Fatima, Portugal, Mar 23, 2020 / 02:11 pm (CNA).- On Wednesday, nations from around the world can be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a liturgy to be celebrated at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, built i… […]
Bergamo, Italy, Mar 23, 2020 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- Mario Enzler’s mother always wanted a big family.
“My mother wanted twenty children, but got only me,” Enzler said with a laugh.
Enzler, a former Swiss Guard for St. John Paul II, is an Italian expat living in New Hampshire with his wife and five children. He is a professor at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America.
His octogenarian parents live in the medieval city of Bergamo in northern Italy. They come to the United States to visit quite often, Enzler said, and he said his mother is already excitedly making plans to come and visit the US in July.
Normally, Bergamo’s biggest claim to fame is that it is the home diocese of St. John XXIII. The image of “Papa Giovanni,” as the saint is known, is everywhere.
But in the past few months, the city has garnered the less welcome distinction as an epicenter of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
“If, God forbid, anything happens to them, I can’t get there right now,” Enzler said.
In the past week alone, more than 3,000 people have died in Italy after contracting the coronavirus. Among the dead are at least 60 priests this month, according to local media reports.
The Bergamo region has one of the highest rates of infection in Italy, with over 5,000 cases and counting.
The obituary section in the town’s newspaper, L’Eco di Bergamo, is normally 2-3 pages long; now, it is 10-11 pages long every day. The newspaper’s editor recently told the Washington Post that 90% of the deaths— the vast majority of which are elderly people— are due to coronavirus.
The Diocese of Bergamo has reported 20 diocesan priests and two religious who have died so far, and one was a close friend of the Enzler family. Bergamo’s mayor has encouraged the cremation of people who die of COVID-19.
Enzler said he is able to talk to his mother and father daily via video chat, and that they give him almost a daily update on who they know in the city who has died of the virus.
“What is really hard for my parents and for me is that there are no funerals,” Enzler told CNA.
“Some of the priests that passed away, my mom and dad had known them for 60 years. And they could not go to the funeral— that’s very sad.”
Although they are both remaining in their home, isolated from the outside world, Enzler fears for his parents’ safety. His father is diabetic, so he is aware that contracting the virus likely would be lethal for him.
Enzler first spoke to CNA last week; on March 23, Enzler emailed to say that his mother told him that his father is now exhibiting flu-like symptoms, including a fever and a dry cough.
He said there aren’t enough test kits in the city to test everyone exhibiting symptoms, so those with symptoms are instructed to treat the illness like the flu unless it gets much worse.
“Not much I can do from here besides putting everything at the feet of the cross,” Enzler said.
“My dad, despite being diabetic, is a strong man…a lot of people that got sick got well in a week or so, we will never know if they had the virus or not, all it matters they got better and they never abandon their faith.”
Enzler said his father shocked him the other day by telling him that having to rely on the army and other people for his daily needs is actually helping him to “rediscover the meaning of gratitude.”
“Now, I see myself saying thank you more every day to more and different people than I have in many years…coming from my dad, that got me emotional,’ Enzler said.
United in prayer
Enzler said his parents’ parish has done a good job of leveraging technology to keep the parishioners united in prayer.
Through an email chain, their associate pastor is encouraging his flock to pray prayers such as the rosary simultaneously, according to a schedule. Enzler said every time he talks to his parents on video chat, they are excited to tell him how many rosaries they prayed that day together.
In addition, the Diocese of Bergamo has opened a telephone service that offers free psychological and spiritual counseling and support.
“Look at these old people in Bergamo— throughout the day, isolated in their homes, they are united in prayer in specific moments. How beautiful that is,” Enzler observed.
On March 19, Pope Francis requested that all Catholics throughout the world pray a rosary with him at the same time. Enzler said that he suspects that a priest in the pope’s household— a friend of Enzler’s from Bergamo— is keeping the pope updated on the situation in Bergamo and on the simultaneous rosaries the faithful are praying there.
“The media is not talking about the thousands and thousands and thousands of Hail Marys that the elderly Italians are saying on a daily basis…they are praying to Mary, specifically, because they know that she will clean up this mess,” Enzler said.
Enzler said an old Italian proverb is helping to sustain his parents through this trying time: “Non tutti i mali vengono per nuocere,” which roughly translates to “Not all bad things come to damage you.” He said the pandemic is teaching people the meaning of redemptive suffering.
