CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- The bishops of England and Wales have urged parishes to help domestic abuse victims after a surge in requests for aid during the coronavirus crisis.
Since the lockdown began in the U.K. March 23 there h… […]
CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2020 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- A legislation scrutiny committee of the House of Lords last week published a report on the abortion regulations imposed on Northern Ireland by the British government, noting that the regulations are more expansive than were required by law.
Among the key criticisms in the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s April 23 report was the six-week duration of public consultation on the proposed regulations. The committee includes members of the Conservative Party, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats, as well as crossbenchers.
“In our view this is too short for so sensitive a topic, the committee wrote. “Added to which, it took place during the General Election period and in the run up to Christmas, neither of which conforms with best practice. Of the over 21,000 responses received, 79% registered general opposition to any change to the established position in Northern Ireland.”
The committee received a number of submissions that “criticise the Government response to the consultation for failing to explain why such a strong level of objection has been overridden,” and which “assert that no attempt has been made to engage with them to address their objections or with the restored Northern Ireland Executive, and that certain provisions … were not included in the consultation document.”
In addition, the Lords’ committee said that the regulations should not have been made so soon before a parliamentary recess: “While acknowledging that due to the current coronavirus crisis, Ministers have had much to occupy them, we find it regrettable that the Government chose to lay so controversial an instrument just as a recess started and, more importantly, so close to the implementation date set out in the 2019 Act, thereby denying Parliament an opportunity for scrutiny before the instrument came into effect.”
The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020, which came into force March 31, allow elective abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy; abortions up to 24 weeks in cases of risk to the mother’s physical or mental health; and abortion without time limit in cases of severe fetal impairment or fetal fetal abnormality.
Previously, 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 new framework was adopted to implement Westminster’s Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, which decriminalized abortion in Northern Ireland and placed a moratorium on abortion-related criminal prosecutions, and obliged the UK government to create legal access to abortion in the region by March 31.
The NI EF Act required that the recommendations of a UN report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women be implemented.
The legislative scrutiny committee said its report on the regulations sets out the key points made in submissions from members of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Northern Ireland Assembly, as well as churches and other organizations.
“This Report also notes several instances where the Government’s administrative process for bringing these Regulations forward appears suboptimal,” it added, before drawing the regulations to the special attention of the House.
The committee noted that nearly all the submissions it received are critical of the regulations’ provision for conscientious objection.
Conscientious objection is allowed for direct participation in abortion, but not for ancillary, administrative, or managerial tasks associated with the procedure, because, according to the regulations, that “would have consequences on a practical level and would therefore undermine the effective provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland.”
The exclusion of those carrying out ancillary, administrative, or managerial tasks from conscientious objection may be “too narrow and does not adequately protect” the rights to religious or philosophical beliefs under the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to the committee, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland submitted that ancillary staff are unlawfully discriminated against because the Northern Ireland Act 1998 prevents the Assembly and the Secretary of State “from enacting any provision which discriminates against any person or class of person on the ground of religious belief or political opinion.”
The committee wrote that “Given the sensitivity of the issues around conscientious objection, the House may wish to ask the Minister to consider further the scope of the policy and how it will be interpreted.”
The report also discussed the regulation of abortion in cases of severe fetal impairment or fetal fetal abnormality.
Several submissions said the abortion of those with severe impairment is contrary to EU law because the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities “extends to those in the womb,” but that the region’s attorney general acknowledged that the NI EF Act required the implementation of such a regulation because of CEDAW.
“There therefore appears to be a question over which UN Convention should take priority,” the committee wrote.
However, the Northern Ireland Office holds that the UNCRPD is not a binding law, and added: “we do not agree that the provision extends protection to those in the womb.”
The legislative scrutiny committee noted that the “the regime chosen largely mirrors the services available in the rest of the UK. In the light of the overwhelmingly negative response to the consultation exercise, it would have been better if the reasons for the specific policy choices made, were explained in more detail in the EM, and the House may wish to press the Minister for further explanation.”
