‘The Phenomenon’ is baptized at age 46: Soccer great Ronaldo Nazario embraces Catholic faith

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Jul 13, 2018 / 03:50 pm (ACI Prensa).- The bishops’ conference of the Dominican Republic published Wednesday a statement affirming the importance for the Church of forming persons to value and respect life in all its stages.

“The bishops, conscience of the challenges facing our society, consider the integral formation of a human being to permit him to value and to respect life in all its stages a very important challenge,” reads the July 11 statement from the Dominican bishops. The nation’s episcopal conference had held a plenary assembly July 1-6.

The bishops’ focus on respect for life comes as various groups, including the Christian Alliance of the Dominican Republic, press for the decriminalization of abortion in cases of the mother’s life, fetal inviability, or rape.

Moreover, the bishops said there must be work done “so that the people do not let themselves be discouraged, because what the Church encourages is that we fight for all lives. We have reaffirmed, before science, law, and before God that no-one has the right to condemn to death an innocent, and much less an indefensible child.”

“We promote public policies, which rather than leading to death, are the foundation for defending all human rights, beginning with the first and most important: the life of all,” they exhorted.

The bishops also noted that they are anticipating the celebration of the 525th anniversary of the first known Mass to have been said in the Americas, on Epiphany in 1494.

That Mass was said during Columbus’ second voyage to the New World, on the northern coast of Hispaniola, in what is now the Dominican Republic.

“The congresses, pilgrimages, and gatherings around this festivity demonstrate to us a Church which responds to its faith, despite the great challenges which continue regarding evangelizing and revealing the face of the love of God, amid a society seduced by evil, and the boredom of the realities which it suffers.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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San Rafael, Argentina, Dec 22, 2020 / 02:47 pm (CNA).- A priest of the Diocese of San Rafael has been suspended after he physically attacked Bishop Eduardo María Taussig during an argument over the closing of the local seminary.

Fr. Camilo Dib, a priest from Malargue, more than 110 miles southwest of San Rafael, was called to the chancery to explain “his role in the events happened in Malargue November 21st,” according to a Dec. 22 statement from the diocese.

On that date, Bishop Taussig made a pastoral visit to the town to explain the controversial closing of the seminary in July 2020, which has sparked a string of protests from local Catholics.

A group of protesters, including priests and lay people, interrupted the Mass celebrated by Bishop Taussig, and one protester slashed the tires of the bishop’s vehicle, forcing him to wait for another vehicle while confronting the protesters.

According to the diocese’s statement, “Father Dib lost control of himself and suddenly attacked the bishop violently. As a consequence of this first attack, the chair in which the bishop was sitting was broken. Those present tried to stop the fury of the priest who, despite everything, once again tried to attack the bishop who, thanks be to God, could be covered by one of those attending the meeting, withdrawing from the office in which they were.”

“When everything seemed to have calmed down,” the statement continues, “Father Camilo Dib became furious again and, out of control, tried to attack once more the bishop who had retired to the diocesan dining room. Those present were able to prevent (Fr. Dib) from approaching the bishop and making things worse. At that time, the parish priest of Nuestra Señora del Carmen of Malargue, Fr. Alejandro Casado, intervened and accompanied the attacker out of the diocesan house, took him to his vehicle, and definitively withdrew.”

The diocese explained that the suspension of Fr. Dib from all his priestly duties is based on code 1370 of the Code of Canon Law, which states that “A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if he is a cleric, another penalty, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state, can be added according to the gravity of the delict. A person who does this against a bishop incurs a latae sententiae interdict and, if he is a cleric, also a latae sententiae suspension.”

The diocese’s statement concluded: “Faced with this painful situation, we invite everyone to receive the grace of the Manger and before the Child God who looks at us, seek a sincere spirit of conversion that brings the peace of the Lord to all.”

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Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, May 5, 2017 / 09:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following the Cuban bishops’ ad limina meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday, one of the nation’s bishops commented that the island is eagerly awaiting change.

“Cuba is waiting for change. Some changes happen faster than others, but we Cubans, whatever our personal ideas may be, realize that the people can live in better spiritual and material conditions, and that things must change,” Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba told Vatican Radio May 4.

“They are economic and social changes, which necessarily go together … There are cultural changes which are rather rapid, especially among the youth who have familiarity with digital means of communication and have another mode of thinking. This makes the world come to Cuba and come to know better its reality. Political change is also to be expected: it is the structures, and above all the legal one, which have to change.”

Cultural change has been the most visible effect of the opening between the United States and Cuba, Archbishop García commented, saying that “there are now more possibilities for travelling abroad, and tourists can more easily come to Cuba. Although it is still limited, the population has a greater access to new communications technologies and this produces a cultural change which is the condition for any other change, because it makes it possible for persons to chance their own criteria for judgement.”

He said there has been a change for the Church in that “there is a better understanding of religion, and the people can express their own faith.”

“Cubans are a religious people, but we also see there is little faith formation. For us bishops, it is a difficult problem to face. However, we are a creative Church which has been close to its people and who is now witnessing their faith.”

Archbishop García also noted that  “we have vocations, although there are not enough. Thanks be to God, we have fidei donum missionaries, both diocesan and religious, but we still need more. But I would like to say that any missionary who come to Cuba and who wishes to work, has much to do because he finds receptive persons.”

An important and positive change for the bishops has been an easing of permits for visas and residency for missionaries, he added: “The situation has changed a lot. I can say that now there are no more obstacles than before, because when a bishop asks for an entry visa for a missionary he does not encounter problems.”

Asked about the buildings the Church is recovering, the bishop said that “this process has just begun. It’s already a positive thing. In certain dioceses they have returned some buildings, but it’s a slow process.”

“We are working with the state in order that, after 50 years in which the population has grown, we might be able to have the places for worship that we need.”

While they wait for this to move forward, the archbishop explained, “we have houses of prayer, that is, the faithful make their homes available for their communities to gather there. There aren’t parish churches with their pastoral buildings, but nevertheless the Church lives.”

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