Rome, Italy, Oct 2, 2019 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- The Italian bishops conference have condemned a proposal from Italy’s education minister that crucifixes should be removed from public school classrooms.
“I believe schools should… […]
Atlanta, Ga., Oct 2, 2019 / 09:30 am (CNA).- A federal judge on Tuesday halted Georgia’s “heartbeat bill” abortion ban from going into effect.
Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District Court of Georgia wrote in his ruling October 1 … […]
Vatican City, Oct 2, 2019 / 06:00 am (CNA).- U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo spoke out Wednesday about China’s religious freedom violations during a visit to the Vatican.
“When the state rules absolutely, God becomes an absolute threat to authority … human dignity is trampled … moral norms are crushed completely,” Pompeo said Oct. 2 in Vatican City’s Old Synod Hall.
The U.S. Secretary of State said this is why “China has put more than a million Uighur Muslims … in internment camps” and “why it throws Christian pastors in jail.”
Pompeo was at the Vatican Oct. 2 for the symposium “Pathways to Achieving Human Dignity: Partnering with Faith-Based Organizations,” co-hosted by the Holy See’s Secretariat of State and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.
An embassy source told CNA that Secretary Pompeo will meet Pope Francis on Oct. 3 in the Vatican library.
Pompeo’s speech at the Vatican began and ended with an example of a Uyghur Muslim who experienced persecution from the Chinese government in Xinjiang.
The Holy See marked last week the one year anniversary of a provisional agreement with the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of bishops.
Secretary Pompeo said that countries around the world should “follow the wisdom of Jesus: ‘Be not afraid’” in defending religious freedom where it is under threat.
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said that the US is calling on the Chinese government to “move away from this war on faith.”
“We are deeply concerned about what China is doing,” Brownback told CNA.
Brownback said that the State Department is particularly concerned with the Chinese government’s use of advanced technologies, like facial recognition and a social credit score system, to marginalize people of faith in the society.
“That system is starting to be exported to other places, other authoritarian repressive regimes … I think that is why the secretary talks about it, and it is certainly why I talk about it,” Brownback said.
Pompeo also singled out the governments of Iran, Myanmar and Syria for their repression of religious freedom, and denounced Cuba’s cancellation of National Catholic Youth Day this year.
The symposium was convened at the Vatican to highlight the world of faith-based organizations in advancing religious freedom, combatting human trafficking, and providing humanitarian aid.
“The stakes today are arguably higher than they were even during the Cold War,” Pompeo said.
“More than 80% of mankind lives in places where religious freedom is threatened or entirely denied. Approximately 71 million people around the world are displaced as refugees, roughly 25 million people are caught in human trafficking situations, and it is not coincidence that this has happened as unfree societies have proliferated,” he said.
The US Department of State this year launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance, a multilateral organization to advance religious freedom issues worldwide. “We humbly ask the Holy See to join us,” Pompeo said. “What could be more powerful than our voices all together calling for the freedom to worship God?”
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican Secretary for Relations with States spoke at the symposium opening about the need to “promote peaceful coexistence and peaceful societies.” He highlighted Pope Francis’ joint declaration on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi, and said that the Holy See seeks to develop an international network of religious leaders to promote “healthy pluralism.”
Pompeo commended Pope emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis for speaking out in defense of Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Catholic woman whose life was threatened under a blasphemy law.
As U.S. Embassy to the Holy See marks its 35th anniversary this year, Pompeo spoke fondly of St. John Paul II and US President Ronald Reagan’s partnership during the Cold War.
“Think of the millions of believers who can live with dignity and purpose, who can now worship without fear, thanks to the joint efforts of a pope and a president,” Pompeo said.
Vatican City, Oct 2, 2019 / 05:34 am (CNA).- Guidance by the Holy Spirit is integral to sharing the Gospel with others and bringing them to Christ, Pope Francis said during the general audience Wednesday.
To try to convince people that Jesus is God wi… […]
Vatican City, Oct 2, 2019 / 04:40 am (CNA).- The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has nominated Maltese Bishop Mario Grech pro-secretary general of the Synod of Bishops to work alongside secretary general Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.
