Paris, France, Feb 15, 2019 / 08:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Luigi Ventura, apostolic nuncio to Francis since 2009 and a long-time Vatican diplomat, is under investigation for alleged sexual assault.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported Friday th… […]
Paris, France, Feb 15, 2019 / 12:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At least 10 incidents of vandalism and desecration of Catholic churches have been reported in France since the beginning of February, according to French news sources and watch groups.
Vandals in Catholic churches throughout the country have smashed statues, knocked down tabernacles, scattered or destroyed the Eucharist, burnt altar cloths and torn down crosses, among other acts of desecration of religious items.
According to La Croix International, one of the earliest incidents occurred February 4 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Houilles, Yvelines, where a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was found smashed on the ground. The church had experienced earlier incidents of vandalism just weeks prior, when the altar cross was found thrown to the ground and the celebrant’s chair was damaged.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, a Christian watchdog group, documented another attack at St. Nicholas Church on February 10, when the tabernacle was found thrown to the ground. A 35 year-old man later confessed to committing the act to police.
On February 5, an altar cloth was found burnt and crosses and statues torn down or disfigured at Saint-Alain Cathedral in Lavaur, in south-central France. The fire was found early by a parish secretary and did not spread, though the smoke damaged the altar and adjacent walls.
The 800 year-old building had also recently undergone renovations, local sources reported.
“I strongly condemn the vandalism of Lavaur Cathedral and I share the outrage aroused by this intolerable act,” Jean Terlier, a local district deputy, said in a statement following the incident, according to La Croix.
“God will forgive. Not me,” the city’s mayor Bernard Carayon said of the vandalism, La Croix reported.
On February 6, just a day after the Saint-Alain Cathedral incident, vandals at a Catholic Church in Nimes broke into the tabernacle and scattered the hosts on the ground, drew a cross on the wall with excrement and damaged other religious items in the church, according to local reports.
In a statement posted to the Diocesan website, Bishop Robert Wattebled of Nimes denounced the desecration, which “greatly affects our diocesan community. The sign of the cross and the Blessed Sacrament have been the subject of serious injurious actions. This act of profanation hurts us all in our deepest convictions,” he said.
The Bishop also announced that a Mass of reparation must be said in the church before regular Masses can continue, and noted that local religious orders of the diocese had already offered to observe days of fasting and prayer in reparation for the act. He encouraged lay Catholics to join in acts of prayer and reparation.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe documented another incident on February 9 at the Church of Notre-Dame de Dijon in Côte-d’Or, about 175 miles to the south and east of Paris.
Again in this incident, the tabernacle was opened and the Eucharist scattered. An altar cloth was also stained and a missle book was torn.
Father Emmanuel Pic from Notre-Dame parish told La Bien Public news that since nothing of great monetary value was damaged, it seems the vandals wanted to attack the “heart of the Catholic faith.”
“Nothing of value has been broken, but it is the intent that is very shocking. This is what characterizes profanation,” Pic said.
The vandals seemed to have known that attacking the altar and the Eucharist would be “a very strong symbol for (parishioners), since the hosts consecrated during the previous Mass are no longer just a piece of bread in the eyes of Christians” but the body of Christ, he added. The priest also posted photos of the desecration to his Twitter account. Mass resumed at the parish after a Mass of reparation was said by the local archbishop.
In a statement posted to the group’s newsletter, Ellen Fantini, executive director of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, joined local priests, bishops and civil authorities in condemning the “shocking” acts of vandalism.
“It is our sincere hope that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that awareness of increasing anti-Christian hostility in France reaches the public square,” she said.
In a statement posted to Twitter on February 13, Prime Minister of France Edouard Philippe also condemned the acts ahead of a meeting with the country’s bishops.
“In one week, in France, 5 degraded churches. In our secular Republic, places of worship are respected. Such acts shock me and must be unanimously condemned. I will tell the bishops of France at the meeting of the forum of dialogue with the Catholic Church,” he said.
Besides the confession in the incident at St. Nicholas Church, investigations are ongoing as to the perpetrators of these acts of vandalism.
While it is yet unclear if the incidents are at all related, they recall the series of attacks and vandalism that the Catholic Church in France and Belgium experienced in 2016 by the Islamic State. The worst of those attacks included the murder of Fr. Jacques Hamel, who was killed by jihadists while celebrating Mass at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy. The assailants entered the church and took the priest and four others hostage. Local law enforcement reported that the priest’s throat was slit in the attack, and that both of the hostage takers were shot dead by police.
London, England, Feb 14, 2019 / 03:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Doctors in the United Kingdom performed surgery Jan. 8 on an unborn baby, before successfully returning the child, Elouise, to her mother’s womb.
