VOLUME 1, ISSUE 24  •  JUNE 13, 2015

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope tells Bosnians to be ‘tenacious’ workers for peace

The peals of a ‘Jesuit bell’ welcome Pope Francis to Sarajevo

Pope Francis: A consecrated person who doesn’t forgive isn’t needed

Bosnia can be a sign of unity in a world torn by conflict, Pope says

Pope talks Medjugorje, coming encyclical on return from Bosnia

Pope Francis on Medjugorje: It’s almost decision time

The Eucharist teaches us to care for the weakest of society, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis meets with Argentina’s president, and sends a present home

Pope Francis: Men and women are different for a reason

An altar for Pope Francis: CUA students’ design to enliven D.C. Mass

Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today’s often pagan lifestyles

Days after Medjugorje comment, Pope downplays predictable visions

Pope receives briefing on activities at Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts

Pope Francis approves greater bishop accountability in abuse cases

When you care for a sick family member, you are a ‘hidden hero,’ Pope says

Ukraine crisis the focal point in Pope’s discussion with Putin

U.S. joins forces with Holy See in fighting tax fraud

Days before encyclical’s release, Pope condemns culture of waste

Cardinal: Divorced, remarried Catholics need support for conversion, not changes on communion

Airport evangelization: Pope talks mercy, migrants, ministry in the air

Pope confirms plans to visit Central African Republic, Uganda in November

Stewardship for God’s creation: the Christian landscape behind Pope Francis’ new encyclical

WORLD NEWS

Former POWs in Bosnia and Herzegovina encourage healing wounds, banishing hatred

Ethiopia’s Cardinal Souraphiel brings African family values to the college of cardinals

Archbishop: Ukrainian conflict is Europe’s biggest crisis since WWII

Bishop Heiner Koch, a German delegate to Family Synod, appointed Berlin archbishop

Among the ruins of Iraq, Christians’ faith burns brightly

3-D technology takes pilgrims ‘back in time’ to Medieval Church

Polish, Eastern Catholic bishops stand firm on pastoral care for families

A warning for Europe: court ruling undermines right to life guarantees for comatose

New U.N. agenda could enable massive global expansion of abortion

A year after ISIS invasion, religious minorities in Mosul could disappear

Christians belong in Middle East, Antioch patriarchs say in call for peace

Oscar-winning composer pens Mass for the Pope

Priests needed: As Church growth explodes worldwide, parishes can’t keep up

U.S. NEWS

Knights of Columbus see fifteenth consecutive year of increased charitable giving

How to get millennials to marry? Start by sharing your story

Here’s what the U.S. bishops expect from the Pope’s new encyclical

Abortion rates are dropping – and it could be thanks to millennials

Court ruling means Texas abortion clinics won’t meet safety standards

Bowling with Bishops – and other things to expect at the World Meeting of Families

FEATURES

Bruce Jenner, the ‘shadow council’ and St. Irenaeus

Apostolate of the Laity: An Overview

Woman and Redemption

Are angels on the Catholic endangered species list?

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is a selfless tale of true friendship

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • June 14, 2015

Monday • June 15, 2015

Tuesday • June 16, 2015

Wednesday • June 17, 2015

Thursday • June 18, 2015

Friday • June 19, 2015

Saturday • June 20, 2015

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Volume 1, Issue 24 • June 13, 2015

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope tells Bosnians to be ‘tenacious’ workers for peace

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 6, 2015

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium on June 6, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — During his daytrip to a country still marred by the effects of a recent war, Pope Francis said peace is not something that happens passively, but instead requires passionate action on the part of all.

“(Jesus) does not say: ‘Blessed are the preachers of peace,’ since all are capable of proclaiming peace, even in a hypocritical, or indeed duplicitous, manner. No. He says: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ that is, those who make peace,” the Pope said June 6.

To craft peace, he said, “is a skilled work: it requires passion, patience, experience and tenacity.”

Pope Francis’ comments came during his homily for Mass in Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium. His June 6 daytrip to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, falls two decades after a brutal conflict scarred the country.

Twenty years ago in 1995 the signing of the Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War for Independence.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the war killed around 100,000 combatants and civilians and displaced a million more people. The fighting split largely along ethnic lines, among the predominantly Orthodox Serbs, the predominantly Catholic Croats, and the predominantly Muslim Bosniaks.

In his homily, delivered in Italian, the Pope stressed that peace is God’s desire for all of humanity, and is something which ultimately stems from our reconciliation with him.

“Peace is God’s dream, his plan for humanity, for history, for all creation,” Francis told a congregation of some 60 thousand people. However, this plan “always meets opposition from men and from the evil one.”

God’s gift of peace to us “is the fruit of his reconciliation with us,” he said, reflecting on St. Paul’s words. “Only if we allow ourselves to be reconciled with God can human beings become artisans of peace.”

“Even in our time, the desire for peace and the commitment to build peace collide against the reality of many armed conflicts presently affecting our world,” the Pope said.

“They are a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war.”

Pope Francis continued, saying that war is more than just a conflict between cultures and societies.

War, he said, “means children, women and the elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means destroyed houses, streets and factories; it means, above all, countless shattered lives.”

He reflected the suffering and destruction brought about by the conflict experienced in Sarajevo two decades earlier.

“Today, dear brothers and sisters, the cry of God’s people goes up once again from this city, the cry of all men and women of goodwill: war never again!”

Jesus’ words “Blessed are the peacemakers” comprise an appeal applicable to every generation, the Pope said.

Those who make peace do so “by their daily actions, their attitudes and acts of kindness, of fraternity, of dialogue, of mercy,” Francis continued, explaining that God always sows peace in the world, and did so specifically through his Son, who died “that we might have peace!”

“Peacemaking is a work to be carried forward each day, step by step, without ever growing tired,” he added, and explored the question of how peace is built.

Ultimately “peace is a work of justice,” he said, explaining that this isn’t something passively imagined or spoken about either, but is rather “a justice put into practice, lived out.”

The Pope turned to Jesus’ words in the Gospel, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” noting that this includes our enemies.

“When, by the grace of God, we truly follow this commandment, how things change! Because we ourselves change!” he said.

“True justice, then, is doing to others what I would want them to do to me, to my people.”

Pope Francis focused on the day’s second reading which speaks about the attitude we need to make peace: “compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

He warned against believing that peace depends solely on ourselves, and thereby falling into “an illusive moralizing.”

“Peace is a gift from God, not in the magical sense, but because with his Spirit he can imprint these attitudes in our hearts and in our flesh, and can make us true instruments of his peace.”

Pope Francis’ visit to the region also falls 18 years after Saint John Paul II visited in 1997, just two years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement that ended the war.

Before celebrating Mass Francis met with Sarajevo’s authorities, speaking to them about the significance of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Europe. He lauded the advancements toward peace which have been made in the past 20 years, yet added that more work still needs to be done.

“I have come here as a pilgrim of peace and dialogue,” the Pope told the authorities.

“We need to communicate with each other, to discover the gifts of each person, to promote that which unites us, and to regard our differences as an opportunity to grow in mutual respect,” he said.

With this dialogue, “even the deep wounds of the recent past will be set aside, so that the future may be looked to with hope, facing the daily problems that all communities experience with hearts and minds free of fear and resentment.”

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VATICAN NEWS

The peals of a ‘Jesuit bell’ welcome Pope Francis to Sarajevo

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 6, 2015

The St. Francis Xavier bell hangs in Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium following a Mass said by Pope Francis, June 6, 2015. (Andreas Duren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — As Pope Francis processed into Mass in Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium this morning, a massive bell named for St. Francis Xavier was placed at the top of the entrance and two Jesuit priests rang the bell, which will later be given to a new Jesuit parish in the city.

Following Pope Francis’ June 6 trip to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the St. Francis Xavier bell will be given to St. Ignatius of Loyola parish in the Grbavica quarter of Sarajevo.

The St. Francis Xavier bell weighs just over 700 pounds, and has a diameter of 33 inches. It was cast in the Metal Products foundry of Josip Trzec in Zagreb, capital of neighboring Croatia. It is made of silver and a very small amount of tin. It is adorned with Pope Francis’ coat of arms, a Croatian-style braide, oak leaves, and the monogram of the Society of Jesus.

The bell is inscribed: “In honor of St. Francis Xavier, patron of the missions, this bell is donated by Metal Mroducts and by the family of Stjepan Safran from Zagreb to the parish church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Grbavica in Sarajevo. This bell was cast on the occasion of the visit of the Holy Father Pope Francis to Sarajevo and to Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 6 June. The bell was cast by Josip Trzec in Zagreb in 2015.”

Many provided for Pope Francis’ Mass in Sarajevo with various gifts.

The altar, pulpit, chandelier, and processional cross were given by Sikara parish in Tuzla.

Two Muslim artisans, Salen Hajdarovac and his son Edin, made the the chair where Pope Francis sat for Mass.

It was noticed during the Mass that Pope Francis’ processional cross had been taped, just below the corpus. Fr. Lombardi, Holy See press officer, told CNA that “the cross got broken before the Mass, and it was impossible to find a new one, so it was fixed in the best way possible.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: A consecrated person who doesn’t forgive isn’t needed

by CNA/EWTN News • June 6, 2015

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo, where Pope Francis met with priests, religious, and seminarians, June 6, 2015. (Andreas Duren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Moved by the testimony of two priests and a religious sister who endured atrocities during the Bosnian War, Pope Francis on Saturday told a gathering of Bosnian priests, religious and seminarians that forgiveness is an essential part of their vocation.

“Some of their words have remained in my heart,” Pope Francis said after their remarks, “and one is forgiveness.”

“A consecrated who doesn’t know how to forgive isn’t needed. To forgive a friend who said something bad isn’t hard, but to forgive those who torture, those who threaten to kill you, this is hard – and then to have done it and to preach doing so.”

The Pope met with some 200 consecrated persons June 6 in the cathedral of Sarajevo. The Bosnian religious were represented by three testimonials: Fr. Zvonimir Matijevic, a priest who was tortured several times in the course of the Bosnian War, and fell ill with muscular dystrophy as a result. Next was Fr. Jozo Pu_karic, a friar who, despite having been tortured in prison and hoped to die, forgave his tormentors. Finally there was Sr. Ljubica _ekerija, FDC, who was ready to die rather than to see her rosary trampled, and who refused to convert to Islam despite having the barrel of a gun pointed at her head.

Pope Francis exchanged a long and moving embrace with all three, kissing the hands of the priest and receiving a blessing from Fr. Zvonimir.

“I prepared a speech for you all,” Pope Francis said after they spoke, “but after hearing these testimonies, I feel the need to speak to you off the cuff. They talked about life, they talked about experiences. They have spoken about life, experiences, many beautiful and ugly things. The testimonies spoke for themselves and this is the memory of your people.”

He reflected that “a people who forgets their memory, has no future. This is the memory of your fathers and mothers in the faith: behind them are many others who have suffered the same. You don’t have the right to forget your history! Not to avenge yourselves but to make peace, to love as they have loved.”

“In your blood, in your vocation, there is the blood and the vocation of these three martyrs. There is the blood of and the vocation of many priests, seminarians, and religious … hold on to the memory, in order to make peace.”

The Pope also reflected on the hardships of living a common life in comparison to the Fr. Pu_karic’s four months in a prison camp: “how many times the spirit of the world makes us forget the suffering of our ancestors … to live together, dirty, without food or water in the heat and in the cold and during a long time … and we complain when we have a tooth that hurts or when we want a TV in our room with many comforts … and we gossip about the superiors when the food isn’t so good. [But] don’t forget these testimonies! Think about how much they have suffered, think about those six liters of blood that Fr. Zvonimir received in order to survive and to carry out a life worthy of the cross of Christ.”

He called worldly sisters, priests, bishops and seminarians “a caricature” proclaiming, “they aren’t needed, they don’t have the memory of the martyrs, they have lost the memory of Christ crucified, our only glory.”

Pope Francis reflected on two Muslims who aided Sr. _ekerija, a Bosniak soldier and a woman. “Even the cruel man has felt the Holy Spirit,” he said, and called the woman someone “beyond religious differences; she believed in God.”

“Search for the good – all of us are children of God! Blessed are you who have these testimonies so close to you. Please, don’t forget them. Your life grows with this memory. Fr. Zvonimir lost his loved ones but he has the fruit of matrimonial love. Think about that nun martyr or the Franciscan friar and what Cardinal Puljic said comes to my mind: it’s a bad thing when the garden that is the family doesn’t flourish.”

He exhorted those gathered in the cathedral to “pray for families so that they flourish with children and flourish with vocations.”

“You are witnesses of fraternity, tenderness, and love,” he said. “Carry forward the cross of Christ: Holy Mother Church wants you to be little martyrs, small witnesses of the cross of Christ.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Bosnia can be a sign of unity in a world torn by conflict, Pope says

by CNA/EWTN News • June 6, 2015

Pope Francis outside the apostolic nunciature in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 6, 2015. (Andreas Duren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Pope Francis met with leaders of the prominent religions represented in Bosnia and Herzegovina during his day-trip its capital, telling them that if fraternal dialogue is fostered, the country – once torn by war and ethnic divisions – could become sign of peace for the world.

“In a world unfortunately rent by conflicts, this land can become a message: attesting that it is possible to live together side by side, in diversity but rooted in a common humanity, building together a future of peace and brotherhood,” the Pope said June 6.

He made his comments during an encounter in Sarajevo with local leaders of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Islam.

Historically divided into three key ethnic groups, Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of a majority of Muslim Bosniaks, followed by a large percentage of mostly Orthodox Serbs and a population of Croats, a majority of whom are Catholic. There is a small Jewish community, which has a long history in Sarajevo.

As city whose recent past “sadly became a symbol of war and destruction,” Sarajevo can become can become “a sign of unity, a place in which diversity does not represent a threat but rather a resource, an opportunity to grow together” thanks to its variety of peoples, cultures, and religions, he said.

Earlier in the day Pope Francis met with the country’s presidency and authorities before saying Mass in Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium. He then lunched with the nation’s bishops before meeting with priests, religious, and seminarians in the cathedral.

Ethnic tensions broiled during the country’s 1992-1995 war, during which the Serb population began a policy of ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Croats. The war ended in with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.

In his speech to the religious leaders, Pope Francis stressed that their work in the region is immensely important, particularly because Sarajevo “stands as the crossroads of peoples and cultures.”

