Juba, South Sudan, Mar 3, 2019 / 05:11 pm (CNA).- A peace agreement between the South Sudanese government and opposition leaders is bound to fail, because root problems have not been addressed, warned Catholic bishops in the country.
A pastoral letter… […]
Abuja, Nigeria, Feb 26, 2019 / 03:05 pm (CNA).- Nigeria is in the midst of counting votes cast in a contentious general election, and Catholic bishops are urging the nation’s leaders to conduct a credible and transparent vote, while at the same time the bishops closely observe the election process.
A week before the elections were supposed to take place, the bishops called for all Nigerians to pray and fast for the success of the elections.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria announced Feb. 25 that Caritas Nigeria, in collaboration with the Nigerian Justice Development and Peace Commissions, had set up a “Situation Room” to collect observations and reports about the elections from diocese across the country.
The general election, during which Nigerians voted for a presidential candidate as well as for the Senate and House of Representatives, was originally scheduled for Feb. 16 but was delayed at the last minute until Feb. 23. Catholic Action Nigeria said at the time that the delay placed a burden on citizens, especially those who underwent difficult travels to vote.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is still counting votes. Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari has the lead as of Feb. 26, having won 13 of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to the BBC. His opponent, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has won 11 states and the capital, Abuja. Uche Secondus, chairman of Abubakar’s party, has alleged that there have been irregularities in the election.
According to the Nigerian bishops’ conference, the Church has “actively engaged 3,823 accredited Observers, and 9,000 Citizen Observers to enhance data collection and collation” during elections. Father Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, signed the Feb. 25 report.
The bishops observed that voting at many polling places commenced very late. Some polling places experienced attacks from suspected Boko Haram militants; a 19-year-old man was killed at a polling place in the north-central region of the country. There were also some instances of people attempting to steal ballot boxes and technical problems with electronic card readers used to identify voters.
Some areas saw a low voter turnout a because security fears. In one area, armed men reportedly hijacked voting materials and abducted officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and other officials. In at least two areas, armed men gunned a number of people down at the polls and “snatched ballot boxes.” In Lagos state, the bishops report that cast votes were burnt and voters were “chased by suspected thugs.”
The bishops also said their observers noted cases of buying and selling votes in at least ten states across the country.
“The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria is grateful to all Nigerians for their resilience and admonishes [the Independent National Electoral Commission] to improve on the electoral systems and processes for the purposes of credible and transparent future elections in Nigeria,” the report concludes.
The Nigerian bishops’ conference had released a Jan. 19 statement ahead of the election after meeting at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Lagos, Nigeria, specifically warning against illegal voting practices such as buying or selling votes.
“Being an election year, 2019 appears delicate; we call on Nigerians to carry out their civic responsibilities with diligence and patriotism,” the statement read, according to Pulse Nigeria.
“Nigerians should see the election as a duty to enthrone good leadership, and no amount of financial inducement should sway us.”
Nigeria became a democracy in 1999 and is Africa’s most populous nation, with the continent’s largest economy, but has for years faced attacks and kidnappings by the radial Islamist group Boko Haram. Last year, the militants burned 22 buildings, including a part of the Catechetical Training Centre in Kaya.
Abuja, Nigeria, Feb 21, 2019 / 12:35 am (CNA).- Despite the constant threat of violence from Boko Haram terrorists, Catholics in Nigeria remain faithful to the Gospel, trusting God as they offer a witness of forgiveness, said a priest from the country.
As they attend Sunday Mass each week, Catholics in Nigeria “go into a church but don’t know if they’ll come out,” said Fr. Kenneth Chukwuka Iloabuchi.
The Nigerian priest, who is currently serving in the Diocese of Cartagena, Spain, recounted the experience of Christians in his home country to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency. Iloabuchi visited several cities in Mexico in mid-February as part of the second Night of Witnesses organized by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria for years has faced attacks and kidnappings by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The group is estimated to have killed tens of thousands over the last decade. Christians are targeted, sometimes in attacks during Mass.
But the Catholics in Nigeria hold fast to the faith “unto death,” Iloabuchi said.
“There’s one case that really struck me,” he recalled, that of “a woman who during Christmas Eve Mass lost all of her family members” to a terrorist attack.
“This woman said at the burial that she would not give in, that she would remain a Catholic unto death, that that was not going to take away her faith,” he said.
“With that peace of heart, with this attitude of forgiveness, they’re giving a great witness.”
