Vatican City, Mar 10, 2020 / 03:31 am (CNA).- At his morning Mass Tuesday, Pope Francis urged priests to bring the Eucharist to the sick and to accompany medical workers, as Italy begins its first day of a nationwide quarantine.
“We continue to … […]
“What would men be without women? Scarce, sir… mighty scarce.” — attributed to Mark Twain Fifty years ago, only rogue philosophers bothered to ask, “What is a woman?” It seems so simple, until suddenly it […]
Lujan, Argentina, Mar 9, 2020 / 06:18 pm (CNA).- As the Argentine president prepares to send a bill to the legislature legalizing abortion, thousands attended a pro-life Mass March 8 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan.
The Mas Vida Foundation estimated the attendance at more than 100,000 people.
The Argentine bishops’ conference organized the Mass with the theme “Yes to women, yes to life.” The main celebrant was Bishop Oscar Vicente Ojea Quintana of San Isidro, who is president of the conference.
The purpose of the event was to oppose the bill to legalize abortion to be sent by President Alberto Fernandez to the Congress, which was announced last week.
Argentine law allows abortion in cases when the mother’s life or health is in danger, or in cases of rape.
In his homily, Bishop Ojea said that “in this Eucharist we have come to celebrate and express our gratitude for the lives of so many women united in the sentiment of so many people in the world on this international women’s day.”
“We value your irreplaceable presence in families and and we celebrate the increasingly greater place you have in our society,” the prelate said, and that added that all have come to Luján to “pray for all women so their lives, their safety and their rights are respected, overcoming every kind of exclusion.”
“But in a special way, we want to celebrate and appreciate women’s closeness and commitment to life,” he said, and especially those “intelligent and brave women who commit their lives day after day, that life that sometimes makes it presence known with an unplanned pregnancy, which perhaps doesn’t come at the best time, but they are completely committed to care for this new being they have received.”
The bishop underscored that “there are millions of Argentine men and women, believers and non-believers” who “have the profound conviction that there is life from conception and that a different person than the mother is developing in her womb.” In addition he emphasized that “it is unfair and distressing to call them anti-rights or hypocrites.”
“In reality, we value and defend the rights of each and every life, of every woman and every unborn child,” the president of the bishops’ conference said.
He stressed that “It’s not right to eliminate any human life, as our National Constitution affirms,”
and that “violence and death are the exact opposite of Jesus’ plan.”
“Life is the first right and without it no others can be given. We claim it for everyone at any age or in any situation that life finds itself in, and especially those who are weak, unprotected and defenseless,” he said.
At the same time Bishop Ojea said that the members of the Church “wholeheartedly deplore the cruelty of femicide and every kind of violence and discrimination against women” such as “ abuse in all its forms whether sexual, psychological or the abuse of power, whatever the environment where it occurs, the family, work, school, the street, and painfully we must also say in the Church.”
“Let us renew at this Eucharist our commitment to banish from us a culture that can foster cover up and any kind of complicit silence in face of this crime,” the bishop said.
He also called for civility in debating public policy and spoke against silencing or stigmatizing people which can only deepen the divisions in Argentine society.
The bishop asked the clergy to support “the implementation of sex education that is truly integral” and “policies that recognize the equal dignity of men and women in society.”
Bishop Ojea expressed support for public policies to assist pregnant women, especially those in situations where there is conflict or extreme vulnerability and noted “we’re already doing it in a lot of our communities.”
A bill to legalize abortion through the first 14 weeks of gestation narrowly passed the Chamber of Deputies in 2018, but was rejected by the Senate.
Washington D.C., Mar 9, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- If elected president, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would use his Medicare for all policy to increase access to abortion nationwide, and roll back limits on state […]
Lima, Peru, Mar 9, 2020 / 06:10 pm (CNA).- A Peruvian cardinal has said that the Vatican has been asked to dissolve the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Peruvian religious community whose founder sexually and psychologically abused members, and committed other abuses of power.