He stressed the importance of interreligious dialogue as “an indispensable condition for peace, and for this reason is a duty for all believers.”

“Interreligious dialogue, before being a discussion of the main themes of faith, is a conversation about human existence,” he said, explaining that through dialogue a spirit of fraternity is developed, which unites peoples and promotes moral values, as well as justice, peace, and freedom.

“Dialogue is a school of humanity and a builder of unity, which helps to build a society founded on tolerance and mutual respect,” the Pope continued.

Because of this, interreligious dialogue can’t be limited to just a few or even to the leaders of religions, but must extend “as far as possible” to all believers and levels of civil society, Francis said.

“For dialogue to be authentic and effective, it presupposes a solid identity: without an established identity, dialogue is of no use or even harmful. I say this with the young in mind, but it applies to everyone.”

The Pope said religious leaders are the “first guardians” of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and assured them of the Church’s continued support and willingness to help.

Though a lot of progress has been made in the 20 years since the conclusion of the country’s war, “we are all aware that there is a long way yet to go,” he observed.

However, Pope Francis told them not to be discouraged by difficulties, but to continue moving forward “with perseverance along the way of forgiveness and reconciliation.”

“While we seek to recall the past with honesty, thereby learning the lessons of history, we must also avoid lamentation and recrimination, letting ourselves instead be purified by God who gives us the present and the future: he is our future, he is the ultimate source of peace.”

Later, Pope Francis met with Bosnia’s youth in an outdoor encounter, during which the young people performed songs and dances for the Pope. Two testimonies were also given by youth on their experience living in a multiethnic, multi-religion society.

Francis tossed aside his prepared remarks and decided to have a question and answer with the youth instead.

In addition to talking about the importance of exercising prudence over how often they watch TV as well as what they watch, the Pope spoke about the love and joy of young people, and his expectations for them when it comes to peace.

“Everyone talks about peace, some powers speak saying beautiful things, but from underneath they sell weapons,” he said.

What he expects from them as the first generation after their country’s war is honesty, Francis said, explaining that it should be an honesty “between what you think, feel, and what you do. The opposite is called hypocrisy.”

He spoke of the importance of building bridges between peoples rather than walls, explaining that “a bridge always unites when it is used to go to each other, but when it’s a forbidden bridge it becomes the ruin of a city and of an existence.”

“You, the spring flowers after war, make peace, work for peace, all together, so that this will be a country of peace. This is the homework I leave with you: make peace all together.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope talks Medjugorje, coming encyclical on return from Bosnia

by Elise Harris and Alan Holdren (CNA/EWTN News) • June 6, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to journalists on his flight to Sarajevo on June 6, 2015. (Angela Ambrogetti/CNA)

Vatican City — On his return flight from Sarajevo to Rome Pope Francis told journalists a final decision on the highly debated Mejugorje apparitions could be close, and disclosed the “cancer” of consumerism as a theme in his coming encyclical on human ecology.

Read CNA’s full English translation of the Pope’s inflight news conference below:

Fr. Federico Lombardi: We saw you “scatenato” (Italian for “unrestrained”) with the young people and so we thought we might be able to ask you some questions ourselves.

Pope Francis: What does “scatenato” mean?

Fr. Federico Lombardi: It means full of energy because truly the young people were very happy. We have chosen three questions by drawing. If you want some more we will ask you more. We’ll let our Croat, Silva Tomasevic, who is here pose the first one.

Silva Tomasevic: Good evening, Holiness. Many Croats arrived on pilgrimage and they are asking if Your Holiness will come to Croatia. But as we are in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is also a great interest in the judgment on Medjugorje.

Pope Francis: The problem of Medjugorje … Benedict XVI in his time created a commission presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini and there were other cardinals and theologians, specialists. They made a study and Cardinal Ruini came to me and consigned the study to me after many years. I don’t know, three or four years, more or less. They did good work, good work … and Cardinal Mueller told me that he would do a “feria quarta,” in these times, eh. (Editor’s note: “feria quarta” is a once-a-month meeting in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during which current cases are examined) I believe that it has been done the last Wednesday of last month, but I’m not sure. But, we’re at this point of making decisions … and then they will be announced … but only some guidelines will be given to bishops on the lines they will take.

In Croatia, for the visit to Croatia, I don’t know when it will be. But, now I remember the questions you asked me when I went to Albania: “But, you’re beginning Europe from a country that doesn’t belong to the European Community.” And I replied, “It’s a sign, to begin to make visits in Europe in the little ones in the Balkans that are martyred, those nations, they’ve suffered so much … and for this (reason this is) my preference.

Fr. Federico Lombardi: We’ll let Anna Chiara Valle of Famiglia Cristiana pose the second question.

Anna Chiara Valle: You spoke of those who deliberately encourage an “atmosphere of war,” and then you said that there are the powerful who speak openly of peace while selling arms under the table. Can you delve deeper into this concept?

Pope Francis: Yes, there is always hypocrisy … For this reason I said it’s not sufficient to speak of peace, peace must be made. And he who only speaks of peace and doesn’t make peace is in contradiction. And he who speaks of peace and encourages war, for example in the sale of arms, is a hypocrite. That’s how it is.

Fr. Federico Lombardi: The third question to Katia Lopez from the Spanish-language group.

Katia Lopez: Holy Father, in your meeting with young people you spoke openly about the necessity of being attentive, cautious with what you see. I’ll say it with the words you used precisely, “creative fantasy”… can you elaborate on this concept?

Pope Francis: We’re talking about two different things. The modality and the content. If the way is a way that hurts the soul which is being too attached to a computer, this is how in your soul you take away your freedom. You make yourself a slave to the computer. It’s curious. So many families, fathers and mothers, tell me, “We are at the table with our children and they have their cellphones and …” It’s another world. It’s true that the virtual language is a reality that we cannot deny. We must take it on the good path because it is a progress of humanity, but when this takes us away from communal life, from family life, from social life and even from sports, from art and I remain hooked to the computer, this is a psychological illness, for sure.

Secondly, the content. Yes, there are dirty things that go from pornography to … (unintelligible in the recording) … to empty programs, without words, for example those that are relativist, hedonistic, consumeristic, and all of these things are encouraged. And we know that consumerism is a cancer of society and relativism is a cancer of society and of this I’ll speak in the coming encyclical that will come out within the month. I don’t know if I’ve answered. I said the word “dirt” to say a general thing, but we all know this … and also there are very concerned parents who don’t allow computers to be in their children’s rooms. Computers must be in the common rooms of the home. These are small aids that parents can find to avoid this.

Fr. Federico Lombardi: Father, thanks … the organization says that we have distribute the food.

Pope Francis: We’ll be on the ground within a half hour, they say …

Fr. Federico Lombardi: Thank you, Holiness.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis on Medjugorje: It’s almost decision time

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 6, 2015

Francis greets musicians at the apostolic nunciature in Sarajevo on June 6, 2015. (Andreas Dueren/CNA)

Vatican City — When asked by a Bosnian journalist about the status of his decision on the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje on his flight from Sarajevo to Rome, Pope Francis said that after a lengthy study, a decision could be coming soon.

“We’re at this point of making decisions … and then they will be announced,” the Pope told journalists on board his June 6 flight from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina to Rome.

Bosnian Croat journalist Silva Tomasevic brought the topic up to the Pope during his brief in-flight news conference in route to Rome following his June 6 apostolic visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

When Tomasevic noted that there is a great interest in Bosnia regarding his judgement on the authenticity of the apparitions, the Pope responded by recalling how Benedict XVI created a commission to study the reports surrounding the alleged apparitions.

Presided over by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, emeritus vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, the commission was created by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2010 under Benedict XVI, and was composed of an international panel of bishops, cardinals, theologians and various experts.

It was established to further investigate “certain doctrinal and disciplinary aspects of the phenomenon of Medjugorje.”

Pope Francis said that commission “made a study and Cardinal Ruini came to me and consigned the study to me after many years. I don’t know, three or four years, more or less.”

He said the commission “did good work,” and revealed that Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, the current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told him that “he would do a ‘feria quarta,’ in these times.”

A “feria quarta” is a once-a-month meeting in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during which current cases are examined.

“I believe that (the feria quarta) has been done the last Wednesday of last month, but I’m not sure,” Francis said, explaining that a decision could be made soon and that “some guidelines will be given to bishops on the lines they will take.”

The alleged apparitions originally began June 24, 1981, when six children in the town of Medjugorje, located in what is now Bosnia, began to experience phenomena which they have claimed to be apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to these six “seers,” the apparitions contained a message of peace for the world, a call to conversion, prayer and fasting, as well as certain secrets surrounding events to be fulfilled in the future.

These apparitions are said to have continued almost daily since their first occurrence, with three of the original six children – who are now young adults – continuing to receive apparitions every afternoon because not all of the “secrets” intended for them have been revealed.

Originally said to have occurred on a hilltop in the town where a cross commemorating the Redemption rests, the apparitions are also said to have taken place in various other locations, including the local parish church and wherever the visionaries happen to be located during the time of Mary’s appearance.

Since their beginning, the alleged apparitions have been a source of both controversy and conversion, with many flocking to the city for pilgrimage and prayer, and some claiming to have experienced miracles at the site, while many others claim the visions are non-credible.

In April 1991, the bishops of the former Yugoslavia determined that “on the basis of the research that has been done, it is not possible to state that there were apparitions or supernatural revelations.”

On the basis of those findings, and because the commission was still in the process of its investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith directed last October that clerics and the faithful “are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such ‘apparitions’ would be taken for granted.”

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VATICAN NEWS

The Eucharist teaches us to care for the weakest of society, Pope Francis says

by CNA/EWTN News • June 7, 2015

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square, Jan. 8, 2014. (Kyle Burkhart/CNA)

Vatican City — In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis focused on the recent feast of Corpus Christi, saying the Eucharist is a “school of solidarity and charity,” which inspires us to care for the most vulnerable.

This feast, the Roman Pontiff said June 7 at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, “evokes this message of solidarity, and pushes us to welcome the intimate invitation to conversion and to service, to love and to forgiveness.”

In our daily lives, we encounter Christ, who nourishes us in the Eucharist, in the poor, the suffering, our brothers, and “in every human being, even the smallest and most defenseless.”

The roman Pontiff reflected on the feast’s Gospel, which recounts the institution of the Eucharist during Christ’s Last Supper before his crucifixion.

That night, Christ said that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will “remain in me and I in him,” and will have eternal life.

“With this gesture and with these words, he gives bread a function that is no longer simply physical nourishment, but that which makes present his Person amid the community of believers.”

The Pope added that the Last Supper marks the end of Christ’s life, looking ahead to his death on the Cross, but also to the synthesis of “a life offered for the salvation of humanity.”

For this reason, it is not enough to affirm Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, the Pope said, but recognize it as “the presence of a life given, and take part.”

By receiving Christ in the Eucharist, taking part in his life and entering into communion with him, we in turn are called to promote unity among ourselves, transforming “our life into a gift,” especially to a poor.

The Eucharist is a “school of charity and solidarity,” the Pope said. “Whoever is nourished by the Bread of Christ cannot remain indifferent to those who do not have bread daily.”

Despite efforts by the international community, this is an increasing problem, and requires proposals to resolve its causes, he said.

The Pope concluded his address by invoking the intercession of Mary, that she may “awaken in everyone the joy in participating in the Mass, especially on Sunday, and the joyful courage to give witness to the charity of Christ.”

After leading the crowds in the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis spoke of his apostolic visit to Sarajevo the previous day.

Once described as the “Jerusalem of the West” owing to the coexistence of various peoples and religious, the recent past has made it into a “symbol of destruction and war,” he said.

Acknowledging the efforts toward reconciliation, Pope Francis encouraged “this journey toward of peaceful coexistence between diverse peoples; a hard, difficult, yet possible journey!”

Pope Francis’ visit on Saturday marked the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the signing of the Dayton Agreement which brought an end to the Bosnian War.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, some 100,000 combatants and civilians were killed and a million more displaced during the war, which lasted between 1992-1995. The fighting split largely along ethnic lines, among the predominantly Orthodox Serbs, the predominantly Catholic Croats, and the predominantly Muslim Bosniaks.

“May the Lord bless Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis meets with Argentina’s president, and sends a present home

by CNA/EWTN News • June 8, 2015

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner arrives at the Vatican for her audience with Pope Francis, June 7, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Sunday met with Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the president of his native country. She assured the Roman Pontiff of the affection and closeness of his fellow Argentines and asked for his blessing on their behalf.

The Pope met in private with Argentina’s president for 90 minutes in the Pope’s study at Vatican City’s Paul VI Hall, during which time they exchanged gifts.

Pope Francis, the former Buenos Aires archbishop, gave the president an 11th century Russian icon of Our Lady of Tenderness, the Holy See press office said.

For her part, Fernandez gave the Roman Pontiff several gifts, including a large framed painting of the recently beatified Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, by Argentine artist Eugenio Cuttica. The president also gave Pope Francis a book by Alberto Methol Ferre, who has influenced the Pope’s thought.

There were other gifts from Fernandez, including a copy of “Martin Fierro,” Argentina’s national poem, which the Pope has cited in his addresses. The presents included two artistic reliefs designed for the vision impaired: one of Our Lady of Lujan, and the other of Pope Francis.

Other gifts were a basket of Argentine food and a volume about Argentina’s heritage, edited for the country’s 2010 bicentennial.

After their private meeting, the two leaders moved to the nearby hall where Pope Francis greeted members of the delegation accompanying Fernandez.

The president and her delegation will participate in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations conference currently underway in Rome.

Over the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has met with the president of Argentina five times, including his March 19 inauguration.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: Men and women are different for a reason

by CNA/EWTN News • June 8, 2015

Heels and sneakers. (Stephan Geyer via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Vatican City — The value and beauty of marriage, based on the complementarity of man and woman, is lamentably being challenged by “gender ideology,” Pope Francis warned the bishops of Puerto Rico on Monday.

“The complementarity of man and woman, the crown of the divine creation, is being questioned by gender ideology in the name of a freer and more just society,” the Pope said June 8 at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hall.

“The difference between man and woman is not meant to stand in opposition, or to subordinate, but is for the sake of communion and generation, always ‘in the image and likeness of God.’”

Pope Francis exhorted the bishops to take care of the treasure of the sacrament of marriage, saying that “without mutual self-giving, the two cannot even understand the depth of what it means to be man and woman.”