Two years ago, the priest said, while visiting a village in northern Nigeria, “in the middle of Mass a sacristan came up, an assistant, and told me that a message had been received that Boko Haram was going to enter the village and was going to attack the people, was going to attack Christians.”
“At one point, I was scared and I asked him if I had to end the Mass so the people could leave. He told me no, that never for fear of this group… had they left the church. They had never abandoned their church for fear [the militants] were going to come in to kill the people, because if they started living that way, the terrorists will have won the war.”
Iloabuchi confessed he was afraid. “But seeing the people praising God, living the ceremony, praying, I had to ask myself: ‘You, who are a priest are afraid, while these people are praising God?’ And I had to take this encouragement from the people to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with dignity, and we celebrated it well without a problem.”
That night, they received a message that the militants had entered the neighboring village and killed six people.
The priest said he was struck by those who lost family members to attacks such as these, yet remained at peace.
“The ministers of the Church are working hard, beginning with the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference and the priests who live in the parishes with the people,” he said.
“What they are preaching is forgiveness, justice, peace and love,” the priest said. “That leads even young people in the Church, instead of taking up arms,…to forgive those who are persecuting them, and think that tomorrow will be better.”
Lagos, Nigeria, Feb 19, 2019 / 12:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic leaders have voiced disappointment at a last-minute delay in Nigerian elections, but called for Christians to remain peaceful and participate in the postponed vote next weekend.
Just b… […]
Denver, Colo., Feb 15, 2019 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Four years after the so-called Islamic State released a propaganda video showing the beheading of 21 abducted Coptic Christians in Libya, aid workers and politicians continue to highlight the dangers facing Christians in the Middle East and across the world.
On Feb. 15, 2015, a video was released showing IS fighters beheading Egyptian workers,as they knelt on a Libyan beach wearing prison-style orange jumpsuits. The Egyptian government and the Coptic Church later confirmed the video’s authenticity.
Edward Clancy, director of outreach for Aid to the Church in Need USA, told CNA that the killing of the Coptic martyrs helped to bring the issue to Christian persecution into focus for the wider Western culture and media, and spurred an outpouring of donations for charitable aid.
“It definitely brought the Christian persecution to the forefront and put it on page one,” Clancy told CNA in an interview Feb. 15.
Soon afterward the video’s release. the Coptic Church announced that the men would be commemorated as martyrs in its Church calendar. In October 2018, authorities found a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of the 21 men.
“Seemingly every day at that time there was a story of something going on, whether it was the fall of Raqqa; the enslavement of women; obviously the killing of the Coptic martyrs. And all of these did bring this [issue] into focus, and people did respond. Obviously it touched a lot of people’s hearts, and because of that they were very generous,” Clancy said.
Aid to the Church in Need has been working to help persecuted Christians since its founding in 1947. Clancy told CNA that while the public martyrdoms brought the dangers facing persecuted Christians to wider attention, Aid to the Church in Need had considered the issue a core concern for some time.
“I wouldn’t say that the videos changed much as far as [ACN’s priorities] go; our commitment to the Christian community there was as high before and after;” Clancy said.
“And that was because we saw the existential threat to the Christian communities by what was going on, by the violence, by the terrorism…The videos strengthened our resolve, I guess, to say we’re not going to let this happen.”
To this day, Clancy said, ancient Christian communities in the Middle East are at risk of disappearing. In Syria alone hundreds of thousands of Christians have been driven from their homes in places like Nineveh, Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo.
Last December, a mass grave of 34 Ethiopian Christians was unearthed. That grave is believed to contain the bodies of Christians killed by IS forces in a propaganda video posted on social media in April 2015, two months after the first video was released.
That video, similar to the first one, appeared to show the Islamic State members shooting and beheading the Ethiopian Christians, who were all wearing orange jumpsuits, on a beach.
Clancy told CNA that ancient Christian communities in the Middle East remain at risk of disappearing. In Syria alone hundreds of thousands of Christians have been driven from their homes in places like Nineveh, Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo.
“We’ve been able to support $55 million in aid over the years in Iraq and probably about $40 million in Syria in different programs to help keep the Christian communities alive,” Clancy said.
“Unfortunately though, even with all of those efforts, there’s been a great decline in the number of Christians. Iraq is down to about 20% of its Christian population as compared to 2000. And Syria’s down probably something like 40% since that time too.”
Clancy highlighted the continued dangers faced by Christians all over the region and the world, and noted the moral imperative on the international community to remember and support them.
