El Paso, Texas, Oct 1, 2018 / 06:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Hundreds of undocumented migrant children and teens have been moved to a tent city in a Texas desert, months after Catholic leaders warned of the dangers of the plan.
In recent weeks, young immi… […]
Oslo, Norway, Oct 1, 2018 / 05:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Among the 331 candidates for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize are the Copts, the Christian ethnoreligious group of Egypt.
Coptic Orphans, a Christian developmental organization, announced the nomination Sept. 24.
The group said that the Copts have been nominated “for their refusal to retaliate against deadly and ongoing persecution from governments and terrorist groups in Egypt and elsewhere.”
This year, 216 individuals and 115 organizations have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The award’s recipient will be announced Oct. 5.
Copts make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s population, and they face a constant threat of violence.
In 2015, 21 Copts were beheaded by Islamic State in Libya; they have been recognized as martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Coptic churches in Egypt are frequently bombed.
In December 2017, ten people were reported dead after terrorists attacked a Coptic church near Cairo. Forty-nine Christians died in church bombings on Palm Sunday in 2017. A Coptic priest was murdered in a knife attack in Cairo in October 2017.
Christians in Egypt have long faced attacks from Islamist extremists, particularly since Egypt’s military ousted president Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013.
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- This week the Synod of Bishops begins its fifteenth ordinary general session, convoked to discuss the themes of young people, the faith, and vocational discernment. The session will take place over three wee… […]
Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2018 / 04:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Americans should call on the Holy Spirit to guide and heal the Church and nation, Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi said to attendees at Sunday’s annual Red Mass, celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC.
Vaghi, who is chaplain of the John Carroll Society as well as pastor at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Md., spoke at the Sept. 30 Mass of the Holy Spirit, which traditionally marks the beginning of the judicial year. The US Supreme Court’s 2018-2019 session opened Oct. 1.
The name Red Mass is taken from the red vestments worn to symbolize the tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit.
It is this Holy Spirit whom people should call upon “to return and enlighten us, to enlighten in a special way each of you who serves the cause of justice and the common good,” said Vaghi.
“The Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to save, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console, to renew, to heal,” he said. “Yes, to heal us.”
Vaghi noted that both the Church and country could benefit from this healing power, as “it is a power that treats the anger and divisions that so need the healing touch of our God if we are to continue our respective missions with love and effectiveness in our day.”
The Holy Spirit is a guide for those working in the legal profession and in government service, as the Holy Spirit helps people experience God’s wisdom and love as “the guiding principles and foundation of our very existence moving us to be men and women of justice, compassion, boundless mercy and joy” in their jobs.
Vaghi drew comparisons between the Holy Spirit as “the spirit of truth” and the words used in the Declaration of Independence.
“So we call upon the Holy Spirit to help us understand and deepen our understanding of these ‘truths’ referred to in our Declaration of Independence” – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Red Mass, he said, is “a most appropriate time” for one to think about these truths.
“In our day, these ‘truths,’ truths whose origin is the Holy Spirit, are sometimes seen in ways not always as self-evident – these truths that from the beginning of our national experiment helped define us as Americans – these truths of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. The country is divided, but Vaghi believes that the truths laid out in the Declaration of Independence are a solid base for rebuilding the American consensus.
The Red Mass is celebrated each year prior to the start of the Supreme Court’s new term, and stems from a tradition in the Middle Ages. It is meant for all members of the legal profession, including lawyers, judges, law students, and government officials, Catholic or otherwise. The Red Mass has been celebrated in D.C. for the past 66 years.
This year three Supreme Court Justices, Stephen Breyer, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas, attended the Mass, along with newly-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was also in attendance. Notably not present at the Mass was Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who is currently in the midst of a heated confirmation process for the Supreme Court.
Manado, Indonesia, Oct 1, 2018 / 03:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic humanitarian groups have joined the efforts to support the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday.
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck 6 miles beneath Sulawesi just after 6 pm Sept. 28. It set off a tsunami, which caused 20 foot-high waves which devastated coastal cities, including, prominently, Palu. The quake also caused landslides and power outages. At least 844 people have died as a result of the disaster.