“I strongly believe that this crisis, because of the faith and the amount of prayers of the elderly, isolated in their houses— I think that this will have an impact on the younger generation,” Enzler said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of young adults, because of this, will rediscover their faith.”
Rome, Italy, Mar 23, 2020 / 10:07 am (CNA).- In the past week alone, more than 3,000 people have died in Italy after contracting the coronavirus. Among the dead, there have been at least 60 priests this month, according to local sources.
“I pray… […]
Augsburg, Germany, Mar 21, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Most of the community at the European seminary of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter are sick from coronavirus, and the community is relying on providence and uniting itself with the sick throughout the world.
“The virus did its work in the seminary, and now the better part of the priests and half of the seminarians are sick. But all are abandoned to the Providence of God,” the Seminary of Saint Peter wrote in a March 19 update. The seminary is located in Wigratzbad, Germany, about 90 miles southwest of Augsburg.
“At the time of the so unexpected trial, each one measures the grace which is given to us to live these difficult times as true Christians. As the Lord permits evil only for a greater good, we trust that there will be many returns to God, the only one capable of giving meaning to our ephemeral existence on this earth.”
The seminary had earlier said that coronavirus had been carried to the seminary by an Italian confrere. On March 14 it indicated it had been in strict confinement for a week, and that the disease was rapidly spreading through the seminary.
While the seminary has had to reorganize and do everything themselves, “everyone is generous and adapts without difficulty.”
“The quarantine of Lent doubles as a health quarantine, and since ‘all is grace’ we see in it the opportunity for a salutary meditation on the meaning of life. Life is brief and fragile, and if one is worried about one’s health, one must be even more concerned with one’s salvation. The invisible malice of malady invites us to have more confidence in God, and to further augment our prayers and our penances.”
In its March 19 update, the seminary indicated that “in a few days, the first to heal will be able to take over from the newly sick to maintain the spiritual and material life of the house.”
“Of course we assure you all, especially the sick and health care staff, of our proximity and our wishes of good health. May God keep you, sursum corda! Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.”
St. Peter Seminary was founded in 1988, and it serves around 60 French- and German-speaking seminarians of the FSSP.
The FSSP is a society of apostolic life which celebrates the extraordinary form of the Roman rite. It was founded in 1988 by 12 priests of the Society of St. Pius X. The founders left the SSPX to establish the FSSP after the society’s leader, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without the permission of St. John Paul II.
There are currently almost 287 priests and 150 seminarians in the fraternity. It has parishes and chapels in North America, Europe, Oceania, Nigeria, and Colombia.
Fr. Bernhard Gerstle, superior of the fraternity’s German-speaking district, wrote in a March 18 message that “the ‘corona crisis’ shows us how fragile our lives are and how even our highly developed medicine is facing an enormous challenge. In this difficult situation, you should know that we are particularly close to you and your families.”
He added that all the district’s priests, health permitting, are saying Mass in private and offering the graces to the people. “We are of course also available to you in pastoral matters, whereby all participants (especially our priests) are required carefully to observe the hygienic precautionary measures.”
“We hope and pray that as far as possible none of our confreres and believers will be permanently harmed and that the painful limitations of church life will not last long,” Fr. Gerstle wrote. “Let us also see the current test as an opportunity to set the right priorities in our lives even more than before and to strengthen and deepen our relationship with God.”
Rome, Italy, Mar 20, 2020 / 11:53 am (CNA).- Two convents, one in Rome and one in a town nearby the capital city, have been isolated as the majority of religious sisters in the communities tested positive for COVID-19.
According to Italian news agency ANSA, 59 sisters have tested positive for coronavirus between the two communities and are being isolated within their convents.
In Grottaferrata, a town on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Rome, the religious community of the Daughters of San Camillo have had 40 sisters test positive for COVID-19, one of whom has been hospitalized. There are around 50 sisters living at the convent.
The religious community is typically occupied with caring for the sick.
The Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul, which has a convent in Rome, had 19 sisters out of 21 test positive for the coronavirus.
On their property, the sisters run a kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school; however, classes had been canceled several weeks before the sisters’ positive coronavirus tests.
“We are also wondering what to do, we are also trying to understand the situation,” a sister of the Daughters of San Camillo told ANSA March 20.
“But we are fine, we hope to provide communications when the situation will be clearer.”
Mother Maria Ortensia Turati of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity died March 16 at a hospital in Tortona. She was 89. And on March 15, Sister Maria Caterina Cafasso, 82, of the Mater Dei Province, died.