“I personally think, when a religious organization has committed a crime, and it must be said that way, from the point of view of sexual abuse and the financial matters, that there are problems and it must be dissolved; and that is the point where we are on this road, and I know that the Holy See is on that road,” Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno said March 10 during an interview with Peru’s Radio Santa Rosa.
“There are good people within the Sodalitium, so we cannot put them all in the same bag. The underlying problem is that the founder is, not only seriously questioned, but I repeat, with much regret, he is a perverted person and such a person cannot transmit and encourage the sanctity of life that Pope Francis himself in an apostolic exhortation manifested.”
The cardinal said that other bishops in Peru, including the president of the country’s episcopal conference are in agreement with him about the Sodalitium. He said that dicasteries of the Holy See, while not disagreeing with their conclusion, have not yet found a definitive way to move forward on suppression of the religious congregation.
“My personal position is that this religious community should be dissolved, and those within it can be helped, so that they can live authentic lives, and I believe that many people share this view. This is a proposal that many of us are talking about, and it is not that Pope Francis or the dicasteries of the Holy See disagree, but we are on a path,” he added.
The cardinal, a member of the Society of Jesus, was appointed to lead the Peruvian Archdiocese of Huancayo in 2004. He was made a cardinal in 2018.
The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae declined to comment on the cardinal’s remarks.
The group is a society of apostolic life founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. Alejandro Bermudez, executive director of CNA, is a member of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.
The Sodalitium’s founder, Luis Fernando Figari, stepped down as superior general in 2010, after allegations surfaced that he had committed serial acts of abuse while leading the community. Other former leaders of the community have since faced related abuse allegations, and several remain subject to law enforcement investigations.
In February 2017, a team of independent investigators commissioned by the Sodalitium reported that “Figari sexually assaulted at least one child, manipulated, sexually abused, or harmed several other young people; and physically or psychologically abused dozens of others.”
Figari was subsequently forbidden from the group’s community life, from any contact with the religious community, and from him from returning to Peru. Figari was also forbidden to make any public statements.
In January 2018, Pope Francis appointed Colombian Bishop Noel Antonio Londoño Buitrago C.Ss.R. as papal commissioner for the society, tasking him with overseeing an ongoing process of reform that began after allegations against Figari came to light. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark was tasked in 2016 with assisting the community’s reform process and its internal investigations of alleged misconduct.
In 2019, the community elected Colombian José David Correa González as its new superior general.
Prosecutors in Peru are believed to be deliberating about the possibility of criminal charges in connection to acts of abuse which took place with the Sodalitium.
ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contributed to this report.
Washington D.C., Mar 9, 2020 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- The Department of Justice (DOJ) is targeting state and local government violations of religious freedom, a senior DOJ official told reporters on Monday.
“Attorney General Barr is particularly inter… […]
Borongan, Philippines, Mar 9, 2020 / 03:36 pm (CNA).- The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has highlighted the value of women, noting that abuse of women is “an affront to God.”
“God made man and woman according to his own image and likeness. Every offense against the dignity of women is a direct offense against God himself,” said Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan, chairman of the CBCP’s Commission on Women.
“Every woman is entitled to the respect of every man and other women; no woman should ever be treated as a mere object for another person’s satisfaction.”
The prelate issued a statement following International Women’s Day on Sunday. He decried the terrible actions women often face, such as prostitution, sexual abuse, violence, and discrimination.
In recent years, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been accused of making light of comments about rape. During a 2018 speech, the president said: “As long as there are many beautiful women, there will be more rape cases,” UCA News reported.
Joms Salvador, secretary-general of women’s group Gabriela, said abuses against women have only worsened under the current presidential office. Protesters at a Sunday rally set fire to an image of Duterte, whom they have accused of being a misogynist, according to UCA News.
Varquez highlighted the unique value of each gender. He said, while each sex is different, they provide a complementary good and deserve the same amount of respect.
“There are specific tasks in life that only a woman can do just as there are specific tasks that are meant only for a man. But man and woman are equal in dignity. Their true relationship is to complement and complete each other,” he said.
