Brussels, Belgium, Nov 3, 2018 / 09:00 am (CNA).- The Brothers of Charity, a Belgian religious congregation, did not renew the terms for two board members of the organization that controls their hospitals in Belgium. The former board members had accept… […]
Rome, Italy, Nov 2, 2018 / 11:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In commemoration of All Souls’ Day, Pope Francis prayed Friday in a cemetery for unborn children called the “Garden of Angels” on the outskirts of Rome.
“Listen to the prayer we address to you for all our loved ones who have left this world: open the arms of your mercy and receive them in the glorious assembly of Holy Jerusalem,” the pope prayed in a Blessing of the Tombs Nov. 2.
Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the Laurentino Cemetery, which includes a special burial area for deceased children and unborn babies, where the pope offered a bouquet of flowers and spent a moment in prayer.
“Today is a day of memory, a day to remember those who walked before us, accompanied us, gave us life,” Pope Francis said in his homily.
It is also “a day of hope,” he continued, a hope of “what awaits us: a new heaven, a new earth, the holy city of the new Jerusalem.”
“Beauty awaits us … memory and hope, hope to encounter, hope to arrive where there is the Love which created us, where there is the Love which awaits us: the love of the Father.”
“Between memory and hope” is the road that we must take, Pope Francis said, emphasizing that it is the Beatitudes that lead us along this path.
“These beatitudes – meekness, poverty of spirit, justice, mercy, purity of heart – are the lights that accompany us so as not to make mistakes,” the pope said.
After the All Souls’ Day Mass, Pope Francis prayed in private in St. Peter’s Basilica at the grotto tombs of deceased popes.
In recent tradition, popes have celebrated an All Souls’ Day Mass at at Rome’s Campo Verano cemetery, founded in the 19th century.
In 2016, Pope Francis extended this tradition to the Prima Porta Cemetery, and last year the Mass took place in an Italian cemetery for American personnel killed in World War II.
Venice, Italy, Oct 31, 2018 / 01:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice flooded with nearly three feet of water this week, damaging part of the 1,000 year old marble mosaic floor inside.
The basilica “aged 20 years in one day,” St. Mark’s procurator Carlo Alberto Tesserin said.
Flood waters kept parts of the Madonna Nicopeia chapel’s intricately designed floor under three feet of water for 16 hours, Tesserin said. The chapel, located in the cathedral’s left transept, contains a 9th century Byzantine icon of Mary.
The baptistry and the Zen Chapel, named for Cardinal Giambattista Zen, who died in 1501, were completely flooded. The basilica’s bronze doors and columns also sustained damage.
In St. Mark’s Basilica’s 926 year history, there have been only five floods as severe. The high water mark in Venice reached over 5 feet on Monday with an “acqua alta,” or high tide, covering 75 percent of the city.
Storms in Italy this week left at least 11 people dead throughout the country as 110 mph winds caused trees to fall upon cars and pedestrians. The Liguria region in northwest Italy experienced dangerous landslides.
The Italian Civil Protection Agency said that the Liguria, Veneto, Trentino, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions were most affected by the heavy rainfall and high winds.
Museums in Venice reopened Wednesday as the flood waters subsided.
London, England, Oct 31, 2018 / 12:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A bill in the parliament of the United Kingdom requiring the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to provide guidance to civil servants on how to exercise their functions regarding human rights is scheduled to receive Royal Assent Thursday.
The Nov. 1 Royal Assent will make the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill a law.
The bill is the latest effort to liberalize Northern Ireland’s practice regarding abortion, in the wake of a June Supreme Court Ruling which said the current law violates the European Convention on Human Rights by banning abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, and incest.
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.
The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill aims to provide for the exercise of governmental functions in light of the suspended legislature. 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.
In addition, Bradley is to give guidance regarding same-sex marriage.
The move is meant to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK on the two social and moral topics.
Same-sex marriage has been allowed in England, Wales, and Scotland since 2014, but is not performed or recognized in Northern Ireland.
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.
Northern Irish women have been able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England, Scotland, and Wales since November 2017.
Bills to legalize abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, or incest failed in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016.
