Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 30, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The number of Canadians killed by physician-assisted suicide nearly doubled between 2017 and 2019, according to a report released by the Canadian government. More than a third of those who opte… […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 30, 2020 / 11:52 am (CNA).- The Mexican Bishops’ Conference hailed the Supreme Court’s 4-1 decision striking down a lower court ruling that had ordered the state of Veracruz to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
“Today in Mexico the culture of life is triumphing,” the conference tweeted after the Supreme Court announced its ruling Wednesday.
The conference thanked “each and every one who joined together to pray and to raise their voices.”
Veracruz state’s constitution protects life from conception to natural death, and state law provides few exceptions.
However, a legal challenge alleged that the ban on abortion constituted discrimination against women. A lower court had instructed state lawmakers to enact legislation allowing for abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The state appealed, and the case was sent to the first bench of the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court had upheld the lower court ruling, it would have opened the door to the legalization of abortion throughout the country. Currently, only Mexico City and Oaxaca state have legalized abortion on demand up to 12 weeks’ gestation.
Supreme Court Justice Juan Luis González Alcántara Carrancá, nominated to the bench in 2018 by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presented arguments backing the lower court’s ruling and was the only judge to vote in favor of it.
Voting against were justices Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, Margarita Ríos Farjat, Jorge Mario Pardo Rebolledo and Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena.
Auxiliary bishop Alfonso Miranda of Monterrey, Guardiola, secretary general of the Mexican bishops’ conference, posted on Twitter after the ruling, “Thank you. Blessed be God. #Yes to life.”
The Archdiocese of Mexico City tweeted that “today life won in Veracruz–and in the country itself–thanks to the Supreme Court’s rejection of the effort to decriminalize abortion in the state, recognizing that this procedure is not a right in any law, whether national or international.”
In the run up to the vote, the Mexican bishops’ conference and other pro-life organizations had spoken out strongly against the expansion of legal abortion.
More than 200 local and federal legislators, joined by more than 200 jurists, had presented an open letter to the Supreme Court on July 28, asking them to overturn the lower court’s decision.
In addition, more than 200,000 people signed a CitizenGO petition asking the Supreme Court to reject the appeal and defend the right to life.
A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.
CNA Staff, Jul 29, 2020 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- Members of the Knights of Columbus in Alberta have built a raised garden for a maternal care home to provide the women and their children with fresh vegetables.
Two new garden beds were added to the backyard of the Elizabeth House in Calgary, which provides at-risk-women and single mothers with a safe place to raise their baby.
Michelle Haywood, the program coordinator for Elizabeth House, told CNA that the garden not only provides fresh vegetables, but the backyard has also become a place of refuge for the women during the pandemic.
“We have green grass that the babies can play on. We have patio furniture that the women can go and enjoy. It has become a refuge especially in a time right now where leaving your house to go anywhere in public you’re taking a risk,” she said.
“It means that they have somewhere in the back where they can play and adventure and feel safe. The garden is also important in terms of it’s a sense of pride, like watching something go from seed to crate is an incredible journey.”
The Elizabeth House, founded in 1996, moved to their current property about five years ago after structural problems were discovered at the previous house. Left behind were a garden and a Marian grotto.
At the residence, the women are provided with a fully furnished bedroom, food, and child care. They are helped to find medical and education resources, and can be given help to connect with estranged relatives.
The program is fully funded by the Diocese of Calgary through private donations.
“We were started by the Sisters of Charity of St. Louis, the Catholic order of nuns here in Calgary, who had a heart for homeless young women who found themselves facing an unexpected pregnancy,” said Haywood.
“We’re here to build relationships, build trust, and to promote healing and to help young women raise their child right in love and security … [It’s] such an incredible time in a child’s life to have this kind of wrap-around support.”
Haywood said the organization has provided many women with the freedom and means to rediscover their faith. She said even the new garden has been a source of teaching.
“We can use [the plants] as a talking point … We can pinch off the broken parts and launch new sprouts. I think when we’re talking about why this garden is here and what it brings to us, it brings a completely new way, a new perspective of looking at, I guess, the challenges that we’ve been through and we’re going through,” she said.
“A lot of times the biggest impact we can have [is] sitting out on that green grass, being with the women in a very connected, very grounded way … It may be the first time in her life that she can trust someone.”
