Edinburgh, Scotland, Feb 5, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Some hospitals in Scotland have stopped telling expectant parents the sex of their unborn baby due to fears of legal action in cases of mistakes, the potential to encourage sex-selective abo… […]
Washington D.C., Feb 5, 2019 / 03:51 pm (CNA).- In a court filing last week, the Trump administration argued that it may not be possible to reunite thousands of migrant parents with their children, who are living in sponsor homes, and that such reunions could be “disruptive and harmful” to the children.
“It would destabilize the permanency of their existing home environment, and could be traumatic to the children,” said Jonathan White, deputy director for children’s programs at the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to the Associated Press.
He argued that removing children from sponsor homes “would present grave child welfare concerns” and said the agency should focus its resources on reuniting children in government custody with their parents, rather than children who are currently with sponsors.
Last May, the Department of Homeland Security began referring all people crossing the U.S. border illegally to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. As a result, thousands of families were separated, as children cannot legally be held in federal jails with their parents.
A U.S. District judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop separating children from their parents at the border, and to reunite those who are separated. The ACLU is pushing for the court order to apply to children who were released to sponsors before the June 2018 ruling.
However, Jallyn Sualog, deputy director of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, said in the filing Friday that the office lacks the personnel and resources to track and find all of the children.
As a result, reuniting them all with their parents may not be “within the realm of possible,” HHS said, according to NBC News.
Sualog said the government does not have the legal authority to remove the children from their sponsors, and that “doing so would be so disruptive and harmful to the child.”
Most of the children are currently with relatives, the Associated Press reported – 49 percent of those released to sponsors in the 2017 fiscal year were placed with their parents, 41 percent with a close relative, and 10 percent with a distant relative, family friend or someone else.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose longtime criticism of U.S. migration policy has become more prominent under the Trump administration, has repeatedly rejected the practice of separating children and parents.
“Children are not instruments of deterrence but a blessing from God,” Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, chair of the bishops’ migration committee, said in June 2018.
Separating families at the U.S. border “does not allay security concerns,” he said, adding, “Rupturing the bond between parent and child causes scientifically-proven trauma that often leads to irreparable emotional scarring.”
In June 2018, the United Nations human rights office condemned the U.S. practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border as “a serious violation of the rights of the child.”
Washington D.C., Feb 5, 2019 / 02:15 pm (CNA).- Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) used a confirmation hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee to question a judicial nominee about her views on the “sinfulness” of same-sex marriage.
Booker, … […]
Vatican City, Feb 5, 2019 / 02:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Tuesday he is aware that mistreatment and abuse of religious women by clerics is still a problem, and that it is something the Church is working to end.
“It’s true, within the Church there have been clerics who have done this,” the pope said Feb. 5. “Must something more be done? Yes. Do we have the will? Yes.”
He spoke aboard the papal plane returning to Rome after a two-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, responding to a question about sexual abuse of women religious by priests, a recent subject in the women’s section of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
Recent reports have suggested that abuse of women religious by clerics is more prevalent in Africa and Asia.
The most prominent instance of alleged abuse of a woman religious by a cleric is the case of a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus, in the Indian state of Kerala. She has accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullunder of sexually assaulting her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
Mulakkal was arrested Sept. 21, 2018, but was released on bail. A police investigation is ongoing, and the bishop has been temporarily removed from his responsibilities as Bishop of Jullundur.
Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, has been accused of receiving the nun’s complaint against Bishop Mulakkal in March 2018, and failing to report it to the police.
The pope said he believes the problem is more common in some cultures than others but acknowledged that “there have been priests and also bishops who have done that. And I believe it may still be being done.”
The Church has “been working on this for a long time,” including through the suspension of clerics and
the dissolution of some congregations involved in “corruption.”
“It’s a problem. The mistreatment of women is a problem,” the pope said. Asking for prayers, he added that he wants to go forward. “There are cases, yes,” he said, adding: “We are working.”
The issue was broached as the Vatican approaches a four-day meeting of the heads of bishops’ conferences and religious orders to discuss the sexual abuse of minors. The summit will be held Feb. 21-24.
In his response the pope also denounced the treatment of women as “second-class” and said it is often a cultural problem which in some countries can escalate even to the point of female babies being the targets of infanticide.
“I would dare to say that humanity still hasn’t matured” regarding the full equality of women, he said.