Bishop Derio Olivero of the Diocese of Pinerolo recently tested positive for COVID-19.
The bishop, age 59, was admitted to the hospital March 19. He is the second Italian bishop known to have had coronavirus.
Bishop Antonio Napolioni of Cremona was hospitalized in early March for COVID-19, but was released early this week to finish recovering under home quarantine.
As of March 19, the Italian dioceses around Milan had reported the deaths of 30 priests during the coronavirus outbreak, with at least 28 due to COVID-19.
Madrid, Spain, Mar 20, 2020 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Spain is among the countries hardest hit by the global coronavirus pandemic; as of Thursday afternoon, more than 18,000 Spaniards have contracted the disease, and more than 800 have died.
Fr. Gaetan Kabasha, a native of Rwanda and a chaplain at Madrid’s San Carlos Hospital Clinic, describes his recent days there as very intense.
“This last week was frenetic. Everything has radically changed. The medical staff knows what to do and they have their protocols. The relatives, as normal, are worried,” the priest told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
Kabasha and four other chaplains serve the hospital together.
“Between us chaplains we’ve split up the work. Just the younger ones in good health can attend to the patients with coronavirus,” he explained.
“We chaplains have decided to stay at the hospital and the Church is supporting us in this. It’s a very important value to relieve those who are in the hospital, the sick, family members, and medical personnel because they’re under constant stress. It helps them to see that you’re still there, and for the sick who have always been part of the Church, it is comforting to them to have a priest close by during their illness, and if it’s the case, at the end of their lives.”
“I came upon some relatives of a patient, who were crying. They stopped me and told me they were surprised; that they didn’t know there was a priest in the hospital and asked me to go give the anointing of the sick to their family member,” Kabasha related.
To approach those who are infected, the chaplains are garbed in protective clothing.
“We go in with a gown, mask, double gloves, eye protection and booties. Just like the doctors.”
Kabasha said that the presence of the priest in the hospital is always important but at a critical time like this, even more so.
“People are on edge, the relatives, the sick, the hospital staff…but when they see a chaplain walking through the hospital, their tenseness subsides a bit. They see that they’re not alone, that despite the situation we haven’t left.”
A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Portsmouth, England, Mar 19, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- The bishop of Portsmouth, England, has encouraged his flock to remain steadfast in prayer during the COVID-19 outbreak, telling Catholics they will remember how they lived this Lent “for many y… […]
Belfast, Northern Ireland, Mar 19, 2020 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- An English Member of Parliament and a US Congressman have joined calls for the British government to repeal the law dealing with abortion provision in Northern Ireland so the local government can legislate on the topic.
John Hayes, the Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings, and Chris Smith (R-NJ) have both urged that the region’s abortion laws be referred to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 decriminalized abortion in Northern Ireland and placed a moratorium on abortion-related criminal prosecutions, and obliges the UK government to create legal access to abortion in the region by March 31.
It was passed while the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended, but the legislature resumed meeting in January.
“Though it is right to celebrate this restoration, we should remain cautious, for the foundations of the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland remain fragile. As the Province is an essential part of the United Kingdom, the UK Government has an ethical, as well as a constitutional obligation to defend and strengthen these foundations. Turning a blind eye to this duty would be a fundamental mistake,” Hayes wrote March 18 at Conservative Home.
“Just weeks ago we were celebrating the DUP and Sinn Fein putting aside differences to restore the assembly. Wouldn’t it be sadly ironic then if the UK Government imposed a policy on Northern Ireland, overriding devolution in the process, that unites the majority of voters from both parties in their hostility to Westminster.”
Hayes continued: “As many aspects of the proposed abortion framework go way beyond what is currently allowed in England and Wales, given the contrary views of the people in Northern Ireland, it seems likely this will be interpreted as the UK Government imposing its will on a reluctant part of the Kingdom which is doubtless disdainfully regarded by Whitehall’s liberal elite as antediluvian.”
Prior to the NI EF Act abortion was legally permitted in the region only if the mother’s life was at risk or if there was risk of long term or permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health.
The British government held a public consultation on a proposed framework for the legal provision of abortion in Northern Ireland in November and December 2019. It proposed that elective abortions be available up to 12 or 14 weeks gestation.
