News Briefs

Vatican City, Aug 10, 2017 / 10:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis is cracking down on a Belgian Brothers of Charity-run organization, giving the group until the end of August to stop offering euthanasia to patients in their psychiatric centers.

In addition, each of the religious brothers serving on the board of the Brothers of Charity Group, the organization that runs the centers, has been ordered to sign a joint letter to their general superior, Br. Rene Stockman, declaring their adherence to Church teaching.

Brothers who refuse to sign the letter to the Pope will face punitive action under canon law, while the group itself is expected to face legal action and could have its Catholic status revoked if it does not change its policy.

The Vatican order, sent at the beginning of August, follows several prior requests that the group drop the policy, which allows doctors to euthanize non-terminal mentally ill patients on its grounds.

In comments to CNA Aug. 10, Br. Stockman said he initially went to the Vatican for help in the spring, when the group, which is a state organization run by the order, decided to change their policy on euthanasia on the grounds that their stance was culturally abnormal.

Since the year 2000, the group has maintained a firm policy against euthanasia and how to cope with requests for it, he said, explaining that as a state organization, they take requests for euthanasia seriously, and try to help the patient regain their desire for life, “knowing of course that someone who is very depressive can have the tendency to ask for euthanasia.”

After doing everything possible to help alleviate any depression present in a patient, if the individual still requests euthanasia – which is legal in Belgium – the brothers would transfer them elsewhere.

“We don’t accept that euthanasia should be done inside our institutes,” Br. Stockman said, noting that this had been the organization’s firm policy until last year, when the group “started to deflect,” claiming that the Catholic position was “unique” in Belgium, where euthanasia is widely accepted, even for children.

The group argued that they had to “adapt,” and so developed a new vision that Br. Stockman said “we could not accept as a congregation.”

Despite the fact that all board members are Catholic, and some have high political profiles, in Belgium “secularization is very, very high, very strong,” Br. Stockman said, “so you have to ask yourself what is Catholic still?”

In response to the group’s decision to change the policy, “we said very clearly first of all, for us respect of life must always be absolute,” the superior general said.

However, he said, the group responded that “respect of life is fundamental, but autonomy for the person is on the same level,” and once the two are placed on the same level, “then the autonomy of the patient becomes absolute, and not respect for life.”

Despite meeting resistance from Br. Stockman, the group insisted on implementing their new policy, which went into effect in June for each of the 15 psychiatric centers they run throughout Belgium.

As a response, the general superior went to the Belgian Catholic Bishops Conference and asked that they back him in the debate. When the organization continued to resist, despite pressure from the bishops conference, Br. Stockman took the issue to the Vatican.

He was eventually invited to present the issue before both the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, both of which became involved in investigating the issue.

The doctrinal congregation then promptly drafted a letter reiterating the Church’s position on euthanasia and insisted that the group step back into line with doctrine. However, the letter was ignored.

Br. Stockman then received a specific mandate from the Congregation for Consecrated Life “to see that the organization can again be in line” with Church teaching.

Part of his mandate is enforcing the ultimatum and gathering the group’s response by the end of August. Br. Stockman said he has not spoken with Pope Francis personally, but that it is the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life who conceived the ultimatum and presented it to the Pope, who gave it his full support.

Of the three brothers who are members of the organization’s board of trustees – the majority of board consists of laypeople – Br. Stockman said he is still waiting for their answers, but is “quite positive about that, I can say that, I think the brothers will conform themselves.”

To ask the brothers to reaffirm their adherence to Church teaching is “logical,” he said, because “when you are a religious, then you have to be in line with the Church.”

“I know them and they are really under pressure from the whole mentality,” he said, but voiced confidence that they will send the letter without any problems.

As for the organization itself, the general superior said he has been in contact with the board members. “They said they received the letter and that they will discuss again in their board the situation,” he said, adding “I am waiting for the final answer.”

When asked if there was fear that even if the organization does change the policy back, they would be forced by the state to provide euthanasia, Br. Stockman said that thankfully, as of now institutions can’t be forced, “so I think we also have to use this opening not to do it.”

“If the law changes and they say that institutions have to do euthanasia, then the situation becomes totally different. Then we have to ask ourselves, can we still continue as a Catholic hospital in a certain environment where we are forced to do euthanasia?”

“But until now we have the possibility to refuse euthanasia inside the walls of the institute,” he said.

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Vatican City, Aug 9, 2017 / 11:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said he will be going to Russia Aug. 20-24 largely out of a desire to promote peace both there and with the West, and to solidify relations with the Eastern Orthodox.

Conflicts throughout the world, particularly in areas such as the Middle East, Syria and Ukraine, “are constant objects of attention and concern for the Holy See,” Cardinal Parolin said in the interview published Aug. 9 in Corriere della Sera.

“Because of this, the need and urgency of searching for peace and the way to do it will certainly be one of the principle themes” of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he indicated.

In addition to meeting with with Putin, the cardinal is also expected to hold meetings with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, as well as several other high-level authorities in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In his interview, Cardinal Parolin stressed that the Holy See has always held “a special interest for the vast eastern portion of Europe,” which he said “has a role to play in the search for greater stability on the continent and greater unity, including relations between East and West.”