In a declaration to journalists Oct. 2, Balidisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops since 2013, said the pro-secretary general will “walk alongside” him in his role and participate in this month’s Amazon synod as a member.
Baldisseri said Grech will then assume the full position of secretary general at the time his own mandate “expires,” though there was no indication of when that will be.
Baldisseri, who turned 79 last month, has been secretary general of the Synod of Bishops since September 2013. In that role, he has led the two synods on the family in 2014 and 2015, and the youth synod held in October 2018.
Grech, 62, was bishop of the Maltese diocese of Gozo since January 2005. He will remain apostolic administrator of the diocese until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop.
Born in Qala, Malta, Grech was ordained a priest in 1984 at the age of 27, for the Diocese of Gozo.
Grech was one of two authors of the Maltese bishops’ controversial pastoral guidelines on Amoris Laetitia, which stated divorced-and-remarried Catholics, in certain cases and after “honest discernment” could receive communion.
Grech was also one of two Maltese bishops to speak out against divorce and in defense of the Christian view of marriage in 2010.
Baldisseri was born in 1940 in the Italian town of Barga, and in 1963 was ordained a priest, while still only 22 years of age, for the Archdiocese of Pisa.
He holds a license in dogmatic theology, a doctorate in canon law, and is a pianist who studied at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music under the late Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci. From 1971 to 1973 he studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to become a Vatican diplomat.
Baldisseri served in numerous nunciatures, including those to Guatemala, El Salvador, Japan, Brazil, Paraguay, France, Zimbabwe, and Haiti.
In 1992 he was consecrated a bishop and appointed apostolic nuncio to Haiti, which had just experienced a coup. He subsequently served as apostolic nuncio to Paraguay, India, Nepal, and Brazil.
In Brazil, Baldisseri achieved an agreement regulating the juridical status of the Church in the country, and which is now a model for every religion wishing to forge an agreement with the Brazilian state. In reaching the agreement, Baldisseri had to coordinate with 11 different ministries of the Brazilian administration.
After the achievement of the agreement, Benedict XVI appointed him in 2012 secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, as well as secretary of the College of Cardinals.
Canberra, Australia, Oct 1, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- Freedom for Faith, a Christian legal think tank, expressed concerns last week over unintended consequences of the Australian government’s religious discrimination bill, urging that it be re-drafted before it is passed.
“Freedom for Faith welcomes the considerable efforts that the Government has made to consult on the drafting of this Bill. Many features of it are very good, including general provisions for protection of people of faith from discrimination in Commonwealth law; but Freedom for Faith also has significant concerns about certain provisions which have consequences that are probably unintended,” the group said in its Sept. 25 submission in consultation on the bill.
The most prominent concerns of the think tank, which says it “exists to see religious freedom protected and promoted in Australia”, relate to staffing policies in faith-based institutions; use of property inconsistent with a religious purpose or religious beliefs; and enrolment of students in faith-based educational institutions.
The religious discrimination bill is intended make it unlawful to discriminate against people on the ground of their religious belief or activity; establish a religious freedom commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission; and amend existing laws regarding religious freedom, including marriage and charities law, and objects clauses in anti-discrimination law.
The coalition government wants to make religious belief and activity a protected class, like race or sex. It also hopes to ensure that groups rejecting same-sex marriage are not stripped of their charitable status.
In its current version, the bill would not protect religious statements that are “malicious, would harass, vilify or incite hatred or violence against a person or group or which advocate for the commission of a serious criminal offence”.
Freedom for Faith maintains that as it is written, the bill could “suggest a very limited scope for religious organisations to retain their ethos and identity, and conversely an expansive scope for suppression of free speech. It is difficult to reconcile these Notes, at various points, with government policy as expressed by the Prime Minister and Attorney-General.”
Freedom for Faith said that “the overwhelming concern of faith-based organisations across the country with whom we have spoken is about the effect of the Bill on their religious mission, with particular reference to their staffing policies.”
Prime minister Scott Morrison has promised the bill will not take religious freedom backward, but the think tank stated that “the difficulty is that this Bill does, in relation to staffing of faith-based organisations … If the issues are not resolved, this may lead us to conclude that the Bill is better not being enacted. That said, we have every confidence that the Attorney-General will be able to sort the drafting problems out.”
