Europe

Dublin, Ireland, Jun 15, 2018 / 03:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Publicly-funded hospitals in Ireland will be required to perform abortions, even if they are Catholic and morally opposed to the procedure, the nation’s prime minister announced this week.

A survey on GPBuddy.ie, an online medical directory for Irish healthcare professionals, found that nearly 70 percent of general practitioners say they are unwilling to perform abortions.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar clarified to the Dáil (Irish Parliament) on Monday that individual medical professionals will be able to opt out of performing abortions, but entire hospitals will not be able to do so, now that abortion is being legalized in the country.  

“It will not, however, be possible for publicly-funded hospitals, no matter who their patron or owner is, to opt out of providing these necessary services, which will be legal in this state once this legislation is passed by the Dáil and Seanad (senate),” said Varadkar.

He went on to say that “hospitals like for example Holles Street, which is a Catholic voluntary ethos hospital, the Mater, St Vincent’s and others will be required, and will be expected to, carry out any procedure that is legal in this state and that is the model we will follow.”

A “voluntary” hospital in Ireland is one supported by charitable contributions. Healthcare in Ireland is government-funded and free for citizens. Many publicly-funded hospitals have historic ties to the Catholic Church and operate under Catholic ethics.

Ireland voted last month to repeal the country’s Eighth Amendment, which recognized the rights of both mothers and their unborn babies. As a result, the government is now drafting legislation to formally legalize abortion through the 12th week of pregnancy.

Prior to the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, abortion was only available in Ireland if the mother’s health was deemed to be at risk.

The Irish bishops, who opposed the legalization of abortion, have spoken out on the importance of conscience rights. They have voiced objections to a government proposal that would require doctors to refer patients for abortions.

“For healthcare professionals, the right of conscientious objection must be respected,” said the Irish bishops in a statement.

“It would be a great injustice to require doctors and nurses to participate, even by referral, in the provision of services which would be a serious violation of their conscience. This would only be ‘a way of pretending to respect freedom of conscience while actually requiring one person to cooperate in what he or she sincerely believes is the wrong-doing of another. Such a presumption is at variance with the right to conscientious objection.’”

Since last month’s referendum, Ireland has grappled with conscience rights for doctors and other medical professionals, as only about 20 percent of general practitioners in the country said they would be willing to perform abortions. The Irish government has suggested that it is “likely” that a list of doctors who are willing to perform abortions will be released to the public.

Pro Life Campaign Spokesperson Dr. Ruth Cullen said that the results of the survey suggest that the government is out of step with health care professionals in the country.

“It’s clear the Government haven’t thought this one through,” said Cullen in a statement published on the campaign’s website.

“They spent so much time packaging their abortion proposals as ‘healthcare’ that they’ve no response to doctors who take issue with their proposals other than to coerce these same doctors into facilitating abortion,” she said.

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Lourdes, France, Jun 14, 2018 / 12:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As heavy rains cause flash flooding across parts of France, the Marian shrine at Lourdes has been evacuated until further notice.

“The Grotto is flooded and the International Mass in the… […]

Valencia, Spain, Jun 13, 2018 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Valencia, Spain is preparing resources for more than 600 immigrants on board a rescue boat that was denied entry into Italy this week.

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia said God is calling the local people to welcome the immigrants.

“We can’t let these people who are suffering be stranded.”

On June 11, the government of Italy refused entrance to 629 immigrants on board the Aquarius, a humanitarian aid vessel operated by SOS Mediterranée and Doctors Without Borders, two groups that rescue immigrants on small vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

Among the passengers are 123 children and seven pregnant women.

The government of Spain has offered to receive the immigrants – mainly sub-Saharan Africans – and is opening the port of Valencia for their arrival.

After hearing this news, Cardinal Cañizares launched a coordination office to connect the immigrants with resources from the archdiocese.

The network includes charities, parishes, and diocesan schools, as well as aid groups that are already involved in helping immigrants in the city.

In an interview with the TreceTv network, Cardinal Cañizares explained that “in cooperation with the public administration,” they have made available “buildings, homes, personnel to help with everything that may be needed.”

“We stand ready, simply, so that these poor people who have had to leave their homeland and go through so many calamities on the Mediterranean, that when they reach us they feel welcome and treated as persons, with every effort made to help them,” the cardinal said.

Besides providing for basic needs, Cardinal Cañizares said he hopes the immigrants find “great affection and love.”

