Europe

Paris, France, Apr 26, 2019 / 09:49 am (CNA).- Sure, smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, low birth rates, strokes, and arthritis. But smoking didn’t cause the April 15 fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, at least according to construction workers who smoked on the site.

A spokesman for a scaffolding firm doing work on the cathedral told reporters last week that while his workers “sometimes” smoked on the oak roof of the building, cigarettes were not the cause of the conflagration.

“We condemn it. But the fire started inside the building… so for company Le Bras this is not a hypothesis, it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre-Dame de Paris on fire,” Le Bras Frères spokesman Marc Eskenazi told Reuters April 24.

Eskenazi’s remarks came after French newspaper Le Canard Enchaine reported that police had found seven cigarette butts in the burnt-out cathedral, and sources close to the investigation confirmed the report.

“If cigarette butts have survived the inferno, I do not know what material they were made of,” Eskenazi said, questioning how the butts could have survived the blaze at Notre-Dame Cathedral. The spokesman also said it is impossible for cigarette butts to set even dry wood on fire.

The company also said that the fire was not started by its own scaffolding elevators, noting that their electrical systems were well-maintained, and that power was not running to the elevators at the time the fire begin.

Still, French prosecutors say they have not ruled out any possibilities regarding the start of the fire, and that they continue to investigate all possible causes.

The fire began on the evening of April 15, and destroyed the cathedral’s roof, and spire. While the images of the cathedral’ exterior suggested nearly total devastation after the fire, the cathedral’s vaulted stone ceiling mostly held, and protected many of the cathedral’s religious and historical treasures from the flames.

There is no formal estimate yet for how long the cathedral restoration will take. While France’s President Emmanuel Macron has said that he would like to see restoration completed within five years, experts say that possibility is extremely unlikely.

Nearly one billion euro have been pledged to the restoration effort.

The cathedral’s famed rose windows, its bell towers and massive bells, and its organ were all intact after the fire. The Church’s most important religious items were spared from the fire: the Eucharist, and relics of Christ’s crown of thorns and cross were saved during the fire.

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London, England, Apr 25, 2019 / 05:41 pm (CNA).- A committee of the British parliament has said Westminster should bypass Northern Ireland’s self-governance to clarify the region’s abortion law.

The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee said Thursday that the UK government should provide a “clear framework and timeline” for Northern Ireland to address United Nations concerns on Northern Ireland’s abortion restrictions.

The committee’s report was welcomed by Amnesty International UK and the Family Planning Association.

Christian groups and local officials have pushed back, saying this decision would hinder Northern Ireland’s devolution. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said abortion should remain a devolved issue.

Abortion 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.

The committee said the current law violates the rights of women in Northern Ireland.

“The lack of clarity about the current legal situation is creating confusion, fear and inequality,” said the committee’s chair, Maria Miller, according to the Independent. “Our report sets out action which the government must take to address this.”

“This government can’t hide behind devolution to defend denying the women of Northern Ireland their basic human rights because they want to please the DUP,” said Labour MP Stella Creasy.

According to the committee, devolution cannot be used as an excuse to ignore human rights standards and “does not remove the UK Government’s own responsibilities to comply with its international obligations.”

The Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont is currently suspended due to disagreements between the two major governing parties

The committee said there is a lack of clarity over whether doctors in Northern Ireland may refer women for free National Health Services Abortions in England, Scotland, and and Wales, which they have been able to procure since November 2017.

Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), a pro-life group, responded to the committee’s report, stating that the basis of human right standards was based on a single UN committee which had no legal standing, according to a April 25 statement by CARE’s chief executive, Nola Leach.

She also said that the report undermines devolution.

“The issue of abortion law in Northern Ireland should be decided by the people of Northern Ireland through their elected representatives and not by MPs sitting on a Westminster Committee,” Leach said. “The repercussions of damaging the devolution settlement in the way recommended in the report would be felt across the UK.”

The group pointed to an October 2018 online poll from ComeRes of more than 1,000 Northern Ireland adults, which ound 64 percent said abortion law should be decided by the people of Northern Ireland and their representatives, not MPs from other parts of the U.K.

Tory MP Eddie Hughes, a member of the Equalities Committee, released an alternative report, requesting that Westminster not interfere with the devolution of Northern Ireland. Rather, he said the Department of Health for Northern Ireland should seek to improve clinical care for women with fetal abnormalities.

Leach welcomed Hughes’ report, saying it had “sensible proposals.” She said a change in the restrictions could lead to a greater increase in abortions and highlighted the number of children alive as a result of the law.