Freedom for Faith said it is important that faith-based groups be able to appoint adherents of their religion, as their programs are part of their mission and ministry.
“This Bill, in its present form, will make it very difficult indeed for faith-based organisations to preserve their identity and ethos, although the Explanatory Notes to s.10 say that it is the Government’s intention to support the rights of faith-based organisations to retain their culture and ethos in their staffing policies,” the legal group wrote.
It warned that the bill supports “the view that only faith-based organisations with a policy of requiring all staff and volunteers to be adherents to the faith will be protected,” while many such organizations in fact only prefer that that staff be adherents, or that there be a “critical mass” of adherents so as to preserve its character as a religious ministry.
“Even if a Catholic school or other charity did have a policy of only employing Catholic staff, it would only be lawful if this could reasonably be regarded as in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs and teachings of Catholicism,” the think tank warned, as an example.
“That may be a difficult test to satisfy in the eyes of a court,” it continued. “The court may find it hard to see how the Catholic school’s preference in terms of employment may reasonably be regarded as being in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of the religion. The school, however, may take the view that it is a necessary implication of their doctrines that they want to maintain a Catholic ethos by having a ‘critical mass’ of believing staff. Whether or not this policy does flow from religious doctrines – it is really about the purpose of having a Catholic school – it would be best if the legislation made it clear that such a policy was not unlawful.”
Another problem in the bill identified by Freedom for Faith is that its definition of a “religious body” excludes hospitals, aged care providers, publishing houses, and youth campsites run by religious groups.
As written, the bill would “prevent Christian publishers and Christian youth campsites advertising for Christian staff. This would be a bizarre and profoundly damaging outcome of laws ostensibly designed to bolster religious freedom,” the legal group noted.
Freedom for Faith urged that the bill “make a positive statement … that it is lawful for a religious body, a faith-based educational institution or a charity established for religious purposes, to appoint, or prefer to appoint, staff who practise the religion with which the organisation is associated.”
It said this is preferable to the bill creating exemptions so as “to get away from the language of having a ‘right to discriminate’”; because “there is a lot of opposition from the left of politics to any exemptions under anti-discrimination laws,” and there would be campaigns for repeal; and because, since the government has asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to report on how to balance competing claims of religious freedom rights and LGBT rights, “it does not make much sense to create new exemptions in legislation at the same time as two organisations that report to the Attorney are busily working to reduce or eliminate them.”
The second main objection of Freedom for Faith is that the bill could make some religious groups “act contrary to their beliefs if they were never permitted to rely on good faith religious objections to the use of their premises.” For example, a Catholic hospital could be made to provide euthanasia on its premises.
Thirdly, the legal think tank said the bill’s current form “may not allow schools to preference students of a particular faith. So for example, Catholic schools may not be allowed to give preference for admission” to the Catholic children.
Freedom for Faith suggested a number of other, minor improvements to the bill, and provided a suggested draft for a new section on employment.
Similarly, the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, which has reportedly worked closely in the past with the local Catholic diocese, has said the religious discrimination bill is so flawed that it cannot be supported in its current form.
Some conservative members of parliament have asked instead for a religious freedom bill. Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, of the Liberal Party, voiced concerns July 9 that the bill does not go far enough, saying it “would be defensive in nature and limited to protecting against acts and practices by others which are discriminatory on the grounds of religion.”
She said that “quiet Australians now expect the Coalition to legislate to protect their religious freedom.”
Australia has seen debate over religious freedom in recent years with respect to the seal of the confessional, hiring decisions, and same-sex marriage.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney noted last year that “we cannot take the freedom to hold and practice our beliefs for granted, even here in Australia,” and that “powerful interests now seek to marginalize religious believers and beliefs, especially Christian ones, and exclude them from public life. They would end funding to faith-based schools, hospitals and welfare agencies, strip us of charitable status and protections.”
Lansing, Mich., Oct 1, 2019 / 06:34 pm (CNA).- Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has line-item vetoed from the state’s budget $700,000 in funding for the Michigan Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services Program, to the consternation of the Michigan Catholic Conference and a pro-life group active in the state.
“The process that led to these vetoes has been disappointing,” said Tom Hickson, Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) vice president for public policy.
