News Briefs

Rome, Italy, Sep 29, 2017 / 12:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During a conference on rebuilding Christian villages on the Plains of Nineveh, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Christians are an essential part of Iraqi society, and must strive to be witnesses of peace true reconciliation.

One of the greatest challenges in Iraq right now is “to restore to the Christian communities the environment of a normal life, essential for all the families in overcoming fear and despair, and looking to the future with hope,” Cardinal Parolin said in his Sept. 28 speech.

The rebuilding of houses and villages, he said, “is the first and fundamental condition for the return of Christians to their own lands.”

However, beyond the rebuilding of cities and structures, Parolin said “there is the more important obligation of reconstructing Iraqi society and consolidating a harmonious and peaceful coexistence.”

“Here, Christians have the specific position to be artisans of peace, reconciliation and development,” he said.

And this mission, he added, is made all the more important in the context of current regional instability and “urgently demands a process of national reconciliation and shared effort by all parts of society to achieve shared solutions for the good of the whole country.”

Cardinal Parolin was one of seven panelists participating in a half-day symposium organized by the pontifical organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on efforts to rebuild Christian towns and villages on the Nineveh Plains.

In addition to Parolin, other speakers included Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, international president of ACN and prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin, apostolic nuncio to Iraq and Jordan; and Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad Luis Rafael Sako, among others.

During the symposium, one of ACN’s reconstruction projects, titled “Iraq, return to the roots,” was presented. From 2014-2017, the project has financed various programs for Christians in Iraq, amounting to an approximate total of 30 million euro.

Among the structures destroyed or damaged since the ISIS invasion of the Nineveh Plains in 2014, it is estimated that some 13,000 homes, schools, hospitals and religious buildings were completely or partially destroyed.

The project, with a total estimated cost of $250 million, aims to continue providing a concrete response to Christians from the Nineveh Plains who want to return to their homes.

In his speech, Cardinal Parolin noted the significance of the fact that the project draws participation from the three main Christian Churches in Iraq: the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac-Catholic Church and the Syriac-Orthodox Church, each of which had representatives present at the meeting.

“May the cooperation between Churches be a tangible sign of unity in charity,” the cardinal said, and thanked the bishops for their “generous commitment,” urging them “to spare no effort before overcoming the sources of tension between the various communities in order to obtain a renewed unity.”

“Such a witness of Christian unity is made all the more urgent and necessary by the complex situation that the country faces and the real danger of loss of the Christians and the Christian presence,” he said.

In addition to the challenges posed by violent extremism, the region has also undergone new threats to social stability with a Sept. 25 referendum held by the Kurdish Regional Government on whether to declare independence from the central Iraqi government in Baghdad.

In the referendum, Kurds voted almost unanimously in favor of the referendum, prompting concern on the part of some that a declaration of independence would lead to war between Baghdad and Kurdistan, which would likely take place on the Nineveh Plains, again putting Christians in harm’s way.

In his speech, Cardinal Parolin stressed the need to work for unity, saying one of the greatest challenges in Iraq right now is “to create the social, political and economic conditions to enable a new social cohesion which favors reconciliation and peace.”

This also entails ensuring Christians and other minorities have full rights, he said. Christians do not want to simply be “benignly tolerated,” but want “to be citizens whose rights are protected and guaranteed along with all the other citizens,” he said.

And without the option of returning to the cities and villages of their birth, “very little of the aforementioned would be possible.”

“Christian presence is fundamental in the Middle East for peace, stability and pluralism,” he stressed. “Each of the Christian communities have made their own contribution in the centuries.”

The presence of Christians is in “constant decline” due to a lack of security and an unclear future, Parolin said, adding that the conflicts and tensions of recent years have made the situation worse, posing a risk “not only for the survival of Christians, but also for the very possibility that the Middle East can be a place of coexistence between peoples of different religious and different ethnic groups.”

He stressed the importance of safeguarding the rights of Christians by means of “adequate juridical instruments,” including their right to return home, their right to security and to religious freedom.

“There is likewise a need to address the root causes of the phenomenon of terrorism and to promote inter-religious dialogue, mutual understanding,” he said, noting that while “much has been done” since the effort to re-take Mosul began a year ago, “much remains to be done.”

“The process of reconstruction (and) the return of Christians to a degree of normality in their lives should be the primary and urgent objective of our efforts,” he said.

This, Cardinal Parolin added, “will allow the Christian community in new force to face up to other challenges that await them, so that they can be fully and generously engaged in working for the common good of the entire nation.”

In his speech, which was a joint statement from the patriarchs of the three Christian Churches in the region, Patriarch Sako said that in the face of the Christian genocide perpetrated by ISIS, “it is our duty” to reconstruct the houses and villages of Christians.

Their presence in these areas, he said, “is as important as maintaining witnesses of Gospel values, otherwise, they will leave the country.”

In order to help Christians stay, he stressed the need for educational and political support, humanitarian assistance, the defeat of fundamentalism, and security and stabilization of the areas freed from ISIS so that those displaced by the group can return home.

“Iraqi Christians need well-defined support and strong action to save them and help them return to their towns, homes and jobs,” he said, urging those in positions of authority to be “seriously open-minded.”

In many ways, Iraqi culture is still deeply “tribal,” Sako said, and as such is frequently drawn to war, violence and revenge.