“For us here in the United States, in the West, in the sort of ‘safe world,’ we actually take for granted that our faith is part of our lives. There, it’s part of their lives, but it could also be a reason for their death. So we should do our best to pray for them, to be aware of what’s going on and to support them by financial means and also for advocating on their behalf in the public arena.”
Clancy highlighted the recent announcement that the United States would withdraw troops from Syria as a source of fear among some in the Christian community. The move, he said, raised anxiety that terrorist forces might be emboldened by the decision.
“I think we have to be fair enough to say that when there’s a need for [military] protection that we should do it,” he said.
“It’s really all dependent on international governments, on the United States, the West, Europe, to stand up and say we’re not going to allow Christianity to die there. As Catholics, we can’t be afraid to say that, ” Clancy said.
One such advocate in the United States is Arkansas Congressman French Hill, who introduced a resolution Jan. 16 supporting the religious freedom of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Hill’s resolution called on the Egyptian government to “end the culture of impunity” with which Christians were attacked and to “make examples by arresting, prosecuting, and convicting those responsible for attacks on Christians.”
“We forget that it’s not wrong to say that Christians belong [in the Middle East] and Christians should stay there. That’s what I always ask people to remember,” Clancy said.
Abuja, Nigeria, Feb 6, 2019 / 10:01 pm (CNA).- In the face of Nigeria’s ongoing violence and political tensions, the country’s bishops have promoted a fair and faith-filled electoral process.
Nigeria will hold general elections Feb. 16. The country has continued to encounter violence from Muslim extremist groups and government brutality.
According to The Guardian, a Lagos daily, Bishop George Dodo of Zaria emphasized the importance of a Catholic’s civic duty at an interreligious press conference at the Catholic Pastoral Center in Zaria.
“Catholic social teaching encourages us as Catholics and patriotic citizens of this nation to be actively involved in civic and political activities,” he said.
The bishop said the electorate should acquire the proper Permanent Voters Card and refrain from buying or selling votes. He also warned citizens about the potential violence surrounding the elections and urged residents to vote according to their conscious.
He encouraged people “to vote for any candidate of your choice whom you think has good qualities and capacity to defend, improve and, or add value to your lives and dignity.”
He further added that it is the obligation of the Church to educate “the lay faithful on their civic responsibilities, but it didn’t direct Catholics on whom, or about who to vote for, because its membership is not made of any one political party, but cut across all the political parties.”
During a Christmas statement on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Obiora Akubeze of Benin City challenged Nigerians to cling closer to Christ to confront the country’s recent violence.
Boko Haram is a jihadist military organization active in northern Nigeria. The group has been responsible for hundreds of kidnappings and tens of thousands of deaths and displacements. Last year, the militants burned 22 buildings, including a part of the Catechetical Training Centre in Kaya.
Fulani herdsman, a nomadic Islamic group, have created discord and strife in the middle states of the country. Clashes between the herdsmen and farmers have increased as climate issues have pushed herders to the south. In June, the herdsmen killed more than 80 people in Plateau State.
The country has also seen tensions in religious freedom. Peaceful demonstrations from the Islamic Movement of Nigeria began late last year and continued into this year, with the most recent taking place Feb. 5. The protesters called for the release of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been detained in prison despite court orders for his release in 2016.
During the protests in late October, Nigerian security forces used automatic weapons to disperse the crowds. Forty-five members of IMN were killed and another 100 members were wounded, according to the Washington Post.
Archbishop Obiora said the country is experiencing difficult times, pointing toward the damaging effects of Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsman. He urged Catholics to face these challenges with prayer, and trust in Christ.
“Let all Nigerians cry to God to transform Nigeria into a land where opportunities are actualized and where there is harmony and peace,” he said, according to Catholic News Service of Nigeria.
He further challenged politicians to fulfill their political promises and act in favor of the Nigerian people. He said politicians should not seek out prayers on behalf of their political success but instead pray for the “peace, justice, and prosperity to all Nigerians.”
“We hope for a Nigeria where our leaders will bring the dividends of democracy to all Nigeria irrespective of whether they voted for them or not,” he said.
“Our politicians should seek prayers from priests and pastors to get the grace to fulfil their electoral promises to the electorate. They should win the hearts of Nigerians through meaningful and substantial campaign rooted in realistic promises that will better the lives of Nigerians,” he said.
Bangui, Central African Republic, Feb 6, 2019 / 05:53 pm (CNA).- The Central African Republic government has signed a peace deal with more than a dozen armed groups this week.