Francis also underlined the work of Benedict XVI, who he called “a strong man, a consistent man,” who acted courageously to combat “sexual and economic corruption” both before and during his years as pope.
“About Pope Benedict I would like to underscore that he is a man that had the courage to do many things on this theme,” Francis said.
Caracas, Venezuela, Feb 5, 2019 / 01:55 pm (CNA).- In a joint statement Monday, the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, the Confederation of Religious Men and Women of Venezuela and the National Council of the Laity demanded the state agencies call “free and legitimate elections to retake the path to democracy,” allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the country and stop the repression against citizens.
The Feb. 4 statement said Venezuelan Catholics, facing a “painful situation of injustice and suffering,” are in search of a “peaceful and transparent” transition that will lead to “free and legitimate elections to retake the path to democracy, restoring the rule of law, and fostering the reconstruction of the social fabric, economic productivity, morality in the country and reconciliation among all Venezuelans.”
The statement called for a transition toward elections undertaken “in a peaceful manner in accordance with the National Constitution” to avoid more suffering.
“In this crucial moment in our country’s history, we invite the entire Venezuelan people to give their best, everyone in their sphere of work and action, so that working from unity, solidarity and ethical responsibility, in a calm spirit, we may seek the common good and tirelessly work for the reconstruction of democracy and of our entire homeland, avoiding bloodshed,” they added.
In addition to the call for new elections, the statement demanded that the “necessary permits be granted to make available humanitarian aid, to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the nation’s most vulnerable.”
“Caritas Venezuela and other national Catholic aid organizations commit ourselves to continue the service that we have been providing with equity, inclusion, transparency and effectiveness,” the text said.
Stopping the repression
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term as president Jan. 10, after winning a contested election in which opposition candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Venezuela’s bishops have called his new term illegitimate, and Guaidó, head of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president Jan. 23.
Guaidó has been recognized as Venezuelan president by the US, Canada, much of the European Union, and several Latin American nations.
Since Jan. 21, at least 40 people have died and hundreds have been arrested amid protests against Maduro.
Since Maduro succeeded Hugo Chávez as president of Venezuela in 2013, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval. Under the socialist government, the country has seen severe shortages and hyperinflation, and millions have emigrated.
The Feb. 4 statement said that amid the crisis, “the growing repression for political motives, the violation of human rights, and the arbitrary and selective arrests are morally unacceptable.”
The Church leaders demanded that “the state security forces no longer repress their Venezuelan brothers, and instead assume their true responsibility to protect the people in all circumstances, particularly when exercising their right to peaceful protest.”
They likewise reminded the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the People’s Ombudsman’s Office that they must fulfill their duties by putting an end to human rights abuses, “particularly with regard to the detention of minors.”
Finally, the joint statement invited Venezuelans to participate in the Sunday Eucharist on Feb. 10 and “to pray in all the churches, homes and communities, asking the Lord to grant us peace, reconciliation, freedom and spiritual and corporal well being.”
“Let us trust in the God of history. He is the God of salvation in Jesus the liberator, who tells us ‘don’t be afraid, I will be with you always until the end of the world.’ May Our Lady of Coromoto, our national patroness, always accompany us as a people.”
This report was originally published by our Spanish-language sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Vatican City, Feb 5, 2019 / 01:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Tuesday that he had not read Nicolas Maduro’s letter, but expressed an openness to mediate in Venezuela’s political situation, if both sides are willing.
“I will look at that letter, and I will see what can be done,” Pope Francis told reporters aboard the papal plane Feb. 5.
The status of Venezuela’s governance is currently split, as the United States and more than a dozen other European and South American nations no longer recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s president.
Maduro was sworn in for a second term Jan. 10, after winning a contested election in which opposition candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Amidst the protests that followed, the head of the nation’s parliament, Juan Guaidò, declared himself interim president on Jan. 23, pledging a transitional government and free elections.
Maduro’s leadership in Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading millions of Venezuelans to emigrate.
The pope stressed there are “little steps” needed diplomatically in Venezuela first to “start the possibility of dialogue” before mediation.
He pointed to the “courageous act” of Saint John Paul II’s mediation between Argentina and Chile that averted the possibility of war as an example, but called mediation “the last step” diplomatically.
The European Union, Italy, and Ireland have not recognized Guaido, but instead called for new elections to be held in Venezuela. Russia, China, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Belarus continue to support Maduro’s leadership.
