US bishops applaud debt cancellation of 17 countries
Washington D.C., Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - The
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) welcomed the
decision by the World Bank Executive Board to approve debt cancellation
for an initial 17 countries, effective July 1, as well as the agreement
to cancel poor countries’ debt in the least time possible.
Bishop Thomas
Wenski, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on International Policy,
termed the action by the World Bank Executive Board “a concrete
application of Pope John Paul II’s call for the ‘globalization of
solidarity.’”
This latest
decision by the World Bank flows from the commitment made by the G8
leaders last year in Edinburgh, Scotland. It will cancel 100 percent of
17 impoverished countries’ debts to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), World Bank, and African Development Bank in 2006.
It has been
described as a small but significant victory that flows from the
sustained interest and advocacy of the Catholic Church and other
interested groups.
In a press
release issued March 31, the USCCB pointed out that they joined with
others to offer an alternative that would grant debt cancellation
within two to three months of reaching the completion point, instead of
having to wait for over a year.
The USCCB will
continue to call for the cancellation of debts for dozens of other
impoverished nations and from significant creditors such as the
Inter-American Development Bank.
Pope Benedict: John Paul II died one year ago as he always lived; animated by faith, giving self up to God
Vatican City, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - On
Sunday, the Catholic Church paused to remember the
one-year-ago-to-the-day death of Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI
said that the completion of the late Holy Father’s earthly life was the
fulfillment of a “coherent witness of faith” which constituted the
Polish Pope’s entire existence.
Prior to praying
his weekly Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father
recalled that one year ago, "the beloved Pope John Paul II was living
through the last phase of his earthly pilgrimage, a pilgrimage of
faith, love and hope that left a profound mark in the history of the
Church and of humanity.”
Tens of thousands of pilgrims and visitors were on hand to hear the Pope’s words.
Benedict said
that "His agony and death constituted almost a prolongation of the
Easter Triduum. We all recall the images of his last Way of the Cross
on Good Friday. Unable to go to the Coliseum, he followed events from
his private chapel, holding the cross in his hands.”
“Then,” he
continued, “on Easter Sunday, he imparted the 'Urbi et Orbi' blessing,
without managing to pronounce a word, just gesturing with his hand.”
The pontiff
called it the “most painful and moving of blessings, which he left us
testimony of his will to carry out his ministry right to the end.”
"Thus”, Pope
Benedict told the crowd, “John Paul II died as he had always lived,
animated by the indomitable courage of faith, giving himself up to God
and entrusting himself to Mary Most Holy.”
He said that the
heritage of the late pope “is immense, but the message of his long
pontificate can be summarized in the words with which he chose to open
it, here in St. Peter's Square on October 22, 1978: 'Open wide the
doors to Christ!'"
The Holy Father
then recalled how John Paul incarnated this appeal "with his entire
person and his entire mission as Peter's Successor," especially in his
apostolic trips.
Benedict said
that his meetings with the crowds, with religious communities, and with
political and religious leaders were "like a single grand gesture,
confirming those opening words. He announced Christ always, presenting
Him to everyone - just as Vatican Council II had -as a response to
man's hopes for freedom, justice and peace."
He reminded the
crowd that during John Paul’s last years, "the Lord gradually stripped
him of everything, in order to assimilate him fully to Himself. And
when he could no longer travel, no longer even walk, and finally not
even speak, his gestures and announcement were reduced to essentials:
to the giving of himself right to the end.”
“His death”, he
pointed out, “was the fulfillment of a coherent witness of faith that
touched the hearts of so many men and women of good will."
The Pope
concluded his address saying that "John Paul II left us on a Saturday,
dedicated especially to Mary, towards whom he always felt a filial
devotion. We now ask the heavenly Mother of God to help us treasure all
this great Pontiff gave and taught us."
Pope to Ivory Coast bishops, peace can only come through generous forgiveness, true reconciliation
Vatican City, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Earlier
today, Pope Benedict XVI met with a number of Bishop’s from Africa’s
often violence-ridded Ivory Coast, to whom he explained that although
the road to peace is long and difficult, the Church must strive to
build a “world of reconciliation.”