The deal was announced by the African Union Saturday, according to Reuters, but details were not publicly released.
Several previous peace deals in the last five years have failed.
The latest deal, between government forces and 14 rebel groups, comes after two weeks of discussions. Both sides are hopeful that the deal will last, Reuters reported.
The Central African Republic has suffered violence since December 2012, when several bands of mainly Muslim rebel groups formed an alliance, taking the name Seleka, and seized power.
In reaction to the Seleka’s attacks, some Central Africans formed self-defense groups called anti-balaka. Some of these groups, mainly composed of Christians, began attacking Muslims out of revenge, and the conflict took on a sectarian character.
Many Catholic churches in the country have offered refuge to Muslims and Christians alike fleeing violence, included churches in the Diocese of Bangassou, some 140 miles to the east of Alindao, where several Catholic institutions took in displaced Muslims facing violence at the hand of anti-balaka.
The country held a general election in 2015-16 which installed a new government, but militant groups continued to terrorize local populations. Thousands of people have been killed in the violence, and at least a million have been displaced. At least half of Central Africans depend on humanitarian aid, the U.N. reported last year.
The U.N. humanitarian chief for CAR, Najat Rochdi, has warned that the country will see a famine within a few years “if the situation is remaining the same and people are not going back to work their fields.”
The CAR bishops have repeatedly issued pleas for peace. They declared December 1 last year as a day of mourning and prayer for victims of violence. The day is normally celebrated as the anniversary of the nation’s establishment as a republic after French colonial rule.
Accra, Ghana, Feb 6, 2019 / 04:10 pm (CNA).- The Catholic bishops of Ghana are condemning the actions of those involved in a violent incident during a Jan. 31 local election. According to local media reports, unidentified assailants injured eighteen people in a shooting near the capital city of Accra.
“We condemn in no uncertain terms the reported shootings and assaults perpetrated by some unidentified groups resulting in injuries,” the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference wrote in a joint statement Feb. 1.
“Of particular concern is the reported use of vigilante groups to disturb the peace and quiet of the by-election.”
The bishops warned that “such manifestations of lawlessness and insecurity” are a threat to the country’s democracy, especially as the country prepares for a general election in 2020. They encouraged the police to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and the country’s Election Commission to “liaise with the political parties to address all the challenges and fears of stakeholders in the conduct of peaceful elections.”
“Finally, we also call on all citizens to remain law-abiding and eschew all forms of violence,” the bishops concluded.
The by-election was being held to fill a parliamentary seat in the constituency of Ayawaso West Wuogon in the capital city. One of the candidates, Delali Kwasi Brempong, reportedly tried to withdraw from the race after the violent incident but the election went ahead anyway, according to the Graphic Online.
Brempong’s party, the National Democratic Congress, accused the New Patriotic Party of fomenting the violence “to discredit Ghana’s electoral system to the international community,” an accusation that the NPP’s communications director has denied.
Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo congratulated the winner of the election, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, calling it a “free, fair, transparent and credible election.” Alhassan is a member of the president’s New Patriotic Party and was pitted against a candidate from the opposition National Democratic Congress.
“The isolated incident of violence, which occurred in the early stages of the election, was unfortunate and regrettable, and I condemn it in no uncertain terms,” Akufo-Addo said in a statement.
“A by-election should be a peaceful and happy event, no matter how competitive. The Police is committed to conducting a rapid inquiry into the matter, and I expect all persons who are found culpable, at the end of the process, to face the full rigours of the law.”
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb 5, 2019 / 02:32 am (CNA).- Preaching on the Beatitudes during his visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, Pope Francis called on those present to seek communion with Christ before all else.
“Let us together ask here today for the grace of rediscovering the attraction of following Jesus, of imitating him, of not seeking anyone else but him and his humble love,” the pope said Feb. 5 during Mass at Zayed Sports City, a stadium in Abu Dhabi.
“For here is the meaning of our life: in communion with him and in our love for others,” he added.
Pope Francis is in the Emirati capital Feb. 3-5 to promote interreligious dialogue and to give support to the country’s Christian minority. During his visit he also attended an interreligious meeting and met privately with the Muslim Council of Elders.
Christ pronounced the Beatitudes to “fix in our hearts,” the pope said, the “essential message” that “if you are with Jesus, if you love to listen to his word as the disciples of that time did, if you try to live out this word every day, then you are blessed.”
