Charleston, S.C., Jul 6, 2017 / 06:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Church growth and expansion was the topic when leading bishops of the Catholic Church’s Atlanta province met recently in South Carolina.
“We are all in a growth mode. That’s … […]
London, England, Jul 6, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In the 14th century, approximately one third of the population of Europe – or anywhere from 75 million to 200 million people – was wiped out due to what became known as the Black Death.
Charact… […]
Ottawa, Canada, Jul 6, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Responding to a Canadian politician who called abortion a central aspect of the country’s human rights efforts, a local bishop said the procedure is in fact deeply harmful – especially to women.
“While the Catholic Bishops of Canada share your concern for advancing the respect and dignity of women…we feel the need to point out, with all due respect, that your statement above is erroneous, confusing, and misguided,” Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canada’s Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a June 29 letter.
The letter comes in response to a recent speech given by Canada’s Minister in Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, to the House of Commons.
“Women’s rights are human rights,” she said June 6. “That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy.”
Bishop Douglas Crosby cited other major issues involving women’s rights that Freeland failed to mention, such as Canada’s economic partnerships with countries that allow societal oppression and outright brutality against women.
“Female infants are murdered for not being male; (countries) in which women earn less than men for the same job or where they do not enjoy the same privileges under the law, including the right to education or protection from rape, physical violence.”
He then said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision last year to pledge $650 million in support of abortion and reproductive rights globally showed misguided priority. He compared this to the nearly $120 million pledged in response to severe food shortages, striking heavily in many parts of Africa.
The bishop noted Freeland’s statement in her speech that “it is clearly not our role to impose our values around the world. No one appointed us the world’s policemen.”
Yet imposing the ‘value’ of abortion rights offends the views of many cultures around the world and domestically, he said. Belief in an unborn child’s right to life – held by Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, and even non-believers of good will – should be respected, the bishop added.
In his letter, Archbishop Crosby agreed with Freeland’s emphasis on Canada’s vital role in global progress, but said it must respect the rest of the world’s opinions and be conducive to the human person, both woman and child.
“If Canada’s foreign policy needs a stable ground it cannot possibly be abortion advocacy and ‘sexual reproductive rights.’ And if the dignity of women is to have a universal moral foundation it cannot be based on principles that override the rights of the unborn child.”
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 03:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Vatican official confirmed yesterday that Bambino Gesu hospital has had past problems that the Vatican has worked to resolve.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said at a Vatican press conference July 4 that a recently-released report on the hospital from the Associated Press contained some things that were “clearly unfounded” but also highlighted valid issues that the hospital has had in the past.
The AP report, which examined the hospital’s operations under its previous 2008-2015 administration, found among other things that the Vatican-owned hospital had shifted its focus from its patients to profits and had some subpar standards of care.
“For what regards the problems that were found, there was serious attention and effort to resolve them,” Cardinal Parolin said.
In 2014, the Vatican conducted its own report on the hospital after fielding several complaints, and found many of the same things, including a focus on profits and breaches in accepted medical protocols including the reuse of disposable equipment, early awakening from surgery and risk of infection due to overcrowding.
After the report, a widespread overhaul of the hospital staff and administration was conducted, and a 2015 report found that many of the previous issues had been resolved.
The Hospital Bambino Gesù was founded in Rome in 1869 as the first pediatric hospital in Italy. In 1924 it was donated to the Holy See and became the “Pope’s Hospital”. While it receives funding from the Italian government, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Italian government’s health authorities.
Bambino Gesu fell under scrutiny again in 2016, when the Vatican reported that it was investigating whether former hospital president Giuseppe Profiti had allocated some $200,000 of hospital funds to refurbish the apartment where Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone lives.
In September 2016, Pope Francis warned the hospital’s new president and administration not to fall into corruption, which he called “the worst cancer” a hospital could have.
At the press conference yesterday, Cardinal Parolin and current hospital president Mariella Enoc also presented the hospital’s annual report for 2016.