“The prospect of Westminster imposing change is highly alarming, as any legislation put forward could be amended to allow for widespread access to abortion on request for any reason in Northern Ireland. We do not believe the hardest of hard cases should be utilised to allow for abortion on request,” she said.

“We must not forget that thanks to NI’s life-affirming laws there are 100,000 people alive today across the Province.”

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Belfast, Northern Ireland, Apr 23, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- A Catholic church in Northern Ireland was desecrated with paint in the early hours of Easter Sunday morning, receiving disapproval from political officials.

Sacred Heart Church in Ballyclare, about 13 miles north of Belfast, had white paint thrown on it after midnight April 21.

Police arrested a 26 year-old man related to the “criminal damage.” He has cooperated with the police and has been released on bail.

A 35 year-old woman was also warned by the police for assisting an offender.

Noreen McClelland, a local politician of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, lamented the incident, saying, according to The Irish News: “This is an appalling, senseless act, the motive being to cause hurt and distress to the Catholic community of Ballyclare. Easter Sunday is a special date in the Christian calendar and for the congregation to find their church defaced in such a way is totally unacceptable.”

Members from the Democratic Unionist Party also spoke against the vandalism. MP Paul Girvan and assembly members Pam Cameron and Trevor Clarke released a joint statement, noting that these actions did not represent the community as a whole.

“All places of worship should be free from attack and from the fear of attack,” they said, according to The Irish News. “We stand with our neighbours at this time and assure them of our support.”

Religious disputes have long been part of the history of Northern Ireland, which is predominantly Protestant and is part of the United Kingdom, while the majority-Catholic Republic of Ireland gained its independence in 1916.

The region has had ongoing religiously and politically based conflicts, most notably “the Troubles”, which included violent clashes that lasted from the late 1960s until 1998, when the Good Friday Agreement was struck.

Since 1998, there has been only sporadic sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

In July, St. Mary’s church in Limavady was vandalized with sectarian graffiti. Paramilitary slogans from an anti-Catholic group marked a door and some of the walls of the church, and a large crucifix outside of the church was also painted on.

In October 2017, the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force made threats which forced four Catholic families to flee their homes at a social housing project in Belfast.

Recent demographic figures have suggested that Catholics will likely outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland by 2021. According to the last census, in 2011, Protestants outnumbered Catholics in Northern Ireland by just three percent.

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London, England, Apr 22, 2019 / 06:34 am (CNA).- The United Kingdom has once again delayed the launch of its constraints on virtual porn. The online age verification program is now scheduled to launch mid-summer.

Digital Minister Matt Hancock signed a commencement order for the Digital Economy Act in 2017 as a means to curb pornography access by those under 18.

After two years of development and numerous delays, the program is now scheduled to be released on July 15. A few parts of the program have been updated since the project was originally expected to launch on April 1.

To view online pornography, internet users will need to confirm their age by entering information from a driver’s license, credit card, or passport. If users do not wish to input their personal information, they may purchase a special ID card, available at thousands of retail shops across the nation for under £10.

For a website to be monitored, more than a third of the site must be dedicated to pornography, ruling out platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, which are known to have small pockets of pornography. Non-commercial pornographic sites will also be exempt.
Government officials say they hope social media companies will make an effort to protect children from encountering pornographic material.

“We know that pornography is available on some social media platforms and we expect those platforms to do a lot more to create a safer environment for children,” a Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport spokesman told the BBC.

“If we do not see action then we do not rule out legislating in the future to force companies to take responsibility for protecting vulnerable users from the potentially harmful content that they host,” the spokesman said.

Originally, websites that failed to follow the age verification rules were expected to face a nearly $330,000 fine, but this will not be enforced because of the difficulty enforcing payment from porn companies overseas. Rather, the government said a threat to block noncompliant websites should be sufficient to ensure conformity, the BBC reported.

In March, Matt Fradd, author of The Porn Myth and creator of the new 21-day porn detox STRIVE, voiced support for increased restrictions surrounding pornography.

“If it’s something as simple as age verification, I’m all for it,” he told CNA. “It just sounds like we are expecting the same thing of people online that we already expect of them offline.”

Among the available age verification services is AgeID, built by MindGeek, which operates and owns several common pornographic sites.

Some critics of the new UK policy say it violates the privacy of pornography users.

“Data leaks could be disastrous. And they will be the government’s own fault,” said Jim Killock from the Open Rights Group, according to the BBC.

The UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said the age verification is a valuable first step, but that other measures need to be taken alongside it.

“The NSPCC is calling for social networks to be required by law to give under-18s safe accounts with extra protections built in, so that children are kept as safe online as they are in the real world,” read a statement from the organization, according to BirminghamLive.

Children’s access to online pornography has been identified as a significant problem: A 2016 study by internet security company Bitdefender found that about 1 in 10 visitors to porn video sites is under age 10.

Fight the New Drug, an organization that works to educate on the harmful effects of pornography, has highlighted numerous studies showing the negative impact of pornography on underage users, including the creation of addictions, changes in sexual taste, and physical impact on the brain.

“Just more broadly, I would say pornography perverts a child’s understanding of human intimacy and sexual life, which is a very beautiful thing,” Fradd stressed.

“It’s as pernicious as sex is beautiful and human intimacy is worthwhile. Since those two things are beautiful and worthwhile, the corruption of it [in regards to] a child is all together something despicable and horrid.”
 

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Shrewsbury, England, Apr 21, 2019 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- Easter is not a time for political debate, but is rather an opportunity to encounter the pinnacle of the faith – Christ’s death and resurrection, Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury said in his homily for the feast.

At the April 21 Mass said at Shrewsbury Cathedral, Bishop Davies referred to increasing political bitterness and an indifference to Easter’s significance.  

“Everything rests on the witness given by those who, on that first Easter morning, came to ‘see and believe‘; on the witness of the Apostles and their Successors who stand with Peter in testimony that ‘God raised Jesus to life‘,” he said.

“In Christ’s Resurrection, we see how human life is no longer destined for death but for everlasting life and happiness. This is the joy of Easter that never fades.”

Easter is a celebration of the Christian foundation, he said, but it is not an excuse for clergyman to criticize on passing political opinions nor is it a time when political sentiments should be prioritized.

“All of our Christian faith and the whole of Christian civilisation depends on this Day,” he said.

“[Political] choices ought not to concern us on this greatest day in the Christian Calendar,” he further added.

This Easter has come at a time of much political strife, he said, noting that English society has seen a deterioration in people’s civility toward those who hold opposing beliefs. As tolerance has declined so has the culture’s comprehension of Easter and truth, he said.

“A deepening bitterness and intolerance in British society must surely be a concern for us all. It might even mark a change in our national character as disagreement and difference now too often leads to anger; enmity; no-platforming; and even threats of violence and death to those in public life.”

“We might trace this breakdown in our civility and gentle tolerance to the loss of the greater horizons which Easter celebrates. In many western societies, we see a descent into an irrationalism in which there is only ‘my truth’ and ‘your truth,’ with no hope of basing our lives and society on what is enduringly and always true. Yet, passing questions of public policy must always be seen from the perspective of what is lasting.”

He pointed to the 2010 visit of Benedict XVI to England, in which the then-pope “observed that if the only thing underpinning our democracy is an ever-changing social consensus, then the real challenge to democracy and social cohesion lies in our losing hold of the very truths which made our civilisation and society possible.”

“It is in Christ – the only person ever to have said, ‘I am the truth’ – that we find the enduring truth about the human person which has long formed the basis of our civility, our understanding of human rights and of a rule of law worth defending.”

As the British Parliament takes a break for Easter, pausing debate on Brexit, Bishop Davies applauded the respite. He expressed hope that this Easter would “return to the foundations that should always underpin our national debates.”

“On this Easter Day, we hear Saint Paul urge the first believers to cast out everything that is malice and to seek ‘sincerity and truth‘. This is surely the path we, too, should take for the healing of society and the recovery of our tolerance.”

“May the light of this Easter Day lead us gently as a nation to ‘see and believe’ God’s great purpose for us, and so to recognise anew the truth by which we and all of human society can be saved,” he said.

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Paris, France, Apr 19, 2019 / 08:02 am (CNA).- After a massive fire gutted the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris April 15, the cathedral’s rector says a temporary wooden church might soon be constructed in the esplanade, or plaza, adjacent to the cathedral.

Monsignor Patrick Chauvet told France’s CNews April 18 that he was exploring plans to build an “ephemeral cathedral” adjacent to Notre Dame, where cleanup and construction are expected to begin soon.

Mass would be celebrated and confessions offered at the temporary structure, Chauvet suggested, adding that Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo is a supporter of the idea.

“We mustn’t say ‘the cathedral is closed for five years’ and that’s it,” Chauvet said Thursday.