The prelates, all members of the Episcopal Conference of the Ivory Coast, have just completed their regular "ad limina" visits.
The Holy Father
told the group that after reading the reports they had presented him on
the tense and often violent political situation in their region, he is
praying that their nation "may find unity and peace in true fraternity
among all her citizens."
In 2002, the
country, which was once called a model of stability, slipped into a
violent civil war which has divided the nation in two ever since.
The Pope said
that "The crisis your country has been through highlighted the
divisions that constitute such a deep wound in relations between the
various components of society."
The resulting
violence, he continued, "dealt a harsh blow to trust between people and
the stability of the country, leaving much suffering in its wake.”
He told the
prelates that “In order to recreate true peace, there must be generous
forgiveness and true reconciliation among the individuals and groups
affected. ... They must begin a courageous dialogue, examining ... the
causes that gave rise to the conflict."
"The road to
peace," Benedict stressed, "is long and difficult, but it is never
impossible, and Catholics must take their place in this shared
endeavor, because building a world of reconciliation is never something
foreign to them."
He said that in
order to achieve this lofty goal, "it is necessary…to restore
confidence among Christ's followers, despite their differences of
opinion…Faced with political or ethnic tensions in diocesan churches,
bishops, priests and consecrated people must be models of fraternity
and charity for everyone, contributing through word and deed to the
construction of a unified and reconciled society."
The Pope told
the bishops that in this light, their primary concern must be initial
and permanent formation of priests. They must, he said ensure that
priests had "an intense spiritual life," and also must "favor unity and
fraternal life among them."
Evangelizing the laity
In their
reports, the bishops mentioned "the urgent need for the formation of
the laity" in their country. To this, the Holy Father said that “a
deepening of the faith is truly necessary in order to resist the return
of ancient practices or the lure of sects, and above all as a testimony
to Christian hope in a complicated world of new and grave problems."
He said that
"For the Church to be an ever clearer sign of what she truly is, and
more adapted to her mission, attention must be given to the
enculturation of the faith…This process, which is so important for
announcing the Gospel to all cultures, must not compromise the
specificity and integrity of the faith, rather it must help Christians
to understand and experience the gospel message in their own cultures,
abandoning practices that run counter to their baptismal promises."
Benedict went
on, explaining that "The weight of traditional mentality is often an
obstacle to the acceptance of the Gospel," and among the many questions
facing the faithful, that of "commitment to the Sacrament of marriage
is one of the most important.”
“Polygamy or de
facto cohabitation with no kind of religious celebration,” he chided,
“often constitute great obstacles." Therefore, "it is necessary to
continue tirelessly in efforts to ensure that people, especially the
young, accept that for Christians marriage is a way to sanctity."
In conclusion,
the Pope noted the important growth of various ecclesial movements in
the Ivory Coast’s dioceses, saying that these groups "contribute to
providing a renewed missionary drive in Christian communities."
Likewise, he
encouraged the movements to entrust themselves to the generosity of
Christ, "remaining always rooted in His Church."
"Nonetheless,"
Benedict stressed, "these movements must be subject to enlightened and
constant discernment by bishops, in order to guarantee the ecclesiality
of their activities and to maintain authentic communion with the
universal and diocesan Church."
Tens of thousands gather for candlelit memorial remembering John Paul II
Vatican City, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - “Faithfulness
and dedication” were the two recurring words used by Pope Benedict XVI
to recall his predecessor John Paul II who died one year ago Sunday.
Tens of thousands--many of them from the late Pope’s native
Poland--gathered in Rome over the weekend to recall the life of a man
already being hailed as “John Paul the Great.”
Starting at 8.30
p.m., pilgrims were invited to participate in a moment of prayer and
reflection held in St. Peter‘s Square. The event began with readings
from various texts written by the late Pope and interspersed with songs
sang by the choir of the diocese of Rome.
At 9 p.m., Pope
Benedict appeared at his study window to pray the Rosary with the
group. Afterwards, at 9:37 p.m., the exact moment of John Paul II's
death, he addressed the group below.