The Knights of Columbus struck up a relationship with Elizabeth House four years ago and have continued to support the women by developing the facility’s landscape.
In 2017, they raised $15,000 to help redo the entire backyard, adding new soil, irrigation, patio, furniture, and a grill. Following the project’s completion a year and a half ago, the Knights then offered another $10,000 to landscape the front yard. This year, they spent $2,000 to refurbish plants and build the garden.
Peter Dugandzic, who has been in the Knights for 15 years, expressed the importance of the Elizabeth House. He said the Knights will continue to support the group, noting that the Knights’ next project will be to construct a Marian grotto in the backyard. He said the Knights are already in contact with the previous designer of the last grotto and they expect construction to begin in the fall.
“[This facility provides] for these young ladies and it brings in the appropriate support to help them emotionally, financially, and from a health perspective to ensure that they’re under the best of care and that they begin a new life with a stable environment for success moving forward in terms of helping them develop life skills, a plan for the future, which would include education,” he told CNA.
“We’ll continue to support this work as the Knights of Columbus because it’s consistent with our faith but also because we believe that we’re having a positive impact on the ladies’ lives moving forward. We take great pride in being able to help any way we can.”
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 29, 2020 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- The first bench of the Mexican Supreme Court on July 29 overturned a lower court’s ruling that could have opened the door to legalized abortion throughout the country.
In a 4-1 ruling, the pan… […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 28, 2020 / 03:58 pm (CNA).- The Catholic bishops of Mexico have spoken out strongly against any effort to justify abortion ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that could affect the legalization of abortion throughout the country.
… […]
CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2020 / 06:35 pm (CNA).- A man on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia attempted on Sunday to set fire to a crucifix outside a Catholic church, while parishioners worshiped inside the building.
The man, whose name has not been released to the public, threw two homemade incendiary devices at the crucifix of St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church in the village of Pierrot, part of the town of Vieux-Fort on Saint Lucia – a small island in the eastern Caribbean.
While the perpetrator tried to set fire to the statue, which only burned briefly before it was extinguished, he yelled “judgment.” He then entered the church with two more incendiary devices, but parishioners restrained the man before handing him over to the police.
In a video of the incident, parishioners can be seen running from the building in panic as the perpetrator yelled inside the church.
Deacon Harris Wilfred said he first noticed the disturbance as parishioners began to run outside. The deacon then held a cross in front of himself and urged the trespasser to leave.
“The guy came inside the church where I was standing saying ‘fire burn, fire burn’… What I had to do was to hold a cross in front of me and tell him, ‘Look, go back, go back,’” he told local news outlet Loop St. Lucia.
Archbishop Robert Rivas of Castries lamented the event, especially as it takes place during the pandemic and people are faced with numerous uncertainties. He stressed the sanctity of churches and their contribution to the community.
“That there would be an attack on sacred worship where people are in communion with each other and with their God, praying for the good of their country and their nation and for others … In the midst of their goodness, we have an infiltration, a perpetration of evil,” he said in a video response to the incident.
“The Church is one of the places where people seek solace, where people go to be in communion with their brothers and sisters and faith. The Church is a place of worship where we give honor and praise and glory to God. The Church is a place of peace.”
Rivas said the young man has a psychological disorder, and has attempted similar actions in the past. He encouraged the community to be more compassionate, and to support mental health services but stressed the importance of ensuring the community’s safety.
“Maybe we have another social issue here – how we care as a society for the mentally ill. If this a known person in a community, how is the community dealing with mental illness in the community?” he asked.
“He is a person that needs help. As a Church, I certainly would be very compassionate towards him and I’m sure the Church community too would be compassionate towards him. But, it is a crime.”
“If something similar was done inside the church it could have endangered the lives of worshipers during Mass. It is a serious offense, a serious matter that needs to be dealt with.”
The archbishop said the perpetrator spoke in slogans associated with the Rastafarian religion, and he offered to meet with Rastafarian leaders, who have distanced themselves from the crime.
“[If] we met and had some dialogue so that there would be better understanding and that we could also look at the language that we use in religious groups and to see [if] it is language that builds peace or is our language that creates conflict and can lead to violence.”
Peter ‘Ras Ipa’ Isaac, a former President of the Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari (ICAR), demanded an apology in response to the archbishop’s remarks. He told local media the perpetrator should not be assumed to be Rastafarian simply because he wears his hair in dreadlocks, a style with religious meaning for Rastafarians, or because he used language associated with the religion.