The country’s tsunami warning system had reportedly been damaged. Though an alert was still issued, the size of the waves were underestimated and power outages from the tremors caused many people not to receive an alert at all, according to the BBC.
Catholic Relief Services and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund have provided relief funds and teams to address the emergency situation. As heavy damages have affected access points and infrastructures, CRS expressed it has had difficulty in reaching devastated areas.
“Humanitarian groups are struggling to get people into affected areas,” Yenni Suryani, CRS’ Indonesia country manager, said Sept. 30. “With the airport damaged, getting access to Palu and Donggala is a huge problem. Responders and local aid groups are having to drive overland 10-12 hours.”
“That means a bottleneck for relief supplies in coming days. Landslides are hindering road travel in some places. There’s very limited electricity in Palu but power is out almost everywhere. Some mobile phone towers have been repaired allowing limited communication, but it’s unreliable.”
Suryani said many people are expected to still be trapped alive underneath the buildings, noting there has been reports of shouts and lights, possibly from cell phones, among the rumble.
The CRS teams are joining local partners in the area, addressing needs such as tarps, blankets, sanitation kits, and sleeping mats. Suryani said a lack of water and fuel are also a concern which needs to be addressed.
Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund have partnered with Caritas Indonesia and contributed over $25,000 to relief efforts. SCIAF Director Alistair Dutton expressed apprehension over the situation and said his prayers would be with the Indonesian victims.
“I’m deeply concerned to see the news of deaths, injuries and destruction following the terrible tsunami which has hit Palu city in Indonesia,” he said. “My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones and are now left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.”
Sacramento, Calif., Oct 1, 2018 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a bill Sunday that would have mandated that public universities in the state offer abortion inducing “medication” through campus student health center… […]
Monaco, Oct 1, 2018 / 12:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Princess Alexandra of Hanover, a member of the royal family of Monaco, has reportedly been removed from her distant place in the British line of succession after having become a Catholic.
The news was reported in English Sept. 27 by Royal Central, which cited Point de Vue, a French weekly.
Because the British monarch is head of the Church of England, which is the established church, British law bars Catholics from succeeding to the throne.
The Succession to the Crown Act 2013 allowed heirs to the throne to marry Catholics, among other changes. However, the law still stipulates that the acting British sovereign mustn’t be a Catholic. Catholics have been barred from the English throne since the Act of Settlement 1701.
The website of the British monarchy lists only the first 17 persons in the line of succession.
Princess Alexandra, 19, was born in Austria and was baptized as a Lutheran two months after her birth. She is the daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover and Prince Ernst August of Hanover. Through her father she is descended from Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Alexandra is the granddaughter of Grace Kelly, who in 1956 became Princess of Monaco when she married Rainier III. So in addition to having been in the British line of succession, Alexandra is 12th in line to the Monegasque throne.
She is a figure skater, and has represented Monaco at international skating competitions.
Along with Alexandra, Lord Nicholas Windsor has also been excluded from the British line of succession for becoming Catholic. Lord Nicholas is a great-grandson of George V, and was baptized in the Church of England. He was received into the Catholic Church in 2001.
Vatican City, Oct 1, 2018 / 11:23 am (CNA).- The secretary general of an upcoming synod of bishops said Monday he thinks the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church will not be a hindrance to the success of the meeting. He also criticized the recent decis… […]
Vatican City, Sep 30, 2018 / 08:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis advised Sunday that we be open to the good, regardless of whether it comes from someone outside our own “circle”.
The pope reflected Sept. 30 on the day’s Gospel, in which Christ taught his disciples humility and to avoid scandal. He was delivering the Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square.
When the disciples objected to someone outside their group casting out a demon, Pope Francis said they “demonstrate a closed attitude before an event that does not fit into their schemes, in this case the action, though good, of a person ‘external’ to the circle of followers.”
“Instead Jesus appears very free, fully open to the freedom of the Spirit of God, who in his action is not limited by any boundary and by any enclosure. Jesus wants to educate his disciples, even today, to this interior freedom.”