There is no formal estimate yet for how long the cathedral restoration will take. While France’s President Emmanuel Macron has said that he would like to see restoration completed within five years, experts say that possibility is extremely unlikely.

Nearly one billion euro have been pledged to the restoration effort.

While the images of the cathedral’ exterior suggested nearly total devastation after the fire, inside the cathedral’s vaulted stone ceiling mostly held, and protected many of the cathedral’s religious and historical treasures from the flames.

The cathedral’s famed rose windows, its bell towers and massive bells, and its organ were all intact after the fire. The Church’s most important religious items were spared from the fire: the Eucharist, and relics of Christ’s crown of thorns and cross were saved during the fire.

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Seville, Spain, Apr 18, 2019 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Authorities from Spain and Morocco have arrested a 23 year old man in Rabat, Morocco, who is suspected of planning an attack  during Holy Week celebrations in the Spanish city of Seville.

According … […]

Paris, France, Apr 17, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A copper rooster containing relics and thought to have been destroyed in the collapse of Notre-Dame de Paris has been found damaged but intact. The weathervane had previously perched at the top of the cath… […]

Paris, France, Apr 16, 2019 / 08:00 pm (CNA).- When the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Parish caught fire Monday, most predicted the worst. It seemed unlikely the structure could survive, or that some of the treasures inside might be saved.

Indeed, a full two-thirds of the cathedral’s roof was destroyed in the blaze, as was the famous spire. But despite the images of devastation, the cathedral’s main structure has been saved, along with many of its most priceless contents.

Even as firefighters worked to extinguish the last of the flames early Tuesday morning, there was already a massive commitment of resources dedicated to the rebuilding of one of the world’s most recognizable churches.

Before the fire was out, French president Emmanual Macron committed himself and the nation to rebuilding Notre-Dame, and he announced a fundraising effort to ensure its success. In response, by Tuesday afternoon more than 700 million euros had been pledged to the project.

Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury fashion company LVMH and the third richest man in the world, has pledged 300 million euros in support, with other major figures in business and finance making similar commitments.

President Macron has said that he hopes that work can begin as soon as possible, offering the possibility of some kind of reopening in as soon as five years. While talk of a reopening appeared unthinkable to many just hours ago, Paris firefighters are now confident that the main cathedral structure has been saved, and the stonework remains sound.

While the images of the exterior suggested nearly total devastation, inside the cathedral’s vaulted stone ceiling mostly held, and protected many of the cathedral’s religious and historical treasures from the flames.

Notre-Dame de Paris is home to several irreplaceable relics, most notably the crown of thorns, a piece of the true cross, and one of the nails used in the crucifixion. There are also many relics of French saints.

While a final inventory of what survived the fire may take weeks to compile, much good news has already been announced.

Relics and art were saved

Despite the speed with which the fire appeared to spread across the cathedral, a standing emergency plan was in place to save the most important relics and artwork in case of a disaster, and it appears as though that plan was largely executed effectively.

The majority of the relics were rescued from the fire in what the Paris mayor described as a “formidable human chain.”

Fr. Jean-Marc Fournier, the chaplain of the Paris Fire Department, accompanied firefighters into the cathedral to rescue the crown of thorns and the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle.

There were, however, several relics stored in the spire of the cathedral, including one of the thorns from the crown of thorns. These are believed to have been destroyed along with the spire.

The Rose Windows survived

As images of the fire spread, many assumed to worst for the cathedral’s three stained glass gothic rose windows. Dating from the 1200s, the windows are some of the most recognizable images not just of Notre-Dame but of Gothic architecture, still containing some glass from their original construction.

Initial reports all but assumed their destruction severe damage in the fire, with many fearing that the lead used to set the windows must melted due to the heat, or that the glass would have been shattered by the water pumped in to try to control the blaze.

Despite these fears, pictures published Tuesday appear to show all three windows are intact. They will be inspected for any damage, but appear to be relatively unscathed.

The organ was untouched

The cathedral’s grand organ, which was built in the fifteenth century, was not touched by the flames. While it is not yet known if it remains in playable condition, it may have been damaged by the firefighting efforts, hopes for restoration were given a significant boost by the news.

The altar and cross are still standing

In what has become one of the more breathtaking images of the cathedral’s destruction, the gold cross behind the main altar remained standing throughout the inferno. The area around the altar appears to be relatively untouched, and some photos even show rows of chairs still neatly stacked.

The bells and bell towers are intact

As emergency responders worked to fight the blaze, firefighters warned that there was an imminent risk that fire could compromise the north belfry of Notre-Dame’s historic front edifice. The overwhelming danger, they warned, was that the main bell could crash through the body of the building, fatally compromising the stonework.