In response to this legitimacy crisis, Maduro sent a letter to Pope Francis asking him to mediate in Venezuela, telling Italian media Monday that he appealed to the pope as a Christian, asking him to “help us on the path of dialogue.”
Pope Francis said Tuesday that he had received Maduro’s letter before leaving for his trip to the United Arab Emirates Feb. 3-5.
The pope, who is returning from Abu Dhabi for a trip focused on interreligious dialogue, has maintained a strict neutrality on Venezuela. On his return trip from Panama last week, he told reporters that it would be “pastoral imprudence” on his part to choose a side in the current split in Venezuela.
“I support in this moment all of the Venezuelan people – it is a people that is suffering – including those who are one side and the other. All of the people are suffering,” the pope said Jan. 28. Francis then called for “a just and peaceful solution” without bloodshed.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, Cardinal Parolin said Feb. 4 that Maduro’s letter “relaunches dialogue” in Venezuela, ANSA reported.
Venezuela’s bishops have taken a less neutral stance, calling Maduro’s election “illegitimate” and backing opposition marches in January. On Feb. 1, Venezuela’s bishops met with Guaido in an effort to mobilize the entrance of humanitarian aid to the crisis-stricken country.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino told ACIPrensa Jan. 29, “I hope Maduro, who always appeals to the pope’s words, heeds those calls [for peace], and steps down from office since his administration has been absolutely harmful for the Venezuelan people.”
On Feb. 7, European Union representatives will meet in Uruguay to discuss a peaceful resolution of the political situation in Venezuela with delegates from Mexico, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador with the hope that it will lead to future transparent and credible elections in Venezuela.
Vatican City, Feb 5, 2019 / 05:39 am (CNA).- Nicolas Maduro wrote a letter to Pope Francis asking him to mediate in the political situation in Venezuela, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin confirmed Monday.
After more than a dozen Western countries — including the U.S. — recognized the head of Venezuela’s parliament, Juan Guaidò, as the interim president of Venezuela, the status of Venezuela’s governance faces a profound split as Russia, China, Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, and others continue to support Maduro’s presidency.
Responding to the legitimacy crisis, Maduro said in a television interview with Italian Feb. 4 that he had sent a letter to Rome asking the pope to “help us on the path of dialogue.”
“The Pope knows that I am a practitioner of faith. I pray, a Christian of prayer and action. And with this spirit I asked for help,” Maduro told Sky Tg24.
The successor of Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s presidency of Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading millions of Venezuelans to emigrate.
Maduro was sworn in for a second term Jan. 10, after winning a contested election in which opposition candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Amidst the protests that followed, Guaido declared himself interim president Jan. 23, pledging a transitional government and free elections.
Pope Francis, who is currently visiting Abu Dhabi for an interreligious meeting, has maintained a strict neutrality on Venezuela. On his return trip from Panama last week, the pope told reporters that it would be “pastoral imprudence” on his part to choose a side in the current split in Venezuela.
“I support in this moment all of the Venezuelan people – it is a people that is suffering – including those who are one side and the other. All of the people are suffering,” the pope said Jan. 28. Francis then called for “a just and peaceful solution” without bloodshed.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, Cardinal Parolin said Feb. 4 that Maduro’s letter “relaunches dialogue” in Venezuela, ANSA reported.
Venezuela’s bishops have taken a less neutral stance, calling Maduro’s election “illegitimate” and backing opposition marches in January. On Feb. 1, Venezuela’s bishops met with Juan Guaido in an effort to mobilize the entrance of humanitarian aid to the crisis-stricken country.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino told ACIPrensa Jan. 29, “I hope Maduro, who always appeals to the pope’s words, heeds those calls [for peace], and steps down from office since his administration has been absolutely harmful for the Venezuelan people.”
On Feb. 7, European Union representatives will meet in Uruguay to discuss a peaceful resolution of the political situation in Venezuela with delegates from Mexico, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador with the hope that it will lead to future transparent and credible elections in Venezuela.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb 5, 2019 / 02:32 am (CNA).- Preaching on the Beatitudes during his visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, Pope Francis called on those present to seek communion with Christ before all else.
“Let us together ask here today for the grace of rediscovering the attraction of following Jesus, of imitating him, of not seeking anyone else but him and his humble love,” the pope said Feb. 5 during Mass at Zayed Sports City, a stadium in Abu Dhabi.
