London, England, Nov 8, 2019 / 04:33 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Westminster has admitted that he did not properly handle an accusation of abuse in his archdiocese, as he also rejected calls for priests to violate the seal of confession.
Cardinal Vin… […]
Spokane, Wash., Nov 8, 2019 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- For the second time in two days, a federal judge on Thursday said the Trump administration’s conscience protection rule for health care workers violated the law.
Judge Stanley Bastian in the Eastern… […]
Orán, Argentina, Nov 8, 2019 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- Local civil authorities on Thursday raided the chancery of the Diocese of Orán, where Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta was bishop from 2013 to 2017. Bishop Zanchetta has been charged with sexual assault, as well as fraud and mismanagement of funds.
He was charged in June with assaulting two seminarians.
Orán’s Economic Crime Unit raided offices in the chancery Nov. 7. The raid was carried out to investigate Zanchetta’s alleged fraud against the state, according to El Oranense.
In addition to accusations of mismanaging church funds donated by the faithful in diocese, public records show that Zanchetta received more than 1 million Argentine pesos from Salta Province to restore a rectory and for lectures at the seminary which never occurred.
Four months after Zanchetta’s resignation as Bishop of Orán, Pope Francis appointed him to a newly-created position in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which oversees the Vatican’s assets and real estate holdings.
Reporting from Argentine sources suggests that the bishop was first accused of sexually inappropriate behavior in 2015.
According to a February report by Argentine newspaper The Tribune, one of the Zanchetta’s secretaries alerted authorities after accidentally finding sexually explicit images sent and received on Zanchetta’s cell phone in 2015. The complaint says that some of the images depict “young people” having sex in addition to lewd images of Zanchetta himself.
The bishop claimed his phone and computer had been hacked, and that the accusations were motivated by people who did not support Pope Francis.
Pope Francis summoned Zanchetta to Rome for five days in October 2015. The pope appeared to have accepted Zanchetta’s excuse that his cell phone had been hacked, and dismissed the allegations.
The Vatican has stated twice that they did not know about Zanchetta’s misdeeds until 2018, a claim that is disputed by Fr. Juan José Manzano, the former vicar general of the Diocese of Orán. Manzano claims that he reported Zanchetta in 2015, after the pornographic images were found on his phone. Manzano says he also reported him again in 2017.
The report also says three of Zanchetta’s vicars general and two monsignors made a formal internal complaint before the Argentinian nunciature in 2016, alleging inappropriate behavior with seminarians.
This behavior included entering their rooms at night, requesting massages from them, waking up seminarians in the morning, sitting on their beds, drinking alcohol with them, and favoring more the more “graceful” (attractive) among them.
The 2017 internal accusation, which The Tribune says alleged more explicit abuse by Zanchetta of seminarians, resulted in Zanchetta’s exit from the diocese, though Zanchetta said he was resigning for health reasons. The Vatican did not open an investigation at that time.
Manzano said part of the reason the allegations against Zanchetta may have not been taken seriously by the Vatican was because of the bishop’s close relationship with Pope Francis, who appointed him Bishop of Orán in 2013. Still, Manzano said he didn’t believe the Vatican meant to lie or hide anything about Zanchetta. He said he believed Francis and other Vatican officials had also been victims of the bishop’s “manipulation.”
The Vatican acknowledged Zanchetta was under investigation in January 2019, and suspended him from his role at APSA.
Vatican Press Office spokesman Alessandro Gisotti in January “resolutely” repeated a Vatican statement that said no sexual abuse charges had yet emerged against the bishop at the time Pope Francis appointed Zanchetta his position at the APSA. Gisotti said the charges only emerged in the fall of 2018.
When asked at a Feb. 24 press conference about Zachetta’s case, Gisotti reiterated that an investigation was ongoing.
In late May 2019, Pope Francis announced that a preliminary investigation against Zanchetta had concluded and would proceed to trial at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
If convicted by the civil court in Argentina, Zanchetta could face between three and 10 years in prison.
New York City, N.Y., Nov 8, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- The Holy See will not participate in next week’s Nairobi Summit, its mission to the UN announced Friday, saying next week’s international gathering is too focused on “reproductive rights”.
The Nov. 12-14 Nairobi Summit is sponsored by the UN Population Fund and the governments of Kenya and Denmark, and it marks the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, which was held in Cairo.
Its program includes five themes, among which are “Universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a part of universal health coverage” and “Upholding the right to sexual and reproductive health care even in humanitarian and fragile contexts.”
