London, England, Oct 14, 2019 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A court in the United Kingdom ruled last week that it is in the best interest of a pregnant woman with severe learning disabilities that she undergo an abortion. A British court made the same decision in… […]
Rome, Italy, Oct 11, 2019 / 01:12 pm (CNA).- Cardinal John Henry Newman, who will be canonized Oct. 13, is more often associated with Birmingham than Rome, but his four visits to the Eternal City mark significant moments in the life of this soon-to-be … […]
London, England, Oct 10, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- A judge in England has decided that a disabled woman who is pregnant will be fitted with a contraceptive device immediately following her Caesarean section, Premier Christianity has reported.
The woman was originally ordered to undergo a forced abortion by another judge, until that ruling was overturned on appeal.
Justice MacDonald heard arguments in the case at the Court of Protection of England and Wales, which hears cases related to people who do not possess the capacity to make decisions for themselves.
He will soon publish a ruling giving the reasons for his decision, according to Premier Christianity.
The 24-year-old woman, who has been identified in court as AB, and her mother, “CD”, are devout Catholics, and are members of the Igbo people. The woman has “moderate learning disabilities” and “exhibits challenging behaviour and functions at a level of between 6 and 9 years old.” AB is also said to have had a mood disorder, for which she is medicated.
The NHS trust at the hospital where the woman is being cared for argued that she should be given a contraceptive device while under anaesthesia immediately following the delivery of her child.
Fiona Paterson, the barrister representing the NHS trust, told the court it would not be in the woman’s interest again to conceive a child, and that she is vulnerable and could not be supervised constantly.
But the woman’s mother, a social worker who assists her, and the barrister representing her said there was a plan to safeguard the woman and that such interference in her autonomy was unjustified.
Susanna Rickard, the woman’s barrister, said the chances of the woman being exposed to “further sexual activity” was “close to nil.”
There is a plan to keep her from being left home alone, unsupervised with a male, or unaccompanied while out, Rickard noted.
AB is believed to have become pregnant while visiting family in Nigeria over Christmas. It is unknown who is the father of the child, and it is conceded by all parties that she lacks the capacity to consent to sex.
The woman had been ordered June 21 to undergo a forced abortion at 22 weeks pregnant by Justice Nathalie Lieven of the Court of Protection.
The Court of Appeal overturned Lieven’s decision just three days later, on June 24, finding that Lieven’s decision disregarded the assessment and wishes of AB’s mother and social worker, and went against her human rights.
Lieven “was in error in failing to make any reference in her ultimate analysis to [the mother’s] views about AB’s best interests when, as the judge found, she knew AB better than anyone and had her best interests at heart,” reads the Court of Appeal’s judgement.
Writing for the three judge panel, Lady Justice King concluded that Lieven “went beyond what the evidence could support” in concluding that the woman’s circumstances made a forced late-term abortion in her own best interests.
While Lieven’s conclusion on the balance and weight of evidence was rejected by the appeal court, King nevertheless underscored the right of the court to impose an abortion if the circumstances merit it.
“Carrying out a termination absent a woman’s consent is a most profound invasion of her Article 8 [human] rights, albeit that the interference will be legitimate and proportionate if the procedure is in her best interests,” King concluded.
Brighton, England, Oct 10, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA).- On October 10, observed internationally as World Mental Health Day, Bishop Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton said that society should work to remove the stigma that surrounds those seeking help for mental illness.
“As a society, we have yet to remove the lingering stigma which can be attached to mental ill health,” he said in a statement. “We need to jettison the taboo around discussing the issue, and our discussions ought to be non-judgmental.”
“In the interest of the common good, every citizen has a responsibility to promote the mental health of all the members of our society, including ourselves, and of our local communities,” he added.
The World Health Organization has encouraged countries throughout the world to annually mark October 10 as World Mental Health Day as a time to raise awareness about mental health issues as well as about mental health resources and support.
The theme for this year’s Mental Health day was suicide. According to the WHO, someone commits suicide every 40 seconds throughout the world, and so they encouraged people to take “40 seconds of action” in the form of either reaching out about personal mental health struggles, reaching out to a friend with health struggles, or raising awareness about mental health resources.