“For here is the meaning of our life: in communion with him and in our love for others,” he added.
Pope Francis is in the Emirati capital Feb. 3-5 to promote interreligious dialogue and to give support to the country’s Christian minority. During his visit he also attended an interreligious meeting and met privately with the Muslim Council of Elders.
Christ pronounced the Beatitudes to “fix in our hearts,” the pope said, the “essential message” that “if you are with Jesus, if you love to listen to his word as the disciples of that time did, if you try to live out this word every day, then you are blessed.”
“The Christian life, first and foremost, is not … simply a list of external prescriptions to fulfil or a set of teachings to know,” but “rather, it is the knowledge that, in Jesus, we are the Father’s beloved children.”
“The Christian life means living out the joy of this blessedness, wanting to live life as a love story, the story of God’s faithful love, he who never abandons us and wishes to be in communion with us always,” Francis stated. “This is the reason for our joy, a joy that no one in the world and no circumstance in our lives can take from us. It is a joy that gives peace also in the midst of pain, a joy that already makes us participate in that eternal happiness which awaits us.”
The Beatitudes are “an overturning of that popular thinking, according to which it is the rich and the powerful who are blessed, those who are successful and acclaimed by the crowds,” he said.
“Let us look at how Jesus lived: poor in respect to things, but wealthy in love; he healed so many lives, but did not spare his own. He came to serve and not to be served; he taught us that greatness is not found in having but rather in giving. Just and meek, he did not offer resistance, but allowed himself to be condemned unjustly. In this way Jesus brought God’s love into the world. Only in this way did he defeat death, sin, fear and even worldliness: only by the power of divine love.”
Pope Francis thanked the Catholics living in the UAE for “the way in which you live the Gospel we heard.”
He added that following Christ doesn’t mean “always being cheerful,” saying that one “who is afflicted, who suffers injustice, who does everything he can to be a peacemaker, knows what it means to suffer.”
Many of the Catholics in Abu Dhabi are guest workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, though some are local Arabs.
The pope noted that many of the UAE’s Catholics “live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones, and perhaps also feeling uncertainty about the future.”
“The Lord is faithful and does not abandon his people,” Pope Francis said. He recalled the life of St. Anthony the Great, who was accompanied by Christ amid his torments, saying: “The Lord is close. It can happen that, when faced with fresh sorrow or a difficult period, we think we are alone, even after all the time we have spent with the Lord. But in those moments, where he might not intervene immediately, he walks at our side. And if we continue to go forward, he will open up a new way for us; for the Lord specializes in doing new things; he can even open paths in the desert.”
Living the Beatitudes does not require “great works”, Pope Francis said, but “the imitation of Jesus in our everyday life.”
The Beatitudes “invite us to keep our hearts pure, to practice meekness and justice despite everything, to be merciful to all, to live affliction in union with God,” and they are “for those who face up to the challenges and trials of each day.”
“Those who live out the Beatitudes according to Jesus are able to cleanse the world. They are like a tree that even in the wasteland absorbs polluted air each day and gives back oxygen. It is my hope that you will be like this, rooted in Jesus and ready to do good to those around you. May your communities be oases of peace.”
The pope singled out two of the Beatitudes: Blessed are the meek, and Blessed are the peacemakers.
Concerning meekness, he said: “Those who attack or overpower others are not blessed, but rather those that uphold Jesus’ way of acting, he who saved us, and who was meek even towards his accusers.”
The pope quoted from St. Francis of Assisi’s Earlier Rule regarding approaches to “Saracens and non-Christians”: “Let them not get into arguments or disagreements, but be subject to every human creature out of love for God, and let them profess that they are Christians”.
“Neither arguments nor disagreements,” the pope stressed. “At that time, as many people were setting out, heavily armed, Saint Francis pointed out that Christians set out armed only with their humble faith and concrete love. Meekness is important.”
Turning to “Blessed are the peacemakers”, Pope Francis said that a Christian “promotes peace, starting with the community where he or she lives.”
“I ask for you the grace to preserve peace, unity, to take care of each other, with that beautiful fraternity in which there are no first or second class Christians,” he told the Catholics living in the UAE.
Pope Francis concluded: “May Jesus, who calls you blessed, give you the grace to go forward without becoming discouraged, abounding in love ‘to one another and to all’.”
