Suva, Fiji, Jan 23, 2019 / 12:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Church in Fiji is prepared to shut down all of its 44 primary and 19 secondary schools if the government continues to elect non-Catholics as the head of those schools.
Fiji’s education ministry recently named two non-Catholics as principals of Saint Thomas High in Lautoka and Xavier College in Ba. Education Minister Rosy Akbar said the decisions were part of the country’s merit-based recruitment system, and that the Church can privatize its schools if it disagrees with the move, the London-based Christian radio station Premier reported.
The Church is now calling for greater autonomy in the governance of its schools.
After a meeting held last Thursday, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva said he is prepared to close the local schools, but will only do so if Catholic leaders and government authorities cannot arrive at a solution, according to Premier.
At the meeting, four possible courses of action were identified: initiating a “critical self-reflection and an organisational review of Catholic education in the areas of identity, character, quality of teachers and planning”; working toward partnership with the government; demanding that the government take faith into account when appointing heads of schools; and engaging in civil disobedience, which would include closing the nation’s 63 Catholic schools.
The Fiji Sun reported that Permanent Secretary for Education Alison Burchell has said the government is open to more discussions and is dedicated to finding the most appropriate person for the job.
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Pope Francis speaks to religious leaders on the grounds of Indonesia’s national mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept 5, 2024. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Jakarta, Indonesia, Sep 5, 2024 / 00:13 am (CNA).
Pope Francis visited the grounds of Southeast Asia’s largest mosque on Wednesday for an interfaith meeting in Indonesia, where he signed a joint declaration condemning religious-based violence with Muslim leader Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar.
The Istiqlal Joint Declaration 2024 is titled “Fostering Religious Harmony for the Sake of Humanity.”
Named for Indonesia’s national Istiqlal Mosque, the document calls for religious leaders to work together to promote human dignity, interreligious dialogue, and environmental protection.
“The values shared by our religious traditions should be effectively promoted in order to defeat the culture of violence,” the declaration says.
“Our religious beliefs and rituals have a particular capacity to speak to the human heart and thus foster a deeper respect for human dignity.”
Pope Francis arrives at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia for an interreligious meeting on Sep. 5, 2024. Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
Pope Francis became the first pope to visit the grounds of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque on Sept. 5. The massive mosque is among the largest in the world, accommodating up to 250,000 people at a time. John Paul II, who visited Indonesia in 1989, was the first pope to ever visit a mosque during his visit to Damascus in 2001.
According to the mosque’s grand imam, Istiqlal is second only in size to Mecca and Medina, and its influence extends to Indonesia’s roughly 242 million Muslims.
The interfaith meeting sought to promote religious tolerance and moderation in Indonesia, which faces challenges with the rise of hardline Islamist groups and instances of violence against Christians.
Speaking to representatives of Indonesia’s six officially recognized religions — Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Catholicism, and Protestantism — Pope Francis articulated his vision for interreligious dialogue.
“Sometimes we think that a meeting between religions is a matter of seeking common ground between different religious doctrines and beliefs no matter the cost. Such an approach, however, may end up dividing us, because the doctrines and dogmas of each religious experience are different,” the pope said.
“What really brings us closer is creating a connection in the midst of diversity, cultivating bonds of friendship, care and reciprocity.”
Pope Francis added that when religious leaders cultivate bonds, it enables them “to move forward together in pursuit of the same goals: defense of human dignity, the fight against poverty and the promotion of peace.”
Pope Francis arrived at the mosque through the Alfattah Gate, where Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar warmly greeted him. The two leaders then proceeded to the newly constructed “Tunnel of Friendship,” an underground passage connecting the mosque to Jakarta’s Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, built by the Indonesian government to foster dialogue and unity.
Before entering the “Tunnel of Friendship,” Pope Francis expressed his hope that it would become “a place of dialogue and encounter.”
Pope Francis told the grand imam, “I hope that our communities may increasingly be open to interreligious dialogue and be symbols of the peaceful coexistence that characterizes Indonesia.”
Representatives of Indonesia’s six officially recognized religions — Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Catholicism, and Protestantism — attend the interfaith meeting with Pope Francis and Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar on Sept. 5, 2024, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
´The interfaith event took place in a red and white tent on the mosque grounds. It unfolded with a traditional Muslim welcome dance known as Marawis, followed by a brief chanting of a passage from the Quran by an Indonesian woman and a reading from the Gospel of Luke.
Representatives of the other four recognized religions stood in solidarity as the declaration was read aloud to participants in the tent.
The Istiqlal document identifies dehumanization and climate change as two serious crises facing the world today, emphasizing the shared responsibility of religious communities in tackling global challenges. It also affirms the need for interreligious dialogue to resolve “local, regional and international conflicts, especially those incited by the abuse of religion.”
The joint declaration at the Indonesian mosque was reminiscent of the Abu Dhabi declaration on “Human Fraternity” that Pope Francis signed with Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of al-Azhar in the United Arab Emirates, when he became the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula in 2019.
On Thursday, the Indonesian grand imam underlined the significance of the meeting, pointing to Istiqlal Mosque’s influence across Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.
As Indonesia’s only state mosque, the Istiqlal Mosque is “expected to provide guidance to more than one million mosques and prayer rooms scattered throughout the islands of the Republic of Indonesia,” he explained.
