Vatican City, Jul 25, 2019 / 05:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday appointed Cristiane Murray as vice director of the Holy See Press Office.
Murray, 57, has worked for Vatican Radio for more than 25 years, where she provided live commentary on papal … […]
New York City, N.Y., Jul 25, 2019 / 12:30 am (CNA).- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill criminalizing revenge pornography – the distribution of sexual or nude images without the subject’s consent.
Cuomo signed the bill into law on … […]
Little Rock, Ark., Jul 24, 2019 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- A federal judge in Arkansas on Tuesday temporarily blocked several new regulations on abortion clinics, which otherwise might have led to the closure of the state’s last abortion clinic.
Distric… […]
Ernakulam, India, Jul 24, 2019 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Catholic priests are reportedly protesting Pope Francis’ reinstatement of a cardinal who is facing allegations of financial mismanagement and of failing to report the rape of a nun.
Cardinal George Alencherry heads the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome and one of the two main Eastern churches in India.
An Indian television station aired an audio recording last week that appears to indicate that Alencherry may have been aware of a nun’s claim that a bishop had raped her, before the nun made her public complaint.
The nun in June 2018 accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar of raping her in 2014 and sexually abusing her on multiple occasions over two years.
In a recorded phone call between the nun and Alencherry, alleged to have taken place before the nun filed her official complaint, Alencherry appears to tell the nun that he will deny knowing anything about the complaint if the police ask about it, and that she should deal with the apostolic nuncio instead of the police.
A Syro-Malabar Church spokesman said in a statement that the nun had not specifically mentioned the sexual assault during their conversation. Alencherry has denied that he recieved any sexual abuse complaints from the nun before she filed her complaint, but admitted that the nun had met him in 2017 and had brought concern to the cardinal but had not mentioned sexual abuse.
Bishop Mulakkal was formally charged with raping the nun nine times over a two-year period and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, local authorities announced in April.
The charge sheet against Mulakkal included statements from more than 80 witnesses including a cardinal, three bishops, 11 priests and 25 nuns, according to Indian Catholic group Save our Sisters. He is expected to be in court this week.
Mulakkal maintains his innocence.
The Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly’s presbyteral council has also accused Alencherry of involvement in dubious land deals. Alencherry reportedly bypassed church law requiring consultations before a land sale that resulted in heavy financial losses for the church.
In June the Vatican suspended the administrative powers of the archdiocese’s two auxiliary bishops, all archdiocesan offices, and the archdiocesan council. A Vatican letter said Cardinal Alencherry “should absolutely not be involved” in any decisions, UCA News reports.
Pope Francis reinstated Alencherry in June. At the time Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican’s office for Eastern Catholic churches, stated that Alencherry must now submit monthly financial plans to the Syro-Malabar Church’s governing body. The Syro-Malabar synod will meet in August to discuss longer-term solutions to the archdiocese’ financial situation.
The Vatican investigation’s findings have not been made public, and two auxiliary bishops who were suspended along with Alencherry remain suspended, the Associated Press reports.
According to the AP, about 450 priests, including 70 from outside of India, began a hunger strike and prayer vigil last week at the cardinal’s diocesan headquarters, in the city of Kochi, India to protest Alencherry’s reinstatement, the continued suspension of the two auxiliary bishops and to demand information about the Vatican’s investigation.
One of the protesting priests told the AP that the hunger strike ended after priests met with members of the Syro-Malabar synod and presented their demands, and were given assurance that the demands would be put forward during an August meeting.
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 24, 2019 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- The Mexican bishops reaffirmed Tuesday its concern over the lack of a humanitarian reception for migrants, whose dignity has been violated, and exchanged for “a plate of lentils.”
The bishops’ conference criticized Mexico’s lack of migration policies in a July 23 statement, saying that as a result, the country has submitted to the policies and impositions of the United States, “accepting the incoherency of tying business interests to the right and need to migrate, seeking a better life.”
“Sadly we can see that this dignity as persons and children of God is being violated, since it has been ‘exchanged for a plate of lentils’”, they lamented.
The bishops’ conference expressed their concern “for a truly humanitarian reception for our brother migrants, which reflects our convictions concerning the recognition and equal protection of the rights of all human beings.”
In June, Mexico agreed to take measures to reduce the number of migrants to the US, in order to avoid the imposition of tariffs.
Some 6,000 National Guard troops will be assigned to Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, and some asylum seekers in the US will be sent to Mexico to wait while their claims are processed.
“A wall not only protects, but isolates from the encounter of one to another; erecting them is to let us be carried away by fear and uncertainty,” the bishops wrote.
“Walls are not only built with stones and bricks but also with negative attitudes such as deploying thousands of National Guard soldiers at our borders as a failed solution to curb migration; a wall does not address the roots and the true causes of the migration phenomenon,” they stressed.