He drew attention to the Blessed Virgin Mary, emphasizing her role in salvation history. He said, through her “fiat,” she became the mother of God and the mother of the Church.
In a woman’s womb “life comes as a gift from God. Through her, God forms and nurtures a new human person. Indispensable and unique is her service and contribution to the family, the Church, and the social order,” he said.
“To them I say then, nurture what is good in your families. Raise God-loving, responsible and happy children, remembering that it is in your homes, no matter how humble, that we begin to form citizens of the world.”
Indianapolis, Ind., Mar 9, 2020 / 02:24 pm (CNA).- Indiana’s Marion Superior Court has postponed a hearing scheduled for Tuesday in a religious liberty case over whether a Catholic school may dismiss a teacher for publicly violating Church teaching.
Becket, which is representing the the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in the case, has announced that a March 10 hearing in Payne-Elliott v. Archdiocese of Indianapolis “has been postponed for medical reasons.”
It added that the hearing will be reset at a later date.
Joshua Payne-Elliott, a former teacher at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, filed a lawsuit claiming that the archdiocese illegally interfered in his professional relationship with Cathedral High School, leading the school to terminate his contract in June 2019.
Joshua and Layton Payne-Elliott had contracted a same-sex civil marriage in 2017.
Joshua was dismissed from Cathedral High because contracting a same-sex marriage violates archdiocesan policies and Catholic teaching.
“Archbishop Thompson made it clear that Cathedral’s continued employment of a teacher in a public, same-sex marriage would result in our forfeiting our Catholic identity due to our employment of an individual living in contradiction to Catholic teaching on marriage,” Cathedral High School leaders said in a June 2019 letter.
“Therefore, in order to remain a Catholic Holy Cross School, Cathedral must follow the direct guidance given to us by Archbishop Thompson and separate from the teacher,” said the letter, signed by Matt Cohoat, chairman of Cathedral High School’s board of directors, and Rob Bridges, the school’s president.
Layton is employed as a teacher at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. The school’s Catholic identity was revoked by the Archbishop of Indianapolis in 2019 after a disagreement about Layton’s employment. The revocation is temporarily suspended while the Congregation for Catholic Education considers an appeal.
In 2017, Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis had requested that Cathedral High School and Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School not renew the Payne-Elliotts’ contracts.
Joshua Payne-Elliott filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese in protest of his dismissal in August 2019, one day after having reached a settlement with Cathedral High School.
Jay Mercer, an attorney for the archdiocese, has said that “The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that churches have a constitutional right to determine rules for religious schools, and that religious schools have a constitutional right to hire leaders who support the schools’ religious mission.”
“Families rely on the Archdiocese to uphold the fullness of Catholic social teaching throughout its schools, and the Constitution fully protects the Church’s efforts to do so,” he added.
The Department of Justice has said that the school’s decision was protected by the First Amendment.
“This case presents an important question: whether a religious entity’s interpretation and implementation of its own religious teachings can expose it to third-party intentional-tort liability. The First Amendment answers that question in the negative,” a Justice Department statement of interest said.
It added that “religious employers are entitled to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employers’ religious precepts, and, more broadly, that the United States Constitution bars the government from interfering with the autonomy of a religious organization.”
In June 2019, the archdiocese said of teachers that “it is their duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. To effectively bear witness to Christ, whether they teach religion or not, all ministers in their professional and private lives must convey and be supportive of Catholic Church teaching.”
Archdiocesan policy states that every Catholic school, archdiocesan and private, must clearly state in its contracts and job descriptions that all teachers are ministers of the Gospel and must convey and be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church.
In a June 2019 statement, the archdiocese explained that teachers at Catholic schools are considered ministers, as part of the schools’ mission to forming students in the Catholic faith.
“To effectively bear witness to Christ, whether they teach religion or not, all ministers in their professional and private lives must convey and be supportive of Catholic Church teaching,” the archdiocese said.
Archbishop Thompson has stressed that Joshua Payne-Elliott was removed not because he is homosexual, but because he had contracted a same-sex marriage, in opposition to Church teaching on marriage.