“After the period of ideological opposition, which obviously can’t entirely fade from today to tomorrow, and in the new scenarios that have opened up since the end of the Cold War, it’s important to take advantage of every occasion to encourage respect, dialogue, and mutual collaboration in a view to promoting peace.”

The visit, he said, is also understood as a completion of the tour he has made of the region over the past few years, which, through official papal trips or visits he has made alone, has brought him to Belarus, the Caucasus nations, the Baltic countries, and Ukraine.

Now “I will have the opportunity to complete the picture with the visit to Russia.”

When asked whether or not he is concerned about rising tensions between the United States and Russia, Cardinal Parolin said he trusts that both parties involved “will know how to act with due responsibility to avoid the escalation of tensions.”

He also voiced confidence that the two nations will be able to recognize “the eventual errors that could have been at the origin of that situation.”

U.S. President Donald Trump recently turned up the heat in the ongoing conflict with Russia, due largely to tensions over their involvement in Syria and Ukraine, and possible meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Recently Trump hit Russia with more economic sanctions due to the country’s involvement in the election, prompting Putin to expel 755 people from its U.S. embassy and consulates.

“It would be dramatic if nothing were done in this respect and, as a consequence, relations would deteriorate further,” Cardinal Parolin said, and stressed the crucial role of both Churches and civil society “in encouraging every initiative that leads to creating a more positive general atmosphere.”

The cardinal was also questioned on a comment made by Pope Francis to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a recent audience, when he said it is a “tragic contradiction” to promote unity and persist in war.

Asked if this would be a topic raised in his meeting with Putin, the Vatican Secretary of State stressed that the Church consistently calls on all political leaders “not promote national interests, or in any case, particular interests,” but rather to work for “the common good, to respect for international law.”

“Not the law of force, but the force of the law,” he said, noting that the Church also urges global leaders to make decisions which promote the integral development of man throughout the world, as well as “concord and collaboration among nations.”

“And the method is always dialogue,” he said, and pointed to a quote from a letter written by St. Augustine in which the saint says that for a true leader, “the greatest title of glory is that of killing war with the word.”

In the Latin verb, Cardinal Parolin said, this means “with negotiation, with discussions instead of killing men with the sword, and ensuring that peace is maintained with peace and not with war.”

On his meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the cardinal said relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church would obviously be a big priority, as well as how their respective Churches interact with society in facing the “great spiritual, cultural and political themes of today.”

“From this point of view, it’s important to seek a positive and open means to continue to weave inter-ecclesial relations and to contribute constructively, on the part of the Churches, to the resolution of the complex problems which afflict and challenge humanity,” he said.

“It is my living hope, then, that the encounter may serve for an ever greater awareness, mutual esteem and collaboration between Catholics and Orthodox.”

Cardinal Parolin said that while his trip is not intended as a preparation for an eventual visit from Pope Francis, he hopes that “with the help of God,” his visit “can offer some contribution in this regard.”

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Vatican City, Aug 9, 2017 / 04:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has named Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta as head the eparchy of Saint Peter Apostle of San Diego of the Chaldeans, pulling him from his prior post in Canada.

Shaleta has until now served as Bishop of  Mar Addai Eparchy of Toronto. Announced in an Aug. 9 communique from the Vatican, his appointment to San Diego came alongside the nomination of Bishop Frank Kalabat, who oversees the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, as apostolic administrator for the Toronto eparchy.

Born in Fishkabour-Zakho, Iraq Nov. 12, 1956, the bishop completed his studies in his village before entering the Dominican-run Minor Seminary of Saint John in Mosul in 1971.

Like most clergy from Iraq, he was eventually invited to Rome for his studies, beginning courses at the Pontifical Urbanianum University in 1977, after having completed his studies in philosophy and theology.

He was ordained a priest by St. John Paul II May 31, 1984. He then continued his studies at the Urbanianum’s Faculty of Theology, obtaining a doctorate in Biblical Theology in 1987.

Bishop Shaleta was then transferred to the United States through the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Detroit, where from 1987-2000 he served as pastor of St. Paul Parish in North Hollywood, Calif.

In 2000 he was named vice-pastor of St. Joseph parish in Troy, Mich. He was subsequently named pastor in 2006, and was later named pastor of St Gregory parish in Township, Mich., a position he held until 2015.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his priestly ordination in 2009, Shaleta was givene the title “chorbishop,” which refers to a prelate or archpriest of honor in Eastern Christian Churches.

In January of 2015 Pope Francis named him bishop of the Mar Addai eparchy in Toronto, and he received his episcopal ordination a month later, on Feb. 6, 2015.

As far as languages, the bishop speaks Chaldean, Arabic, Italian and English, and is familiar with Assyrian, Kurdish, French and German, as well as Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

The Eparchy of San Diego’s website, it was established by St. John Paul II in 2002, who at that time accepted the Chaldean Synod’s election of  Fr. Sarhad Jammo as the first bishop for the St. Peter the Apostle diocese.

In total, the eparchy covers 17 States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

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