They therefore said that the fight against poverty and inequality in their country and in Central America would seem to “be replaced by fear of the other person, who is our brother.”
Similarly, they emphasized that the Church and civil society have always stood up for “the non-criminalization of migrants and human rights defenders that are fighting against the flow for dignity and with significant risks to their own safety, even to their lives.” Additionally, that the dignity and human rights of migrants are to be held “very much above any negotiations.”
“The Church is convinced that a just immigration policy is necessary and urgent that on one hand guarantees an ordered, responsible and regulated free transit of people and that also looks after the legitimate interests of our nation,” they said.
They also explained that “hunger, poverty, violence and the lack of opportunities” are the causes of internal and external migration, which requires the “creation of sources of employment and the reconstruction of the social fabric.”
According to the bishops’ conference, thousands of migrants are waiting to cross the border with the sole purpose of fleeing violence and extreme poverty.
“So many others are detained or deported to Mexico, even more under the unilateral American program ‘Stay in Mexico’, under which thousands of Central Americans are hoping for a resolution of their immigration status, putting an electronic bracelet on them and restricting their movement to a specific place,” they said.
They also recalled that one cannot be indifferent to the suffering endured by migrants with the lack of humanitarian aid and who are “exposed to grave risks in the border towns, preventing their full and free access to legal assistance.”
The Mexican bishops enumerated five main points of concern: the defense of the dignity and human rights of all migrants; migrant raids in the US with the attendant danger of family separation; the threat of massive deportations from the US to Mexico; a new migration policy in Mexico based on containment and deportation rather than welcome; and the insistence of Mexican government agencies that shelters provide information on the migrants they serve.
“The Church, as a mother and protectress is concerned for and takes care of the poor and needy, and migrants are at this time, the poorest of the poor; the collaboration of the Mexican and American bishops in charity for this sector of society expresses their desire to continue to collaborate with all the initiatives that would permit finding a way for better security and protection of human rights of those who emigrate, and they raise their prophetic voice when these rights are violated.” they said.
Finally, they asked the Holy Spirit “to enlighten the civil authorities of our nations so they would make the wisest, most worthy, coherent and authentically beneficial decisions for our peoples, as well as safeguarding the sovereignty of our nation, putting first the common good of man as a sign of human development, maturity and intelligence.”
Washington D.C., Jul 24, 2019 / 04:15 pm (CNA).- The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Brian Buescher, a judicial nominee grilled by two senators last year over his membership in the Knights of Columbus. Buescher will now become a U.S. District Judg… […]
Melbourne, Australia, Jul 24, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- The first permit for medically assisted death in Victoria was issued in recent weeks, less than a month after the Australian state’s legalization of voluntary assisted suicide and euthanasia took effect.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 allows adult Victoria residents who are terminally ill, expected to die within six months (or 12 if they have a neurodegenerative condition), and mentally competent, to ask their doctor to prescribe drugs that will end their lives. The law took effect June 19.
Two doctors must verify the requester’s eligibility, and the person must make three requests for assisted suicide or euthanasia. Those seeking to end their lives must have lived in Victoria for at least a year, and be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
Neither the identity nor the medical condition of the person granted a permit to commit suicide have been released.
A spokesperson for the Victorian health department told the ABC that the state’s “model for the voluntary assisted dying system is working.”
“We know that doctors are talking to patients about voluntary assisted dying and are carrying out assessments.”
Under the law, pharmacists at The Alfred Hospital will prepare and supply the mixture of drugs. They will deliver to the terminally ill the dose of about 100mL of liquid in a locked box with a key.
The box will include instructions on how to mix and drink the drugs, “and there is no expiry date on when the drugs can be consumed,” Melbourne daily The Age reported in June.
Physicians will be allowed to administer the drugs via an intravenous drip to those incapable of swallowing.
Health practicioners are granted conscientious objection rights against participation in euthanasia or assisted suicide under the law.
About 100 doctors across the nearly 92,000 square mile state “have began receiving the mandatory training required to be allowed to assist terminally ill patients who need medical help to die,” according to The Age.
A review board of 13 medical and legal experts will review assisted suicide-euthanasia applications after the fact to ensure compliance with the law. The board will also be able to recommend improvements to the state government, and refer breaches to police, coronors, or the Australian Health Practicioner Regulation Agency.
The Victorian health minister, Jenny Mikakos, has said the state expects about a dozen people to utilize assisted suicide or euthanasia during the first year the law is in effect. She expects this number to top out at about 150 people each year. There are about 6.5 million Victorian residents.
Efforts to expand access to assisted suicide and euthanasia have grown in recent years. Presently, at least one of the practices is legal in nine US states and the District of Columbia, as well as in all Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Colombia.