Among other things, the report highlighted that the hospital had an increase of organ transplants and research projects that have identified 10 new “rare” diseases.
The Hospital Bambino Gesù is the only European pediatric hospital where all types of transplants are performed. In 2016, 339 organ and tissue transplants were performed, a four percent increase from the previous year.
In addition, 242 research projects and 423 clinical trials involving 5,300 patients were undertaken in the past year. In all, 750 physicians, biologists and other health professionals have been involved in hospital-driven scientific research projects. Bambino Gesù also reported a reduction in hospital infections from 7.6 percent in 2006 to 1.8 percent in 2016, or 76 percent less in 10 years.
Enoc said that while the problems in the AP report occurred before she was in charge, she urged anyone at the hospital who had issues in the future to come forward.
“I can say that the climate today is more serene, and I urge everyone when there is a problem … that we talk and talk and not keep it inside and then have it explode,” she said.
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 03:13 pm (CNA).- In his prayer video for the month of July, Pope Francis has asked Christians to join him in praying for those who have strayed from the faith, providing hope to them through the witness of our joy and action… […]
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 02:20 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of Pope Francis’ whirlwind visit to Egypt, the Vatican and the prestigious Muslim al-Azhar University have held another meeting, focusing on the landmark speeches given during the Pope’s visit.
The meeting, which took place July 3 at the apostolic nunciature in Egypt, was arranged by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the al-Azhar Center for Dialogue (CAD).
It fell two months after Pope Francis’ April 28-29 visit to Cairo, visit to Cairo, the result of a recent thawing in relations between the Vatican and the university, which had been strained since 2011.
According to a July 4 Vatican communique, the meeting focused primarily on the speeches of both Pope Francis and the Grad Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed Muhammad al-Tayyib, during the Pope’s visit.
Specifically, “the joint commitment to continue shared reflections, aimed at promoting a fruitful and effective interreligious dialogue was expressed, focusing in particular on the promotion of peace and the building of a more just world.”
Hailed as one of the most important speeches he’s given so far in his time as Bishop of Rome, the Pope’s opening address to the International Conference on Peace, his first speech of the trip, issued harsh condemnation of religiously-motivated violence and a strong call for it’s rejection in the global sphere.
In the April 28 address, Francis said that “peace alone is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his Name.”
“Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear ‘No!’ to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God,” he said.
Going on, the Pope said we have “an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God.”
Violence and faith, belief and hatred, are incompatible, he said, and asked participants to join him in this affirmation: “together let us declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence, whether physical, social, educational or psychological,” he said, as the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause.
Likewise, al-Tayyib, who in his role as Grand Imam of al-Azhar is widely considered to be the highest authority in the 1.5-billion strong Sunni Muslim world, said in his speech that humanity ought to “stress the value of peace, justice, equality and human rights regardless of religion, color, race, or language.”
“We need to liberate the image of religions from false concepts, misunderstandings, malpractices, and false religiosity attached to them. These evils bestir conflicts, spread hate, and instigate violence,” he said, adding that “we should not hold religion accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers.”
He thanked the Pope for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism,” and voiced his commitment to working together to establish peaceful coexistence and strengthen dialogue.
While many scholars are hesitant at to accept such messages from al-Azhar, claiming there is still a large discrepancy between what is said and what is taught in their curriculum, the restoration of ties with the Vatican is generally seen as a step in the right direction.
This most recent meeting between the Vatican and al-Azhar is the latest step in developing this dialogue.
It was attended by various representatives from both the Holy See and the Islamic university, including, on behalf of al-Azhar, Sheikh Prof. Mohey al-Din Afifi Ahmed, Secretary General of the Academy of Islamic Research of al-Azhar and Coordinator of dialogue at the CAD, and Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam, a member of the center.