Other submissions noted that “severe disability” could be interpreted differently and could include cleft lip or Down syndrome, and that the CEDAW recommendation requires the provision of abortion for “severe foetal impairment”, while not “perpetuating sterotypes towards persons with disabilities.”
“The House may wish to press the Minister about how these provisions will be interpreted,” the committee noted.
Some submissions also noted that because the baby’s sex can be identified at 10 weeks, and elective abortions are permitted up to 12 weeks, “there is a significant omission in the Regulations in that … they do not prevent abortion on the grounds of the foetus’s gender.”
The report concludes noting that “the NIO states that, where possible, this statutory framework mirrors the Abortion Act 1967 so that provision will be broadly consistent with the abortion services in the rest of the UK. The NIO was, however, obliged by law to implement the specific recommendations of the CEDAW Report which relate to Northern Ireland. This report has sought to expand on some of the Government’s policy choices and also to air the main issues drawn to our attention in submissions, to assist the House in the forthcoming debate.”
Right to Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said April 28 that the committee “chosen to draw these regulations to the special attention of the House. The Committee has reported on a number of serious issues with the regulations.”
“MPs and Peers at Westminster must take on board these problems and vote against the regulations when they are brought before Parliament,” she added.
The regulations are due to be voted on before May 17.
David Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, commented April 25 that Northern Ireland’s abortion law “should have been decided in Northern Ireland not imposed by Westminster. Both Parliament and the Northern Ireland Office have shown great contempt for the people of Northern Ireland – and for normal constitutional and parliamentary good practice – in seeking to impose, by diktat, laws which in the rest of the UK have led to one child in the womb being aborted every three minutes.”
Lord Alton wrote that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s report highlights “that this issue needs to be reconsidered in Northern Ireland by the Assembly which is responsible for what the law and policy on this issue. Riding roughshod over the Assembly in this way shows contempt for devolution, power sharing, proper political process, and the people of Northern Ireland.”
The bishops of Northern Ireland have encouraged members of Northern Ireland’s devolved legislature to debate the regulations, and, “insofar as they exceed the requirements of the Northern Ireland Act 2019 … to take steps to formulate new Regulations that will reflect more fully the will of a significant majority of the people in this jurisdiction to protect the lives of mothers and their unborn children.”
Northern Ireland rejected the Abortion Act 1967, which 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.
Northern Irish women had been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017. They are allowed to travel to the rest of the UK to procure abortions during the coronavirus outbreak.
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.
CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2020 / 10:55 am (CNA).- When the U.S. Army arrived at Dachau concentration camp 75 years ago, on April 29, 1945, the clergy held captive there regarded it as a miracle.
A week earlier, on April 22, the priests and monks of Dachau ha… […]
Rome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- The Grand Master of the Order of Malta Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre died early Wednesday at the age of 75.
Dalla Torre had been in treatment for throat cancer in Rome in recent months. He is remembered by the Order of Malta for his kindness, appreciation of the arts, and charity towards the poor and disabled.
“I worked with Fra’ Giacomo for over 20 years,” Philippa Leslie, communications director of the Order of Malta in Great Britain, told CNA.
“He had a warm and sympathetic personality, a nice sense of humour, and was always completely natural and friendly with all whom he met, and took a great interest in people,” she said. “In relaxed moments, we discussed opera together, particularly Italian opera.”
The Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta is a position usually held for life. Dalla Torre led the order for three years before his death. He was elected as the 80th grand master in May 2018 after serving one year as the interim grand master amid the order’s ongoing reform.
Portuguese Grand Commander Fra’ Ruy Gonçalo do Valle Peixoto de Villas Boas will serve as interim head of the order, according to article 17 of the order’s constitution, until the election of the new Grand Master.
The 80-year-old interim leader has been a member of the Order of Malta’s Portuguese Association for more than 30 years. He took his solemn vows as a Professed Knight in 2015, and was elected to the position of Grand Commander in May 2019.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a Catholic lay religious order originally founded as the Knights Hospitaller around 1099 in Jerusalem for the protection and medical care of Holy Land pilgrims. Now based in Rome, it is present in 120 countries with over 2,000 projects in the medical-social field and more than 120,000 volunteers and medical staff.