“The organizers’ decision … to focus the conference on a few controversial and divisive issues that do not enjoy international consensus and that do not reflect accurately the broader population and development agenda outlined by the ICPD, is regrettable,” the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations said Nov. 8.
The Holy See had informed Kenya Oct. 24 it would not be participating in the summit.
“The ICPD and its encompassing Programme of Action within the international community’s broad development agenda should not be reduced to so-called ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’ and ‘comprehensive sexuality education,’”, the Holy See stated.
Rather, there is an “urgent need to focus on critical aspects of the Programme of Action, such as women and children living in extreme poverty, migration, strategies for development, literacy and education, the promotion of a culture of peace, support for the family as the basic unit of society, ending violence against women, and ensuring access to employment, land, capital and technology, etc.”
The permanent observer mission said the Holy See cannot support the Nairobi Statement, citing that “no substantive and substantial consultations on the text were carried out. The Holy See notes that if more time and a truly inclusive approach had been chosen, broader support could have been ensured for the text and for the conference.”
It added that “the conference will be held outside of the United Nations framework, thus precluding transparent intergovernmental negotiations while conveying the misleading impression of ‘consensus’ on the ‘Nairobi Statement.’ Therefore, ‘The Nairobi Summit’ cannot be deemed a meeting requested by the United Nations or held under its auspices.”
The permanent observer mission added that “the Holy See is and remains a staunch supporter of ensuring the advancement of equitable, sustainable and integral human development that fosters human dignity and the common good of every man, woman and child.”
Several African bishops have also noted grave concerns with the gathering in Nairobi.
Bishop Alfred Rotich, Bishop Emeritus of the Military Ordinariate of Kenya and chair of the Kenyan bishops’ family life office, told ACI Africa: “We find such a conference not good for us, (and) destroying the agenda for life.”
Archbishop Martin Kivuva of Mombasa described the summit’s agenda as “unacceptable according to our teaching of the Catholic Church” and he encouraged Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta to be wary of the forum.
To counter the agenda of the Nairobi Summit, the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum, with the backing of Kenya’s bishops, has organized a parallel convention to be held Nov. 11-14.
Vatican City, Nov 8, 2019 / 11:01 am (CNA).- In addition to looking after the physical and spiritual needs of those in prison, Catholics have an obligation to recognize the humanity of those who have left the prison system and to help them get back on their feet, Pope Francis said Friday.
“As Christian communities, we must ask ourselves a question” about those who have been released from prison, the pope said Nov. 8, addressing Catholics involved in prison ministry around the world.
“If these brothers and sisters have already paid the penalty for the wrongdoing, why is a new social punishment placed on their shoulders with rejection and indifference? On many occasions, this social aversion is one more reason they run the risk of repeating their own faults,” he said.
Often when a person leaves prison, he or she finds themselves in a world which is foreign to them and which, at the same time, does not trust them, the pope continued. This can make it very difficult for them to find work and to make a decent living.
“By preventing people from regaining the full exercise of their dignity, they are once again exposed to the dangers that accompany the lack of development opportunity, in the middle of violence and insecurity,” Francis stated.
“True social reintegration,” he argued, begins with access to decent work, education, self-development opportunities, and health care.
But it is often easier and more comfortable to ignore or deny the injustices present in society than to try to create equal opportunities for all citizens, he said, calling it “a way of discarding.”
He said this is the same reason many places choose incarceration as a solution over trying to fix the root societal problems which lead people to crime.
Especially today, he said, societies are called to overcome the stigmatization of people who have served time in prison for their mistakes.
“Because instead of offering the right help and resources to live a dignified life, we have become accustomed to rejecting,” he underlined, and people do this instead of looking for and noticing what effort a person might be making to respond to the love of God in his or her life.
Pope Francis spoke about ministering to the imprisoned during an audience with participants in a two-day conference on Catholic prison ministry, organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The pope said he entrusted to the dicastery the task of making evident the Church’s concern for those in situations of suffering, including the imprisoned, but added that “it is not a task indicated only for the dicastery, but it is for the whole Church in fidelity to the mission received from Christ.”
The Church “is called to act permanently the mercy of God in favor of the most vulnerable and helpless in whom Jesus himself is present,” he said. “We will be judged on this.”
The conference took place at the Vatican Nov. 7-8 and was held to learn more about diocesan and local prison ministry in countries around the world, so that they can strengthen and improve through sharing ideas and experiences.
Pope Francis argued that prisons themselves also fail to properly reintegrate people into society, because they lack the resources to address the social, psychological, and relational problems imprisoned people often face.