The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest party in the Assembly and a member of the coalition government in Westminster, is opposed to changing the law. Sinn Féin, another prominent party in Northern Ireland, backs a liberalization of the abortion law.
The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill was introduced in the House of Commons Oct. 18 and was fast-tracked through parliament.
In the House of Commons it received widespread support, and while it met with stronger opposition in the House of Lords, it nevertheless passed through the upper chamber.
Lord Rogan, a peer of the Ulster Unionist Party, expressed disillusionment with the vote, recalling the importance of devolution for the people of Northern Ireland.
Lord Mackay, a Conservative and a former Lord Chancellor, said that “abortion has been made a devolved subject and therefore the only statutory authority with authority to alter the statues and statutory instruments are the legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland.”
Baroness O’Loan noted that it was properly the role of the Northern Ireland Assembly to legislate on abortion law in the region, and said that “it must surely be illogical to ask the Secretary of State to issue guidance, which would be incompatible with that law.”
Lord Browne of Belmont, of the DUP, said he thought the move was “an attempt to change the law through guidance” and that “it is proper for those matters to be dealt with by the devolved institutions.”
But Lord Steel, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats, supported a move to have the UK parliament directly decriminalize abortion in the region.
And Lord Adonis, a Labour Party member, justified the UK parliament’s move by saying that “if Northern Ireland wishes to exercise the prerogatives of devolution, it must operate devolved institutions. If they do not sit and legislate, then we have a duty to legislate in their place, because there is no one else who can do it.”
Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Conor McGinn had introduced an amendment in the House of Commons to repeal Northern Irish law on abortion and gay marriage, but it was defeated.
Separately, the Abortion Bill was introduced Oct. 23 by Diana Johnson, MP for Hull North and a member of the Labour Party. The bill, which would apply to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, would decriminalize elective abortion up to 24 weeks. It is scheduled for a second reading Nov. 23.
Dublin, Ireland, Oct 30, 2018 / 12:53 pm (CNA).- Irish voters supported overwhelmingly last week a daily broadcast of the “Angelus Bells” on national broadcasting network RTE.
In a centuries-old custom, Church bells have rung daily across … […]
Douglas, Isle of Man, Oct 30, 2018 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The lower house of the Isle of Man’s legislature advanced Tuesday a bill that would liberalize abortion access in the territory.
Members of the House of Keys accepted amendments Oct. 30 to the Abortion Reform Bill 2018.
Abortion policy on the the Isle of Man, a crown dependency located between England and Northern Ireland, is currently governed by the Termination of Pregnancy Act 1995, which allows abortion only in cases where the mother’s life is endangered or if the baby has a low survival rate.
The Abortion Reform Bill 2018 would allow elective abortion up to 14 weeks, up to 24 weeks if medical reasons or “serious social grounds” were presented, and, according to Isle of Man Today, “in certain emergency or serious situations after 24 weeks.”
Among the amendments accepted Tuesday were measures to prevent sex-selective abortions.
It would also provide for buffer zones around medical centers to keep pro-life counselors and protesters at a distance from women procuring abortion.
The bill has been opposed by the Catholic Church on the island and by Humanity and Equality in Abortion Reform.
The amendments having been accepted by the House of Keys, the bill must now return to the Legislative Council, which will next meet Nov. 20. The bill must be approved there, and be given royal assent, before it can become law.
Strasbourg, France, Oct 26, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this week upheld a conviction against an Austrian woman who called the Islamic prophet Muhammed a “pedophile.”
The ECHR said the conviction, whic… […]
Dublin, Ireland, Oct 26, 2018 / 04:06 pm (CNA).- Exit polls indicated Irish voters were expected to repeal the Republic of Ireland’s constitutional prohibition against blasphemy, with close to 70 percent of voters backing the change in a Friday v… […]
London, England, Oct 24, 2018 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Members of Parliament challenged the UK government to address sexual harassment of women by restricting sexualized media, especially pornography.
In a recent report, the House of Commons’ Women an… […]
London, England, Oct 23, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- Pro-life advocates have responded cautiously to a proposed new law to expand access to abortion nationwide and force legalization on Northern Ireland, where the practice remains illegal in all but except… […]
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