“It is the hope of this organization that in forthcoming negotiations the Governor and legislature can work together to restore this critical funding.”
The funding in the Michigan budget for pregnancy and parenting support went to Real Alternatives, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that has since 1996 provided counseling for pregnant woman on alternatives to abortion, as well as material help such as baby formula and diapers to mothers up to 12 months after they give birth.
The program expanded its operations to Michigan beginning in June 2014, working mainly through local Catholic Charities affiliates, with the backing of the Michigan Catholic Conference.
According to Real Alternatives’ estimates, the Michigan program has served 8,240 women at 31,958 support visits since 2014. The state has appropriated $3.3 million to the program since its inception.
“This year the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania allocated $7.3 million in funding for the same program in that state; Governor Whitmer’s line-item veto of a meager $700,000 will have a negative impact on low-income women in Michigan and should have been avoided,” said MCC’s Policy Advocate Rebecca Mastee.
“Women deserve better than this veto, and we look forward to working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to reinsert this funding into the state budget.”
Whitmer issued 147 line-item vetoes Oct. 1, amounting to nearly $1 billion in cuts to the budget she received from the Republican-controlled legislature, mlive.com reported.
Real Alternatives’ founding CEO Kevin Bagatta told CNA in August that if a woman is alone and poor, she may struggle with the pressures of an unexpected pregnancy. What the Real Alternatives program does is provide a counselor, who helps the woman from conception until 12 months after the baby’s birth, training her how to take care of the baby and herself.
He noted that it is primarily a counseling program, not a medical program, although the program offers referrals for medical needs, and saves the state of Michigan money that it might have otherwise spent on additional medical care for pregnant women.
“Real Alternatives is perplexed to hear…that against the wishes of Michiganders, Governor Whitmer has line item vetoed the successful Michigan Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services Program,” Bagatta said in an Oct. 1 statement.
“Not only did Michiganders reach-out to their fellow citizens in need through the program, but it also saved taxpayer monies.”
Bagatta told CNA that research done in the 1980s found that about 80% of surveyed women who had procured an abortion said that they would not have gone through with the procedure if just one person had taken the time to help them.
Today, Real Alternatives runs the Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Michigan programs from their base in Harrisburg. They helped to start a similar program in Texas.
In 2013, the Michigan Catholic Conference asked Real Alternatives to help to explain the program to then-Governor Rick Snyder, who put money in the budget to start the state’s program.
Catholic Charities affiliates in the various states are staffed with licensed social workers and trained counselors.
Under the George W. Bush administration, the program was accepted as meeting the requirements to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money from the federal government, which states may use as they see fit. This means many of the state programs are funded with federal dollars; Pennsylvania’s program, like Michigan’s, also is funded by some state revenue. Usually the program is accepted in a state with a pro-life governor, Bagatta said.
“Every state gets TANF money. So if you’re a pro-life governor, you can have this program and use your TANF money to do a program like [this],” he explained.
Catholic Charities affiliates are able to dedicate staff specifically for this program as a result of the funding received, Bagatta said, and the funding model provides an incentive for the centers to serve more clients and open specific pregnancy resource programs.
David Maluchnik, communications vice president for the MCC, reiterated in August that Real Alternatives provides needed care for women who would otherwise choose abortion.
“[The program] not only provides support and care, it provides formula and [referrals for] pre- and post-natal meds; it gets clothing and shelter to mom and baby where there may otherwise be none; it helps with parenting tips when there’s no one to talk to; it offsets threats to infant mortality and gives young children and mothers a healthy start and a brighter future.”
“In the end, pulling the rug from under low-income women and her unborn or infant child at a time when they’re most vulnerable would constitute a heartless, calculated political maneuver,” he said.
Rabat, Morocco, Oct 1, 2019 / 05:22 pm (CNA).- A Moroccan journalist, her fiance, and a doctor were sentenced to prison Monday for procuring and performing an abortion. The country’s penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother’s life is endangered.
Hajar Raissouni, 28, was sentenced Sept. 30 to a year imprisonment for procuring an abortion and for fornication.
Her fiance, Rifaat al-Amin, was also given a years’ imprisonment, and her doctor was given two years in prison and a two-year ban on practising medicine.