Pope Francis commended an examination of conscience in relation to this episode, saying, “the attitude of the disciples of Jesus is very human, very common, and we can find it in the Christian communities of all time, probably also in ourselves.”
“In good faith, indeed, with zeal, one would like to protect the authenticity of a certain experience, protecting the founder or the leader from false imitators,” he said. “But at the same time there is the fear of ‘competition’ – and this is bad: the fear of competition – that someone can steal new followers, and then you can not appreciate the good that others do: not good because ‘it’s not ours’, they say. It is a form of self-referentiality.”
He said this is “the root of proselytism”, and that the Church “does not grow by proselytism, it grows by attraction, that is, it grows by the testimony given to others by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Christ “calls us not to think according to the categories of ‘friend / enemy’, ‘us / them’, ‘who is inside / who is outside’, ‘mine / yours’, but to go further, to open the heart to recognize his presence and the action of God even in unusual and unpredictable areas and in people who are not part of our circle,” Pope Francis said.
“It is a matter of being more attentive to the genuineness of the good, the beautiful and the true that is accomplished, than to the name and provenance of those who do it.”
Rather than judging others, the pope said, “we must examine ourselves, and ‘cut’ without compromise everything that can scandalize the weaker people in the faith.”
Francis concluded, saying the Virgin Mary, “model of docile reception of the surprises of God, helps us to recognize the signs of the presence of the Lord in our midst, discovering him wherever he manifests himself, even in the most unthinkable and unusual situations.”
“May she teach us to love our community without jealousy and closures, always open to the vast horizon of the action of the Holy Spirit.”
New Delhi, India, Sep 29, 2018 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A study from the University of Essex has found a link between the global price of gold and the survival rate for Indian baby girls. Monthly increases in the price of gold between 1972-2005, the study argues, led to girls being more likely to be aborted, die in the first month of life, or suffer from stunted growth.
The study also concluded that dowries are a major contributing factor to India’s gender imbalance. Sex-selective abortion, though illegal since 2015, has been widely practiced since the 1980s, and nationwide men outnumber women by nearly 37 million. There are also an estimated 21 million “unwanted” girls who have been born in the country.
“Our contribution is to provide what we believe is the first clear evidence of causal effects of dowry costs on son preferring behaviours,” said Sonia Bhalotra, a professor of economics and the author of the study.
Dowries are a transfer of parental property upon marriage of a daughter, a practice still widely found in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, despite being illegal in India since 1961.
“While the original dowry payments acted as a pre-mortem bequest to daughters that afforded them post-marital financial protection, property rights over dowry are now often appropriated by the groom or his parents rather than retained by the bride,” the study states.
The study cites estimates that suggest a dowry may often be four to eight times a family’s annual household income, and that parents often have to start saving for a girl’s dowry as soon as she is born.
Gold, especially jewelry, is an integral part of Indian dowries. Gold prices are frequently reported in Indian media and are a regular topic of discussion, Bhalotra wrote in Quartz India.
The study found that from 1972 to 1985, an increase of approximately six percent in the monthly price of gold was accompanied by a six percent increase in deaths of baby girls, with no significant change in deaths of baby boys. Additionally women who survived to adulthood who were born during that time period were more likely to be less tall when they reach maturity, possibly due to nutritional deprivation early in life.
After 1985, when ultrasound scans became widely available, fewer girls were born in months of gold price inflation, suggesting that those children were being aborted rather than neglected at birth. Tests to determine the sex of a fetus have been illegal in India since 2015.
“We find that parents are consistently ‘eliminating’ girls early in life, but the pattern is that this is done soon after birth before 1985, and while the girl is in the womb after 1985,” Bhalotra said.
“[In 1994,] abortion clinics in Mumbai had posters with slogans such as ‘Better pay 500 [rupees] now than 50,000 [rupees] later.’ The 500 [rupees] is the cost of abortion and the 50,000 [rupees] refers to the future cost of dowry,” the author states.
The study found that after 1985, a 1 percent increase in the global price of gold led to an extra 33,000 “missing” female births each year.
© Catholic World Report