Moth is the lead bishop for the Mental Health Project, an initiative of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales that began in 2013.
According to the project’s website, its aims are to “offer support and resources to local Catholic communities as they respond to those facing mental health challenges,identify and highlight good practice in pastoral care for those with mental health needs, their families and carers, and develop a network of those within the Catholic community in England and Wales with a special interest in locally based mental health support.”
The program provides grants to projects throughout Catholic dioceses and parishes in England and Wales that aim at mental health awareness and support. Projects that have received grants through the program include things such as community training on how to deal with dementia, parish small groups for mental health support, and the hiring of counselors and therapists for Catholic schools, among others.
In his statement, Moth said that every life is sacred and that mental health is a “Christian concern.”
“The Church believes that life is worth living. Life matters. It is a precious gift to be cherished,” he said. “Our fulfillment and destiny come from a living relationship with Jesus Christ through faith, nourished by the sacraments and the support of the Church community. Prayerful support of those who care about the mental health of every member of the community also assists in this great work of Christian concern.”
Krakow, Poland, Oct 10, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- The Polish bishops’ conference has agreed to begin the canonization process for the parents of Saint John Paul II.
The Polish episcopate made the announcement Oct. 10, setting in motion the first s… […]
Armagh, Northern Ireland, Oct 9, 2019 / 02:51 am (CNA).- Health professionals in Northern Ireland are writing to the region’s secretary to protest a liberalization of the region’s abortion laws, which the UK parliament is set to impose on Northern Ireland this month unless Northern Ireland’s parliament reconvenes.
According to the Impartial Reporter, over 800 health professionals in Northern Ireland have written to the Secretary of State expressing concern and opposition to the potential legal change.
“As a Christian my faith in God also plays a major part of my belief in the sanctity of life,” a midwife from County Fermanagh told the Impartial Reporter.
“[God’s] word says we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ and it is my personal conviction that the miracle of life is given by God. But I want to make the point that many midwives who are part of the ‘Midwives for Both Lives’ Facebook group are of non-faith backgrounds and still they believe in protecting the life of the unborn child,” she said.
The British parliament voted in July to add same-sex marriage and a loosening of abortion restrictions as amendments to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill, which is designed to keep the region running amid a protracted deadlock in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Northern Ireland Catholic bishops’ conference has condemned the legislation’s “unprecedented” use of authority to legalize abortion in the region.
The Assembly has been suspended for the past two years due to a dispute between the two major governing parties. The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest, is opposed to changing the law. Sinn Féin, another prominent party in Northern Ireland, backs a liberalization of the abortion law.
If Northern Ireland Assembly is not reconvened by Oct. 21, the expansion of abortion rights and the legalization of same-sex marriage will take effect. Secretary Julian Smith would be mandated to put the laws into effect by March 31, 2020.
The UK government on Tuesday morning published guidelines for health professionals for when the abortion law tentatively goes into effect. The guidelines state that between Oct. 22, 2019 and March 31, 2020, no criminal charges can be brought against those who have an abortion, or against health care professionals who perform and assist in an abortion.
The health professionals’ letter of concern also lamented a lack of conscience protections in the bill for medical personnel who object to participating in abortions. The new guidelines instruct those health professionals with a conscientious objection to direct women to information about where to obtain an abortion elsewhere.
The guidelines go on to say that health professionals may object to participating “hands-on” in an abortion, but this does not include the “ancillary, administrative and managerial tasks” related to the procedure.
“You must not express your personal beliefs (including political, religious and moral beliefs) to patients in ways that exploit their vulnerability or are likely to cause them distress,” the guidelines state.
Last year, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum in which voters repealed the country’s pro-life protections, which had recognized the life of both mothers and their babies. Irish legislators then enacted legislation allowing legal abortion in what had long been a Catholic and pro-life stronghold.
Elective abortion is legal in the rest of the United Kingdom up to 24 weeks, while currently it is legally permitted in Northern Ireland only if the mother’s life is at risk or if there is risk of permanent, serious damage to her mental or physical health.
Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.
Leaders of the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, Methodist Church in Ireland, Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and the Irish Council of Churches, have called on their congregations to lobby their locally elected representatives, and ask them to reconvene the assembly before the deadline.
“We are, along with others, gravely concerned that the imposition of this Westminster legislation,” the leaders wrote, calling for two special days of prayer over the weekend of October 12-13 for the unborn and for women facing difficult pregnancies and their families.
The religious leaders also objected that the people of Northern Ireland were not consulted about the measure, and there is no evidence that it reflects the will of the citizens.
Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, has reiterated her party’s stance in its opposition to abortion, and she called for the restoration of the devolved government in the region.
Krakow, Poland, Oct 8, 2019 / 10:30 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Krakow has compared the LGBT rights movement in Poland to communism. Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski made the comparison in a pastoral letter to the archdiocese released on S… […]
Kaunas, Lithuania, Oct 8, 2019 / 12:49 am (CNA).- One of the newest cardinals of the Church says he drew strength from the Mass and the Blessed Virgin during the decade he spent in a Soviet prison camp in Siberia.
Sigitas Tamkevicius, archbishop emeritus of Kaunas, Lithuania, was elevated to the rank of cardinal in the Oct. 5 consistory.
As a priest in Lithuania, Tamkevicius played an active part in resisting communist persecution of the Church. With four other priests, he founded in 1978 the Catholic Committee for the Defense of Believers’ Rights.
He also set up the Chronicle of the Catholic Church of Lithuania, a small magazine – produced on a typewriter – that reported on the situation of the Church and of Catholics in the Baltic state.
In 1983, Tamkevicius was arrested and held by the KGB. He was sentenced to 10 years of forced labor and exile. He served some of his sentence in Siberia.
In a statement to EWTN and ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency, Tamkevicius explained that during his time in prison, “my stronghold was my faith, which I kept alive by praying a lot.”
“I could only celebrate Mass secretly. I celebrated the Eucharist with great care, and for me it was a great source of strength in prison,” he said.
To get the bread and wine, Tamkevicius resorted to the meal tickets the prisoners received. He was able to receive bread – and could request that it be unleavened – and a dry grape, which he would use to make the wine.
The cardinal said other prisoners would comment about his faith, and the strength that it gave him.
“They told me, ‘It’s easier for you because you have faith, because you can say Mass and that makes you stronger than us.’”
Tamkevicius also turned to the Virgin Mary as a source of strength, from the moment he was sentenced and sent on a train to the forced labor camp.
“I placed myself in the hands of the Virgin,” he said, adding when he returned from the prison camp, he immediately went from the train station to the Chapel of the Virgin of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius.
“There I celebrated Mass, and gave thanks to the Lord and also to the Virgin,” he said.
In his statement, the new cardinal said his appointment by Pope Francis surprised him. At 80 years old, Tamkevicius will not be able to vote in the next conclave. He emphasized that he sees his appointment as the pope’s effort to draw attention “to the entire Church that suffered during the Soviet years.”
He also echoed Pope Francis’ frequent emphasis on martyrdom, saying “if a believer is not ready to suffer for his faith, then he’s a very weak believer. Our local Church can give a good example to the whole Church, because during the 50 years of Communism, we kept our faith.”
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
London, England, Oct 7, 2019 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- An advertising company has has apologized for displaying a pro-life billboard in the United Kingdom, saying it is removing the ad and will make a donation to a pro-abortion charity.
The billboard was erected in Walthamstow, East London, as part of the #StopStella campaign. The campaign is in reference to local Labour MP Stella Creasy, the leader of a movement to force legal abortion on Northern Ireland later this month. Creasy is now pushing to fully legalize abortion throughout the United Kingdom via amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill.
The organization the Centre for Bioethical Reform UK paid for the 20-foot billboard, which featured a picture of Creasy next to an image of a baby who was aborted at 24-weeks gestation. The billboard read “Your MP is working hard…. To make this a human right.”
