Mexican Supreme Court rejects effort to expand abortion in Veracruz

null / Credit: Unsplash

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 24, 2023 / 12:30 pm (CNA).
Father Alberto Reyes, a priest of the Archdiocese of Camagüey in Cuba, recently stated that members of the Church who denounce the injustices that occur in the country get… […]

Symbols of several of the world’s leading religions. / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 19, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Eduardo Hayen Cuarón, director of the weekly newspaper Presencia of the Diocese of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, recently responded to the question of whether all religions are equal, good, and true.

Responding on X Feb. 4, the priest addressed the following question: “I am an open-minded person and I believe that all religions are equal; they are all like rivers that one way or another flow into the sea. As long as religions lead man to do good, any religion is good and true, right?”

Hayen responded that “it is good to have an open mind to try to perceive all that is good in religions. Without a doubt, Muslims are very observant in prayer and fasting; Buddhists also mortify the body, and Jehovah’s Witnesses are tenacious in promoting their magazine by knocking on doors.”

“But judging a religion by some good elements it may have is not a valid criterion to say that it is the true religion. Not all religions are true. No,” the priest said.

“If we affirm that there is only one God,” the Mexican priest continued, “then there is only one divine truth, and therefore one religion is the true one. So be careful not to be so open-minded, so open that you are eventually left in a frightening spiritual confusion. Chesterton said that ‘having an open mind is like having an open mouth: It’s not an end, but a means.’ And the end, he said, is to close your mouth on something solid.”

The priest also said that at one point in his life he also believed “the tale that any religion leads to God and that therefore we should not bother finding the true one.”

“Many religions teach things contrary to those of other religions, so not all of them are true. Don’t get confused. If there is only one God, only one religion is the true one,” he continued.

In conclusion, Hayen said that “always living with an open mind can be a problem in finding something solid on which you can base your life. I hope your search is sincere, because when it comes to discerning what the true religion is, you must go as deep as possible. If you find it, your life will have hit the nail on the head.”

Which is the true religion?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes the right of every person to religious freedom and states that it is a duty of Christians to inspire in every person the love of truth and good.

No. 2105 of the catechism points out in this regard that “the duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is ‘the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ.’” 

The catechism explains that “the social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church.”

“Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies,” the catechism teaches.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Managua, Nicaragua, Feb 3, 2021 / 02:11 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Managua, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, celebrated Mass Jan. 31 to commemorate six months since the attack that destroyed part of the chapel of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where the crucifix known as “the Blood of Christ” was kept.

On July 31, 2020, an unknown person entered the Chapel of the Blood of Christ and launched an incendiary bomb that severely damaged the premises and a 382-year-old image of the Blood of Christ, a depiction of Jesus Christ crucified.

As soon as the attack occurred, the cardinal said that the bombing was “a totally reprehensible act of desecration, so we must remain in constant prayer to defeat the evil forces.”

In his homily on Jan. 31, the cardinal said that “faith in Jesus Christ cannot be destroyed with this type of offence, because He is engraved in the heart of every human being.”

“We remember with great sadness that regrettable attack against the precious and consecrated crucifix of the Blood of Christ. However, the Holy Father said on Wednesday referring to the Word: ‘Someone can throw the entire Bible into fire and yet the Word is not going to be lost and it can be written again, because that word was recorded in the heart,” he said.

Cardinal Brenes also said that “the person or persons who planned the attack … thought that by destroying our venerated and consecrated image, faith in Jesus Christ was going to be lost.”

“But our faith in Jesus Christ, that we strengthen through images, is engraved in the depths of the heart; and what is engraved in the heart, nothing and no one can take away, nothing and no one can steal,” he stressed.

The cardinal also announced that with the support of a technical restoration institute from the Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala the crucifix will be restored.

Finally, Cardinal Brenes called on the faithful “to continue praying so that we can soon have the venerated crucifix in good condition,” because “it has greatly helped bringing Nicaraguans closer to Jesus Christ for centuries.”

The attack on the cathedral comes amid tensions between some Catholics and supporters of President Daniel Ortega, who previously led the country for over a decade after the Sandinistas’ 1979 ouster of the Somoza dictatorship. Ortega has again been president of Nicaragua since 2007, and oversaw the abolition of presidential term limits in 2014.

Ortega’s government has accused many bishops and priests of siding with his opposition.
Backers of Ortega have led actions against some churches, including Managua’s cathedral when critics of Ortega took refuge there.

Ortega’s wife, Rosario Murillo, is also vice president.

In reaction to the fire, she suggested, without evidence, that candles were to blame, as were people who placed candles too close to religious images. She did not condemn the attack on the church. She said she would wait for the opinion of police experts on the causes of the fire.

The Archdiocese of Managua expressed concern over new threats to freedom and personal safety in the country in October 2020, and urged the country’s board of elections “to guarantee free elections” in 2021.

Nicaragua’s crisis began in April 2018 after Ortega announced social security and pension reforms. The changes were soon abandoned in the face of widespread, vocal opposition, but protests only intensified after more than 40 protesters were killed by security forces.

[…]