Going into the future, “we need to be trained to live in peace, respecting life and living in harmony together despite our religion or ethnicity,” he said.

He also pushed for a swift stabilization of areas recently liberated from ISIS, saying this sense of security is “essential” in ensuring both the “rapid return” of those who have been displaced, and long-term protection.

When it comes to putting an end to terrorism in the region, the patriarch stressed that a military victory over ISIS “does not mean all of the problems have been solved.” This, he said, is because the extremist ideology continues to present “a fundamental problem and risk for us all.”

“Therefore, it is urgent for all who are concerned to work together for dismantling and eradicating the extremists’ widespread ideology,” he said, explaining that this can be possible through adequate educational programs.

Patriarch Sako closed his address saying Christians in Iraq “love our land, where our root traces back to thousands of years and we want to stay and contribute in the reconstruction of our country.”

“Christians also have not only problems and sufferings; they have a mission in Iraq,” he said, explaining that they want to stay faithful to Christ and understand faith as a journey “into the light that can ‘point the way.’”

“It is like a lamp that burns and turns into a joy, that brightens our night,” he said, and “with this faith we can overcome fears by daily prayers while we are awaiting our blessed hope.”

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Rome, Italy, Sep 27, 2017 / 06:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A leading opponent of assisted suicide says that while the movement supporting euthanasia seems strong, the reality is that, at least in the United States, it has had few political victories.

“The difficulty in this issue is that the media sells us this as a tidal wave that’s coming; it’s inevitable, this is people’s rights, it’s going to happen anyway, and in fact none of this is true,” Alex Schadenberg told CNA Sept. 23.

While a handful of states in the U.S. have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide, “over and over and over again [euthanasia] bills have been defeated.”

Assisted suicide became legal in the United States when Oregon approved the practice in 1998. Washington State legalized it in 2009, Vermont in 2013, and Colorado, California, and Washington, D.C. in 2016. In Montana, the practice was permitted by the state Supreme Court in 2009.

However, while the legalization of euthanasia in these states has been “tragic,” the losses for the euthanasia movement far outweigh their victories, Schadenberg said, explaining that thus far in 2017, assisted suicide bills were introduced in dozens of states, and “all of them were defeated.”

“U.S. courts have universally found that there is no right to assisted suicide,” he added. “So in the U.S. you don’t have a tidal wave.”

Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Canada, and was a speaker during a Sept. 20-24 conference for MaterCare International in Rome.

In his comments to CNA, Schadenberg said “the [euthanasia] movement has lost more battles than probably any other movement in the history of the U.S., and yet there’s supposedly a tidal wave in favor.”

“And for a group that has the kind of money they have, they should almost be embarrassed,” he said, explaining that Americans “are not buying the news, they’re not buying their lies.”

The euthanasia mentality is built on a lie, he said, because while those supportive of legalization argue that euthanasia supports freedom and autonomy, though actual laws are focused on protecting doctors’ rights instead.

In Canada, which legalized euthanasia in 2016, laws protect doctors and nurse practitioners who assist in euthanasia from nearly any liability or error, “so long as it is reasonable error.”

By law, then, there’s essentially “no way (for) a doctor who intentionally does something, (that) you can prosecute them. The law is so tightly protecting of them,” Schadenberg said.

He noted that the American College of Physicians reiterated their stance against euthanasia and assisted suicide in a recent position-paper on topic, published September 19.

In the paper’s abstract, the college said they remain unsupportive of euthanasia because it “is problematic given the nature of the patient–physician relationship, affects trust in the relationship and in the profession, and fundamentally alters the medical profession’s role in society.”

“Furthermore, the principles at stake in this debate also underlie medicine’s responsibilities regarding other issues and the physician’s duties to provide care based on clinical judgment, evidence, and ethics,” the abstract read, and stressed the need to focus on palliative care.

“There is no tidal wave in the U.S…the doctors don’t even want this,” Schadenberg said. What actually happens in the states and counties where euthanasia has been legalized, he said, is“terribly sad, because lives are being lost and vulnerable people are being abandoned.”

“The reality is when you legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide, there is money that’s saved because you are ending the lives of people who are not always terminally ill…but might have a significant health condition, which means they are expensive,” Schadenberg said.

He condemned the “eugenics mentality” that he said drives the push for euthanasia, saying it’s a part of our culture “whether we like it or not.”

Schadenberg said that euthanasia supporters “look at certain lives as not worth living, they would look at certain conditions” and, coupled with the fact that euthanasia is money-saving and makes healthy organs available, “would be in favor of it for those reasons, they would say that’s actually a good thing.”

However, the average person who supports the euthanasia cause wouldn’t argue on these points, but rather on the prospect of eliminating suffering, Schadenberg said.

People are afraid to suffer, “and that’s a normal human reality,” he said, explaining that “we’ve got to break down the issue and talk about our normal human experience, and my experience as a human being is that when I’m going through a terrible situation, I become very emotionally upset, and that’s because that’s how we are as humans.”

“This is how we were made to be, whether you believe in God or not, we’re wired this way,” he said, adding that throwing in the idea of euthanasia when one is “emotionally and physically distraught” makes the situation worse.

Rather than freedom and autonomy, euthanasia and assisted suicide are about “abandonment,” he said. “It’s about abandoning people in a time of need, it’s not about freedom.”

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