He said that
although a year has passed since his death, John Paul II "remains
present in our minds and hearts…He continues to communicate his love
for God and his love for man. He continues to infuse everyone,
especially the young, with enthusiasm for goodness and courage to
follow Jesus and His teachings."
As Benedict
addressed throngs of faithful gathered in the square--all bearing
lighted candles, he attempted to sum up the late Pope’s "life and
evangelical witness" in two words: "'faithfulness' and 'dedication.'
Complete faithfulness to God and unreserved dedication to his own
mission as pastor of the Universal Church.”
He said that
this "Faithfulness and dedication that appeared even more convincing
and moving in his final months, during which he incarnated the words he
wrote in his 1984 Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris: 'Suffering is
present in the world in order to release love, in order to give birth
to works of love towards neighbor, in order to transform the whole of
human civilization into a civilization of love'."
The Pope
highlighted how John Paul’s long illness "made everyone more attentive
to human pain, to all physical and spiritual pain; he gave suffering
dignity and value by bearing witness to the fact that man is not worthy
for his efficiency or his appearance, but for himself, because he is
created and loved by God."
Benedict said
that through his words and gestures, "John Paul II never tired of
showing the world that if man allows himself to be embraced by Christ
he does not devalue the richness of his humanity; if he adheres to
Christ with all his heart, he does not lose anything.”
“On the contrary,” he said, “the encounter with Christ renders our lives more passionate.”
Benedict said
that “Precisely because he drew ever closer to God in prayer,
contemplation, and love for Truth and Beauty, our beloved Pope was able
to accompany each one of us and to speak authoritatively even to people
who are distant from Christian faith."
On this
anniversary of John Paul’s death, the Pope invited faithful "to accept
once more the spiritual heritage he left us,“ saying that “We are
encouraged, among other things, to live our lives in a tireless search
for the Truth, which alone can satisfy our hearts.”
He said that “We
are encouraged not to be afraid to follow Christ, to bring everyone the
announcement of the Gospel, ferment for a more fraternal and united
humanity. From heaven, may John Paul II help us to continue our
journey."
The Pope
specifically addressed faithful in Poland, who were following the
events by satellite linkup. "The memory of John Paul II remains alive
within us," he said, "and the sense of his spiritual presence does not
diminish. For you, may the memory of the particular love he always
nourished for his countrymen be a light on the path towards Christ:
'Remain strong in the faith'."
Over the
television link, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow,
thanked Benedict XVI for his words, adding that John Paul II "is
smiling upon us from heaven."
Pope Benedict echoes Patriarch’s call for 2-day fast for peace in Iraq
Vatican City, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Following
his Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict echoed a request made recently
by His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the
Chaldeans, as well as other Iraqi bishops, calling for two days of
prayer and fasting for peace in Iraq and throughout the world.
His Beatitude
asked for “faithful, believers, and men and women of good will to come
together in prayer and fasting on April 3 and 4 to implore from God the
gift of peace and harmony in Iraq and throughout the world."
For his part,
the Holy Father invited “everyone to follow the initiative of our
brothers in that martyred land, entrusting this intention to the
intercession of Mary Most Holy, Queen of Peace."
Stance on Immigration threatens GOP Hispanic outreach, says Catholic analyst
Washington D.C., Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - With
their current House immigration bill, the Republicans risk becoming an
anti-immigrant party and “losing ground both with Hispanic voters and
non-Hispanic Catholic voters who sympathize with their plight,” says
Deal Hudson, editor of the e-magazine “The Window.”
In his March 31
column, Hudson, who is president of the Morley Institute, reported that
the Hispanic vote was credited as the decisive factor in George W.
Bush’s election. In 2004, Bush received 44 percent of the Hispanic
vote, up significantly from 2000. (63 percent of Hispanic Protestants
voted for Bush and 31 percent of Hispanic Catholics voted for Bush.)
Currently,
Hispanics make up 9 percent of the electorate but are growing faster
than any other group, with 29 million Hispanic Catholics outnumbering
the 22 million white mainline Protestants, reports Hudson.
Aware of these
demographic shifts, the Bush White House put Hispanic political
outreach high on its priority list and fostered positive relations. But
these positive relations may be at risk with their proposed immigration
reform, which would impact Hispanic migration directly.