At the conclusion of Mass, Pope Francis was addressed by Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, who thanked him for his visit.
Bishop Hinder said that the pope had “come to a Muslim country with the intention to do as Saint Francis did in the year 1219,” when he met in “mutual respect” with Al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt.
“We Christians try to implement the order Saint Francis gave at his time to his brothers and to ‘live spiritually among the Muslims … not to engage in arguments and (simply) to acknowledge that (we) are Christians.’”
The bishop also thanked the Emirati authorities, especially Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, “who generously have made possible this visit and given us this space in order to have a public Mass with as many faithful as possible.”
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb 4, 2019 / 06:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With millions of Ethiopians forced out of their homes, Catholic Relief Services is working with the local Catholic Church to offer immediate relief and to address the root causes of their … […]
Washington D.C., Feb 4, 2019 / 05:26 pm (CNA).- Senate Democrats rejected on Monday an effort to ensure that babies who survive abortion attempts receive medical care.
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) introduced the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, and looked to pass the bill Feb. 4 via unanimous consent. That process means one senator can stop the vote by raising an objection.
“You’re either for babies or you’re defending infanticide,” Sasse said Monday before the vote.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) objected to the bill, bringing the effort to a conclusion.
Sasse announced last Thursday that he would seek to pass the bill through a roll call vote. Sasse said that he expected the bill to pass unanimously.
“I’m going to be asking unanimous consent–for senators to come to the floor,” he said on Thursday.
“I’m going to ask all 100 senators to come to the floor and be against infanticide. This shouldn’t be complicated.”
Sasse’s move to fast-track the bill was sparked by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D)’s comments regarding a proposed bill that would have eased restrictions on third-trimester abortions in the state. Northam, speaking in a radio interview on WTOP, described how a baby surviving a botched abortion would be given “comfort care” while a woman and her doctor discussed whether or not to provide additional medical intervention.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would penalize doctors who do not attempt to provide medical care to an infant born alive after an abortion with up to five years in prison. The bill also requires that an infant born in an abortion clinic be transferred to a hospital. A woman attempting to procure an abortion would also be granted civil cause of action against the medical professional performing the abortion, and would not be subject to criminal penalties.
On Friday, Sasse told CNA that he did not think there was “any legitimate argument” that could be made against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. And while he said that he hoped the bill would be passed unanimously, he said that if anyone were to come forward against the bill, that they do so on the Senate floor prior to the vote.
“(Senators) need to show what side they’re on,” Sasse told CNA last week. “It’s a pretty simple question: are you on the side of these vulnerable little babies, or are you on the side of Gov. Northam and his defense of infanticide?”
Despite Sasse’s insistence that this legislation is commonsense, and the fact that the bill does not limit abortion rights or create any new regulation for abortion providers that would impede their ability to perform abortions, opposition was expected.
A similar bill was passed through the House of Representatives along nearly total party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor of passing the legislation joined by only six Democrats. One of the Democrats, Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN), later said that he had misunderstood the bill and would not have voted for it.
Sasse’s bill is co-sponsored by more than two dozen Senate Republicans. The House version of the bill was co-sponsored by 146 members. One Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), joined 145 Republicans as co-sponsors.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is Sasse’s second recent use of unanimous consent in the senate. In January he submitted a resolution underscoring the constitutional prohibition of “religious tests” being imposed on candidates for public office, specifically clarifying that membership of the Knights of Columbus is not a disqualification from holding public office.
That resolution was sparked after Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) questioned a judicial nominee about belonging to the Knights of Columbus and suggested that the group held “extreme” positions on social issues.
Although that resolution passed with unanimous consent, Hirono later took to the Senate floor and stated that she felt Sasse was embracing the “alt-right’s position” by supporting the Knights of Columbus.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, head of the U.S. bishop’s religious liberty committee, sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday asking them to end the practice of asking “discriminatory questions” and to “refrain from further imposing religious tests on judicial nominees.”
Kurtz singled out the Knights of Columbus questioning as a “religious test” that was being unfairly imposed on Catholic nominees.
“Not only are religious tests unconstitutional and unjust, they are an attack on all people of faith and those with no faith at all,” said Kurtz. “Religious tests tell not only Catholics, but all Americans, that they cannot both serve their country and live out their convictions.”
© Catholic World Report