It maintains sovereignty, holding diplomatic relations with more than 100 states and United Nations permanent observer status.
Recently, the Order of Malta has been active in its response to the coronavirus throughout the world. The order has delivered medicine and food to the elderly, donated iPads to nursing homes so residents can make video calls to family, and assisted with the construction of a new hospital in Lombardy, the epicenter of the coronavirus in Italy.
In April, the order launched a “Doctor to Doctor” initiative to share best practices with medical staff in the Middle East for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. The program connected doctors on the front line in Italy with doctors in Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon.
The grand master is the sovereign and religious head of the Order of Malta vested with the authority to conduct diplomatic relations, ratify international agreements, and to issue legislative measures along with the Sovereign Council.
As grand master, Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto made state visits to Cameroon, Benin, Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and other countries. He visited medical staff and patients in the order’s healthcare facilities during each of these trips, according to a press statement by the order.
He cared for the poor by serving weekly at soup kitchens in Rome’s railway stations and participating in the order’s International Summer Camps for Young Disabled. For over forty years, he was active in the order’s pilgrimages to Loreto, Assisi, Lourdes, and other international locations.
Born in Rome in 1944, Dalla Torre, studied literature and philosophy at Sapienza University of Rome, specializing in Christian archaeology and art history.
He taught courses in Classic Greek at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome and has served as head of the university’s library and chief archivist for important collections.
“His knowledge of history – medieval, and especially the history of the Order of Malta – was extensive. He was of course very up to date with world affairs too. But his great passion was music, about which he was very knowledgeable,” Leslie said.
Dalla Torre entered the Order of Malta in 1985 and made his solemn vows as a professed knight in 1993. From 1994-1999 he served as grand prior of Lombardy and Venice, and from 1999-2004 was a member of the Sovereign Council.
In 2004, he was elected grand commander, and after the death of the 78th grand master, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, he stood in as interim lieutenant. He served as grand prior of Rome from 2008 to 2017.
Dalla Torre was appointed interim grand master April 29, 2017, after the resignation of Matthew Festing, which marked the end of a month-long back and forth between the Order of Malta and the Holy See, beginning with the dismissal of Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager from both his position, and his membership in the order, in early December 2016.
Boeselager had been dismissed because of allegations that under his tenure the order’s charity branch had inadvertently been involved in distributing condoms in Burma to prevent the spread of HIV. Boeselager, whose brother Georg von Boeselager was appointed a member of the Board of Superintendents of the IOR in 2016, was reinstated after Festing was asked to resign by Pope Francis.
The death of the Order of Malta’s Grand Master comes as the organization continues its reform.
Madrid, Spain, Apr 28, 2020 / 04:27 pm (CNA).- While most of the students at the San Fulgencia Seminary in Cartagena, Spain, returned home when the country declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, one seminarian felt a different cal… […]
CNA Staff, Apr 28, 2020 / 07:30 am (CNA).- The beatification of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the former Primate of Poland who heroically resisted Communism, has been postponed because of the coronavirus.
Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz said April 28 that the be… […]
Rome, Italy, Apr 27, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Italian students have organized a campaign to uplift and honor the elderly, who have suffered heavy losses in Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.
Offering calls and video messages for elderly residents in isolation and a social media campaign to spread appreciation for seniors in their communities, the Catholic “Youth for Peace” movement is seeking to increase solidarity across generations.
The young people have also collected donations for masks, gloves, and other medical supplies for elderly care homes, where social distancing is difficult.
Italy has the oldest population in Europe, and the second oldest in the world after Japan. More than 20% of Italy’s population is 65 or older, according to the United Nations.
Prior to COVID-19, students involved in “Youth for Peace” used to visit nursing homes on a weekly basis.
Elderly care homes across Europe have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus which has led to the deaths of more than 26,600 people across Italy.
“Some of the elderly who died were our friends and many of the affected residences were … the sites of our weekly visits,” Youth for Peace said in a statement released on April 27.
With Italy’s lockdown measures still in place, the youth group is seeking to make the Italian hashtag #SalviamoINostriAnziani, which means #SaveOurElderly, go viral.