During his address, the Pope also encouraged the bishops to avoid political and ideological trends; to strengthen pastoral care of families; and to participate in discourse in the public sphere.

Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ remarks:

Dear brothers in the Episcopate:

I rejoice in being able to greet you on the occasion of the Ad Limina Apostolorum pilgrimage visit.

It is my desire that (this visit) be a fruitful experience of communion for each one of you and for Church on its pilgrim journey in Puerto Rico.

I thank His Excellency Roberto Octavio González Nieves, Archbishop of San Juan and President of the Bishops Conference for the words he addressed to me in the name of all of you.

In that beautiful Caribbean archipelago was founded one of the first three dioceses that were established on the American continent. Since then, the Church’s history has been interwoven with the faithfulness and tenacity of its pastors, religious, missionaries and lay people that, responding to the times and places, knew how to communicate the joy of announcing Christ the Savior, in whose name so many initiatives for the common good were created in the liturgical, social and educational fields, that have profoundly marked the public and private life of the Puerto Rican people.

You, as heralds of the Gospel and guardians of the hope of your people, are called to continue writing that work of God in his local Churches, enlivened by a spirit of ecclesial communion, endeavoring to make the faith grow and the light of truth also shine in our days.

Mutual confidence and sincere communication among yourselves will permit the clergy and the faithful to see the authentic unity desired by Christ. Moreover, faced with the magnitude and disproportion of problems, the bishop needs to have recourse not only to prayer but also the friendship and brotherly assistance of their brothers in the episcopate. Do not waste energy in divisions and confrontations, but instead building and collaborating. You already know that “the more intense communion is, the more mission is fostered.” (Pastores gregis, 22)

Know how to keep your distance from all political or ideological trends that would make you lose time and the true ardor for the Kingdom of God. The Church, by reason of her mission, is not tied to any political system in order to always be able to be “a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person.” (Gaudium et spec 76)

The bishop is a model for his priests and he encourages them to always seek spiritual renewal and to rediscover the joy of pastoring his flock within the great family of the Church. I ask (you to have) a welcoming attitude towards them, that they feel listened to and guided so they can grow in communion, holiness, wisdom, and bring to everyone the mysteries of salvation.

Looking toward the upcoming Jubilee of Mercy, recall first of all to yourselves and then to (your) priests, the service of being faithful servants of God’s forgiveness, above all in the sacrament of Reconciliation, that allows (the penitent) to experience in the flesh the love of God and to offer the penitent the source of true interior peace. (cf. Misericordiae vultus, 17)

To have good pastors it is necessary to do the work of fostering vocations, so as to have an adequate number of vocations and especially in the seminaries, you should offer a proper formation to the candidates. The seminary is the plot of land that calls for the most careful attention of Bishop Shepherd.

Providing the faithful with the sacramental life and offering them an appropriate continual formation makes it possible for them too to fulfill their own mission. The Puerto Rican faithful, and in particular the associations, the movements and the educational institutions are called to generously collaborate so that the Good News may be announced in all environments, including those most hostile and distanced from the Church.

It is my heartfelt desire that, inspired by the example of distinguished laymen like Blessed Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Santiago, model of dedication and apostolic service, or the venerable teacher Rafael Cordero y Molina, you continue advancing on the path of a joyful observance of the Gospel, going deeper into the Church’s Social Teaching, and participating lucidly and serenely in the public debates that concern the society that you live in.

Among the initiatives necessary to strengthen more and more is family pastoral ministry, in the face of the serious social problems that afflict it: the difficult economic situation, emigration, domestic violence, unemployment, drug trafficking, corruption. These are realities that are cause for concern.

Allow me to draw your attention to the value and beauty of marriage. The complementarity of man and woman, the vertex of the divine creation, is being questioned by gender ideology, in the name of a freer and more just society. The difference between man and woman is not meant to stand in opposition, or to subordinate, but is for the sake of communion and generation, always “in the image and likeness of God.”

Without mutual self-giving, the two cannot even understand the depth of what it means to be man and woman. (General Audience April 15, 2015) The sacrament of marriage is a sign of the love of God for humanity and Christ’s self-giving to his Spouse, the Church. Take care of this treasure, one of the “most important of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.” (Aparecida, 433)

Finally, among the greatest challenges for the apostolic work, is the implementation of the Joint Pastoral Plan in the dioceses, by means of programs drawn up to proclaim Christ and to respond to the concerns of society and of the People of God today, in which the missionary dimension must always be present even to the farthest existential peripheries.

I assure you of my prayers for you as well as for the priests, consecrated religious and for all the lay faithful of that beloved land of Puerto Rico. Please give everyone the pope’s greetings. Watch over with zeal and patience that portion of the Lord’s vineyard that has been entrusted you, and go forward together. I entrust the work of evangelization in Puerto Rico to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, asking you to not forget to pray for me, I impart with affection the Apostolic Blessing.

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VATICAN NEWS

An altar for Pope Francis: CUA students’ design to enliven D.C. Mass

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 8, 2015

Papal altar and ambo at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington D.C. for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the United States. (CNA)

Washington, D.C. — For most graduating college seniors, the final weeks of school focus on exams, saying goodbyes and looking to their next steps in life.

But for three seniors studying architecture at The Catholic University of America, the final weeks of school presented the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to design the altar and chair for Pope Francis’ historic trip to Washington, D.C. this fall.

“I still don’t really believe it’s going to happen,” said recent Catholic University graduate Ariadne Cerritelli. “We never thought that we would win,” she told EWTN News Nightly.

Cerritelli and her teammates Matthew Hoffman and Joseph Taylor, also recent graduates of Catholic University, won a design contest that will put their creations at center stage for Pope Francis’ first public Mass in the U.S.

An altar, ambo and chair made according to their design will be used at the outdoor papal Mass on Sept. 23 on the east steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

At the Mass, Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Junipero Serra, the first canonization ever to be conducted in the United States. The September visit will be the third time a Pope has visited the National Basilica and Catholic University. It will be the second time Catholic University students have designed furnishings for a papal Mass.

After the Mass, the pieces built for the trip will continue to be used as part of the permanent fixtures within the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Cerritelli said that she and her teammates drew inspiration from the National Shrine – and from the humility of Pope Francis.

“The main inspiration was that we wanted everyone to be able to get a taste of the inside of the basilica, to get a taste of Pope Francis’ mission,” she said, citing the Pope’s expressed desire not to stand out. It is her hope that their pieces will “blend in perfectly” with the surrounding architecture and will bring the motifs of the basilica to the outdoor Mass.

Others on the winning design team explained that they drew heavily from the basilica’s Romanesque-Byzantine style, particularly the arches present throughout the building.

“One of the first thing we did was go inside the Shrine and get a feel for the space, look at what captured our eyes,” Matthew Hoffman told EWTN News Nightly. “When we walked in there, our eyes were taken up with those arches, and that’s the point, to take you up to God and up to heaven.”

Yet the architecture of the church itself is very grounded – a feature Hoffman said the designers wanted to bring to their pieces.

“The actual part of the building that supports it is those arches, so it’s planted in the ground, it’s firmly rooted, and so we thought that was the perfect architectural language that we could use,” he said.

Eighteen teams competed in the design competition, which was announced on April 28, with submissions due May 15 – a period which overlapped with some students’ finals and end-of-year assignments.

The contest required students to build a scale model of at least one of the proposed pieces and to prepare a presentation of their design. They had to consider the style of the basilica in their proposal.

The competition was held by The Catholic University of America’s School of Architecture and Planning, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Basilica of the National Shrine for the Immaculate Conception.

Its judges were Washington Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl; Bishop Barry Knestout, auxiliary bishop of Washington; Catholic University president John Garvey; basilica rector Monsignor Walter Rossi; and Randall Ott, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.

Bishop Knestout told CNA that the judges’ decision considered the designs’ simplicity and their ability to complement the existing Basilica space.

“There were a lot of beautiful designs,” he said.

The bishop explained that the rounded arch of the National Shrine is a “very strong element” throughout the building. The winning design “expressed it in a very straightforward and simple way.”

“Out of all the designs it was the only one that had the chair also repeat the same rounded arch,” he added. The design “would look like it fits in the shrine itself.”

The next steps, the bishop said, include the fabrication of the design and a decision on the materials to be used. This process will be worked out between the design team, the archdiocese and the National Shrine.

Hoffman said that when the big day comes, he may forget about his own creation.

“I may be honestly more distracted that I’m going to see the Pope, than that he is sitting in my chair,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Müller warns against adapting Church to today’s often pagan lifestyles

by Edward Pentin (National Catholic Register) • June 9, 2015

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the Vatican during the Synod on the Family, Oct. 13, 2014. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Cardinal Gerhard Müller has spoken out firmly against trying to adapt the Church’s teaching to today’s often pagan lifestyles, saying such an approach introduces subjectivism and arbitrariness.

In an interview with the Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on June 6th, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warned that placing “any so-called lived realities” on the same level as scripture and tradition is “nothing more than the introduction of subjectivism and arbitrariness, wrapped up in sentimental and smug religious terminology.”

The cardinal’s comments have been widely seen as a criticism of a recent “shadow council” when bishops and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland met May 25 in Rome to discuss how the Church could adapt its pastoral approach to today’s current lived experiences, especially regarding sexual ethics.

Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, a participant at the meeting and one of the German episcopate’s representatives at the upcoming Synod on the Family, has gone on record saying that the “lived realities” of people should be a source of information for dogmatic and moral truths, the Austrian site Kath.net reported.

But Cardinal Müller stressed that these “lived realities” can sometimes be very pagan and that the faith cannot be the result of a compromise between acceptable Christian ideas, abstract principles and the practice of a pagan lifestyle. He added that Rome will strengthen bishops’ freedom and responsibility, but this will be threatened by “nostalgias for national churches and by the haggling over social acceptance.”

The German cardinal also said that the Pope invited each bishop to the October synod as a “witness and teacher of the revealed faith.”

Referring to the recent controversial closed-door meeting in Rome, Cardinal Müller said it is right to exchange information on any point or major issue. But he added that one cannot organize the truth. If this principle were to be adopted and taken as true by the Church, leading her to take her cue from public opinion, then the Church would be “shaken to her foundations,” he said.

The Catholic Church is mother and teacher of all churches, he said, one that teaches and is not taught. “She does not need anybody – as superior and as adapted to our times he might think he is – to teach her a notion of the right faith, because in her, the apostolic tradition has been faithfully safeguarded and always will be preserved.”

Bishop Koch appointed

On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meißen as the new Archbishop of Berlin.

Bishop Koch was also present at the May 25 meeting and will be one of the three German bishops to attend the October synod. He is currently chairman of the bishops’ marriage and family commission and known to strongly support the Cardinal Kasper thesis on admitting some remarried divorcees to Holy Communion.

Bishop Koch, 61, is also a proponent of Church recognition of same-sex unions. He has said that “any bond that strengthens and holds people, is in my eyes good; that applies also to same-sex relationships.”

In an interview earlier this year with a local German newspaper, the prelate said that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful” and that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals.”

“I know gay couples who value ??reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner,” he said.

Since the 1950s, all archbishops of Berlin have gone on to become a cardinal. The archdiocese is likely to grow in prominence in the coming years as the bishops’ conference is understood to want to move its headquarters from Bonn, the former West German capital, to Berlin.

The Pope appointed Bishop Koch archbishop following his election last week by the Berlin archdiocese.

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VATICAN NEWS

Days after Medjugorje comment, Pope downplays predictable visions

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday general audience on May 28, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — Days after declaring that a decision on the Medjugorje apparitions would be coming soon, Pope Francis cautioned against basing one’s faith solely on predicted visions or anything other than Christ himself.

In his June 9 daily Mass at the Vatican’s Saint Martha Guesthouse, Pope Francis cautioned against those who look for God “with these Christian spiritualities that are a little ethereal,” calling them “modern Gnostics.”

These people, he said, “tell you this or that: no, the last word of God is Jesus Christ, there is no other!”

He also warned against those “who always need novelty of Christian identity. They’ve forgotten that they were chosen, anointed, that they have the guarantee of the Spirit, and they seek.”

Francis observed that there are those who might ask, “But where are the seers who tell us today, ‘the letter that the Madonna will send us at four in the afternoon … ‘“

He cited this type of predicted vision as an example of those who base their faith on novelties, explaining that these people “live from this.”

However “this isn’t Christian identity. The ultimate word of God is named ‘Jesus,’ nothing more,” he said.

The alleged Marian apparitions of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina are the only apparitions said to still happen almost daily since their first occurrence in 1981.

Out of the original six children, known as “seers,” who began to experience phenomena which they have claimed to be apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1981, three claim that they continue to receive visions every afternoon because not all of the secrets intended for them have been revealed.

Pope Francis’ reference to predictable visions comes just days after he disclosed to journalists that a decision on the authenticity of the alleged Medjugorje apparitions could be coming soon.

“We’re at this point of making decisions … and then they will be announced,” the Pope told journalists during a brief in-flight news conference June 6 while on his way back from the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. He also revealed that “some guidelines will be given to bishops on the lines they will take.”

In his daily homily Nov. 14, 2013, Francis cautioned against a misguided “spirit of curiosity” that can also take our vision off Christ, focusing instead on such predictable visions.

One might be tempted to say “But I know a visionary, who receives letters from Our Lady, messages from Our Lady,” he said on that occasion. Our Lady, he stressed, “is the Mother of everyone! And she loves all of us. She is not a postmaster, sending messages every day.”

In his June 9 remarks, the Pope also cautioned against broadening one’s conscience “so much that everything enters.”

Worldliness is something human, he said, noting that when it seeps into one’s morals and leads one to accept some of Christ’s teachings while rejecting others, this is how “salt loses its flavor.”

“We see Christian communities, including Christians, who say they are Christians, but they cannot and are not giving witness to Jesus Christ. So (like this) identity goes backwards, backwards and you lose yourself, and this is the worldly nominalism that we see every day,” the Pope observed.

Christian identity is “a beautiful identity which can be seen through witness,” which is the reason Jesus so frequently speaks about it, Francis continued.

He cautioned against “watering down” one’s witness by reducing Christianity to a mere idea. Instead, Christian identity, which comes from Christ, “is concrete,” he said, explaining that this can be seen in the Beatitudes.

From what Jesus outlines in the Beatitudes “we pass from this religion that’s a bit soft, in the air and on the road of the Gnostics,” the Pope noted. But behind true Christian identity “there is scandal. This Christian identity is scandalous,” he said, referring to Jesus’ death on the Cross.