“This mosque also seeks to promote religious tolerance and moderation in Indonesia,” the Muslim leader underlined.
Pope Francis kisses the hand of Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar after the signing of the Istiqlal Joint Declaration on Sept. 5, 2024, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Daniel Ibáñez / CNA
In a moving gesture of solidarity and friendship at the closing of the event, the imam kissed Pope Francis on the head, while the pope kissed the grand imam’s hand and then touched it to his cheek.
Pope Francis will conclude the third day of his apostolic journey to Southeast Asia and Oceania by celebrating Holy Mass in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. On Friday he is expected to depart Indonesia for Papua New Guinea.
CNA Staff, Mar 31, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- A bishop in India has condemned the spraying of migrant workers and their children with disinfectant, after a video posted to Twitter showed public health authorities doing exactly that.
The video was posted to Twitter Sunday. The Times of India reported that families at a bus stand in the northern Indian city of Bareilly were told to sit on the ground, and were then sprayed with a bleaching agent mixed with water.
In the video, parents and their children sat on the streets of Bareilly and are showered with a chemical solution of chlorine mixed with water. Men in hazmat suits can be heard telling the migrants to close their eyes and mouths.
Bishop Ignatius D’Souza of Bareilly said spraying migrant workers with disinfectant was inhumane.
“This is inhuman, because these people are poor and marginalized and desperate our migrants labourers and their families. Their dignity cannot be violated in this inhuman and shocking manner,” the bishop said, according to Asia News.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the country on lockdown as cases of COVID-19 in India have reached 1,251. The lockdown has closed down borders and forced migrant workers in India’s largest cities to return home to their villages.
Ashok Gautam, an officer in charge of COVID-19 operations in northern India, told CNN that as many as 5,000 people have been similarly disinfected before being allowed to return home.
“We sprayed them here as part of the disinfection drive, we don’t want them to be carriers for the virus and it could be hanging on their clothes, now all borders have been sealed so this won’t happen again,” he said.
Other government officials said the disinfectant was really meant for the buses and that the incident was a mistake. Lav Agarwal, an official of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said Monday that workers involved in the incidents have been reprimanded.
“This is an overzealous action done by some employees at the field level, either out of ignorance or fear,” he said, according to CNN.
D’Souza emphasized the difficulties facing vulnerable people returning to their home villages, noting that the Church in Bareilly has been distributing food packets to those who arrive. He said they have delivered these packages to displaced people located at bus and train stations.
The bishop added that wealthy and well-known people with with COVID-19 have been treated differently than poor people in India, according to Asia News. He said everyone needs to be treated with human dignity.
“Each person has to be treated with human dignity, the celebrities who tested positive in India (who travelled to Lucknow), received best treatment, our poor people do not deserve this indignity, it’s an affront against the dignity of the human person.”
A worshipper waves the flag of China as Pope Francis leaves following the weekly general audience on June 12, 2019, at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Newsroom, Sep 16, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).
As the controversial Vatican-China agreement on bishop appointments nears its renewal deadline in October, Pope Francis’ recent 12-day apostolic journey through Southeast Asia and Oceania has thrust the Holy See’s complex relationship with Beijing into the spotlight.
Regional news outlets, including Singapore’s state-affiliated Channel News Asia, have been analyzing the potential implications of improving relations between the Holy See and Beijing.
The pope’s marathon trip, which included stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore, provided ample opportunity for such speculation.
Channel News reported that analysts say “China has shown a favorable stance toward improving relations with the Vatican as this aligns with its broader strategic goals of enhancing its international reputation and countering negative portrayals from the West.”
The Singaporean broadcaster, operated by a state-owned conglomerate in a nation with a large ethnically Chinese population, suggested that “warming ties” could affect the Vatican’s long-standing diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. It noted that establishing formal relations with China would necessitate severing ties with Taipei in accordance with Beijing’s “One China” policy.
George Yeo, former Singapore foreign minister and ex-member of the Vatican Council for the Economy, told Channel News Asia that even if diplomatic recognition shifts to Beijing, “the Church will still have representation in Taiwan.”
Yeo emphasized that from the Vatican’s perspective, such a move would not signal a shift from its “One China” policy but rather a return to its historical presence in mainland China.
A ‘dress rehearsal’ for a potential visit to Beijing?
Other regional media outlets have also weighed in on the implications of the papal visit for Vatican-China relations.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post observed: “The Holy See under Francis has gone out of its way to extend overtures to China.”
A Bloomberg commentator, published in the Japan Times, even described the apostolic journey as a “dress rehearsal for a potential visit to Beijing.”
La Croix International, a Catholic news website, reported that China’s ruling elite had closely watched the trip. Theologian Michel Chambon told La Croix: “Beijing has closely observed Pope Francis’ trip in Asia, seeking to assess to what extent Pope Francis could contribute to the balance of power, the common good, and the development of the region.”
For his part, Pope Francis reiterated a long-standing desire to visit China during his press conference on Friday’s flight back to Rome.
Expressing respect and admiration for the country and its ancient culture, the pope told journalists on Sept. 13: “China, for me, is a dream, that is to say that I would like to visit China.”
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