Among other
bishops, Roger Cardinal Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, condemned
the bill, which seems to criminalize the Church's social services for
undocumented immigrants.
Hispanics
responded by protesting in the streets of major American cities “in
numbers unparalleled in our history,” says Hudson.
At the same
time, however, their protests seemed to forget Bush's "guest worker"
program, introduced in early 2004 as well as the bi-partisan Senate
immigration bill, co-sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Ted
Kennedy (D-MA), Hudson observes.
Abdul Rahman publicly thanks Holy Father
Rome, Italy, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Abdul
Rahman, the Afghan Christian convert who was condemned to death for
abandoning the Muslim faith but later released under international
pressure, publicly thanked Pope Benedict XVI for his intervention and
his support.
According to the
ANSA news agency, Abdul Rahman, who was granted asylum in Italy, said
he never wants to return to his native Afghanistan. “I thank the
Pope, the Italian government and all those who came to my aid,” he said
during an interview on Italian television.
Pope Benedict
XVI appealed to the president of Afghanistan for his release in a
telegram sent by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo
Sodano. Rahman’s release, he said, would be “decisive for our
mutual efforts in the task of seeking a better mutual understanding and
respect among the different religions and cultures of the world.”
Rahman was
released last Monday and sought asylum in several countries.
Italy and Germany were the first to offer refuge to the Afghan
Christian convert. Last Wednesday Rahman traveled to Italy where
he is currently staying.
Married convert, Mexican native are first of both kinds ordained in Delaware
Wilmington, Del., Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - The
Diocese of Wilmington experienced two firsts this weekend with the
priestly ordinations of a Mexican native and a married man, who was
formerly a Lutheran pastor.
Bishop Michael
Saltarelli ordained Salvador Magana, 34, of Guadalajara, Mexico, and
Leonard Klein, 60, a father of three adult children. Hundreds came out
for the ordination Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Peter.
Prior to the
ordination, Klein had been serving as deacon at a parish and living
with his wife of 36 years, Christa Klein, and his daughter, Renate, in
Brandywine Hundred.
Klein was
ordained a pastor for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in
1972. But he eventually “grew weary of being a voice against
liberalization [including same-sex marriage] while standing for
traditional Lutheran doctrine and liturgy,” he told the Delaware News
Journal.
So in 2002 he
approached the Catholic diocese about becoming a priest and was
approved. Klein studied at St. Mary's Seminary to fill in the gaps of
his earlier training at Yale Divinity School. Klein becomes one of 100
married men around the nation who've left other denominations to become
priests in the Catholic Church.
Salvador Magana has been living in Milford. He, too, served as a temporary deacon at a parish prior to his priestly ordination.
Magana is one of
three children in a family of 10 to enter religious life. He had felt
the call to the priesthood since age 16, but he did not know where God
was calling him to serve until he arrived in the Diocese of Wilmington
while visiting with nine other Guadalajara seminarians.
He prayed for a
year to confirm God’s call and eventually gave up his studies in Mexico
to immigrate to the United States and complete his formation at St.
Mary's Seminary in Baltimore.
John Paul II, Pope Benedict’s childhood homes, now in Church hands, secured as museums
Wadowice, Poland, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Pope
John Paul II’s home southern Poland, where he was born in 1920, was
bought by one of Poland’s richest businessman, Ryszard Krauze, and
donated to the Catholic Church March 31.
The donation came two days before the first anniversary of the Polish pontiff’s death.
The owner of a
software company bought the house in Wadowice from American Ron
Balamuth, who had inherited it from his Polish-Jewish ancestors. The
house will continue as a John Paul II museum, which attracts some 5,000
visitors a day.
The sale price
was not disclosed, but when the house was put on the market last
December, Polish media reports put the asking price at $1 million.
A Church
foundation also took possession of the house where Pope Benedict XVI
was born, with the intention of opening it to the public as a museum on
his life. No date has been set for the opening
A church
foundation agreed in December to buy the house in the Bavarian village
of Marktl am Inn for an undisclosed sum, beating out a Saudi sheik. It
was purchased from a German woman who complained that hordes of
tourists were making her life unbearable.