In the history of salvation God, “with his patience of Father, has brought us from ambiguity to certainty, to the concreteness of the incarnation and the redemptive death of his Son. This is our identity.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope receives briefing on activities at Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2015

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, April 22, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — During his visit to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts last week, Pope Francis was updated on the office’s important work, which is focused on interpreting the laws of the Church.

As part of his tour of various dicasteries in the Roman Curia, the Pope on June 1 visited the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, followed by the Congregations for the Causes of Saints, Bishops, and Divine Worship.

Upon his arrival at the pontifical council, Francis was greeted by the council’s president, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, who is a member of the commission established in August 2014 to prepare a proposal of the reform of the marriage annulment process. The commission is meant to simplify and streamline the procedure while safeguarding the indissolubility of marriage, and its work was mentioned during the meeting.

An official from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts recalled how the Holy Father, once greeted by the cardinal as well as the secretary, Bishop Juan Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, and the undersecretary, Msgr. Markus Graulich, went on to greet each person present in a “very cordial manner” by shaking their hands and chatting with them. In all, there were 12 persons present at the meeting with the Pope, including seven officials and two ushers.

In his welcoming address to the Pope, Cardinal Coccopalmerio gave an overview of the works and projects currently going on at the dicastery, and presented a brief reflection on the meaning of canon law.

He stressed that the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts is not itself a legislator, but rather assists the Pope, who is the Church’s supreme legislator, in his role of promoting canon law.

The task “is not easy,” the cardinal said, and explained that it includes suggesting to the Pope which legislative actions would be “appropriate to carry out,” and which are no longer relevant.

Every law, he said, “is essentially an indication of love. And, more profoundly, it’s an indication of love for a person in need – in other words, for the poor.”

If a law is not an indication of love then it can’t be considered a law, he said, but is rather an empty and “even downright dangerous” formulation.

Cardinal Coccopalmerio also noted the importance of the pontifical council in making sure that the order of canon law is effectively applied.

“It would be useless to have good laws if then these are not applied, or are forgotten or contradicted with a practice that doesn’t comply. Hence an attentive vigilance.”

This vigilance is applied particularly in judging the legitimacy of new norms that the various actors in the Church, beginning with the Roman Curia, are constantly producing.

A recent example the cardinal indicated was the statutes for the Secretariat for the Economy, which were reviewed by the pontifical council before being sent to the Pope. They officially went into effect March 1.

Among the projects the pontifical council is currently working on is a revision of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, which regards sanctions in the Church. The revision was commissioned by Benedict XVI, with the purpose of updating the canons regarding delicts and penalties.

The commission charged with proposing reforms to the marriage annulment process was also discussed.

In a Feb. 19 interview with CNA, Bishop Arrieta spoke about his dicastery’s work in developing options to better facilitate the marriage process ahead of October’s Synod on the Family.

He said part of the ongoing project has involved discussion of “how to correctly abbreviate the marriage annulment process, how to validate a marriage that took place, and that the spouses, as husband and wife, wanted it to be true, how to facilitate things.”

Bishop Arrieta said then that the annulment process can “certainly” be faster, and that his dicastery is currently “exploring ways to facilitate” this.

He noted that the gratuity of annulments is also a point of discussion, saying that making them free of charge presents challenges because “these things cost money.”

“The tribunal has to employ staff,” he explained: “the secretary, the lay judge, who could be the father of a family that needs to bring money home, so we have to pay him. This is what costs money,” he said.

A Vatican official noted to CNA that the Pope was also informed at the June 1 meeting that while canon law discusses extensively the sacrament of marriage, “it does not have canons dealing with the family per se.” Thus the pontifical council is seeking to develop proposals for norms addressing the wider theme of the family, “including those that would govern the rights and duties of Catholic families.”

At the meeting during the Roman Pontiff’s visit, the harmonization of the codes of canon law for the Latin Church and the Eastern Churches was also discussed, since there are “some examples of contrasting canons,” noted the official who was present.

“For example, in the Latin Code, the couple celebrating marriage are actually ministers of their sacrament, while the priest is a witness; in the Eastern Code, it’s the priest who is the minister who effects the sacrament, not the couple.”

A task of the pontifical council is therefore to ensure that both codes better reflect their common theological foundations, while still maintaining the unique qualities of each tradition, he said.

Moreover, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts also seeks a wider knowledge of canon law throughout the Church.

Throughout the presentation, the official recalled, Pope Francis “listened intently … and nodded in approval after each point made.”

“It was clear that the Holy Father only wanted to listen and provide a chance for us to interact with him,” he said, explaining that “without lengthy responses or observations,” the Holy Father immediately opened the floor for everyone to comment or ask questions.

Each person then introduced himself and spoke to the Pope about a particular aspect of legislative activities within the pontifical council. Francis responded by giving “short, practical, and to the point answers, typical of his style,” the official said.

“The Pope really struck a chord with me when he kept reminding us that behind each letter of the law is a face, a person with a name, and hence the person must be always kept at the center of the Church’s juridical activity,” he added.

Examining a document of the pontifical council which showed how requests for canonical interventions and clarifications of the law arrive daily from across the world, the Pope alluded briefly to the numerous petitions he himself receives every day, and noted that behind each of them “is a real person in need.”

“The Holy Father believes that communicating the mercy of God will help people love the law and appreciate its value as a guiding tool in their spiritual journey,” the official said.

On the general topic of the reform of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis indicated that he prefers to listen more than to talk in the discussions, so that he can better appreciate the situation. The Pope, the official said, “is confident that the reform is going well. He trusts his collaborators … to help him in the process.”

At the end of the meeting, Pope Francis was presented with books on canon law; he then “made everyone laugh” with a joke about how fast the time had gone by and that the other group downstairs [the Congregation for the Causes of Saints] must have been wondering whether the Pope would arrive.

Those present at the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts were quite impressed by Pope Francis’ “informal, down to earth, and very pastoral style during the visit,” the official noted.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis approves greater bishop accountability in abuse cases

by CNA/EWTN News • June 10, 2015

Statue of St. Peter holding the keys to the kingdom. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Bishop accountability in the mishandling of abuse cases and abuse allegations were key themes in the Vatican’s latest round of meetings on Curial reform, which also addressed the reform of Vatican media and finances.

In approving a new set of proposals dealing with the protection of minors, Pope Francis has established a new judicial entity to deal specifically with bishop accountability in the Vatican congregation tasked with handling the most serious sins.

The Council of Nine Cardinals instituted by Pope Francis shortly after his election to assist him in Church governance and reform met for the tenth time this week, gathering in the Vatican for a June 8-10 round of meetings.

In addition to discussing the proposals regarding the abuse of office by a bishop in handling cases of clerical sex abuse, the council also discussed the establishment of a new Vatican department integrating the Vatican’s various media outlets.

Details of the cardinals’ discussion were presented by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. during a June 10 briefing with journalists.

On the first day of the meetings Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, presented a report drafted by the commission detailing a set of four new proposals on how to handle allegations of bishops mishandling abuse cases.

Included in the report was also a proposal for how to handle allegations of the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.

The first proposal on bishop accountability highlighted the necessity of receiving and investigating all complaints of the mishandling of abuse cases by the proper Vatican congregation. Competence for this task belongs to the Congregations for Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, or of Oriental Churches.

A second proposal requested that competence be given to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge all bishops “with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors,” changing the way it has been done in the past.

The authorization of a new Judicial Section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was also requested, as well as the appointment of stable personnel to work in the Apostolic Tribunal, the Holy See’s court system. The decision would then be put into place after consulting the prefect of the congregation, Cardinal Gerhard Muller.

Within the report presented by Cardinal O’Malley it was also asked that the Pope appoint a secretary to help the congregation’s prefect with the Apostolic Tribunal, and who would be responsible for the new judicial section.

Personnel within the judiciary section will also assist the congregation’s prefect in the penal processes regarding the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults by clergy.

A five-year period to develop the proposals further and to evaluate their effectiveness was also asked.

Pope Francis approved all five proposals and authorized that sufficient resources be given in order to carry them out.

On day two of the meetings a presentation was given by Msgr. Dario Vigano, director of the Vatican Television Center and president of the commission for the media established by Pope Francis in April.

Msgr. Vigano presented a new draft of media reform based on previous reports given by McKinsey and Co – the U.S.-based consultancy hired by the Vatican in 2013 to assist in revamping their media operations – as well as other past media commissions.

Set to be carried out over a period of four years, the reform calls for the gradual integration of the Vatican’s communications institutions, including the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Holy See Press Office, Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Center (CTV), L’Osservatore Romano, the photo service, the Vatican Publishing House, the Vatican Press, and the Vatican Internet Service blog.

The draft presented by Msgr. Vigano ensures the protection of all staff employed by these institutions.

In the coming months the new department will be established, named and the necessary appointments made. Until then, the commission for media will continue its work in this area.

Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, also gave a presentation during the meetings, updating the group on information regarding the Vatican’s financial reforms such as the appointment of a new auditor general, as well as the recent approval of the new statutes of the Vatican Pension Fund.

The cardinal also revealed three new working groups in the Council for the Economy dedicated to the analysis of revenue and investment, the management of human resources, and the study of existing IT systems.

The next round of meetings for the Council of Cardinals is scheduled to take place Sept. 14-16, 2015.

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VATICAN NEWS

When you care for a sick family member, you are a ‘hidden hero,’ Pope says

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2015

Pope Francis embraces a man in a wheelchair at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 10, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — During his weekly general audience, Pope Francis lauded families for the “hidden heroism” of caring for a sick loved one.

“These are the heroes. This is heroism of the family!” the pontiff said during his June 6 catechesis.

The Pope spoke of men and women who come to work, sleep-deprived after having cared for a sick family member.

“This hidden heroism is done with tenderness and with courage when someone is sick at home,” he said.

The Pope’s address, delivered Wednesday to pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square, was the latest in a series of catechesis dedicated to the family. Since late year, the pontiff has been centering his Wednesday addresses on this theme as part of the lead-up to the World Meeting of Families in September, as well as October’s Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Pope Francis focused his latest address on the particular sufferings experienced when a family member falls ill.

“It is an experience of our fragility which we live mostly in the family, from children, and above all the elderly,” he said.

He added that because of the love we feel for family members and loved ones, we feel their sufferings even more.

This is particularly the case when parents suffer from the illness of a son or daughter, he said.

In many parts of the world, families do not have ready access to hospitals, the pontiff noted. In these cases, the family becomes the “closest hospital,” in that caring for the sick person falls to the parents, grandparents, and siblings.

Pope Francis observed how, in general, families grow in times of sickness. For this reason, he stressed the importance of teaching children from a young age with a sense of solidarity during such times.

“We must educate children to solidarity with the sick so that they are not anesthetized to the sufferings of others, but rather are capable of helping the ill and of living fully each human experience,” the Pope said.

Throughout his catechesis, the Holy Father recounted several scenes from the Gospel in which Jesus heals the sick.

“(Jesus) publicly demonstrates himself as one who fights against illness, and who has come to heal man of every evil: The evil of the spirit and the evil of the body,” he said.

Pope Francis recalled a scene from the Gospel of Mark in which the people brought sick and possessed people to Jesus.

Recalling how the doctors of the law reproved Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, the Pope said: “But the love of Jesus was to give health, and do good.”

The pontiff cited particularly the scene of the man born blind, and the debate over whether he had been deprived of sight because of his sins or his parents’ sins. “The Lord clearly said: neither him nor his parents; and thus he manifested in him the work of God, and healed him.”

This is God’s glory, and the Church’s task, the Pope said: “to always help, console, to lift up, and be close to the sick.”

Pope Francis also emphasized the Church’s invitation to continuously pray for those “struck by disease.”

“And we must pray more, be it personally or in community.”

Pope Francis said that the Christian community knows that the family, in times of sickness, is never alone.

“We must thank the Lord for the beautiful experiences of fraternity in the Church which help families through difficult moments of pain and suffering,” he said.

“This Christian closeness, from family to family, is a real treasure for the parish: a treasure of wisdom, which helps families during difficult times and makes them better understand the Kingdom of God.”

“These are God’s caresses,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Ukraine crisis the focal point in Pope’s discussion with Putin

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2015

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, prefect of the papal household, greets Russian president Vladimir Putin upon his arrival at the Vatican, June 10, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In the second meeting between Pope Francis and Russian president Vladimir Putin, held on Wednesday at the Vatican, the discussion focused on the current crises in both Ukraine and the Middle East.

Under Putin, Russia has annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine; and according to the Ukrainian government and Western nations, Russian arms and soldiers are fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. Putin has denied the presence of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

A June 10 communique from the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis stressed to Putin the need to “engage in a sincere and great effort to achieve peace” in the Ukrainian conflict.

He also emphasized the importance of rebuilding a climate of dialogue in which all parties are committed to carry out former peace agreements decided on in Minsk earlier this year.

Mention was also made of the serious humanitarian situation, with particular regard to the access of humanitarian workers to areas in need.

Putin and Pope Francis also discussed the situation in the Middle East, particularly Iraq and Syria, where Russia has backed president Bashar al-Assad in the country’s civil war. The situation had also been the central point of the Francis’ and Putin’s first meeting, in 2013.

They spoke of the urgency of pursuing peace in the region with the help of the international community, and the need to protect religious minorities, particularly Christians.

After a delay of 70 minutes, Putin arrived at the Vatican by way of the Via della Conciliazione, the large street leading up to St. Peter’s Square.

The private encounter lasted 50 minutes, and was conducted in through two interpreters, one for the Pope in Italian and one for Putin in Russian.

Once the Russian president arrived, Pope Francis greeted him by saying “welcome” in German, and the president responded saying nothing, but giving a nod of acknowledgment.

Although the two looked at each other once they sat down in the meeting room, they remained silent until the door was closed. Pope Francis was described as being “very serious” from the moment the two greeted each other, although he began to “warm up” a bit during the group photo.

Putin gave the Pope a golden embroidery of the church of San Salvatore, saying “this is the Church of San Salvatore, which was destroyed in the Soviet age and was rebuilt.”

For his part, Pope Francis gave the president a large medal of the Angel of Peace crafted by artist Guido Veroi as well as a copy of his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

When giving Putin the medal, Francis told him that this is “the angel of peace, who defeats all war and speaks about solidarity among peoples,” and said that the joy of the Gospel “has many religious, human, geopolitical and social reflections” while handing him the exhortation.

