Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life held an international symposium this week on medical ethics and palliative care, hosted together with the WISH initiative, a part of the Qatar Foundation.
Th… […]
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:55 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis celebrated Dec. 12 Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, at which the pope mentioned that through the apparition, Mary revealed herself to be the mother of … […]
Washington D.C., Dec 12, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, after several previous attempts to do so were blocked at the direction of the White House.
Senate Resolution 150, introduced… […]
Warsaw, Poland, Dec 12, 2019 / 03:42 pm (CNA).- A coalition of abortion advocacy groups has launched a hotline service to inform Polish women on how to procure abortion inside and outside of the largely pro-life country.
“Abortion without Borders” was released Dec. 11 by a collaboration of six pro-abortion organizations, including Abortion Dream Team, Kobiety w Sieci, and the Abortion Support Network.
The service will advise callers on how to purchase abortion drugs online or refer them to abortion clinics in the Netherlands, Britain, or Germany. The project will also provide financial assistance to women unable to afford the process. According to the Guardian, this may cover travel and medical costs.
The project will be offered to women seeking an abortion in Poland, which has some of the most pro-life laws in Europe. The country bans abortion except in cases of fetal abnormalities, rape, incest, or life-threatening emergencies.
According to Thomas Reuters Foundation News, official figures state that about 1,000 women receive an abortion in Poland each year, but abortion advocates believe the number to be much higher. They estimate that tens of thousands of women receive an abortion annually through abortion drugs ordered online or by traveling to other countries to get the procedure.
Last month, Poland was among 11 countries affirming the univeral right to life on the sidelines of the Nairobi Summit, saying the gathering was too focused on “reproductive rights.”
The joint statement said “there is no international right to abortion; in fact, international law clearly states that ‘[e]veryone has the right to life’ (e.g. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).”
“The ICPD notes that countries should ‘take appropriate steps to help women avoid abortion, which in no case should be promoted as a method of family planning’ (ICPD 7.24) and to ‘reduce the recourse to abortion’ strongly affirming that ‘… [a]ny measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process’ (ICPD paragraph 8.25).”
The bishops of Poland issued a pro-life statement in 2018 after the “Halt Abortion” bill was approved by the parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights. If passed, the law would prohibit the practice of eugenic abortions – those procured because of an unborn child’s congenital disorder or genetic deformity.
“Every conceived child has the right to birth and to life, regardless of innate diseases and genetic defects. The role of the state is to provide protection for every citizen, also in its first stage of life,” said Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, president of the Polish bishops’ conference.
“The right to life is a fundamental human right, there is no doubt in this matter,” Archbishop Gadecki added in a recent statement.
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- A group of around 50 women judges and prosecutors engaged in the fight against human trafficking and organized crime in Africa is meeting at the Vatican this week.
Hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Scie… […]
Washington D.C., Dec 12, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The White House hosted a summit on paid leave Thursday, hours after the House passed a bill with 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers,.
“We’re here today to support the heroic… […]
Sacramento, Calif., Dec 12, 2019 / 11:33 am (CNA).- The office of California’s attorney general has informed six dioceses in the state that they will be issued subpoenas as part of a review of child protection policies and procedures.
“To verify that safeguards are effectively in place and are being appropriately implemented to ensure the safety of aour children and young people is crucially important and a shared interest,” the Diocese of Fresno, one of those being subpoenaed, said Dec. 10.
Subpoenas are being issued as well to the local Churches of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, and Orange. The Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 10 that both the Orange and San José dioceses have already received the subpoena orders.
The state’s 12 Latin rite dioceses were told in May that attorney general Xavier Becerra would be investigating their handling of sexual abuse allegations involving minors, and they were asked to retain documents related to such allegations.
The six dioceses that will be subpoenaed were also asked to produce documents on the allegations.
The Fresno diocese said it and the other five dioceses have voluntarily cooperated since May with Becerra’s office.
“We have worked to accommodate the Attorney General’s requests while also following the laws governing the privacy rights of employees, abuse victims and mandated reporters,” it stated. “An abundance of time and resources has already been dedicated to this high-priority undertaking and we will continue to do so until the process can come to completion and accomplishes its goal.”
Bishop Joseph Brennan of Fresno said, “I am committed to fully cooperating with the Attorney General’s examination to the best of our ability in accordance with the law.”
“To now undergo a review by the Attorney General’s Office is a welcomed process that will help us to advance efforts towards greater transparency; to further learn from our past, scrutinize our current performance in implementing mandated reporting procedures; and, to continue to tirelessly puruse and develop all reasonable measures to protect the vulnerable in our midst,” Bishop Brennan added.
Similarly, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento had said Dec. 6 that the six dioceses have, since May, “een involved in a voluntary effort with the California Attorney General’s office to provide documents related to mandated reporting of child sexual abuse.”
“We share the Attorney General’s desire to conduct a thorough examination of the practices and procedures that seek to protect the children entrusted to our schools, churches and programs. Throughout this process, we have worked to accommodate the Attorney General’s requests while also following the laws governing the privacy rights of employees, abuse victims and mandated reporters,” he added.
Bishop Soto said the subpoenas “will move us toward our shared goal of ensuring that the safeguards in place for our children are working as they should. We remain committed to cooperating with the Attorney General’s inquiry to the best of our ability and as fully as the law permits.”
California adopted a law in October extending the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims.