Adesso tocca a noi!
Salviamo i nostri anziani✌️#salviamoinostrianziani#santegidio #giovaniperlapace❤️? pic.twitter.com/uktjmEIKKJ
— Florian Myrtaj (@Florian09276089) April 21, 2020
Appoggiamo tutti la campagna dei @gxlapace perché gli anziani sono la memoria e il futuro per i giovani ?????? #salviamoinostrianziani pic.twitter.com/2zNkQI3Y1t
— elia (@svr_elia) April 21, 2020
High school and university students posted photos of an elderly acquaintance with the hashtag and a message of appreciation. They also created a group video from their homes calling for “an alternative to death and isolation” for Italy’s seniors.
#SalviamoINostriAnziani
La campagna social dei #GiovaniPerLaPace: il #coronavirus sta uccidendo tanti anziani. Troppi. Soprattutto nelle case di riposo. È ora di cambiare. pic.twitter.com/yKWFAqOCNm
— Giovani per la Pace #SalviamoINostriAnziani (@gxlapace) April 21, 2020
Some of these posts were shared on Italy’s Liberation Day, April 25, when Italians marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Milan and Turin from Nazi occupation. Veterans of Italy’s resistance movement have traditionally marked the anniversary with parades across the country.
One person shared a post with a photo of an old man that stated: “They freed us. Now it’s up to us. We do not abandon them.”
Ci hanno liberato. Ora tocca a noi. Non li abbandoniamo. Liberiamoli. #salviamoinostrianziani #25Aprile #Festadellaliberazione pic.twitter.com/XjvVRGzXca
— Stefano Orlando #SalviamoINostriAnziani (@Steorlando) April 24, 2020
The Youth for Peace movement is linked to the Community of Sant’Egidio, a lay Catholic movement centered on peace and helping the poor. The youth group is active in schools and universities to promote solidarity with the elderly, migrants, and the homeless.
As a part of the Save Our Elderly campaign, Youth for Peace has called for Italians to “rethink” institutional nursing homes, and to strengthen home care and co-housing models.
“Every senior has the right to live in a place he can call home. Of these possible solutions, the Youth for Peace want to be promoters and, in the name of an intergenerational alliance, intend to give voice to those who, in the dramatic days of the pandemic, died in silence,” it said.
#salviamoinostrianziani aderiamo alla campagna dei GxP che vogliono che rivediamo il sistema delle case di riposo per dare agli anziani una prospettiva di vita fatta di affetti, rispetto e iniziative da condividere con chi è più giovane pic.twitter.com/4yQhPPe4TC
— luana virgili (@luanavirgili) April 22, 2020
Rome Newsroom, Apr 26, 2020 / 03:29 pm (CNA).- Italy’s bishops have criticized Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for failing to lift the ban on public Masses.
The Italian bishops’ conference Sunday released a statement denouncing Conte’s decree on “phase 2” of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, which it says “arbitrarily excludes the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people.”
During a press conference April 26 to announce the next phase of Italy’s COVID-19 restrictions, beginning May 4, Conte said funerals may resume with a maximum of 15 people present. Other religious celebrations, including public Masses, will resume “in the coming weeks.”
In their April 26 statement, the bishops referred to two bodies which advised Conte on lifting lockdown measures: the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the equivalent of the Prime Minister’s office, and the Technical-Scientific Committee for COVID-19.
The bishops said: “The Presidency of the Council and the Technical-Scientific Committee are reminded of the duty to distinguish between their responsibility — giving precise indications of a health nature — and that of the Church, called to organize the life of the Christian community, in compliance with the measures prepared, but in the fullness of one’s autonomy.”
The prime minister’s office responded late Sunday night to the bishops’ statement, according to news agency ANSA. The message said “a protocol will be studied that will allow the faithful to participate in liturgical celebrations as soon as possible in conditions of maximum security.”
The Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) said it had been in “continuous and available dialogue” with the government for weeks.