“The Christian life, first and foremost, is not … simply a list of external prescriptions to fulfil or a set of teachings to know,” but “rather, it is the knowledge that, in Jesus, we are the Father’s beloved children.”
“The Christian life means living out the joy of this blessedness, wanting to live life as a love story, the story of God’s faithful love, he who never abandons us and wishes to be in communion with us always,” Francis stated. “This is the reason for our joy, a joy that no one in the world and no circumstance in our lives can take from us. It is a joy that gives peace also in the midst of pain, a joy that already makes us participate in that eternal happiness which awaits us.”
The Beatitudes are “an overturning of that popular thinking, according to which it is the rich and the powerful who are blessed, those who are successful and acclaimed by the crowds,” he said.
“Let us look at how Jesus lived: poor in respect to things, but wealthy in love; he healed so many lives, but did not spare his own. He came to serve and not to be served; he taught us that greatness is not found in having but rather in giving. Just and meek, he did not offer resistance, but allowed himself to be condemned unjustly. In this way Jesus brought God’s love into the world. Only in this way did he defeat death, sin, fear and even worldliness: only by the power of divine love.”
Pope Francis thanked the Catholics living in the UAE for “the way in which you live the Gospel we heard.”
He added that following Christ doesn’t mean “always being cheerful,” saying that one “who is afflicted, who suffers injustice, who does everything he can to be a peacemaker, knows what it means to suffer.”
Many of the Catholics in Abu Dhabi are guest workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, though some are local Arabs.
The pope noted that many of the UAE’s Catholics “live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones, and perhaps also feeling uncertainty about the future.”
“The Lord is faithful and does not abandon his people,” Pope Francis said. He recalled the life of St. Anthony the Great, who was accompanied by Christ amid his torments, saying: “The Lord is close. It can happen that, when faced with fresh sorrow or a difficult period, we think we are alone, even after all the time we have spent with the Lord. But in those moments, where he might not intervene immediately, he walks at our side. And if we continue to go forward, he will open up a new way for us; for the Lord specializes in doing new things; he can even open paths in the desert.”
Living the Beatitudes does not require “great works”, Pope Francis said, but “the imitation of Jesus in our everyday life.”
The Beatitudes “invite us to keep our hearts pure, to practice meekness and justice despite everything, to be merciful to all, to live affliction in union with God,” and they are “for those who face up to the challenges and trials of each day.”
“Those who live out the Beatitudes according to Jesus are able to cleanse the world. They are like a tree that even in the wasteland absorbs polluted air each day and gives back oxygen. It is my hope that you will be like this, rooted in Jesus and ready to do good to those around you. May your communities be oases of peace.”
The pope singled out two of the Beatitudes: Blessed are the meek, and Blessed are the peacemakers.
Concerning meekness, he said: “Those who attack or overpower others are not blessed, but rather those that uphold Jesus’ way of acting, he who saved us, and who was meek even towards his accusers.”
The pope quoted from St. Francis of Assisi’s Earlier Rule regarding approaches to “Saracens and non-Christians”: “Let them not get into arguments or disagreements, but be subject to every human creature out of love for God, and let them profess that they are Christians”.
“Neither arguments nor disagreements,” the pope stressed. “At that time, as many people were setting out, heavily armed, Saint Francis pointed out that Christians set out armed only with their humble faith and concrete love. Meekness is important.”
Turning to “Blessed are the peacemakers”, Pope Francis said that a Christian “promotes peace, starting with the community where he or she lives.”
“I ask for you the grace to preserve peace, unity, to take care of each other, with that beautiful fraternity in which there are no first or second class Christians,” he told the Catholics living in the UAE.
Pope Francis concluded: “May Jesus, who calls you blessed, give you the grace to go forward without becoming discouraged, abounding in love ‘to one another and to all’.”
At the conclusion of Mass, Pope Francis was addressed by Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, who thanked him for his visit.
Bishop Hinder said that the pope had “come to a Muslim country with the intention to do as Saint Francis did in the year 1219,” when he met in “mutual respect” with Al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt.
“We Christians try to implement the order Saint Francis gave at his time to his brothers and to ‘live spiritually among the Muslims … not to engage in arguments and (simply) to acknowledge that (we) are Christians.’”
The bishop also thanked the Emirati authorities, especially Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, “who generously have made possible this visit and given us this space in order to have a public Mass with as many faithful as possible.”
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb 4, 2019 / 06:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With millions of Ethiopians forced out of their homes, Catholic Relief Services is working with the local Catholic Church to offer immediate relief and to address the root causes of their … […]
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