At the end of the encounter Putin told the Pope that “it has been a great pleasure, an honor to meet you,” and said goodbye.

Before heading to the Vatican, Putin had been in Milan to meet with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi. The two discussed their countries’ longstanding good relations, but also highlighted areas of contention, mostly surrounding current European Union sanctions against Moscow due to the Ukrainian conflict.

Conflict erupted in Ukraine in February of last year when the country’s former president was ousted following months of violent protest, and a new government appointed.

In March 2014 Ukraine’s eastern peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia, and pro-Russian separatist rebels have since taken control of eastern portions of Ukraine around Donetsk and Luhansk.

It is estimated that nearly 6,000 people have died in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Rebels have been supported by both Russian arms and troops, according to both Ukraine and Western nations.

A ceasefire agreed on in Minsk officially began at midnight Feb. 15, and called for all sides to pull back heavy weapons.

However, despite the agreement of a ceasefire and the slight fall in violence since it was reached, shelling in the eastern region of the country has continued, and the number of casualties has continued to rise.

In a May 27 interview with CNA, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk said the ceasefire is being violated.

“It’s true that the intensity of fighting on the occupied territories has decreased, but it doesn’t mean that the fighting has stopped at all. Every day we receive sad news that someone has been killed or wounded in the result of continued fighting,” he said.

Most alarming for Ukrainians however, is the fact that “over the last months, hundreds of pieces of heavy weaponry have reached Ukrainian territory from the side of the Russian Federation,” the archbishop said.

“This equipment includes tanks – there are about 700 of them in Donbass according to the Ukrainian authorities – heavy artillery, mobile rocket launchers etc.,” he noted.

In addition, Archbishop Shevchuk said that according to information from the Ukrainian government and international observers, “there is a massive accumulation of Russian troops in Ukraine and on the Russian border.”

The archbishop said the current aggression against Ukraine “is a challenge for preserving peace in the world which cannot pretend that nothing happens in Eastern Europe.”

He noted how Pope Francis has often expressed his commitment to ensuring that another war does not break out in Europe, and pledged that the Holy See will do its best in securing peace agreements in Ukraine.

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VATICAN NEWS

U.S. joins forces with Holy See in fighting tax fraud

by CNA/EWTN News • June 11, 2015

(fsecart via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — On Wednesday, the Holy See and the United States signed a joint agreement to promote the prevention of tax evasion at the international level.

In the first accord of its kind between the U.S. and the Holy See, the two States agreed to share tax information per the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). One high-ranking Vatican official said that with the agreement, the friendships and cooperation between the two has reached “an even higher level.”

“Signing the present agreement is thus a further step in the Holy See’s long-term strategy to ensure and promote legality, transparency and ethical behavior in the economic and financial fields,” said the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

According to a June 10 joint press release, the archbishop spoke of the Holy See’s commitment over the past five years to promote “transparency and legality in the financial sector,” all the while keeping man’s economic and social life in sight.

The prelate made these remarks to U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth F. Hackett, with whom he signed the agreement on Wednesday.

The aim of the measure is to improve international tax compliance and the exchange of tax information between the Holy See and the U.S.

“Every person has in fact the duty to contribute, in charity and justice, to the common good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, by promoting and assisting the public institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life,” said Archbishop Gallagher.

As part of the agreement, the Holy See will be required to report the fiscal activities of American citizens who have Vatican bank accounts to the U.S. Treasury.

FATCA is a 2010 U.S. Federal law which requires American citizens living abroad to report their assets yearly to the U.S. Treasury department.

“We welcome the Holy See’s commitment to intensifying our cooperation to promote global financial transparency through improving international tax compliance,” said Ambassador Hackett at the signing ceremony.

The. U.S. is the 63rd country to enter into such an agreement with the Holy See.

The agreement comes amid widespread curial reforms being pushed forward by Pope Francis. In 2014, the pontiff called for the establishment of the Secretariat for the Economy, a dicastery which oversees financial activities throughout the Vatican and the Holy See.

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VATICAN NEWS

Days before encyclical’s release, Pope condemns culture of waste

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 11, 2015

(webhamster via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — After revealing that the topic of consumerism will be a key theme in his upcoming encyclical, Pope Francis today delivered a speech condemning food waste and the indifference of states when confronted with the topic of hunger.

“Statistics on waste are very concerning: a third of food products end up under this heading,” the Pope told members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a June 11 audience.

“It is unsettling to know that a good portion of agricultural products end up used for other purposes, maybe good, but that are not immediate needs of the hungry,” he said.

Francis’ comments were addressed to participants of the organization’s annual conference, being held in Rome June 6-13.

Just five days earlier, the Pope told journalists on board his June 6 return flight from Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina that the themes of relativism and consumerism would be areas of focus in his upcoming encyclical on human ecology, to be published next Thursday, June 18.

In response to a question on the overuse of computers and technology, the Pope lamented that “empty programs, without words, for example those that are relativist, hedonistic, consumeristic,” are frequently encouraged.

“We know that consumerism is a cancer of society and relativism is a cancer of society and of this I’ll speak in the coming encyclical that will come out within the month,” he said.

In his speech to members of the FAO, Pope Francis said that the reduction of waste worldwide “is essential,” and called on individuals to make small changes in their daily lives in order to reduce the amount of resources they consume.

“Let us make a more decisive commitment to change lifestyles, and perhaps we will need fewer resources,” he said, explaining that sobriety “is not opposed to development,” but has instead become “a condition” for it.

The Pope also lamented that there seems to be “a general resignation, disinterest or even the absence of many, even states” on the topic of hunger.

“Sometimes the feeling is that hunger is an unpopular topic, an unsolvable problem, which doesn’t find solutions within a legislative or presidential mandate and therefore does not ensure approval,” he said.

The Pope called on world leaders to develop a new vocabulary based on the “policy of the other,” which fosters solidarity among nations.

“Our tendency to ‘desert’ in front of difficult issues is human,” Francis noted, explaining that it is an attitude many prefer to take, “even though we don’t miss a meeting, a conference or the preparation for a document.”

“Instead we must respond to the imperative that access to the necessary food is a right for all. Human rights do not allow exclusions!” he said.

The Pope also brought up the topic of climate change, saying that it is related to the “forced displacement of peoples and to the many humanitarian tragedies” currently being experienced due to a lack of resources, beginning with water.

“It is not enough to say that a fight for water exists without acting to create sustainable consumption of this good-resource and eliminating waste,” he said, and told the organization they can play a key role in ensuring there will be enough water for basic human and agricultural needs in the future.

He also spoke of the need to ensure “more healthy environmental conditions,” but said this must be done without “excluding someone.”

An increased awareness across the globe on the type of nutrition needed, which varies depending on latitude, would serve all countries well, Francis continued.

However, he noted that both the quality and quantity of nutrition are weighed down by a sense of insecurity due to the climate, an increase in demand and by price uncertainty.

“Climate change rightly worries us, but we cannot forget financial speculation,” the Pope said, explaining that the state of the market influences world hunger for better or for worse.

According to FAO studies, the price of food products has fluctuated since 2008, first doubled and then stabilized, “but always with values higher than the previous period,” the Pope noted.

“Prices so volatile prevent the poorest from making progress or from counting on a minimum nutrition,” he said, explaining that the causes for this “are many.”

Food security is something that must be achieved even if people are in different geographical locations, economic situations or food cultures, the Pope said.

He called on the global community to overcome differences and unite their efforts, observing the current disconnect as nutrition for some countries “means eliminating fats and promoting exercise” and for others means “worrying that they have at least one meal a day.”

Pope Francis concluded by assuring the organization that the Church is walking beside them with full knowledge “that the earth’s resources are limited and their sustainable use absolutely urgent for agricultural and food development.”

“Because of this, the Church is committed to promoting a shift in attitude necessary for the good of future generations.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal: Divorced, remarried Catholics need support for conversion, not changes on communion

by CNA/EWTN News • June 11, 2015

The Eucharist is distributed during Mass with Pope Francis in Rome’s Campo Verano cemetery for All Saints Day on Nov. 1, 2013. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Vatican City — Catholics who have divorced and remarried need help for the “difficult climb” of conversion and spiritual growth, not a change in Church practice on the reception of Holy Communion, a prominent cardinal said.

Cardinal Ennio Antonelli summarized the advice of Pope John Paul II, who encouraged pastors “not to lower the mountain, but instead help believers to climb it by leading the way.”

“For their part, the faithful should not stop trying to reach the summit; they must sincerely seek both what is good and the will of God. Only with this fundamental attitude is it possible to develop a positive path of conversion and growth, even though individual steps may be short and sometimes even deviant,” explained the cardinal, who is president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Cardinal Antonelli’s new 17-page booklet, “The Marriage Crisis and the Eucharist,” reflects on Christian marriage and critiques proposals to change Catholic practice in order to allow those who have divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion.

“A major pastoral shift is strongly advocated by the media, the public and even many Catholics, including laity and clergy, largely expect this too,” the cardinal said.

The proposals, commonly associated with German Cardinal Walter Kasper, have been repeated for decades. They have again come to prominence ahead of the Synod on the Family, to be held at the Vatican this October.

Cardinal Antonelli countered these proposals, saying: “In the Catholic Church, the pastoral practice must be consistent with the doctrine of the faith.” The indissolubility of Christian marriage is “a firmly established doctrine,” he stressed, and a consummated sacramental marriage is indissoluble “by virtue of Christ’s will.”

Without penitence and sexual continence, he explained, the divorced and remarried “cannot be allowed to receive Holy Communion.” New unions of separated spouses are illicit and constitute “a persistent grave moral disorder.” These unions create a situation that “objectively contradicts the nuptial covenant between Christ and the Church, as signified and effected by the Eucharist.”

While the cardinal reiterated Catholic teaching, he acknowledged “widespread dissatisfaction” with this position among many people. Many couples perceive it as rejection and “total exclusion from the Church.” They are “tempted to leave the Church community and to lose faith.”

The cardinal stressed the need to help people in this situation through personal companionship and helping them participate in the life of the Church as much as possible.

He emphasized that exclusion from Holy Communion does not mean exclusion from the Church. Rather, people in irregular unions continue to be Church members. He said “other believers and pastors must welcome them with love, respect and care.”

At the same time, he stressed that Catholic practice is consistent and based in Scripture and the tradition of the Church.

The indissolubility of marriage is the “cornerstone” of these pastoral questions, he said, based on teaching is rooted in the words of Jesus Christ himself. Cardinal Antonelli cited several biblical passages, including “What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mt 19:6; Mk 10:9) and “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mk 10:11-12).

Jesus’ own words about adultery “must have seemed outrageous to many devout Israelites,” the cardinal said. “It is easy to understand that the teaching of the Gospel has encountered and continues to meet with considerable difficulties.”

Cardinal Antonelli cited the teachings of the Popes as well as the teachings of the Church Fathers and the ecumenical councils, such as the discussion of marriage in the Second Vatican Council document “Gaudium et Spes.”

More recent Church teachings on the subject include Pope John Paul II’s 1981 apostolic exhortation “Familiaris Consortio” and his 1984 exhortation “Reconciliatio et Paenitentia.”

In a Jan. 21, 2000 address to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, John Paul II said that a “ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved even by the intervention of the Pope.” That address said Catholic teaching on marriage is confirmed by “the Church’s centuries-old practice, maintained with full fidelity and heroism, sometimes even in the face of severe pressures from the mighty of this world.”

Pope Benedict XVI confirmed Familiaris Consortio in his 2007 apostolic exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis.

Cardinal Antonelli said any change in Catholic practice would risk compromising the credibility of consistent papal teaching and the authority of the Catholic bishops. He warned of the risk of “trivializing the Eucharist” and reducing it to “a rite of socialization.”

Proposed changes would indicate approval of sexual activity outside marriage, given that unmarried couples are “far more numerous” than the divorced and remarried. Contemporary culture “promotes self-justification, particularly in the emotional and sexual spheres,” when it is often necessary to change one’s life, the cardinal warned.

He also noted theologians who advocated recognition of “authentic human values” in irregular unions, such as affection, mutual help, and a shared commitment to children.

“However, one must avoid presenting such unions in themselves as imperfect values, since there are serious disorders,” Cardinal Antonelli said.

He warned of the danger of presenting evil as “an imperfect good.” Proposed changes would “lead to a separation of mercy and conversion” and would be “the only case of forgiveness without conversion.”

Exclusion of the divorced and remarried from Communion is comparable to “other situations of grave objective disorder and public scandal,” he added.

“Whoever has a habit of swearing should make serious efforts to correct himself; whoever has committed theft must makes restitution; whoever has harmed his neighbor, whether materially or morally, needs to repair the harm. Without a real commitment towards conversion, there can be no sacramental absolution and admission to the Eucharistic Communion.”

Allowing those in irregular unions to receive Holy Communion would create an inconsistency that risks reducing the permanence of marriage to “an ideal, which may be beautiful, but attainable only for a fortunate few,” the cardinal said. Such a change could become generalized to a point where “it will be meaningless to talk about the indissolubility of marriage and the celebration of the sacrament of marriage will lose its practical relevance.”

Cardinal Antonelli stressed the power of Christian love, sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit. This love can “observe the commandments and even go beyond them.” Chastity, though difficult, is possible for all, including the divorced and remarried, he said.

For the cardinal, the main pastoral priority for the family and evangelization is the formation of “exemplary Christian families which are able to give concrete witness to the fact that Christian marriage is beautiful and possible to fulfil.”

“In order to illuminate and produce heat, the first thing to do is light a fire.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Airport evangelization: Pope talks mercy, migrants, ministry in the air

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 12, 2015

(Shai Barzilay via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Vatican City — Pope Francis told a group of airport chaplains that their call is to be a sign of unity and mercy for the many different faces and cultures that come through airports, including undocumented migrants and asylum seekers.

“The airport is a place of encounter for many people who travel, for work, for tourism, for other reasons; they are also points of transit for migrants and refugees, children and elderly, who need special care and attention,” the Pope said June 12.

He made his comments to participants in the International Seminar of Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains, organized by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.

The theme of the encounter was “Evangelii gaudium: A Support for the Pastoral Care of Airport Chaplaincy.”

In his speech, Francis noted that there is a “troubling number of passengers without documents – often refugees and asylum seekers,” and lamented how they are frequently detained in airport premises “for long or short periods, sometimes without adequate spiritual and human assistance.”