The Vatican delegation included Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the council for interreligious dialogue; Msgr. Khaled Akasheh, head of the dicastery’s Office for Islam; and Fr. Jean Druel O.P., Director of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo.
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2017 / 07:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday the Vatican announced Pope Francis’s appointment of Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama Pasqualetto, a native of Colombia, as the next bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh.
Currently an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Bishop Zamara, 58, will replace Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, who was transferred to the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia in October of last year and installed on Dec. 6, 2016.
In a statement on the appointment of Bishop Zarama, announced July 5, Bishop Burbidge said he gives thanks to God for the appointment.
“I am proud to call him a brother bishop and good friend. Bishop Zarama is a holy, faithful and joyful bishop known and respected for his pastoral skills, administrative abilities, zeal and kindness.”
“I have assured Bishop Zarama that he will be truly blessed with the support of such good priests, consecrated religious, deacons, seminarians, colleagues and lay faithful in the Diocese of Raleigh.”
“I promised Bishop Zarama that he and the Diocese of Raleigh will remain in my daily prayers at this joyful and historic moment and always,” he concluded.
The Archbishop of Atlanta, Wilton D. Gregory, said in a statement July 5 that the Pope’s appointment is also an honor for Atlanta.
“How fortunate that the local Church is to receive such a devoted and generous servant minister,” he said. “The Holy Father has chosen well even though his decision takes a deeply beloved brother and friend from our midst.”
Bishop Zarama was born in Pasto, Colombia on Nov. 28, 1958. He graduated from the Marian University in Pasto with a degree in philosophy and theology. He also attended the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, receiving a degree in Canon Law in 1991.
He was a philosophy and theology professor at the Carmelite School, the Learning School and the Colombia Military School for 11 years.
In 1993, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta and was the first Hispanic priest to be named pastor at the parishes of St. Mark in Clarksville and St. Helena Mission in Clayton. He became a United States citizen in 2004.
In April 2006 Bishop Zarama was named Vicar General of the Archdiocese. He received the title of monsignor from Pope Benedict XVI on March 7, 2007.
He has served as the Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese’s Metropolitan Tribunal since 2008, and is also a member of the Archdiocesan Personnel Review Board.
On July 27, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI named him Titular Bishop of Bararus and Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta. He was ordained a bishop on Sept. 29, 2009.
His Mass of Installation at Raleigh will be on August 29th.
Bishop Gregory said that he joins “Bishop-Elect Shlesinger and all of the clergy, religious, and faithful of The Archdiocese of Atlanta in assuring Bishop Zarama of our prayers and warmest best wishes as he begins this new service to Christ’s Church.”
“While we will have time to celebrate his appointment to The Diocese of Raleigh before he takes leave for his August 29th installation, we promise him our affectionate best wishes and congratulations on this happy moment for him and for all of God’s People in the Diocese of Raleigh.”
Bad Füssing, Germany, Jul 5, 2017 / 05:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop emeritus of Cologne, Germany and one of four cardinals who sent the “dubia” to Pope Francis last year, passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 83.
According to a press release from the Archdiocese of Cologne, the cardinal died July 5 while on vacation in Bad Füssing, Germany. Recently, the prelate had lived in Cologne.
Archbishop of Cologne from 1989-2014, he retired with the permission of Pope Francis in February 2014, at the age of 80, the same year his age made him ineligible to vote in a conclave.
Cardinal Meisner, alongside Cardinals Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmüller and Raymond Leo Burke, submitted five “dubia,” or doubts, about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia to Pope Francis on Sept. 19, 2016.
The letter, made public in November, asked for clarification on Chapter 8 of the document, which touches on the reception of communion for divorced and remarried couples.
In May, the four – dubbed the “dubia cardinals” – sent a letter to the Pope requesting a private audience to discuss the content of the “dubia,” since they have yet received no response.
Cardinal Meisner, considered a leading conservative Catholic figure in Germany, stood in contrast to other German prelates who have propagated one of the more liberal interpretations of Chapter 8 of the post-synodal document.