According to media outlets, the immigrants will undergo a medical examination after arriving in Valencia. The authorities will then determine whether they will be classified as refugees or undocumented immigrants without proper legal status. Categorization as a refugee allows for lodging without police supervision and a small monetary allowance.

According to Cardinal Cañizares, the Red Cross will be in charge of the first phase of care, then after that the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the diocese’s Caritas and immigration services will take over.

“Starting next week, we will collaborate on the more specific aspects of receiving them, not only basic but also ongoing needs, such as education and foster care,” he said.

The local Church will also help in offering healthcare services, as many of the immigrants may be in poor health from their countries of origin or their time on the Mediterranean Sea.

“Europe is very privileged, [it] can share what it has and it can share more of what it does,” the cardinal said.

Noting the Christian roots of Europe, he stressed that “we cannot hide that, without incurring the betrayal of Europe itself.”
 

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Warsaw, Poland, Jun 12, 2018 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ thought on the family reveals the importance of “tenderness and closeness” in pastoral ministry and should be read in the spirit of continuity with previous popes… […]

Kyiv, Ukraine, Jun 8, 2018 / 12:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As a Ukrainian clinic claims success in creating babies with three parents’ DNA, critics are raising medical and ethical objections to the largely experimental fertility method.

“This… […]

London, England, Jun 7, 2018 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The UK Supreme Court threw out a case challenging Northern Ireland’s abortion law on Thursday, saying the commission which brought the case does not have standing to do so. However, the judges also said the current law violates the European Convention on Human Rights.

The challenge was brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Abortion is allowed 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.

Lord Mance, delivering the judgement June 7, said that had the commission the competence to bring the challenge, “I would have concluded, without real hesitation at the end of the day, that the current Northern Ireland law is incompatible with article 8 of the [European human rights] convention insofar as it prohibits abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest but not insofar as it prohibits abortion in cases of serious foetal abnormality.”

Four of the seven judges agreed that Northern Ireland abortion law is incompatible with the ECHR in cases of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, and incest. A fifth agreed it it incompatible only in casese of fatal fetal abnormality.

One of the justices, Lord Kerr, said that the court unanimously agreed that banning the abortion of unborn children with serious, but not fatal, abnormalities is compatible with the ECHR: “Many children born with disabilities, even grave disabilities, lead happy, fulfilled lives. In many instances they enrich and bring joy to their families and those who come into contact with them. Moreover the difficulty in devising a confident and reliable definition of serious malformation we regarded as a potent factor against a finding of incompatibility.”

Kerr also said that “to require in every instance” a woman to carry to term a child conceived in incest “could not … be considered as having struck the right balance between her rights and those of society.”

And with respect to children conceived in rape, Kerr stated: “A woman is potentially responsible for the child once born under a relationship which may continue for the rest of her life. For these reasons, we concluded that the blanket ban on abortion in cases of rape was plainly disproportionate.”

The court’s ruling signalled that while it could not strike down the law with the challenge from the human rights commission, it would were the case presented by a woman who was pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or who was carrying a child with a fatal abnormalities.

“The judges made absolutely clear that if a woman [who had suffered such a case] was brought forward they would find that our laws are incompatible with human rights,” said Les Allamby, the head of the NIHRC, the Guardian reported.

Legislators may also consider changing the law. Kerr noted that while the decision is not binding, “it must nevertheless be worthy of close consideration” by legislators.

The matter could be taken up by either the Northern Ireland Assembly or the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The Northern Ireland Assembly is currently suspended. The Democratic Unionist Party, the largest party, is opposed to changing the law. Sinn Féin, another prominent party in Northern Ireland, backs a liberalization of the abortion law.

Bills to legalize abortion for fatal fetal abnormality or rape or incest failed in the assembly in 2016.

British prime minister Theresa May has said abortion should be a devolved issue for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, said the government is “carefully considering” the court’s decision and that it “will be clearly heard by this house and politicians in Northern Ireland.”

The NIHRC hopes the British Parliament will change Northern Irish law “without delay”. The Northern Ireland director of the Royal College of Midwives made a similar comment.

In June 2017, May’s government announced that Northern Irish women would be able to procure free National Health Service abortions in England.

Peter Lynas, spokesman for the pro-life group Both Lives Matter, commented that “The Northern Ireland Assembly had a full debate on this in 2016 and didn’t want to make any changes to the law. It shouldn’t be over-ridden by Westminster. We welcome this ruling. The NIHRC did not have standing in this case. Any wider move to decriminalisation is off the table now.”