The 1745 customs
house became a police station before Joseph Ratzinger was born there on
April 16, 1927. His father was the local police commander and lived in
the building. The Ratzinger family lived there another two years before
moving.
Mother of the Year finalist refused abortion, delayed leukemia treatment until daughter’s birth
London, England, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - According
to a report on Lifesitenews.com, Sarah Peck, a 31 year-old British
mother, postponed treatment for leukemia when her diagnosis and
eagerly-awaited third pregnancy were confirmed on the same day in 2004.
Peck said it was
their hematologist’s agreement to manage the pregnancy that turned
their decision away from abortion, or “termination” as it is called in
England. "It's because he agreed to manage the pregnancy that we
decided to go ahead,” she said.
The Pecks were
informed, however, that delay could cause difficulties in treating
Sarah’s illness. Dr. Simon Rule, a consultant hematologist at
Plymouth's Derriford Hospital, said, “If you delay (treatments) then
the risk you run is that it can become acute at any time.”
After the birth
of baby Charlotte on March 19, 2005, Peck was treated with bone marrow
stem cells from her sister, Vicky. Last week, while the Peck’s
celebrated Charlotte’s first birthday, Sarah was informed that she was
in the final five picks for the Daily Mail’s Mother of the Year award.
“What I am
really looking forward to now is spending quality time with my
children. My family has always come first but now even more so. Every
day is a gift now,” she told the BBC.
Archbishop pleads for end to Christian exodus from Middle East
Konigstein, Germany, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Archbishop
Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Alepo, Syria, has said that “the Church needs
Christians in the Middle East” and has therefore called it essential
that the exodus of faithful away from the region be slowed.
In statements to
the group, Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop pleaded for
renewed efforts to keep Christians in Syria. He said that currently
only 10% of the 17 million inhabitants of the country “are authentic
witnesses of Christ and the Gospels.”
Likewise, he
said Syrian Christians suffer because of Islamic fundamentalism and
violence and that therefore “inter-religious and ecumenical” dialogue
is important.
In order to
facilitate such a dialogue, he announced that his archdiocese would
establish a center to help bring about reconciliation and understanding
among Syrians.
Spanish bishops issue statement condemning law on assisted human reproduction
Madrid, Spain, Apr 3, 2006 (CNA) - Upon
concluding its 86th Plenary Assembly, Spain’s Catholic Bishops’
Conference issued a powerful document condemning a new law on assisted
human reproduction that promotes cloning and genetic engineering.
In the
statement, which was presented to the media by Conference spokesman
Father Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, the bishops called the creation of
human beings in laboratories a “practice that clashes with the dignity
of the person and brings with it numerous abuses and attacks against
unborn human life, that is, against children.”
While he praised
the advances of science and technology, Bishop Ricardo Blazquez,
president of the Conference, said “that which is scientifically and
technologically possible” should also conform to an “ethic that
respects human dignity.”
Each human
being, the bishops said, has absolute value and should never be treated
as objects or means to an end. “The dignity of the human being
demands that children be procreated, not produced,” they emphasized.
Addressing the
use of the term “pre-embryo,” which in the new Spanish law refers to an
embryo that is less than 14 days old, the bishops noted that
fertilization results in the creation of a unique organism that is
distinct from both father and mother, and that “where there is a living
human body, there is a human person, and therefore, inviolable human
dignity.”
“There is no scientific or philosophical basis” for the concept of “pre-embryo,” they stated.
The bishops also
noted that the new law puts no limits on the creation of embryos in
laboratories and that it would allow “the use of frozen embryos for
research or even industrial purposes.” In fact, they warned, “the
embryo is considered mere biological material, a mere collection of
cells without human dignity.”
“Only the
(embryos) that are eventually found to be healthy are transferred or
frozen,” the bishops continued. “That is, the sick embryos are chosen
for death and the healthy ones for life or for freezing:
eugenics.”
The bishops also
warned that by approving therapeutic human cloning, the new law, “like
it or not,” would be opening the door to reproductive cloning.