Prison verpopulation is also a problem, he noted.
Pope Francis thanked those who serve the incarcerated, noting Christ’s words that “what they did to one of the least of my brothers, they did to me.”
“With the inspiration of God, each Church community is taking its own path to present the Father’s mercy to all these brothers, and to make resonate a permanent call, so that every man and society seeks to act firmly and decisively in favor of peace and justice,” he said.
Naples, Florida, Nov 8, 2019 / 09:58 am (CNA).- A Florida public high school’s decision not to recognize a student pro-life group is a violation of the Constitution, one legal group says.
Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom o… […]
London, England, Nov 8, 2019 / 12:09 am (CNA).- An anti-euthanasia group in the UK is calling for the continuation of laws against assisted suicide, as the family of an elderly woman acquitted of murdering her husband wants the laws relaxed.
“It is sad to see this case being used to try and justify a campaign to rip up long held universal protections, by treating those who are terminally ill, disabled, or have chronic conditions differently in law,” said Dr. Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing.
“We know from the handful of places that have made such a change vulnerable people often feel pressured into ending lives prematurely.”
A jury cleared Mavis Eccleston, 80, of the murder and manslaughter of her husband Dennis, 81, in September, the BBC reports.
Mavis was accused of giving her husband a lethal dose of prescription medicine without his knowledge in a February “mercy killing.”
The Suicide Act 1961 makes it illegal to encourage or assist a death in England and Wales, the BBC reports. In 2015 the U.K. parliament rejected a bill that would have legalized assisted suicide for patients with a terminal diagnosis.
Mavis told jurors that she and her husband had both intended to take their lives with the medication, and that they had decided to do so after Dennis’ diagnosis of terminal cancer.
The couple was found in their apartment by family members on Feb. 19, 2018, after they had taken the drugs. The couple was rushed to the hospital and given an antidote to the medication. Mavis survived; Dennis did not.
The couple’s daughter Joy Munns said her mother “should never have been charged with murder,” and is calling for a change in the UK’s so-called assisted dying laws.
“My dad wanted to die at home with his family around him. He wanted to go and not suffer the pain that he did,” Munns told the BBC.
Other countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada have legalized assisted suicide, and Macdonald notes that negative effects of these legal decisions are already being demonstrated there.
In Canada, he said, which only changed the law in 2016, improvements to palliative medicine have not materialised, courts have extended assisted suicide to those with chronic conditions that are not terminal, and some patients are denied medical care and instead offered lethal drugs.
He also highlighted the case of a Belgian woman, Godelieva De Troyer, who was physically healthy but suffered from depression for a majority of her life and the Belgian state euthanised her in 2012 “without consulting either her son, or the psychiatrist who had cared for her for more than 20 years.”
A Belgian report on euthanasia in 2016-17 suggests that an estimated six people are euthanized daily in the country, where the practice has been legal since 2002.
“In the Netherlands, there was a case of a 74-year-old who was suffering from Dementia who was killed in 2016. The doctor allegedly failed to verify that the woman wanted to end her life, sedated the woman and asked her family to hold her down as she administered the lethal drug,” Macdonald said.
“These cases and many others show how assisted dying laws are operating way beyond their original remit and how patients who are not mentally competent are being killed on a regular basis.”
According to the U.K.’s National Health Service, euthanasia could be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while physician-assisted suicide carries with it a maximum punishment of 14 years imprisonment.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that suicide and cooperation in suicide are morally unacceptable, though it notes that: “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.”
“Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible. Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable,” the Catechism states.
“Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded,” it adds.
The Eccleston case is similar to a 2017 case in which an English chemist was cleared after administering lethal drugs to his 85-year-old father, who had reportedly wanted to die. A judge at the time ruled that the chemist’s actions “were acts of pure compassion and mercy.”
A terminally ill man, Noel Conway, who wanted a doctor to be able to prescribe him a lethal dose, challenged the Suicide Act 1961 in High Court in 2017, but his case was dismissed.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Nov 7, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Northern Ireland’s proposed abortion law drew strong objections from pro-life advocates who said it removes almost all legal protection for unborn babies.
They added that it drops many safeguards provided in other parts of the U.K., allows non-doctors to perform abortions, and allows abortion of disabled babies as far as birth.
“Because of the pro-life laws previously enshrined in law in Northern Ireland, babies in the womb were given legal protection and progressive, compassionate care which we could be proud of,” Bernadette Smyth, director of Precious Life, said Nov. 5. “Against the democratic will of the electorate, who had persistently elected pro-life politicians, and against the principles of devolution, all meaningful legal protection for unborn babies and pregnant women has now been stripped away.”