During these negotiations, “the Church accepted, with suffering and a sense of responsibility, the government limitations taken to face the health emergency,” the bishops said, adding that during these conversations “it was explicitly emphasized that — when the limitations taken on to face the pandemic are reduced — the Church demands to be able to resume its pastoral action.”
The statement claims the Italian bishops had also presented their own guidelines and protocols for a transitional phase which would meet all health standards.
Public Masses throughout Italy have been suspended for nearly seven weeks after the Italian government issued a decree March 8 suspending all public religious ceremonies, including funerals.
According to the prime minister’s April 26 announcement, the easing of lockdown measures will allow retail stores, museums, and libraries to reopen beginning May 18 and restaurants, bars, and hair salons June 1.
Movement between Italian regions, within regions, and within cities and towns is still prohibited except under strict cases of necessity.
In a letter April 23, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, wrote that “the time has come to resume the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, and church funerals, baptisms and all the other sacraments, naturally following those measures necessary to guarantee security in the presence of more people in public places.”
CNA Staff, Apr 24, 2020 / 12:17 pm (CNA).- The president of the Scottish bishops’ conference wrote Friday to the Scottish health secretary, saying the permission for women to self-administer both stages of a medical abortion at home during coronavirus is born of ideology rather than true concern for women.
“I believe it is profoundly depressing that in the midst of this unprecedented global pandemic when the resources of almost every government on earth are being diverted towards the preservation of life, especially the lives of the weak and vulnerable, the Scottish Government continues to act to end the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, the unborn,” Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen wrote April 24 to Jeane Freeman, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and a member of the Scottish National Party.
“It is more than disheartening that the Scottish Government should see fit to promote ‘abortion at home’ as though this were a trivial matter equivalent to taking any other medication at home. A position like this appears to be more a matter of ideology than of genuine and dispassionate concern for women’s wellbeing,” the bishop, a Benedictine, wrote.
The Scottish government has lifted restrictions on at-home medical abortions during coronavirus.
A medical abortion is a two-step process that involves the ingestion of mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the effects of the progesterone hormone, inducing a miscarriage. Misoprostol is taken up to two days later, and induces labor.
Women in Scotland have been able to self-administer misoprostol in their homes since 2018. However, until recently, they had to take mifepristone at a clinic.
The medications will be delivered by mail.
Because of coronavirus-related lockdowns, the Scottish government has allowed at-home self-administration of mifepristone as well, following a phone or video consultation with a doctor.
A similar permission was made in England last month, and Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland has pressed for a similar change in that region.
Bishop Gilbert said he found the Scottish government’s decision “deeply troubling.”
He said that while mifepristone and misoprostol “not only end the life of an unborn child,” they “are also a risk to the health of its mother,” noting that even in the best of circumstances – administration at a clinic with several hours of clinical observation – there is “a real risk of severe bleeding and sepsis in a small number, and a need for further surgery in a larger proportion, depending on the stage of the pregnancy.”
The bishop added that “vulnerable women in unsatisfactory domestic circumstances are particularly at risk.”
He asked whether, under the new policy, women are “receiving information on all available options including details of organisations which can offer support to both the mother and the baby,” if enough time is given to counselling during the consultation, and “is it appropriate for drugs which end the life of a human being to be sent by post, trivialising what is an extremely serious and life-changing procedure”.
“Aside from the Scottish Bishops’ Conference’s absolute opposition to abortion, there are also serious practical concerns involved here,” he said. “The decision to allow women to take potent abortifacient medications in a largely unsupervised manner at home is not only fatal for the innocent human beings in the womb but also constitutes a real risk to women’s present and longer term health and wellbeing.”
Bishop Gilbert added that “it is of particular concern that there is no way of establishing that a woman is not being coerced into an abortion in the context of a poorly safeguarded online consultation.”
“In the current situation, there is already an increase in complaints about domestic abuse since the Coronavirus restrictions were put in place. It is far from clear how the Scottish Government proposes to set in place the prudent support procedures which permit all the relevant factors in each individual case privately and without coercion.”
Perugia, Italy, Apr 24, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The president of the Italian bishops’ conference has written a letter calling for Sunday Mass to resume in Italy as the country begins to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
“The time has… […]
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