It also proposed that “the gestational time limit in circumstances where the continuance of the pregnancy would cause risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or girl, or any existing children or her family, greater than the risk of terminating the pregnancy” be either 22 or 24 weeks.
In cases of fetal abnormality, the government proposed that abortion without time limit be available. It also proposed that abortion without time limit be allowed where there is risk to the life of the mother or it is necessary to provent grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.
Hayes noted that the government’s proposal “went far beyond [the] limited legal requirements” of the NI EF Act.
“Quite why the Northern Ireland office officials chose to go so far beyond what Parliament wanted is a matter of speculation. Some say the Government might be using Northern Ireland as a ‘guinea pig’ to test policies before implementing them in England,” he wrote.
The MP noted that there is not “public demand in Northern Ireland for this greatly expanded abortion framework.”
The region rejected the Abortion Act 1967 that legalized abortion in England, Wales, and Scotland, and bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.
Hayes proposed that “simplest way to stop the UK Government infringing on the devolution settlement is to repeal Section 9,” which would return “full control to the devolved administration.”
He warned that “feeding the feeling that Westminster is using Northern Ireland to test policies before implementing them in England could fuel Irish nationalism.”
“Rather than imposing a policy that is not being applied anywhere else in the Union, we should limit the changes to only those that are legally required, or repeal Section 9 altogether.”
Hayes concluded that “To re-empathise the Government’s commitment to the devolution settlement – the bedrock of the peace agreement in Northern Ireland – the Northern Ireland Office must repeal section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act, or – at the very least – not go beyond what is legally required while abortion is fully devolved to Northern Ireland and the new Assembly’s authority is honoured.”
And Rep. Chris Smith wrote to Brandon Lewis, Secretary of State of Northern Ireland, that “imposing a liberal abortion regime upon Northern Ireland shows a contempt for the Good Friday Agreement’s devolution provisions, and weakens the entire agreement, which is the framework for the fragile peace that Northern Ireland has known.”
Smith’s letter, in which he was joined by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.), was reported in the Belfast Telegraph March 16.
The US Representatives wrote that “imposition of Section 9 — which provides for a far more liberal abortion regime than currently exists in the other constituent parts of the United Kingdom … runs counter to the fundamental democratic principles of self-governance and self-determination.”
They encouraged Lewis to “let Northern Ireland work this issue out through its own representative Assembly”.
“Abortion on demand is not the will of the people in Northern Ireland, and if it were, Northern Ireland has a duly constituted Assembly by which it can balance equities and legislate on the matter,” Smith wrote.
In January, a newly-elected MP for a Northern Irish constituency also urged that section 9 be repealed.
“I want today to make the point to this House, on behalf of the many thousands of people across Northern Ireland who take a pro-life stance, that we want to repeal section 9 with immediate effect and allow for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate, discuss and evidence-gather on this emotive issue,” Carla Lockhart said Jan. 8 in the House of Commons in Westminster.
Lockhart, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, was elected MP for Upper Bann in the 2019 UK general election.
“It is imperative that I speak on this to attempt again to highlight the anger, disappointment and frustration concerning the change in abortion laws that have been foisted upon the people of Northern Ireland,” Lockhart stated. “These changes came in the most roughshod way, with complete contempt for the devolved Administration and the views of the people of Northern Ireland.”
Lockhart stated: “I want a society in Northern Ireland that values life, and I want to see services that will help women choose life … help us create a culture of choosing life.” She asked for government provision of a perinatal palliative care center, a maternal mental health unit, and better childcare services.
Lockhart responded to the proposed framework saying that “it is incomprehensible that the Government, knowing that abortion was a devolved matter, has published consultation proposals to introduce changes which go far beyond what has actually been required by Parliament.”
The amendment to the NI EF Act obliging the government to provide for legal abortion in Northern Ireland was introduced by Stella Creasy, a Labour MP who represents a London constituency.
In October 2019, the High Court in Belfast had ruled that the region’s ban on the abortion of unborn children with fatal abnormalities violated the UK’s human rights commitments.
Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.
Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mar 18, 2020 / 03:40 pm (CNA).- A woman who claims to be a visionary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje has said that Mary will no longer appear to her on the second of every month, as she h… […]
Armagh, Northern Ireland, Mar 17, 2020 / 08:32 am (CNA).- You are never alone, even in the isolation during the Coronavirus pandemic, the Primate of All Ireland told the country’s Catholics on St. Patrick’s Day.
“In Ireland we have a… […]
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