Under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, passed in July by the British Parliament, the government is obliged to create legal access to abortion in the region by March 31, 2020. The legislation legalizing abortion took effect in part because the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has been suspended nearly three years due to a dispute between the two major governing parties, was not able to convene for business by Oct. 21.
The amendment to the NI EF Act obliging the government to provide for legal abortion in Northern Ireland was introduced by Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who represents a London constituency. The legislation has drawn some objections that it violates the letter or spirit of devolution agreements that grant the Northern Ireland Assembly power over important matters.
“The people of Northern Ireland have not given license nor approval to the new devastating abortion regime which will now be foisted upon them by a British Government which does not represent them,” Smyth said. “This proposed framework is a shocking and unconcealed attempt to further undermine the will of the people of Northern Ireland.”
The government proposes that abortion be available unconditionally up to 12 or 14 weeks gestation. In cases of fetal abnormality, the government is proposing that abortion without time limit be available. It also proposes that abortion without time limit be allowed where there is risk to the life of the mother or it is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.
Previously, abortion was legally permitted in the region only if the mother’s life was at risk or if there was risk of long term or permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health.
Smyth said the proposed framework goes “far beyond the requirements” of parliament’s legislation. In her view, it “removes virtually all meaningful legal protections for babies in the womb, and drops many of the legal safeguards provided by the 1967 Abortion Act in England and Wales.”
She warned of its effects on unborn babies with disabilities.
“The proposal would also mean the legalization of abortion for disabilities, including club foot, cleft lip, anencephaly and Down’s syndrome amongst other conditions, likely available right up to the moment of birth,” she said.
As a whole, Smyth said, “these proposals open the door wide to serious endangerment of women’s health and safety by opening abortion provision up to any healthcare professional, which could include nurses, midwives, pharmacists, healthcare assistants, art therapists and dieticians.”
“The framework further seriously jeopardizes the health and safety of women in Northern Ireland as it removes the requirement that two medical doctors sign off on an abortion,” she argued. “The proposal does not include a legal limit on the locations where abortions can take place, potentially permitting dangerous home use of both abortion pills along with abortion provision in school nurse clinics, (general practitioners’) surgeries, mobile abortion clinics and pharmacies.”
The government proposes that a medical practitioner or any other registered healthcare professional be able to provide abortions, provided they are appropriately trained and competent to provide treatment in accordance with their professional body’s requirements and guidelines.
Abortions past 22 or 24 weeks should be provided in hospitals, the government says.
While in England, Wales, and Scotland two doctors must certify that there were lawful grounds for abortion, the government is considering whether only one doctor’s certification should be required in Northern Ireland. It cited the likelihood of “a more significant number of people raising conscientious objections than in other parts of the U.K.”
The government proposal allows conscientious objection only for direct participation in abortion, but not “associated ancillary, administrative or managerial tasks.” This is the standard exception in other parts of the U.K.
The government’s proposed legislative framework is informed by a UN report based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The NI EF Act requires that the government implement the report’s recommendations.
The government consultation will close Dec. 16. It includes 15 questions regarding the details of how legal abortion provision should be made in Northern Ireland.
The government intends to published its response to the consultation and details of the action it will take within 12 weeks after Dec. 16.
The NI EF Act act also provides that since Oct. 22, abortion has been decriminalized in Northern Ireland, and a moratorium has been placed on abortion-related criminal prosecutions. Since Oct. 22, the abortion of a child capable of being born alive, except when the purpose is to preserve the life of the mother, remains unlawful.
Bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.
In October, the High Court in Belfast had ruled that the region’s ban on the abortion of unborn children with fatal abnormalities violated the U.K.’s human rights commitments.
The women of Northern Ireland have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.
The Republic of Ireland legalized abortion by a vote of 66 to 33 percent in a 2018 referendum that removed the pro-life plank from its constitution.
Mumbai, India, Nov 7, 2019 / 05:26 pm (CNA).- An award named after Mother Teresa was given this week for outstanding efforts in social justice to a U.S.-based non-profit that has unmasked forced organ harvesting in China.
Doctors Against Forced Organ … […]
Washington D.C., Nov 7, 2019 / 04:59 pm (CNA).- US President Donald Trump has nominated more than one-fourth of federal circuit court judges – but what, if anything, might that entail for jurisprudence on abortion and religious freedom?
In his r… […]
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