging the country’s military forces “to fulfill their mission to safeguard and protect the people.”
The president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference added that “we’re all Venezuelans and we have to respect each other, find ways to understand each other, and meet each other as brothers.”
“Violence leads us to the destruction of what’s left of the social fabric,” he stressed.
Venezuela has been torn by violence, upheaval, shortages of basic necessities and food stuffs, widespread hunger, power and water supply outages and hyperinflation under the Nicolas Maduro regime. According to the Organization of American States (OAS), the number of Venezuelans fleeing the country is expected to total 6 million by the end of the year.
A version of this story was first published by Aci Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Washington D.C., Mar 11, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- Nursing care facilities around the country are ramping up efforts to protect their residents as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase. This week, one religious order told CNA how they are wo… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 11, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- As Christians in the country face a campaign of escalating violence, one Nigerian priest spoke to CNA about the suffering of the Church, and why he has hope of a final victory.
“I want other Catho… […]
Vatican City, Mar 11, 2020 / 11:19 am (CNA).- Cardinal Peter Turkson sent a message Wednesday encouraging Catholics to see the sacrifices required to slow the spread of coronavirus as a chance to deepen their relationships with God and their neighbors.
“Prayer is our strength, prayer is our resource. Here then is the favorable moment to rediscover the fatherhood of God and our being children,” Turkson said in the March 11 message.
He encouraged “the most tested communities” to not experience “everything as a privation.”
For those who cannot gather for the celebration of Mass, he said, “we are called to an even more deeply rooted journey on what sustains the spiritual life: prayer, fasting, and charity.”
“If we cannot meet in our assemblies to live our faith together, as we usually do, God offers us the opportunity to enrich ourselves, to discover new paradigms, and to find personal relationships with Him again,” he said.
The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Turkson addressed his letter to health workers, chaplains, the sick and their families, volunteers, civil authorities, bishops in charge of pastoral work in healthcare, the heads of bishops’ conferences, and all people of good will.
His message was sent as countries around the world increase measures to fight the spread of coronavirus.
In Italy, public Masses were canceled starting March 8. Most dioceses in Japan have also suspended public Masses.
Worldwide, there are 109,577 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 3,809 deaths.
The new strain of coronavirus causes a respiratory disease, COVID-19, and has a fatality rate of roughly 3%. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in China.
In his message, the cardinal reminded Catholics of Christ’s words in Matthew’s Gospel: “when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
He also recalled the many times Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics to keep the Bible nearby and to pray with scripture.
“The effort made to contain the spread of Coronavirus is accompanied by the commitment of each individual faithful for the greater good: the reconquest of life, the defeat of fear, the triumph of hope,” he said.
The cardinal noted the importance of solidarity during this time and asked people to think of their “neighbor, office colleague, school friend, but above all the doctors and nurses who risk contamination and infection to save the infected.”
Turkson asked political and economic authorities to not neglect social justice amid the new economic crisis caused by the virus and to continue to look for ways to support health workers all over the world, especially in the places in most difficulty.
“So let us pray to God the Father to increase our faith, help the sick in healing and support health workers in their mission,” the cardinal said.
“We ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the efforts of scientists, health workers and governments, and we entrust all the populations affected by the contagion to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of humanity.”
© Catholic World Report