Born in Breslau, Germany on December 25, 1933, Cardinal Meisner was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Erfurt-Meiningen in 1962. Later he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving his doctorate in theology in 1969.
He was appointed auxiliary bishop to the Apostolic Administrator of Erfurt Meiningen in 1975, and elected a delegate to the fourth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in 1977, where he renewed a friendship with then-Cardinal Karol Wojty?a.
Cardinal Wojty?a became Pope John Paul II one year later, and appointed Meisner Bishop of Berlin in 1980, elevating him to the position of cardinal in 1983.
In 1988 Cardinal Meisner was made Archbishop of Cologne, serving in this position until his retirement at age 80 on Feb. 28, 2014.
He participated in the 2005 and 2013 papal conclaves which elected Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He had close relationships with both Pope St. John Paul II as well as Joseph Ratzinger, now-Benedict XVI, whom he would visit at the Vatican.
Orlando, Fla., Jul 4, 2017 / 08:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Encountering Christ brings with it the responsibility of reaching out to those on the peripheries, Catholic leaders urged their fellow Catholics.
This service and need to bring with us the joy of the Gospel to all starts with those around us who are overlooked and reaches to the furthest ends of the globe.
“Jesus is already at the peripheries,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson at the Convocation of Catholic Leaders. “The question for us today is whether he will be there alone or whether his disciples will be there with him.”
The Convocation of Catholic Leaders was a meeting of more than 3,500 Catholic leaders, priests and bishops from around the United States in Orlando, Florida. The theme for the meeting was “The Joy of the Gospel in America.”
Anderson highlighted the work of the Knights of Columbus around the globe in geographical peripheries like North Korea, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
“As missionary disciples, we must make the Universal Church a presence at the peripheries as the process of globalization continues,” he urged attendees.
“However,” he continued, “the most difficult challenge may not be reaching out to the world. The most difficult challenge may be in reaching out to our own neighbors.”
In ministering to those on the peripheries in one’s immediate area – in one’s parish, in one’s neighborhood, in one’s family – Catholics are challenged to go outside of themselves and be a living witness of Christ.
“Those who are closest to us are the ones who discern most clearly the authenticity of our witness.”
This care for the peripheries closest to us extends to the American Church at large as well, Anderson said.
“There is no other Catholic country in the world that has as much diversity as America,” he said, detailing the wide range of demographic, geographic and cultural experiences present in the Catholic Church in the U.S.
“We have the opportunity to do something so fantastic for Catholicism in the world and no other country has the opportunity to do something so fantastic.”
A life of missionary discipleship in one’s family or nation does not diminish the responsibility of U.S. Catholics to care for those on the peripheries worldwide.
“There is no reason the U.S government should ignore the plight of Middle Eastern Christians,” Anderson urged, emphasizing again the work of the Knights of Columbus in protecting Christians of the Middle East.
Anderson’s speech was part of a larger session focused on the peripheries, a word used often by Pope Francis to refer to the outskirts of geographic and social boundaries.
His comments were followed by a panel discussion on how the Church works in the peripheries in the United States and across the world.
Dr. Ansel Augustine, a campus minister at St. John’s University and former head of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry in the Archdiocese of New York, highlighted the gifts that black Catholics have to offer the Church at large in America.
“Sometimes when we talk about black Church or black Catholicism, it’s met with some kind of shock or even at times disgust, because normally when we hear the notion of the word ‘black,’ it’s with the connotation of negativity,” he said.
This connotation, along with the long history of how persons of African descent have been treated in the U.S., make the black Catholic Church part of the peripheries, he noted.
The black Catholic community also has many gifts to give the American Catholic Church. He pointed to the example of the five African American men and women whose causes for canonization are open: Venerable Pierre Toussaint and Venerable Henriette Delille and Servants of God Fr. Augustus Tolton, Sister Thea Bowman, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, Julia Greeley.