At one point, officials said there was only a 90 minute window to save the towers. These efforts were successful.

The main bell, dubbed “Emmanuelle,” has served as a national punctuation for historic moments. It has rung to mark the coronation of kings and emperors and the end of two world wars.

Despite the outpouring of support and public commitment of political will, there is not yet a timetable or cost estimate for the extensive repairs. However, with the entire cathedral feared to be a loss just hours ago, the amount that was saved is being hailed as victory and progress in itself.

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Aberdeen, Scotland, Apr 16, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- A pro-life student group at the University of Aberdeen filed a lawsuit Friday against the university and its student association after it was blocked from affiliating because of its pro-life stance.

In October the Aberdeen University Students’ Association prevented the affiliation of the Aberdeen Life Ethics Society, citing its own pro-choice policy. The move limits Ale’s access to funds and venues at the university.

Ales filed suit in the Aberdeen Sheriff Court April 12 “alleging unlawful discrimination against the society and the violation of rights protected by UK law.”

Alex Mason, spokesperson for Ales, said April 14: “The past several months of obstructions and delays have been frustrating, but they have served to strengthen our resolve to see this unlawful policy repealed. The pro-life position may be an unpopular minority opinion on this campus, but it is fully protected by law.”

“The right to speak freely must be equally applied to all students, not just to those who already agree with the majority opinion,” Mason added.

The lawsuit requests that the court find Ausa’s “deplatforming pro-life student societies” incompatible with equality and human right laws.

Ales also asks that the court recommend it be affiliated to the student association “complete with the benefits and privileges that other societies enjoy.”

The pro-life group announced the rejection of its application for affiliation Oct. 19, 2018, saying: “We were rejected because the Student Council passed a policy in November 2017 declaring AUSA to be ‘pro-choice’ and pledging to ‘no-platform’ any society that opposes abortion. Since our proposed society is unashamedly pro-life, we have been banned from affiliating.”

The pro-life group said that the pro-choice policy is “being used as political cover to ban student speech on campus, it also treats the student body as undivided on the issue of abortion.”

Ausa has cited its pro-choice policy, adopted in November 2017, as the basis for its decision. The policy says, in part, that “Ausa should oppose the unreasonable display of pro-life material within campus and at Ausa events.”

Ales has said April 14 that its “repeated efforts to resolve this problem through internal bureaucratic channels were to no avail.”

It claimed that after a two-month delay, the university administration declined to intervene with Ausa, “suggesting we appeal” to the student association.

“We appealed to AUSA on the grounds that its no platform policy is a violation of both the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 insofar as it restricts the freedoms of association and belief for certain students on the basis of an ideological litmus test. We urged AUSA’s Board of Trustees to exercise its constitutional ability to rescind any policy it deems to be in breach of the law.”

Ales said that the board “informed us last week that they would not repeal the policy” but would recommend that the student council do so.

The pro-life group also said it has twice submitted motions to the student body to allow its affiliation, but “on both occasions … our motions were decisively defeated by the students in attendance.”

“It was disconcerting to watch our fellow students affirm and uphold our legal disenfranchisement, but it serves as proof that student democracy at Aberdeen is broken, serving only to insulate students from dissenting opinions.”

Ales stated that “at this point, all good faith avenues for resolution have been exhausted and ALES is now forced to turn to the legal system for restitution and vindication.”

Ausa has stated that it cannot comment on Ales’ legal action, but that the group “were invited to re-apply for affiliation as an Ausa society, with the reassurance that the application would be treated in the same way as any other,” but that “no application has been received.”

A spokesperson for the the University of Aberdeen commented that it is “an inclusive community and recognises different beliefs, values and cultures.”

Pro-life groups at other Scottish universities have faced similar problems.

Last year the the University of Strathclyde (in Glasgow) lifted a similar ban on pro-life groups, following legal pressure. Strathclyde Sudents for Life argued that the student associaton’s no platforming policy violated the Equality Act 2010 “by directly discriminating against a group of students based on their beliefs.”

Glasgow Students for Life were barred from affiliation by the Glasgow University’s Students’ Representative Council last November.

In March 2018 a joint committee on human rights of the UK parliament noted troubling barriers to free speech at the nation’s universities, writing: “Whilst the original intention behind safe space policies may have been to ensure that minority or vulnerable groups can feel secure, in practice the concept of safe spaces has proved problematic, often marginalising the views of minority groups.”

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