Clear Channel, the company that produced the billboard, issued an apology and pledged to donate the money they were paid for the advertisement to Abortion Support Network. The apology followed a series of tweets by Creasy about a seperate billboard from the same campaign which appeared overnight Sept. 30.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Twitter-can you get me the CEO of <a href=”https://twitter.com/CCUK_Direct?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CCUK_Direct</a> advertising? how much did you get for this crap? <a href=”https://twitter.com/metpoliceuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@metpoliceuk</a> still think this is just 'free speech' and not harassment of women in walthamstow? Am sorry for the graphic images and <a href=”https://twitter.com/patel4witham?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@patel4witham</a> am reaching out to you for help now. <a href=”https://t.co/rOG7Gc3App”>pic.twitter.com/rOG7Gc3App</a></p>— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) <a href=”https://twitter.com/stellacreasy/status/1178593407280799744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 30, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
In addition to calling out the company, the MP asked to Metropololitan police to invesitgate the ads as “harassment.”
Centre for Bioethical Reform UK, which is the UK branch of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, said that the aim of the billboard was to inform the people of Walthamstow about “the humanity of the unborn child and the reality of abortion.”
The United Kingdom has different free speech laws than the United States, including on sensitive issues such as abortion. Several jurisdictions in the UK have worked to enact so-called “buffer zone” laws that prevent pro-life activists from demonstrating near abortion clinics. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2014 that similar legislation in America was unconstitutional.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is known for their controversial “genocide awareness project” that displays images of aborted children on large banners, in public view. In the U.K., the CEO of the Center for Bioethical Reform UK was arrested in 2010 for protesting with similar banners.
The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a member of the coalition government in Westminster, is opposed to changing the region’s abortion law.
Bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.
Recently, Northern Ireland’s High Court ruled that the country’s abortion law was a violation of human rights.
In her Oct. 3rd decision, Justice Siobhan Keegan said that the law violated the U.K.’s human rights legislation. She, however, declined to make a formal declaration of incompatibility, due to the fact that there is already legislation in place that would make abortion legal in Northern Ireland in the near future.
A bill was passed in July by the British parliament that will make both abortion and same-sex marriage legal in the region if a devolved government is not formed by Oct. 21.
Paris, France, Oct 7, 2019 / 12:23 pm (CNA).- At least 42,000 people protested in Paris Sunday against a bill that would allow single women and lesbian couples access to IVF. Many French bishops have spoken against the bill.
Police said there were 42,000 at the Oct. 6 protests, while a media-funded researchers estimated 74,000, and organizers 600,000.
Speaking at the protest, former legislator Marion Maréchal said the French government is seeking “to voluntarily deprive a child of a father or to transform him and the mother who carries him into a consumer product.”
Organizers of the protests said the move would weaken the family and thus society, and that it is unjust “to authorize the manufacture of children voluntarily deprived of a father.”
Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris has said that the bill “touches on the most essential foundations on which our human societies are built: filiation, the non-commercialization of the human body, respect of all life from its conception until its natural death, the best interest of the child, a philanthropic and non-commercial medicine, a human ecology where the body is not an instrument but the place of the edification of the personality.”
And Archbishop Eric de Moulins d’Amieu de Beaufort of Reims, president of the French bishops’ conference, commented: “I’m afraid we are going down a very dangerous path.”
The bill passed the National Assembly last month, and will soon be considered by the Senate.
In France, IVF is now restricted to men and women who are married or have cohabited at least two years.
The bill would make women under 43 eligible for artificial insemination and four rounds of IVF treatment fully covered by French health care. According to the Washington Post “women in their mid-30s would also get coverage for egg freezing.”
It would also allow all children conceived through IVF to discover the identity of their biological father.
Last month, the National Academy of Medicine said in a report on the effort to revise bioethics law that while a woman’s desire for maternity is legitimate, “the deliberate conception of a child deprived of a father is a major anthropological break that is not without risks for the psychological development of the child.”
President Emmanuel Macron included the expansion of IVF provision in his 2017 campaign.
Introducing the bill, health minister Agnès Buzyn said, “the criterion that defines a family is the love that unites a parent and child.”
© Catholic World Report