“That’s important to us and that’s our story, our pain, our struggle,” he said.
“All we ask is that the Church that we love show us they love us back.”
Sr. Norma Pimentel, MJ, Executive Director of Catholic Charities in the Rio Grand Valley spoke about her experience ministering to immigrants coming over the southern border. She explained that many people coming over have experienced hurt and pain by other people who are Catholic as well.
When reaching out to those people, she said, “you have to trust that God is with you.”
She also stressed the importance of placing Christ and love for the other person at the center of outreach to people in vulnerable situations.
“If our work isn’t grounded in the love of Christ, it quickly becomes about us,” she said.
Lastly, Sr. Pimentel explained what can be learned from people living and ministering in the peripheries.
“The people in the valley, somos familia (we are family). We take care of one another,” she said. “Welcome the immigrants in your communities. They need you.”
Fr. Paul Check, Rector of St. John Fisher seminary and former Executive Director of Courage, a ministry for Catholics who experience same-sex attraction, spoke about chastity.
“Chastity is part of the Good News of Jesus Christ,” and a message that is needed in the world, he said.
“Our Lord would not ask us to do something that is impossible,” he explained, “but he also told us that we would be a sign of contradiction in the world. That contradiction is not to be provocative, and certainly not to be belligerent, but it is to invite people to the fullness of Joy, that living the life of Christ lived in this world will bring.”
Persons who have lived one way of life and then, through conversion, have started living another way are an essential part of the Church’s evangelization and ministry to those on the margins.
Fr. Check encouraged all to “be bold in your charity and chastity for the kingdom and God’s grace will help you.”
Carolyn Woo, former president and CEO of Catholic Charities explained how CRS goes about its work of ministry and service even in the most difficult of situations. In many countries where CRS serves, governments are hostile to Christians and Catholics.
Maintaining a Catholic identity in countries hostile to Catholics and Christians
“In some countries conversion is punishable by death,” Woo said, adding that in some cases, proselytizing actions could risk the lives of the people CRS serves as well as those of local lay faithful, priests and bishops.
Despite these challenges, “we have to go to serve and there can be no conditions.”
In countries all over the world, regardless of the state’s beliefs, CRS ministers. In some cases, this example of Christian life has resulted in changing perceptions among the public about what it means to be Christian, accompanied by a “sense of solidarity and trust for American Catholics,” she said.
In this, Woo continued, CRS sees its ministry as a form of evangelization.
“What does evangelization really mean? For us it means making real God’s love. The truth is God loves everyone all the time, and this love is very real.”
Vatican City, Jul 4, 2017 / 03:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The London hospital where Charlie Gard is living his last days has refused a transfer request from the Pediatric hospital Bambino Gesu in Rome for legal reasons.
“This is sad news,” said Mariella Enoc, President Bambino Gesu, often referred to as the “Pope’s Hospital.” The hospital had offered to transfer Charlie to their facilities from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (UK), where the child and his family are currently staying.
London and and European courts have ruled that Charlie must be pulled from life support and that he will not be allowed to die at home.
Charlie Gard is a 10-month old suffering a rare, terminal, genetic illness. His parents have lost several legal battles in the fight to prolong the life of their son, including a request to send him to the United States for experimental treatment.
Enoc told Italian media on July 4 that he had offered the transfer after being contacted by Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates.
He added that he wanted to offer the family his support especially because of the Pope’s backing of the family.
On Sunday, July 2, the Holy See Press Office director Greg Burke issued a statement in which Pope Francis called for respect for the will of Charlie Gard’s parents.
“The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the story of Charlie Gard and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” read a July 2 statement issued by Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.
“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”
On June 30, the day the Charlie’s life support was initially scheduled to be disconnected, the Pope also used his Twitter account to send a clear pro-life message in the infant’s favor.
The hospital in London agreed to allow Charlie’s life support to continue for a few more days, to allow the family more time with their son.
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