“Not everyone who misses a fall and says ‘Oh Jesus’ is a Christian,” Isaac told the St. Lucia Times.
“For Archbishop Rivas to suggest that this young man is a Rasta and he is requesting discussion with the Rastafarian community is insulting,” he added.
Isaac said he was personally insulted by the remark.
“We want Rivas to apologise to the Rastafarian community and to me as a Rasta because I do not take lightly to calling anyone who has matted hair a Rasta,” Isaac added.
There are approximately one million Rastafarians worldwide, most of them resident in the Caribbean. On the island nation of St. Lucia, which has a population of roughly 200,000, there are fewer than 4,000 Rastas. The majority of the nation’s population is Catholic.
In his remarks, Archbishop Rivas stressed the importance of forgiveness.
“What happened in Pierrot should never have happened, and we don’t want it to happen again. We should be taking the measures [to ensure] it doesn’t happen again …. by having hearts that are willing to forgive and to be understanding, to be kind and gentle,” he said.
“These are all virtues that Jesus has taught us, and if we can practice them we can change the world which we live, and make it a better place for all.”
CNA Staff, Jul 23, 2020 / 04:52 pm (CNA).- The dire economic situation in Venezuela, combined with the effects of the pandemic lockdown, has led to a crisis more severe than the biblical plagues in Egypt, said one local bishop.
“The plagues of Egypt are nothing compared to what we are suffering here,” Bishop Polito Rodríguez Méndez of San Carlos, Venezuela told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in a recent interview.
He called for international aid to alleviate the crisis, which has hit the poorest of the poor especially hard.
Under the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages of food and medicine, high unemployment, power outages, and hyperinflation. Some 4.5 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2015.
The coronavirus pandemic has now exacerbated a situation that was already at a crisis point, the bishop said.
With a paralyzed economy and GDP now below zero, he told ACN, “those most affected are the poorest of the poor – they have nothing to eat, they have no chance of living a decent life.”
Some 96% of households in Venezuela are living in poverty, according to studies.
“A family earns about three or four dollars a month. A carton of eggs costs two dollars and a kilo of cheese costs three dollars,” Rodríguez explained. “We’ve been under the lockdown for more than two months, and everything has become very expensive. It is impossible to go on like this.”
The bishop said the crisis in Venezuela is likely to worsen in the coming months, which will seriously affect the Church in the country, which is already lacking financial resources.
“Our churches have been closed for four months and the priests have nothing to eat,” he added.
Another big problem is the decrease in money sent back from abroad by the nearly 5 million Venezuelans who have emigrated.
“The other day, I met with a seminarian who was crying. His parents had been let go, they have nothing to live on and can’t send their son anything,” he said. “We’re living on God’s providence.”
Due to the pandemic, the country’s borders are closed to prevent the entry of migrants who have lost their jobs and are trying to return to Venezuela from Colombia, Peru, Chile or Argentina.
Additionally, a recent plague of worms has devastated plantations in the states of Cojedes, Portuguesa and Barinas, adding to the food insecurity in the region.
Rodríguez said he is asking God to give them the strength to help those who are in need and are facing a crisis that continues to grow.
“Despite personal limitations, we’re not going to abandon the people in this terrible situation we’re going through,” he said.
He also called for international support to aid the struggling nation.
“We don’t want outside intervention, especially armed intervention, but we have to ask for international humanitarian and health care aid because if not, we have no other alternative: either COVID kills us or hunger kills us.”
Rome Newsroom, Jul 22, 2020 / 09:15 am (CNA).- More than 48,000 people have signed an online petition asking the Brazilian bishops to open a beatification cause for the most recent bishop to die from the coronavirus.
Bishop Henrique Soares da Costa of… […]
Rome Newsroom, Jul 20, 2020 / 11:30 am (CNA).- At least nine Catholic bishops have died from the coronavirus worldwide as the pandemic continues to spread across the Americas.
Bishop Henrique Soares da Costa of Palmares, Brazil, became the latest bish… […]
CNA Staff, Jul 16, 2020 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Canada’s bishops issued a pastoral letter Tuesday expressing concern for senior citizens who receive inadequate institutional care, a situation that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
&ld… […]
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