The mother, 26-year-old Bethan Simpson, … […]
Budapest, Hungary, Feb 12, 2019 / 03:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In an effort to encourage Hungarians to have more babies, the prime minister of the country has announced that women with four children or more will be exempt from paying income tax for life…. […]
Munich, Germany, Feb 10, 2019 / 01:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Walter Kasper has released a criticism of Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s “Manifesto of Faith,” accusing it of containing half-truths and blanket statements that could… […]
Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2019 / 09:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Often spaces of suffering, prisons should be places of hope and the possibility of redemption, Pope Francis told prison personnel Thursday, urging them to have compassion on the ‘wounds’… […]
Edinburgh, Scotland, Feb 5, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Some hospitals in Scotland have stopped telling expectant parents the sex of their unborn baby due to fears of legal action in cases of mistakes, the potential to encourage sex-selective abo… […]
Mainz, Germany, Feb 4, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- In an open letter published Sunday by a German daily, nine German Catholics, including two prominent Jesuits, demand a break with the Church’s teaching on sexual morality.
The signatories call for a reworking of ecclesial structure, namely a “separation of powers”, the priestly ordination of women, an end to mandatory priestly celibacy, and other changes.
Published in the Feb. 3 edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the letter is addressed to Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the German bishops’ conference, and tells him that if he and other bishops were to decide to “spearhead the Reform movement”, they would be assured of the signatories’ full support.
Among those who signed the letter are the rector of the Sankt Georgen Graduate School in Frankfurt, Jesuit Father Ansgar Wucherpfennig, as well as Jesuit Father Klaus Mertes and the Frankfurt City’s Catholic Dean, Fr Johannes zu Eltz.
Father Wucherpfennig re-election as rector was recently called into question by the Vatican, because of comments made in 2016 in which claimed, among other things, that passages condemning homosexuality in the Bible had been “misread”. He has since been reinstated.
The three priests are joined by former Jesuit Jörg Splett, an academic philosopher, as well as his wife Ingrid, the “Greens” politician Bettina Jarasch, the Frankfurt Caritas director Gaby Hagemans, and two members of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Claudia Lücking-Michel and Dagmar Mensink.
The signatories demand the Catholic Church should hit “reset” and make a fresh start when it comes to the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, including a “reasonable and just evaluation of homosexuality”.
The letter further calls on bishops to pursue a “genuine separation of powers”, claiming that this would “conform better with Christ’s humility”, and to “open (…) ordained ministry up to women”. What is more, the signatories demand that diocesan priests should freely choose whether to live a celibate life or not: This way, “celibacy can again credibly point to the Kingdom of Heaven”, the letter states.
Finally, the signatories wish Cardinal Marx a “good trip to Rome” when attending the Feb. 21-24 sexual abuse summit, and to pass on their greetings to Pope Francis.
Strasbourg, France, Feb 1, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- Richard Williamson has lost an appeal against his 2010 conviction for inciting hatred. His appeal was rejected January 31 by the European Court of Human Rights.
The disgraced bishop, who has b… […]
London, England, Jan 29, 2019 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Attempts to liberalize access to abortion in Northern Ireland continue, shortly after legal abortion was introduced in the Republic of Ireland, with both legislation in Westminster and a legal challenge.
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. Elective abortion is legal in the rest of the United Kingdom up to 24 weeks.
British prime minister Theresa May has said abortion should be a devolved issue for Northern Ireland, but the Northern Ireland Assembly is currently suspended due to disagreements between the two major governing parties.
Last week, one member of the British parliament wanted to add an amendment promoting abortion reform in Northern Ireland to a bill meant to curb domestic violence.
Labour and Co-operative MP Stella Creasy intended to put forward an amendment to the draft Domestic Abuse Bill which would give the British parliament jurisdiction over abortion laws throughout the United Kingdom, The Sunday Times reported Jan. 27. However, the bill’s scope was restricted by the government, blocking the amendment.
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.
Separately, a Belfast woman plans to bring forward a personal challenge to Northern Ireland’s abortion law to court this week.
Sarah Ewart, who is backed by Amnesty International, traveled to England in 2013 for an abortion after her doctors reportedly told her that her baby would not survive outside of the womb. She has previously campaigned to change the law to allow for abortion in cases of “fatal fetal abnormality.”
In June 2018, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission challenged the region’s abortion laws in the UK Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court concluded that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws violated human rights law by banning abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, and incest, it threw out the case saying it had not been brought forward by a person who had been wrongfully harmed by the law.
Ewart’s challenge to the abortion law before the court is expected to last three days.
Northern Ireland’s abortion law has been under increased pressured in recent years. Since abortion became legal in the Republic, calls for “the north is next” and “now for Northern Ireland” have increased.
In October 2018, the British parliament passed a bill requiring the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to provide guidance to civil servants on how to exercise their functions regarding human rights.
Under the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018, Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland Secretary, is to guide Northern Irish officials on how to exercise their functions in light of what the UK Supreme Court said in June regarding the region’s abortion law.
Debate over the bill in the House of Lords focused on the importance of devolution.
Creasy had introduced an amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 in the House of Commons to repeal Northern Irish law on abortion and gay marriage, which was defeated.
Since November 2017, Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.
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