Due to the diversity of people and cultures who pass through airports, the chaplaincy is called to be a place of “unity in diversity” for all categories of people, he said.

“As a big city, the airport is a cosmopolitan, multiethnic, and multi-religious environment and you, chaplains and members of the chaplaincy, are immersed in the life of this unique community,” he said, explaining that because of this, it is even more important for them to be work with docility and be “attuned” to the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis pointed to the image of the Good Shepherd as a model of how airport chaplains and those who work in the chaplaincy ought to care for the people in their ministry.

He pointed to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist as particularly important for their flock, because it is in them that “the encounter with the infinite mercy of God opens unimagined paths of evangelization.”

“To this day to proclaim the Gospel implies lifting people from the burdens that weigh on their hearts and on their lives; it means offering the words of Jesus as an alternative to the promises of the world which do not give true happiness,” he said.

Francis continued, saying that in modern society the need to discover the compassion of God has become more urgent, and pointed to the Holy Year for Mercy as a “precious” time of grace to deepen in this compassion.

He noted the “tragic situations” that have taken place with air travel, including various accidents and hijackings.

Because of the serious effects these events have on the safety and the psychological state of people, chaplains are sought out by those who need “comfort and encouragement,” the Pope said.

Francis concluded by encouraging the chaplains who work in these “special ‘border’ places which airports are,” to ensure there is space to both find and practice love and dialogue, “which nurtures fraternity among peoples and preserves a peaceful social climate.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope confirms plans to visit Central African Republic, Uganda in November

by Alvaro de Juana (CNA/EWTN News) • June 12, 2015

Pope Francis meets with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea at the Vatican on Oct. 17, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis said today that he is planning to travel to Africa in November, specifically to the Central African Republic, Uganda, and possibly Kenya.

During a meeting with hundreds of priests from around the world participating in the Third World Priests Retreat in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope responded to the question from an African priest asking when he planned to come to Africa.

“God willing, I will be in Africa in November. In the Central African Republic first and then Uganda,” he responded.

The pontiff added that it “is possible” that he may also go to Kenya, but said this is not certain, because of organizational challenges.

He also noted that the trip will come “before the presidential transition in the Central African Republic, and Uganda after the 50th anniversary of the martyrs, though a little late.”

The Pope had already announced his intention to travel to Africa – specifically the Central African Republic and Uganda – during a press conference while returning from a trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January.

In September 2014, the bishops of Uganda invited the pontiff to their country to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the canonization of the martyrs of Uganda.

The 22 Ugandan Martyrs were killed by the king in the 1880s for refusing to recant their faith. They were canonized Oct. 18, 1964 by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Church of Uganda has already begun preparations for the celebration of the Golden Anniversary of the canonization with a diocesan conference on the 22 saints.

Pope Francis’ other destination – the Central African Republic – has been gripped by violence since December 2012.

The country’s conflict began when Seleka rebels, loosely organized groups that drew primarily Muslim fighters from other countries, ousted the president and installed their own leader in a March 2013 coup.

In September 2013, after 10 months of terrorism at the hands of the Seleka, anti-balaka self-defense groups began to form. The conflict in the nation took on a sectarian character, as some anti-balaka, many of whom are Christian, began attacking Muslims out of revenge for the Seleka’s acts.

The conflict has died down since the presence of international peacekeepers was enlarged in late 2014, but the nation remains unstable.

On May 15, Pope Francis met with bishops from the Central African Republic. He told them that they “must play an indispensable prophetic role during the current institutional transition, recalling and reflecting the witness of the fundamental values of justice, truth and honesty, which are the foundation of any renewal, promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence between members of different societies and ethnicities, thus encouraging reconciliation and social cohesion, which is the key to the future.”

The Pope also stressed to the bishops that “Christian formation and a deepening of the faith” must be priorities so that “the Gospel permeates the life of the baptized, for the good not only of the Christian communities, but also the whole of Central African society.”

Instructing them “to form the conscience of the faithful, and indeed that of all the people, as your voice is heard and respected by all,” the Holy Father explained that “(i)t is in this way that you should take your rightful place in current developments, avoiding direct involvement in political quarrels,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Stewardship for God’s creation: the Christian landscape behind Pope Francis’ new encyclical

by CNA/EWTN News • June 12, 2015

(CC0 1.0)

Vatican City — Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on ecology will draw from decades of Catholic social thought on God’s creation in light of new perspectives on environmental problems, a prominent magazine has said ahead of the encyclical’s release.

“Believers have an additional reason to be good stewards of the gift of creation, because they know that it is a gift from God,” the Rome-based magazine La Civilta Cattolica said in an editorial dated June 27.

The encyclical will be published June 18. Its title, “Laudato Sii,” means “Praised be You.” It is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

The Jesuit-published La Civilta Cattolica reflected on the encyclical’s importance and on the challenge the Pope faces in appreciating the scientific consensus on topics like climate change.

“The world’s leading religious leader will draw upon his faith, upon the teaching of the Church, and upon the best information and advice available, demonstrating how each of us can manage, gather and sift the information, to judge, to decide and, finally, to act,” the editorial said. “His goal is not to speculate nor to support this or that theory, but to invite people of goodwill to consider thoroughly their responsibility for future generations, and to act accordingly.”

Debates about environmental responsibilities have consequences for the well-being of humanity, La Civilta Cattolica said. They are not simply campaigns to save a rare animal or plant, though these can be important. Rather, the debate is about how to ensure that “hundreds of millions of people have clean water to drink and clean air to breathe.”

“This is a serious moral responsibility which we can no longer remove ourselves from. Failure to respond would be a sin of omission,” the editorial said.

This responsibility is linked to Christian thought, it noted.

“For the believer, ours is a ‘divine environment,’ namely a world interpreted as a place of union with God,” said the editorial. “Pope Francis’ commitment urges us on towards an ecological spirituality, towards a spiritual and sacramental life which is not divorced from the fact that we live in the created world.”

The publication rejected any claims that these environmental concerns turn the Church into a “green NGO.” It also countered claims that such concerns distract from the task of saving souls.

“Some may think that faith is an optional add-on to ecological commitment. That is like saying that the foundation is an optional add-on for a building,” it continued, saying that concern for human and environmental ecology shows “a fundamental dimension of faith” and emerges from the Church’s social doctrine.

On the topic of climate change, La Civilta Cattolica said it is “not contested” that the planet is warming. It cited the “very stark” November 2014 Synthesis Report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Just like most of us, Pope Francis faces the challenge, in preparing his encyclical, of properly appreciating the scientific consensus about climate change, its causes and consequences, and the needed remedies,” the magazine continued.

At the same time, it said that even when those in environmental debates do not agree on some research findings, there are problems that are “obvious and need the attention of the faithful.” These include water pollution, “monocultures” that harm the ground and people’s livelihoods, and the extinction of plant and animal species.

The editorial countered the vision of “a moment of doom” in which human greed, stupidity, carelessness and pride have caused irreversible damage leading to self-destruction.

Rather, it suggested that this moment is an opportunity.

“For the first time, in a mature way, we have to exercise a common responsibility for the earth, our common home,” La Civilta Cattolica said.

The editorial noted the encyclical’s importance in view of upcoming global events like the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the expected U.N. General Assembly agreements on sustainable development goals for 2030, and the Climate Change Conference that will meet in Paris in December.

For decades, Popes have shown Catholic concern for the environment.

Pope Paul VI’s 1971 apostolic letter “Octogesima Adveniens” discussed environmental degradation as “a wide-ranging social problem which concerns the entire human family.”

St. John Paul II’s 1997 encyclical “Sollicitudo rei socialis” considered the biblical roots of ecological questions. He previously warned of the misuse of non-renewable resources and of the risk that industrialization can have on the environment and on quality of life. His 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus” criticized the “arbitrary use of the earth” and urged the need for man to be “a co-operator with God in the work of creation.” He discussed ozone layer depletion in 1990 message for the World Day of Peace and called for the “right to a safe environment.”

Benedict XVI, who was nicknamed “the Green Pope,” spoke of the realization that “something is wrong in our relationship with nature.” He said that the earth “has a dignity of its own and that we must follow its directives.” In message for the 2010 World Day of Peace he lamented problems like desertification, deforestation, agricultural depletion, and climate change. In a 2009 general audience, he said, “The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere.”

Pope Francis has spoken on environmental topics before, La Civilta Cattolica noted.

During his inaugural homily of March 19, 2013, the Pope said that one of the services of the Bishop of Rome is to “protect the whole of creation.” In a January 2015 press conference on his flight to the Philippines, the Pope lamented the abuse of nature.

On April 22, 2015, World Earth Day, he used his general audience to encourage everyone to “look at the world through the eyes of the Creator” and to see the Earth as “a garden to cultivate.” He rejected environmental exploitation and called for the conservation of “the divine harmony between beings and creation.”

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Former POWs in Bosnia and Herzegovina encourage healing wounds, banishing hatred

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 6, 2015

Buildings in Sarajevo still bear the scars of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. (Andreas Duren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — A Croat, a Bosniak and a Serb who each survived detention camps during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war said they feel no hate over the matter, and they do not blame any ethnic community, as responsibility is an individual matter.

The war, which followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, killed around 100,000 combatants and civilians and displaced a million more people. The fighting split largely along ethnic lines, among the predominantly Orthodox Serbs, the predominantly Catholic Croats, and the predominantly Muslim Bosniaks.

“I do not hate any ethnic group, nor men as a category in itself. I know that what I suffered cannot be attributed to a whole people,” Janko Samolikovic, who is from Visegrad, 70 miles east of Sarajevo, told CNA June 5.

Samolikovic is part of a Caritas-run project named “Pro Future.” The project aims at path of healing for those who have suffered the atrocities of war. Testimonies are the final part of the project, which also involves psychological support for victims.

Samolikovic spoke together with Amir Omerspahic, a Bosniak, and Zdenko Suplikovic. Though they come from different ethnicities, they emphasized that “when we speak together, we understand that we suffered for the same things, we were victims in the same way.”

Samolikovic was 23 when he was seized and transferred to one of the 677 alleged detention centers set up throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war.

“Before the war, in Vinograd, Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats used to live together in peace. We never had conflict. Then the war broke, and everything changed” he recounted.

Samolikovic was imprisoned in a gymnasium. “We were fed with bread and 2 or 3 liters of water per day. There were seven of us, and we also had to save water, for if someone were to swoon because of the lack of food, we had to help him recover.”

He stressed that “he felt feelings a man should never feel. Once, a soldier came with a loaded rifle, and told us he could kill us any moment, waving the rifle in the air. We feared that he would shoot, but we were also hopeful because dying meant putting an end to our sufferings.”

Omerspahic, from Sarajevo, recounted a similar experience. “I was captured Aug. 2, 1993. I was trying to escape through forests as the violence raged in the village in which I was living, and I was caught. One of my fingers was wounded, and a soldier started hitting me on the head.”

Omerspahic said he remained bleeding for days, and in the end a doctor saved his life. “He was a Serb doctor whom I also met again. I do not hate Serbs. Serbs imprisoned me, but a Serb saved my life. It is not the ethnic group – it is the way you behave.”

The same words were told by Suplikovic, who is now married and the father of two. When the war started, he decided to enrol in the army to defend his village.

“At the beginning, we were allied with Bosniaks. Then on June 24, 1993, while we were defending our position with the Serb army in front of us and two wings of the Bosniak army around us, we found out via radio that Bosnia and Croatia were at war. We decided to surrender, and so we were detained by the Bosniaks,” he recounted.

“That’s the worst condition, starting a war with one enemy and finding yourself with two,” Suplikovic said. He added that he was forced to work, and was fed very meagerly.

Their stories are the common memory of Sarajevo.

“We really don’t hate any other ethnic group. We are of different ethnic groups, but our stories are common,” they concluded.

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Ethiopia’s Cardinal Souraphiel brings African family values to the college of cardinals

by CNA/EWTN News • June 7, 2015

Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa departs the Vatican’s Synod Hall, Oct. 13, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Elevated to the rank of cardinal in February, Ethiopian Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Ababa has brought the richness of African values to bear in the College of Cardinals.

“Africa may be poor in material things but is very rich in values, especially traditional values; family values; the treasure of the extended family; the value for life; respect of elders; the value of receiving the pilgrim, the stranger, the guest, as an angel of God,” Cardinal Souraphiel told Vatican Radio shortly before the Feb. 14 consistory at which he received the red biretta.

Africans “should not be ashamed of our roots and our values and we should not copy or exchange them for cheap ones coming from elsewhere,” he continued. “What we need is to strengthen them. We also need to know our histories.”

Cardinal Souraphiel was born in 1948 in Tchela Claka, near Harar. As a child he attended public schools and those of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, followed by schools run by the Capuchins and the De La Salle Brothers.

In 1963 he entered the minor seminary of the Congregation of the Mission, also known as the Vincentians. He began major seminary in 1968, attending institutions in Ethiopia as well as the Missionary Institute and King’s College in London.

Cardinal Souraphiel was ordained a priest of the Congregation of the Mission in 1976. He ministered in southwestern Ethiopia until June 1979, when he was imprisoned for seven months by the Derg, the communist military junta that ruled the country from 1974 to 1987.

“The experience of being in solitary confinement was a terribly lonely one, as there was no one to talk with or anything to read,” the cardinal told the Vincentian Family in February. He added, however, that “I found it transformative. It led to a spiritual rebirth for me. I had nothing, literally nothing, in solitary, so I cried out to the Lord from the depths of my being. I truly felt the presence of Jesus in those dark days.”

The Derg released him from prison, but imposed exile on him; he then studied sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Cardinal Souraphiel returned to Ethiopia in 1983, serving as a parish priest, head of the Vincentian novitiate, chaplain for the De Las Salle brothers, and a teacher of philosophy and theology. He was also head of the local Vincentian house from 1991.

When the Prefecture Apostolic of Jimma-Bonga was established in 1994, he was appointed its first prefect.

In 1997, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Ethiopian Archeparchy of Addis Ababa, and was consecrated a bishop the following January. In 1999 he was appointed the archeparchy’s archbishop, becoming head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the Alexandrian rite.

Cardinal Souraphiel told Vatican Radio that when he was nominated as a cardinal by Pope Francis in January, it “came as a total surprise to me,” as he was informed of it by his priest secretary, who had heard of it on the radio.

