Vatican Cardinal Tagle recovers from coronavirus

Manila, Philippines, Nov 6, 2017 / 08:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called for a prayer campaign to address violence in an escalating conflict between police and drug traffickers.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on drug trafficking began last year, nearly 4,000 Filipinos are reported to have been killed by the police. While police say the killings have been acts of self-defense against armed gangs, critics allege that police forces are conducting unauthorized, extrajudicial executions. Vigilante groups are also said to have conducted murder in the midst of the drug war.

The bishops’ prayer campaign challenges Filipinos to pursue healing and repentance, instead of escalating the violence.

“Repent so healing can begin. Stopping the killing is only one big step. The journey of healing for the values of our nation turned upside down will be a long journey still,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Filipino bishops conference.

“God’s people, let’s go back to the Lord … we choose darkness over light … We choose violence rather than peace,” he added.

On November 5, an estimated 3,000 Filipinos gathered for Mass and a procession along the Abenida Epidanio de los Santos, a historic Manila highway where a non-violent protest helped end the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

The prayer campaign involves praying the rosary for 33 days, until the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, on December 8th.

In August, the deaths of three teenagers prompted a 40 day prayer campaign, in which churches rang their bells nightly, and parishioners gathered to honor the dead with candles.

In his homily on Sunday, Archbishop Villegas urged Filipinos to work for justice while resisting the temptation to violence.

“Peace to you the murdered brethren and victims of extrajudicial killings. May the Lord give you peace in His kingdom, that peace that the world failed to give you!”

“May your blood speak to us, disturb us and move us to act to resist violence,” he said, noting that curses will be cast on a nation which spills the blood of its own citizens.

Healing begins with asking for repentance, the archbishop said, and he challenged clergy and government officials to be the first to turn away from sin and commit to the service of their roles.

May leaders ask forgiveness, he said, “for falling for the lure of comfort and the attraction of convenience, for giving in to the temptation to be powerful and popular rather than be humble and faithful, for our tendency to judge rather than seek unity, for keeping quiet when we should speak and blabbering when what is needed is silence, God forgive us leaders of your Church.”

He called for greater respect of the country’s democratic institutions and laws, noting that civil servants are servants to the people and not in power because of weapons. He encouraged the government to pursue justice not revenge, and to rule by respect rather than fear.  

The war on drugs was a major part of Duterte’s 2016 presidential campaign. Reportedly, over 7,000 people have died from police officers and vigilantes from July 2016 to January 2017.

In recent months, groups like the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism have accused the government of providing unclear statistics.

Harry Rogue, a presidential spokesperson, denied any extrajudicial killings, and said the government was looking into more than 2,000 suspicious deaths. He also encouraged the bishops to work more closely with drug rehabilitation and anti-drug forces.

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Yokohama, Japan, Jun 22, 2017 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Archbishop for Military Services, USA offered his prayers and condolences for the sailors who perished on USS Fitzgerald after colliding with a container ship off the coast of … […]

Melbourne, Australia, Dec 26, 2019 / 08:00 am (CNA).- A group of local Catholics gathered outside Melbourne prison on Christmas Eve to sing carols for Cardinal George Pell, currently incarcerated in the facility, and to pray for him, as well as the other inmates and prison staff.

At 8pm on December 24, about two dozen local Catholics gathered outside Melbourne Assessment Prison on the west side of the city center to sing Christmas carols and to pray for the cardinal and others in the jail.

One of the singers, John McCauley told CNA that “We just wanted the Cardinal to know he was loved and remembered at Christmas.” The songs included traditional carols like O Come All Ye Faithful and Once in Royal David’s City, as well as Australian favorites like The Three Drovers. Singers wrote messages of support and Christmas greetings in a copy of the carol book, which was left for Pell at the prison’s front desk.

After the caroling, Melbourne’s Vietnamese Catholic Youth Group led a rosary procession around the perimeter of the prison, which houses more than 300 inmates. Decades of the Sorrowful Mysteries were offered for the cardinal, for the prison staff, for the other inmates, for victims of sexual abuse, and for “the vindication of the rights of the Church and His Eminence’s full and speedy exoneration.” 

Several of the Vietnamese youth attending explained that they were inspired to attend in support of Pell by the example of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, who was imprisoned by Communist authorities in Vietnam for 13 years, nine of them in solitary confinement. Pell and Cardinal Thuận were friends until his death in 2002.

McCauley said that the gathering “came together quite spontaneously after an individual going under the name ‘Albert Dreyfus’ suggested the idea on a social media earlier that day.”

Albert Dreyfus was a Jewish French military officer tried and convicted for treason by a secret court in 1895. His case polarized the country and he was later exonerated after years of imprisonment.

Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996-2001, when he was made Archbishop of Sydney. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him as head of the newly created Prefecture for the Economy, charged with overseeing and reforming Vatican finances.

In 2017, Pell was accused of sexually abusing two choristers after a Sunday Mass while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and 1997. He was convicted Dec. 11, 2018, on five charges of sexual abuse and sentenced to six years in prison, of which he must serve at least three years and eight months before being eligible to apply for parole.

In November, the Australian High Court in Canberra agreed to hear his application for special leave to appeal, after the Court of Appeal in the state of Victoria upheld his conviction in July in a decision which deeply divided opinion both in Australia and abroad.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP of Sydney has said he “welcomed” the progress of Pell’s case to the High Court.

“The Cardinal has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so,” Fisher said. “The divided judgment of the Court of Appeal reflects the divided opinion amongst jurors, legal commentators and within our community.” 

“For the sake of all involved in this case, I hope that the appeal will be heard as soon as possible,” Fisher said in November.

Pell, who remains an archbishop and a member of the College of Cardinals, has been held in solitary confinement and has not been permitted to celebrate Mass in prison. He was not permitted to see visitors on Christmas Day.

Earlier this month, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot what criticized by political opponents for visiting Pell in prison, with some politicians branding the visit “disgraceful” and a “cruel insult” to victims of abuse.

Abbot declined to comment on the criticism beyond saying he was ‘simply visiting a friend’ in Melbourne Assessment Prison.

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