The push for the legalization of abortion in Northern Ireland is not a new campaign, and has gained traction with the overturn of an abortion ban in the Republic of Ireland only weeks ago.

On May 28, abortion activists gathered at the main court buildings in Belfast to protest the country’s pro-life laws, and several women publicly took abortion pills.

However, many pro-life groups in the area have been fighting against the liberalization of abortion laws, emphasizing the importance of fighting for the right to life.

“It is so incredibly important to lobby for life at this present point in time because of the stark threat to unborn children here as Northern Ireland faces a great deal of political instability,” said Precious Life, a pro-life group in Northern Ireland, in August 2017.

“Unborn children cannot speak for themselves so they need us to be their voice.”

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Dublin, Ireland, Jun 6, 2018 / 03:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Marian shrines in more than 50 countries throughout world will join in a 24-hour rosary initiative on Friday to intercede for and honor the priestly vocation.

“It is an opportunity for us… […]

Rome, Italy, Jun 6, 2018 / 12:52 am (CNA).- A new ad in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair magazine has given the global #MeToo movement another dimension, shining a spotlight on women who have suffered persecution, rape and violence due to their faith.

Three of these women – Rebecca Bitrus, a Christian woman from Nigeria; Dalal, a Yazidi woman from Iraq, and Sr. Meena, a nun from India – are featured in the ad, sharing just a glimpse of horrors they have endured.

“They raped me, they kept me as a prisoner for two years, they killed one of my sons and they sold me as a slave.” These are the words of Rebecca, who in the ad holds a sign bearing the famous #MeToo hashtag.

“At 17 years old I was kidnapped and sold as a sexual slave to nine different men in nine months. ISIS still has my mother and my sister as prisoners.” This is what happened to 21-year-old Dalal, who is pictured holding a sign that says #NotJustYou.

“They raped me and beat me, they forced me to walk naked for five kilometers while the crowd continued to hit me.” This is the story of Sr. Meena, an Indian nun raped by Hindu extremists, who is shown holding a sign saying #StopIndifference.

Sponsored by the international pontifical aid organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the ad was published June 6 in the weekly Italian edition of Vanity Fair magazine, which is one of the most successful women’s magazines in Italy and which has been heavily involved in covering the #MeToo movement.

In comments to CNA June 5, Alessandro Monteduro, director of ACN Italy, said the goal of the ad is to raise awareness about “the sufferings of women persecuted for their faith.”

“We have thousands and thousands of women who are raped, tortured and forced to marry only in the name of faith,” he said, noting that until recently, there was not a true awareness of the atrocities these women have faced.

Monteduro praised the efforts of the many women who have spoken out about sexual violence through the “#MeToo” movement, which was born after the New York Times in October 2017 published an investigative report on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who this week pled “ not guilty” to charges of rape and other criminal sexual acts.

After the report ran in the New York Times, other celebrities and women throughout the world spoke up and began to share their own stories of sexual assault on social media, using the now world famous hashtag #MeToo.

“It’s good, it’s wonderful to create the awareness for actresses and women in the Western world who are in any way victims of violence,” Monteduro said, but stressed that at the same time, “all over the world there are women who are suffering the same, but maybe more aggressive violence in the name of faith.”

The ad begins by addressing some of the actresses who have spoken out as part of the #MeToo initiative, saying that their efforts have helped to raise awareness about sexual violence in western nations.

“Your faces, known by everyone, have been associated with the denunciation of a practice that seriously damages women, their sexuality and their dignity,” the ad says, noting that ACN for more than 70 years has sought to help persecuted Christians throughout the world, including many women who have suffered rape and sexual harassment.

“The faces of these women are invisible,” it says, and, introducing Rebecca, Dalal and Sr. Meena, notes that there are thousands of women like them who are both “persecuted and outraged without receiving any solidarity or visibility on social media.”

These women “need you,” the ad says, and asks the celebrities who have already spoken out on the #MeToo movement to join in condemning “the intolerable hypocrisy of those who are outraged only by what happens in the yard of their own home and who are stingy in their thoughts, words and help for those who suffer far away due to the silence of so many.”

“The solidarity of famous actresses such as yourselves would break the indifference.”

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London, England, Jun 5, 2018 / 04:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Anglican and Catholic leaders in the UK are teaming up to fight modern-day slavery through a free app that helps identify forced labor at hand car washes.

“Over the last few years we have… […]

Edinburgh, Scotland, Jun 5, 2018 / 12:41 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a pastoral letter for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews & Edinburgh stressed the importance of the Sunday Mass obligation for Catholics.

“I… […]