Cardinal Souraphiel is chair of the Association of Members of the Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa, where his goals include adding the organization to the African Union and inviting Pope Francis to address the African Union. He has been a member of the Congregation for Oriental Churches since 2003, in 2005 helped to found the Ethiopian Catholic University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Cardinal Souraphiel told America Magazine in February that education “is the key to create love of one’s country, to appreciate one’s own country and culture, and to be creative in all kinds of aspects of life so that the youth will be able to be create employment within the country.”

The cardinal is proud of the Catholic Church’s role in Ethiopia, particularly regarding education: “Although Catholics are less than 1% of the population, we run over 400 schools and 43 health centers. We just started St. Thomas, the first Catholic University in Ethiopia. In fact, the one public university in the country until ours was started by Canadian Jesuits,” he told the Vincentian Family.

He is known for his concern over human trafficking, having said at a 2009 synod on Africa that he hoped the meeting would “study the profound causes of human trafficking, of the displaced, of abused domestic workers, of fugitives and immigrants, especially those who flee in small boats. I also hope that this Synod will take concrete positions and make concrete proposals that show the world that African lives are also sacred and that they are not cheap merchandise as sometimes they are presented by the media.”

Cardinal Souraphiel has discussed human trafficking in the context of violence against women and children, and as an effect of poverty. Calling poverty the most pressing issue in east Africa, he has urged investment in education, health, and development, as well as the pursuit of peace and stability.

He is also concerned by arms trafficking, child soldiers, refugees, and emigration, all of which are challenges for Ethiopia.

The cardinal is also known for his staunch opposition to homosexual acts, encouraging lawmakers in 2008 to outlaw them, and leading AMECEA in 2014 to condemn same-sex unions. AMECEA’s August 2014 statement also stated, “We affirm institution of marriage as an indissoluble union of love between a man and a woman open to procreation and denounce any attempt to redefine this institution. Family life must be respected, promoted and protected so that it can provide men and women who can weave a social fabric of peace and harmony.”

In his February interview with America Magazine, he said that regarding the Synod on the Family, “my hopes are that the Holy Spirit shall guide the next Synod on the Family so that the Church remains faithful to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and to the teaching of our Holy Mother Church as presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Canon Law in the presence of our Merciful Father.”

Cardinal Souraphiel, 66, was one of 20 men made a cardinal at the Feb. 14 consistory, and one of 15 eligible to vote in a future conclave.

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Archbishop: Ukrainian conflict is Europe’s biggest crisis since WWII

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 7, 2015

An anti-government protestor stands on top of a barricade on Grushevskogo Street on Jan. 29, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images News)

Rome, Italy — The head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church said the country is facing a “humanitarian catastrophe” with global consequences that cannot be ignored by the international community.

He called on participants of next week’s G7 Summit in Bavaria to work toward effective solutions.

“The aggression against Ukraine is a challenge for preserving peace in the world which cannot pretend that nothing happens in Eastern Europe,” said Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, an eastern rite Catholic Church in full communion with Rome.

Conflict erupted in Ukraine last year in February when the country’s former president was ousted following months of violent protest, and a new government appointed. In March, Ukraine’s eastern peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia and pro-Russian separatist rebels have since taken control of eastern portions of Ukraine, around Donetsk and Luhansk.

More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Rebels have been supported by both Russian arms and troops, according to both Ukraine and Western nations.

A ceasefire was brokered and officially began at midnight Feb. 15, however fighting has continued.

Archbishop Shevchuk told CNA May 28 that the conflict in Ukraine is not simply an isolated dispute, but rather has “serious global consequences.”

He spoke of the Vatican’s diplomatic commitment to helping find a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian conflict, as well as a possible visit of Pope Francis to Ukraine.

Below is CNA’s full interview with the archbishop, edited for clarity and grammar:

Q: In February a ceasefire in the conflict zones of Ukraine was agreed to, however fighting seems to continue. Has the conflict improved at all since February, and are there signs on either side that fighting could end by the 2016 decentralization goal?

A: We have received the news about a cease-fire agreement in Minsk with great hope. However, it is with sadness that we must admit that these agreements have not been implemented. The cease-fire is being violated. It’s true that the intensity of fighting on the occupied territories has decreased, but it doesn’t mean that the fighting has stopped at all. Every day we receive sad news that someone has been killed or wounded in the result of continued fighting. Yesterday (May 27) we learned that our army was under sustained shelling near Mariupol. The most alarming for the Ukrainian society, however, is the fact that over the last months, hundreds of pieces of heavy weaponry have reached Ukrainian territory from the side of the Russian Federation. This equipment includes tanks (there are about 700 of them in Donbass according to the Ukrainian authorities), heavy artillery, mobile rocket launchers etc. Besides that, according to the information of the Ukrainian government and international observers, there is a massive accumulation of Russian troops in Ukraine and on the Russian border. These facts make us believe that Russian side with its heavy military presence in Ukraine is not seeking peace, they don’t rely on the rule of law or on the respect of the international agreements but they abide only to the rule of force. Using the threat of arms, Russia is trying to dictate its will to Ukraine. In my opinion, as long as the fighting continues in Ukraine and there is an increase in Russian military presence on the occupied territories of Donbas, the true political process, which would lead to a peaceful solution of the conflict, is unlikely to bring any results. So in this sense, the intended decentralization as a part of the constitutional reform of the Ukrainian government will have no effect on the peace process either.

Q: The topic of the Ukrainian conflict will most likely be addressed during the G7 Summit in Bavaria June 7-8. Do you have hopes for the outcome of the discussion, and are there specific themes that you would like to see leaders address?

A: For ordinary Ukrainian citizens it is very important that the international community, especially the G7 Summit, considers the war in Ukraine not under the perspective of a local conflict but as a conflict with serious global consequences coming into effect now and even more so in the future. I think an encouragement for Russia’s violation of the international laws and military aggression is the fact that no international institution nowadays has the power to provide proper functioning of the international security system which used to guarantee peace between the nations in the past. In these circumstances, no one in the globalized world can be at peace, no one can feel safety, even if he/she finds himself/herself far away from Eastern Ukraine. The aggression against Ukraine is a challenge for preserving peace in the world which cannot pretend that nothing happens in Eastern Europe. I would like that the G7 Summit in Bavaria takes into account that the Eastern Europe now faces a humanitarian catastrophe which, considering the territory it might effect, is the greatest crisis since the end of the WWII. Let us stop the war together! Let us show solidarity to Ukraine which is a victim of unjustified aggression!

Q: Pope Francis has shown great interest in the Ukrainian conflict, and is credited with having helped restore relations between the United States and Cuba. Do you think that the Vatican could help in reaching a peace agreement in Ukraine?

A: Holy Father Pope Francis has stated on numerous occasions that he will do everything possible to prevent the outbreak of a new war in Europe. During the last visit “Ad limina” of Catholic Bishops of Ukraine to the Vatican (Feb. 20, 2015), Pope Francis assured our Bishops that the Holy See will do its best to secure peace agreements in Ukraine. How it will happen, what steps will be taken, we don’t know. But the history of our Church teaches us that the peace of Christ always wins over the war, and the truth of God is on the side of those who are unjustly treated. Seventy years ago all our Bishops were imprisoned by the Stalin regime, our Church structures were destroyed, our church property was confiscated. Our enemies thought they put to an end the very existence of our Church, but to their great surprise after many years of clandestine existence in the underground, our Church has risen to a full ecclesial existence 25 years on the eve of Ukraine’s Independence. We want to believe that today God is with Ukraine because our country is a victim of unjust military aggression. We are convinced that our Savior, who became a victim Himself on the cross for the salvation of the humankind, will help us. And the Holy Father, who is Vicar of Christ on earth, is and will be our support and our help in these difficult times.

Q: The Pope has also been invited by the bishops to visit Ukraine. Has there been a response on the part of the Vatican as to when a visit could foreseeably take place?

A: The Catholic Bishops of Ukraine as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have officially invited the Pope to visit Ukraine. In our opinion, similarly to military conflicts between Argentina and Chile as well as Argentina and Great Britain, the peace mission of the Holy Father helped to stop the war. So we are convinced that the visit of the Holy Father to Ukraine would be a very powerful gesture of peace which, empowered by the Holy Spirit, would accomplish what is not possible for the G7. As far as I know there is no official response of the Holy See to this invitation, but there is no decline of the invitation either. So we pray and we hope that this visit will take place in the nearest future.

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Bishop Heiner Koch, a German delegate to Family Synod, appointed Berlin archbishop

by CNA/EWTN News • June 8, 2015

Bishop Heiner Koch, who was appointed Archbishop of Berlin June 8, 2015. (Martin Rulsch via Wikimedia Commons)

Berlin, Germany — The Vatican confirmed on Monday, June 8 that Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Heiner Koch of Dresden-Meissen as Archbishop of Berlin.

As Archbishop of Berlin, he will shepherd a population of 5.7 million, of whom 407,000 are Catholics. The Berlin archdiocese also has 421 priests and 668 religious.

Bishop Koch was born in 1954 in Duesseldorf, and studied theology in Bonn. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cologne on his 26th birthday, in 1980.

Bishop Koch, who is 60, served as a parish priest and a youth chaplain, and was on the organizing committee for the 2005 World Youth Day, held in Cologne. In 1996, he was named a monsignor.

In 2006 he was consecrated a bishop, and appointed auxiliary bishop of Cologne. In January 2013, he was made Bishop of Dresden-Meissen.

In 2014, Bishop Koch was appointed by the German bishops conference as chairman of the Commission for Marriage and the Family.

Bishop Koch is also involved in preparations for the Synod on the Family being held in Rome in October, and joins Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising and Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, of Osnabrueck as the bishops who will represent Germany at the synod.

All three delegates are known to support the ‘Kasper proposal’, which would allow some divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics to receive Communion after a period of penance.

According to a list of participants compiled by Edward Pentin and published by the National Catholic Register, Bishop Koch was present at the “shadow council” held May 25 at the Pontifical Gregorian University. That meeting aimed to promote “a pastoral opening on issues such as communion for the divorced and remarried, and the pastoral care of homosexuals,” according to one of its participants.

And in a February interview with a German newspaper, Bishop Koch called for changes in the pastoral care of homosexuals, saying that to “portray homosexuality as a sin is hurtful,” adding that the Church “needs a different language when it comes to homosexuals … I know gay couples who value reliability and commitment and live these in an exemplary manner.”

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Among the ruins of Iraq, Christians’ faith burns brightly

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in his cathedral city, March 28, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Erbil, Iraq — Despite the potential threat from the nearby Islamic State, several monks and students in northern Iraq have found refuge in an ancient monastery, certain they are in God’s hands no matter what happens.

Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda said that those who have chosen to remain in the fourth century Monastery of Saint Matthew have “expressed their faith that this is a secure place.”

He told CNA June 8 that although these Christians are now being protected by the Kurdish military, their sense of safety is not only due to the military presence.

“There is a kind of feeling that they cannot express but they at least feel relaxed in a way that even if, God forbid, something would happen, they are in safe hands.”

The Iraqi archbishop was the main speaker at a Thursday press briefing in Rome regarding the latest developments in his war-torn country.

Although the Islamic State maintains control over much of the region after seizing the area last summer, and many people in nearby villages have fled, three monks and six students have expressed their determination to remain in the monastery.

“We can see the battles and the airstrikes from here in front of us, especially at night,” Yousif Ibrahim, a monk at the monastery, told USA Today. “The sky lights up at night, but we of course are not scared. God protects us.”

In June 2014, the Islamic State launched an offensive against northern Iraq, overruning the nation’s second-largest city of Mosul. In August, it further extended its reach in the regions surrounding the city. The militants have displaced hundreds of thousands of Christians, Yazidis, and Shia Muslims from their homes while slaughtering or enslaving thousands of others.

The monastery, known also as Mar Mattai, was established in 363 by the hermit Saint Matthew, who had fled Rome during the persecutions of the emperor Julian the Apostate. The monastery is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in Iraq. It is currently under the authority of the Syrian Orthodox Church.

Sahar Karaikos, a student at the monastery, said he is not afraid despite the very real possibility of the monastery being invaded.

“I don’t even want to think or speak about the destruction the Islamic State would cause if they took our monastery,” he told USA Today.

Located on the edge of the conflict, Saint Matthew’s Monastery risks becoming the latest Christian landmark to be destroyed by the militant group’s campaign throughout Iraq.

Archbishop Warda said the destruction of the Christian heritage is tragic, but he is more concerned with the people’s faith.

“They’ve destroyed walls and historical sites, but they were unable to destroy the faith of the community. And that’s the good news. That our people our people are strong enough to leave everything behind and just stay Christians.”

Many Christians have been killed since the militants began their campaign to establish a caliphate. For those who remain, martyrdom remains a possibility.

Archbishop Warda at the June 4 briefing responded to a relevant question: whether he was prepared for martyrdom.

He responded: “It’s better not to think about it.”

“When it comes, my wish is just to be ready. All I wish is to be ready and to have the courageous response like my people have given. Christ is the only wish that we love.”

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3-D technology takes pilgrims ‘back in time’ to Medieval Church

by Jan Bentz (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

3-D model of the Sessa Aurunca Cathedral. (Jan Bentz/EWTN)

Stuttgard, Germany — For fans of Church history and architecture, 3-D imaging may be the second-best thing to time travel, allowing them to experience a medieval church as it existed hundreds of years ago.

Users of a soon-to-be launched website and app will be able to harness modern technology to see architecture that existed centuries ago.

The technology was presented at a recent international conference in Germany. On display was a 3-D model of the cathedral of Sessa Aurunca, a town north of Naples.

“Our main goal was to make the beauty and the heritage of the Church in Italy known, on a hyper-modern and multi-media platform,” said architect Danilo Prosperi, scientific director of the endeavor.

“Our project consists of a full 3-D model of the Church from the inside and outside, and a reconstruction of the same edifice as it would have been in the Middle Ages,” he added.

Prosperi and his team combined research on medieval churches throughout all of Italy to collect data, which was later used to reconstruct the church’s structure before it was refurbished in the 17th century in Baroque style.

Many Italian churches underwent a restoration and partial reconstruction during the period after the Council of Trent in the 16th century, commonly known as the “Baroque” era.

“The most interesting part of our research was to re-construct the old elements of the church: the ceiling with its wooden beams, the windows of the main nave, which were later walled in, the relocation of the ambo to its original place, as well as the modulation of the Iconostasis, the choir and the ciborium,” Prosperi explained.

Information came from the museum of the diocese and historical texts.