The law allows civil claims of childhood sexual abuse to be filed by victims until age 40, or five years after discovering the damages from the abuse. Previously, claims had to be filed by age 26, or within three years of discovering damages from the abuse.
The new law also opens up a three-year window to revive past claims that would have expired under the previous statute of limitations. That window begins Jan. 1, 2020.
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 10:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis’ message for the 2020 World Day of Peace released Thursday calls for openness to dialogue, commitment to forgiveness, and an ecological conversion.
“The world does not need empty words but convinced witnesses, peacemakers who are open to a dialogue that rejects exclusion or manipulation,” Pope Francis said in his peace message released Dec. 12.
“We cannot truly achieve peace without a convinced dialogue between men and women who seek the truth beyond ideologies and differing opinions. Peace must be built up continually; it is a journey made together in constant pursuit of the common good, truthfulness and respect for law,” he said.
Pope Francis said that war often begins with “the inability to accept the diversity of others,” which fosters attitudes of “domination born of selfishness and pride.”
“War is fueled by a perversion of relationships, by hegemonic ambitions, by abuses of power, by fear of others and by seeing diversity as an obstacle. And these, in turn, are aggravated by the experience of war,” he said.
He noted that entire nations have struggled to “break free of the chains of exploitation and corruption that fuel hatred and violence.”
“Our human community bears, in its memory and its flesh, the scars of ever more devastating wars and conflicts that affect especially the poor and the vulnerable,” the pope said.
Pope Francis recalled his meeting with survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on his recent apostolic journey to Japan. He said that their testimony bears witness to succeeding generations of the unspeakable suffering and horror caused by the bombings.
The pope reiterated his message that nuclear deterrence can only produce “the illusion of security.”
“We cannot claim to maintain stability in the world through the fear of annihilation, in a volatile situation, suspended on the brink of a nuclear abyss and enclosed behind walls of indifference,” he said.
Pope Francis said that the answer to breaking today’s unhealthy mentality of threats and fear is to pursue “a genuine fraternity based on our common origin from God” through dialogue and mutual trust.
Only by choosing “the path of respect can we break the spiral of vengeance,” he said, underlining the importance of forgiveness by quoting Christ’s command to forgive not “seven times, but seventy times seven.”
“This path of reconciliation is a summons to discover in the depths of our heart the power of forgiveness and the capacity to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters. When we learn to live in forgiveness, we grow in our capacity to become men and women of peace,” he said.
For Christians, confession is a part of the peace process because it “renews individuals and communities” and “bids us to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, who reconciled all things … by making peace through the blood of his cross,” the pope said.
The sacrament “requires us to set aside every act of violence in thought, word and deed, whether against our neighbours or against God’s creation,” he said.
The World Day of Peace – instituted by St. Paul VI in 1968 – is celebrated each year on the first day of January. The pope provides a special message for the occasion, which is sent to all foreign ministers around the world.
The pope’s message for the 2020 World Day of Peace is entitled, “Peace as a Journey of Hope: Dialogue, Reconciliation and Ecological Conversion.”
“The ecological conversion for which we are appealing will lead us to a new way of looking at life, as we consider the generosity of the Creator who has given us the earth and called us to a share it in joy and moderation,” Pope Francis said.
“All this gives us deeper motivation and a new way to dwell in our common home, to accept our differences, to respect and celebrate the life that we have received and share, and to seek living conditions and models of society that favour the continued flourishing of life and the development of the common good of the entire human family,” he said.
At a press conference on the peace message, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said faith in God’s covenant implies care for the weakest members of society and for the environment as God’s creation.
In his peace message, Pope Francis said that democracy can be an important paradigm for the peace process, provided that it is “grounded in justice and a commitment to protect the rights of every person, especially the weak and marginalized.”
“Setting out on a journey of peace is a challenge made all the more complex because the interests at stake in relationships between people, communities and nations, are numerous and conflicting. We must first appeal to people’s moral conscience and to personal and political will,” he said.
“The desire for peace lies deep within the human heart, and we should not resign ourselves to seeking anything less than this,” Pope Francis said.
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:42 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday accepted the resignation of Bishop Paul Joseph Swain of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and appointed Minnesota priest Fr. Donald Edward DeGrood as his successor.
Bishop of Sioux Falls since 2006, Swain’s resignation was accepted after he reached in 2018 the age of 75, the minimum age of retirement for diocesan bishops.
Bishop-elect DeGrood, 54, grew up outside Faribault, Minnesota, one of five boys in a farming family.
A priest of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese, he has been pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Savage, Minnesota since 2017.
On the Saint John’s website it states that “life was great as a farm boy,” and that DeGrood first felt called to the priesthood around age seven.
Saint John’s serves more than 2,100 families, according to its website. The church also has a parrochial school with preschool through 8th-grade.
From 2013 to 2017, Bishop-elect DeGrood was the archdiocese’ episcopal vicar for clergy.
DeGrood has been pastor of Saint John Parish in Savage, Minnesota since 2017. The parish serves more than 2,100 families, according to its website. The church also has a parrochial school with preschool through 8th-grade.
The bishop-elect is also the member of several diocesan committees and on the board of the Saint Paul Seminary.
He was a spiritual director at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver from 2000 to 2004.
The Diocese of Sioux Falls is one of two dioceses in South Dakota. It covers the eastern part of the state and has over 120,000 Catholics.
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Thursday that the often hidden holiness lived out in everyday life is a true light within the Church.
“Holiness permeates and always accompanies the life of the pilgrim Church over … […]
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