All people should be treated with love and respect, and sexual orientation in itself is not sinful, the archbishop said.
However, he added, the Church is clear in teaching that the proper role of sexual activity is within a marriage between one man and one woman.
The problem in cases such as Brebeuf and Cathedral, he said, “is about public witness of Church teaching on the dignity of marriage as one man and one woman. That is our Church teaching.”
“In this particular case we’re dealing with, those are ministers in our Church. Teachers, guidance counselors, other leaders, leaders of the schools and other leaders in the archdiocese are bound to live out these principles.”
Alarm over the spread of coronavirus has led the Italian government to place more than a dozen northern provinces—including Lombardy, which totals 16 million people with its city of Milan—under travel lock-down for three weeks. […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 9, 2020 / 11:53 am (CNA).- A Mexico City march organized for International Women’s Day turned violent Sunday, when some demonstrators vandalized public structures and monuments, Church buildings, and businesses amid the march.
Considerable violence took place outside the city’s cathedral, where some feminist demonstrators, many of whom wore masks, threw paint and flammable liquids at the church. A group of Catholics had gathered outside the cathedral to safeguard it during the demonstration, and a contingent of female police officers was assigned to the site. Both fell under attack.
Violentas feministas atacan a los que defienden la Catedral de México y a las pocas agentes policiales que la defienden #8M #MujeresPorLaPaz #TodaVidaVale #UnDiaPorTodas #MujerEsVida pic.twitter.com/FNxl8lvylN
— David Ramos (@YoDash) March 8, 2020
Some media reports mentioned counter-protesters making Nazi salutes outside the cathedral. Three such persons were observed by journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, all of whom apparently left the site once the melee began. Those counter-protesters did not appear to be affiliated with the cathedral parishioners outside the church.
Demonstrators also threw Molotov cocktails at Mexico’s National Palace, the country’s official presidential residence, leaving some at the demonstration with burns and other injuries, smashed car windshields, and burnt the doors of some buildings.
Así dejaron las violentas feministas un vehículo de los bomberos @Bomberos_CDMX, a pocos metros de la Catedral de México y sin que las autoridades hagan algo #8M #DiaDeLaMujer #DiaInternacionaldelasMujeres pic.twitter.com/zKHLspLo4y
— David Ramos (@YoDash) March 8, 2020
Official government numbers said 80,000 people participated in the march. Demonstrators said the march was intended to address the problem of femicide in the country, although protestors also mentioned support for abortion rights among reasons for the demonstrations, and many wore the green bandanas that symbolize “abortion rights” support in Mexico.
#Viral| ?? En la cobertura de la marcha feminista, la fotógrafa de El Universal, Berenice Fregoso, resultó lesionada por una bomba molotov.
Fue traslada al hospital con quemaduras de segundo grado.
Más información. ⬇https://t.co/Oxp1Qj1BhY pic.twitter.com/7ZBNdhNyfx
— EL UNIVERSAL Qro (@universalqro) March 9, 2020
Some pro-life groups distributed signs and posted banners describing abortion as femicide, though demonstrators could be seen tearing them down and setting them on fire.
Churches and public buildings were also vandalized in other Mexican city by feminist groups and demonstrators. By Monday, March 9th, serious damage was reported to Catholic churches in Xalapa, Campeche and Hermosillo.
In Hermosillo, Catholics attending Mass were attacked by a group of masked marchers, The Massgoers barricaded themselves inside the church by pushing pews against the main door, in order to prevent the group from damaging the interior of the cathedral.
After the violence unfolded, an Archdiocese of Mexico spokesman told ACI Prensa that “I think it is important to say that the crisis of values and violence against women is an issue that should unite us to work together in search of the gift of peace. Acting divided and in confrontation will only thwart efforts to stop violence.”
The Mexican bishops’ conference had expressed support for March 9 demonstrations across the country, which had mostly been organized by groups calling for expanded legal protection for abortion in Mexico. The conference has not yet issued a statement on Sunday’s violence.
A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner.
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