An anaesthetist and a medical assistant were given suspended sentences of one year, and eight months, respectively.
Raissouni writes for Akhbar Al-Yaoum, which is critical of the Moroccan government.
Prosecutors have said her arrest has “nothing to do with her profession as a journalist,” but some worry it is politically motivated.
Abdelmoula El Marouri, Raissouni’s lawyer, told Reuters, “we’re shocked by this verdict,” and said he will appeal.
Raissouni was arrested Aug. 31 as she left the clinic.
Saad Sahli, a lawyer for Raissouni and al-Amin, said that Raissouni had been receiving treatment for internal bleeding at the clinic where she was arrested.
After her arrest, Raissouni was taken to hospital where she was given a gynecological exam.
Prosecutors say there were indications of pregnancy and that she had received a “late voluntary abortion.”
Rabat officials have also indicated the clinic where the five were arrested if being surveilled, after reports that abortions are regularly procured there.
Raissouni and al-Amin have been religiously, but not legally, married.
Sunni Islam is the established religion of Morocco. The country has strict rules on moral behavior and has criminalized debauchery and adultery.
According to a group that support abortion rights, most abortion-related arrests in the country involve medical officials, and only rarely do they include the women who procure abortions.
In 2018, Moroccan courts tried more than 14,500 people for debauchery; 3,048 for adultery; 170 for homosexuality; and 73 for abortions, AFP reported.
Beijing, China, Oct 1, 2019 / 04:32 pm (CNA).- On Tuesday, the People’s Republic of China marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country’s communist regime. While some world leaders offered congratulations, others reflected on t… […]
Richmond, Va., Oct 1, 2019 / 04:13 pm (CNA).- A federal judge on Monday overturned two Virginia restrictions on abortion, while upholding several others, saying, “the right to choose to have an abortion is not unfettered.”
“In addition to a woman’s personal liberty interest, the state has profound interests in protecting potential life and protecting the health and safety of women,” wrote U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, citing Supreme Court precedent.
“The state, therefore, may take measures to further these interests so long as it does not create a substantial obstacle that unduly burdens a woman’s right to choose.”
Hudson ruled Sept. 30 in a case filed last year by abortion advocacy groups including the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Falls Church Healthcare Center. The suit challenged a series of abortion regulations enacted in Virginia.
Hudson upheld a state law requiring an ultrasound and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, calling the legislation “a persuasive measure by the State to encourage women to choose childbirth rather than abortion, which is a valid basis upon which to regulate abortion so long as the measure does not amount to a substantial obstacle to access.”
The judge also upheld unannounced inspections of abortion clinics, as well as a law mandating that only physicians may perform abortions. He noted that the state has a legitimate interest in ensuring the safety of abortion procedures.
“Given the potential risk that can arise in the later stages of second trimester abortions, limiting such procedures to physicians only is well-justified, even though it may impose an increased burden on rural residents, especially those who are living at or near the poverty line,” he said.
Hudson overturned a state law requiring clinics that perform first-trimester abortions to meet the health and safety standards of hospitals, saying that safe conditions could be ensured without this requirement, and pointing to previous Supreme Court rulings invalidating similar restrictions.
He also rejected a rule that second-trimester abortions take place in a hospital, saying that medical advancements render this requirement unnecessary for nonsurgical abortions taking place before the baby is viable outside the womb.
“The evidence has revealed minimal medical necessity for requiring non-surgical second trimester abortion procedures to be performed in licensed hospitals. On the other hand, the burden is significant, particularly with respect to costs and availability,” he ruled.
Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, applauded the ruling, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, saying, “Once again the abortion industry failed in their zealous attempt to use the courts to do their bidding.”
Rosemary Codding, head of the Falls Church Healthcare Center, said she was “disappointed that our patients did not get their constitutionally-protected right to accessing health care without legislative interference that they are entitled to and that they deserve,” the Times-Dispatch reported.
Virginia is one of several states with abortion regulations being challenged in court. More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed this year against state laws restricting abortion.
Olivia Gans Turner, president of Virginia’s National Right to Life state affiliate, argued in May that raising safety standards surrounding abortion procedures protects the health of women, noting, “Laws requiring that ‘physicians only’ perform abortions exist in 40 states.”
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