Victoria is the only Australian jurisdiction where assisted suicide or euthanasia are legal.
Advocates for assisted suicide and euthanasia have said the eligibility requirements are too onerous, and intend to challenge them in court, but do hope other Australian states will follow Victoria’s lead.
Queensland and Western Australia are considering similar bills.
New South Wales rejected such a bill in 2017, as did the national parliament in 2016, and that of Tasmania in 2013.
The Northern Territory legalized assisted suicide in 1995, but the Australian parliament overturned the law two years later.
The four Latin rite ordinaries in Victoria wrote a pastoral letter denouncing the state’s “new, and deeply troubling chapter of health care” when the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 took effect.
In a June 14 letter, the bishops of Melbourne, Ballarat, Sale, and Sandhurst wrote that “We cannot cooperate with the facilitation of suicide, even when it seems motivated by empathy or kindness.”
“What is being referred to as ‘VAD’ is a combination of what in plain- speaking is more commonly known as physician assisted suicide and euthanasia,” they said.
“We feel a responsibility not just to say ‘no’ to VAD, but to give every encouragement to model a way of life that renders VAD unnecessary.”
Washington D.C., Jul 24, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A leading Coptic archbishop said that Christians must “walk in the shoes” of those facing global Christian persecution, while overcoming a “false” divide between churches of the E… […]
Vatican City, Jul 24, 2019 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- In an unscripted video message that appears to have been recorded on a cell phone, Pope Francis spoke of the need for an “apostolate of prevention” to protect minors from abuse.
“Preventi… […]
Beijing, China, Jul 24, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- An article published Wednesday in a state-run paper from mainland China repeated government talking points regarding the situations of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in the country’s northwest.
Some 1 million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps for Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Inside the camps they are reportedly subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination. Outside the camps, Uyghurs are monitored by pervasive police forces and facial recognition technology.
Uighurs can be arrested and detained under vague anti-terrorism laws. Violence in the region escalated in the 1990s and again in 2008.
In August 2014 officials in Karamay, a city of Xinjiang, banned “youths with long beards” and anyone wearing headscarves, veils, burqas, or clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol from using public transit. That May, universities across the region banned fasting during Ramadan.
The Chinese government has said reports on the camps by Western governments and media are unfounded, claiming they are vocational training centers and that it is combatting extremism.
Li Yang, an author at China Daily, an English language daily owned by the Communist Party of China, wrote July 24 that “Western critics of China’s policies on human rights and religious freedom in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region seem to be divorced from the realities of the situation.”
Li’s piece focused on “Uygur separatists” who try “to brainwash the other Uygurs with extremism and terrorism.”
He said that “all the measures that Beijing has taken to fight separatism, extremism and terrorism in Xinjiang are part of the global anti-terrorism campaign, as well as an integral part of China’s efforts to boost local development.”
Li noted that the Chinese government has set up “vocational educational centers” in Xinjiang, as well as “installing surveillance systems and deploying security forces.”
He also pointed out that 150 million tourists visited Xinjiang last year, and that the autonomous region’s economy has risen 40 percent over the past five years.
According to Li, “the religious freedom of all ethnic groups … is strictly protected by law.”
Li focused on the diversity of Xinjiang, saying that separatists ignore the interest of the region’s other ethnic groups. Uighurs make up about 46% of the region’s population; Han Chinese 39%, Kazakhs 7%, and Huis 5%. A large number of minorities make up the remaining 3%.
Attention was drawn to the human and religious rights situation in Xinjiang at the recent Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held by the US State Department last week.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said July 18 at the gathering that survivors of the detention camps have described “a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out” Islam.
In response, Chinese officials have been outspoken in defense of policies in the region.
A letter signed by Chinese scholars and religious officials posted July 19 by the Xinjiang government said Pompeo should “stop fabricating lies and slander about Xinjiang.”
An editorial published in the People’s Daily July 20 claims that China actually respects religious rights, and said that the United States has an “ulterior motive” to criticize China’s treatment of religious minorities.
“They even use so-called freedom of religious belief as an excuse to undermine China’s national harmony and interfere in China’s internal affairs,” the editorial said.
And the Chinese State Council Information Office released a white paper July 21 that claimed, among other things, that Xinjiang is a region where religious freedom is respected, and that the Uighur population did not choose to become Muslim.
In June, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told a congressional hearing that China’s campaign to “sinicize” religion is proceeding with brutal efficiency. “Under ‘sinicization,’ all religions and believers must comport with and aggressively promote communist ideology — or else,” Smith said.
“It’s never been worse than it is right now.”
“Religious believers of every persuasion are harassed, arrested, jailed, or tortured. Only the compliant are left relatively unscathed. Bibles are burned, churches are destroyed, crosses set ablaze atop church steeples,” Smith said.
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