“The diocesan museum holds marble slaps and pieces of the original structures, which were photographed, scanned and later incorporated into the church to re-create the feeling of the ‘original’ medieval structure,” Prosperi explained.

The 3-D technology allows for modification of the original structure and interaction with the stone model, which would be impossible with mere photographs, he said.

As a result, the tourist or visitor is able to see the original model of the church in an interactive way.

“We have created two primary interactive products: the virtual tour within the ancient church and an app,” the director said.

The application, he continued, “enables you to visit the ancient church by standing physically inside the new church. To do so, you access the app of the tablet or of the smartphone, which projects the 3-D model onto the existing surface. The portable device turns into a kind of ‘window to the past’.”

The tourist stands in the real church, which merges with the virtual church to create an “augmented reality tour.”

Prosperi explained the motivation behind the endeavor: “the diocese of Sessa Aurunca, along with the bishop, asked us to work on this project, in order to make his cathedral known to a vast public, since it is a zone highly frequented by tourists, who mostly are still ignorant of the beautiful cathedral.”

“The church is in fact a small copy of the Benedictine Monastery Montecassino, one of the most important and oldest monasteries in Italy,” he said.

After seeing the outcome of the cathedral project, the Italian city quickly took interest.

The city of Sessa Aurunca’s cultural department “approached us and asked to apply the same 3-D modelling to an ancient Roman amphitheater, an ancient Roman bridge and the Duke’s palace,” Prosperi said.

“It was mostly the multi-media approach that convinced them,” he added.

In September 2015, a website will be launched in Italian and English containing all the fruits of the past year’s work.

“We have also planned to present a 3-D print-out of the ambo and other parts of the church,” Prosperi said. “It is overall very engaging research that combines the ancient beauty of architecture and art with hyper modern usage of technology at our hands.”

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Polish, Eastern Catholic bishops stand firm on pastoral care for families

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and other Eastern Catholic bishops gathered at St. Peter’s Square, Nov. 27, 2013. (Kyle Burkhart/CNA)

Rome, Italy — During recent meetings which were held separately, both the Polish bishops and the Eastern Catholic bishops from Europe have discussed the family in view of the upcoming Synod on the Family, and are likely to uphold Catholic pastoral care for families.

The bishops from Poland will be on the front line at the synod, giving an overall view of the family and not focusing merely on the contentious issues of access to Communion for the divorced and remarried, and pastoral openings to homosexual relationships.

A source in a congregation at the Roman Curia told CNA that “the feeling of the Polish bishops is that John Paul II’s teaching on marriage and family has been betrayed” by the “shadow council” led by some German bishops at the Pontifical Gregorian University on May 25.

The lecture delivered the last week of May to the Polish bishops’ conference’s general assembly by Fr. Dariusz Kowalczyk, SJ, gives one to understand the issues at stake for the Polish bishops.

Grounded in St. John Paul II’s pastoral care and speaking about granting access to Communion for the divorced and remarried, Fr. Kowalczyk indicated two criticisms.

“The first question we should ask ourselves,” he said, “is this: Does the Church have the authority to give sacramental absolution and Holy Communion to divorced persons cohabiting in non-sacramental unions? This question of Communion for those people is comparable to the issue of the mandatory celibacy of priests, or on another the level, to that of ordaining women.”

He then continued: “If we answer the question of Communion for remarried divorcees by saying that a change in the Church’s current doctrine and practice is possible, then a second question can be asked: From the pastoral viewpoint, would the new, proposed sacramental practice be useful? Would it edify the Church or not? After all, the fact that something could be possible from the doctrinal point of view, does not necessarily imply that it would be good for the Church from a pastoral point of view.”

Fr. Kowalczyk then concluded that “We have two arguments here: one is doctrinal and the other pastoral – a risk of confusion on the indissolubility of marriage. Both concern the sacramental sign, which has theological, anthropological, and didactic meanings.”

The doctrinal argument, he said, “can be considered from two perspectives: that of sin, which contradicts sacramental Communion (understood both as a sacramental sign and as grace), and that of the relation between the meanings of each of the sacraments.”

The arguments presented by Fr. Kowalczyk – that admitting the divorced and remarried to Communion would contradict the nuptial significance of the Eucharist, and it would also confuse people about the indissolubility of marriage – will be core issues at October’s Synod of Bishops.

In addition to the Polish bishops, the Eastern Catholic bishops of Europe have also held a meeting regarding the family and its pastoral care.

The more than 40 bishops met in Prague June 4-7 to further develop their responses to the many challenges facing families. Among the participants were Archbishop Cyril Vasil’, secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Archbishop Vasil’ contributed a chapter to Remaining in the Truth of Christ, in which he argued that there is no coherent position among the Eastern Orthodox Churches which favors oikonomia – a practice which some, including Cardinal Kasper, have cited as a justification for admitting the divorced and remarried to Communion.

At the conclusion of their meeting, the Eastern Catholic bishops stated that the Church, including particularly Eastern Catholic Churches, “gives its yes to the family, the fundamental cell of human society where every person becomes more and more him / herself.”

“The family, the domestic Church spoken of by Saint John Chrysostom and repeated by the Second Vatican Council, as workshop and training ground for humanity, is not just the place where the transmission of faith happens, but where the fundamental principles of living together are learned … husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters are called to love each other: everyone in the family has a unique and important role.”

The Eastern Catholic bishops added that “in preparation for the Synod of Bishops … the episcopal participants at the meeting were committed to promoting an evermore careful preparation for the sacrament of matrimony, so that husband and wife, with the strength of grace, might generate a true communion of life welcoming children and educating them.”

The Eastern Catholic bishops also discussed “the on-going situation of external aggression” in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops and Russian-backed separatists are fighting the national government. The bishops “demonstrated their solidarity with the people of Ukraine, above all the Greek Catholics, exhorting them to pursue the path of dialogue and unity between the country’s Christian churches which a particular attitude of misinformation – especially at the international level – aims to undermine.”

Finally, the bishops discussed the “too ‘discretionary’ attitude – bordering on discrimination” toward Catholics by local governments in southeastern Europe “which seem to want to attack the Catholic Church under the administrative, economic and financial profile.”

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WORLD NEWS

A warning for Europe: court ruling undermines right to life guarantees for comatose

by CNA/EWTN News • June 9, 2015

Viviane Lambert, mother of Vincent Lambert, at the Grand Chamber judgment, June 5, 2015. (Sandro Weltin/Council of Europe via Flickr)

Strasbourg, France — The European Court of Human Rights’ recent decision to allow the removal of a comatose French man’s intravenous feeding tube could have far-reaching consequences, one legal observer has said.

Gregor Puppinck, director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, warned that the court’s decision “puts at risk the ‘legal death’ of tens of thousands of patients in Europe” who are in the same situation as Vincent Lambert, a 39-year-old who has been in a coma at a Reims hospital for seven years.

“The respect for their right to life is no longer guaranteed by the European Court of Human Rights,” Puppinck said.

Lambert’s case was taken to the European Court last year after France’s high court ruled to end his life support. By a 12-5 vote, the European Court of Human Rights ruled June 5 that the choice to stop Lambert’s intravenous feeding did not violate European rights laws.

Puppinck said the ruling means it is legal for states to “cause the death of a patient in a minimally conscious state.” He objected that the ruling means “we can again legally induce the death of a disabled patient who did not ask to die.”

Lambert sustained serious head injuries in a traffic accident in September 2008. The injuries left him “tetraplegic and in a state of complete dependency,” according to the European Court.

His fate became the center of a legal controversy. Lambert’s wife and physicians said that his intravenous feeding tube should be removed, while his parents and two of his siblings took the case to court to continue his nourishment. The parents were hopeful of signs of progress and wanted Lambert to receive better care.

“They are trying to make us say we don’t want him to go, but it is not at all the case, we don’t want him to be snuffed out,” Lambert’s mother Viviane said earlier this year, according to BBC News.

Puppinck said that the refusal to guarantee Lambert’s right to life and his medical care means the court is “turning a page in the history of human rights in Europe.”

He charged that the ruling revives practices like those which were condemned following the war crimes trials at Nuremberg after the Second World War. Some of those trials convicted doctors who practiced the euthanasia of disabled persons.

Puppinck said the ruling violates the founding motives of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. The convention protects the right to life except for a death penalty execution following a person’s conviction of a crime.

The five European Court judges who voted in favor of continued care for Lambert stated that in their view, the court’s decision has “forfeited” its title of “The Conscience of Europe.”

A lower French court had previously ruled that Lambert should continue to receive food and hydration. In January 2014 a panel of nine judges in Chalons-en-Champagne said removing food and hydration is “a grave and clearly illegal attack on the fundamental right to life.”

The panel added that Lambert is “neither sick nor at the end of his life.”

Euthanasia is illegal in France. However, a 2005 law allows physicians to refrain from using “disproportionate” treatments “with no other effect than maintaining life artificially.”

The bishops of France reiterated Catholic teaching against euthanasia in a January 2014 document, stating that God’s commandment “Thou shall not kill” is “the foundation of all social life respectful of others, especially the most vulnerable.”

The bishops pointed out the contradiction in seeking to prevent suicide in society while also allowing it in some cases.

While Catholic ethics do not require extraordinary means to preserve life, they recognize the provision of food and hydration as an ordinary standard of care.

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WORLD NEWS

New U.N. agenda could enable massive global expansion of abortion

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

U.N. flag outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. (United Nations photo via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

New York City, N.Y. — A massive, well-funded push to increase access to abortion worldwide could be underway at the United Nations, and according to one congressman it could silence faith-based organizations which oppose abortions out of conscience.

At issue is proposed language in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that will eventually be voted on and adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in September, and will go into effect in 2016.

If the current proposed language is adopted, it could result in “unfettered access to abortion” around the globe, according to the office of Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who is co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.

The language establishes targets for global development, among them to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services” by 2030.

The other target in question tries to “ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.”

This language – “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” – is interpreted to include abortion by most U.N. agencies and Western donor countries, said a former diplomat at the U.N. who participated in numerous negotiations involving sexual and reproductive health language. Such language is usually part of an agenda in which developed countries use financial incentives to pressure poor, pro-life countries to liberalize their abortion laws in accord with the U.N.’s definition of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In this case, the language is but a tiny part of 17 development goals and 170 targets that together establish a broad and comprehensive global agenda for the next 15 years that includes fighting poverty, ending world hunger, and promoting sustainable energy and universal education.

Thus the language is alarming especially for developing countries, Smith noted, because the massive funding required for these Sustainable Development Goals – $5-7 trillion – can also be used as an incentive for developing countries to liberalize abortion laws.

The goals basically state to developing countries that access to abortion and contraception “is what you need if you want economic growth,” Smith added.

Without meeting the sexual and reproductive rights targets established in the development goals, poor countries could risk losing development funding. Most countries allow legal abortion in some circumstances, with only a handful either banning it outright or allowing it in all circumstances.

The result of the goals if the current language is adopted, Smith said, could be a massive expansion of abortion worldwide due to international pressure on countries and charities to offer abortion access.

State and local laws limiting access to abortion could be deemed to violate the “universal right” to abortion services and could be erased. These would include laws such as a minor having to obtain parental or spousal consent to get an abortion.

Faith-based organizations that oppose abortion out of conscience could see their funding wither as a result of these development goals, Smith explained.

For example, the U.S. bishops’ anti-human trafficking program lost a government grant in 2011 once the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began prioritizing grants for organizations that provide contraceptives to trafficking victims. The bishops’ program could not provide those “family-planning services” out of conscience.

Such an example could happen on a mass scale at the global level, Smith warned, when faith-based organizations that do not offer contraceptives or abortions out of conscience will lose funding from countries and international donors.

The Post-2015 goals build upon the original eight “Millennium Development Goals” that the U.N. set in 2000 for the next 15 years, which included cutting world poverty and reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

As these goals were set to expire and in preparation for the Post-2015 agenda, the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development met in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. It issued an outcome document, “The future we want,” which set the table for the sustainable development goals in time for the 2013 general assembly meeting.

That document did not include the “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” language that the current proposed goals state, Smith noted.

However, the International Planned Parenthood Federation has been pushing hard for the inclusion of the language, noting that it would constitute a “sea change” from the original Millennial Development Goals.

According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, abortion is indeed a part of these reproductive rights mentioned.

In its Vision 2020 manifesto, “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights – a Crucial Agenda for the post-2015 Framework,” the federation states that “some aspects of the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda are inadequately resourced and sorely neglected, including access to safe and legal abortion, access by adolescents, and access for the poorest and most marginalized groups.”

Also, the World Health Organization, which is the leading international health agency of the United Nations, has already made specific abortion recommendations for countries’ health systems.

In the executive summary of its report “Safe Abortion: Technical and policy guidance for health systems,” the WHO states that “to the full extent of the law, safe abortion services should be readily available and affordable to all women.”

“This means services should be available at primary-care level, with referral systems in place for all required higher-level care,” the report added.

This is evidence that WHO wants to “harmonize the push” and “integrate” abortion into normal health care worldwide, resulting in an abortion surge for the next 15 years,” Smith said.

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WORLD NEWS

A year after ISIS invasion, religious minorities in Mosul could disappear

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2015

A young refugee rests after having fled from ISIS. (ankawa.com)

Washington, D.C. — One year after ISIS invaded Mosul, the Iraqi city’s diverse religious heritage is on the verge of extinction, warned a U.S. government commission on Tuesday.

If appropriate actions are not taken, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) warned, the diverse heritage of Christians, Yazidi, Sunni and Shi’a living together could be lost completely from northern Iraq.

“One year ago, the world watched in horror as ISIL captured the city of Mosul and targeted its population, including its ancient and diverse religious communities,” said commission chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett in a June 9 statement.

Without appropriate U.S. and international efforts, the religious heritage of Iraq and its people are in danger, Swett said.

“ISIL’s unspeakable crimes and takeover of northern Iraq could well mark the end of that nation’s formerly religiously diverse makeup.”

On June 9, 2014, troops from ISIS – also known as the Islamic State or ISIL – took the northern Iraq city of Mosul. The extreme Islamist group has declared a caliphate in the large swaths of territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.

With the takeover, the local Christian community – which has called Mosul home for more than 1,700 years – was given a choice: convert to Islam, pay a penalty tax, leave the city, or face death.

“While more than half a million people fled Mosul, those who remained have experienced killings, rape, torture, and kidnappings,” Swett explained.

In its 2015 annual report, released in late April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said that while all Iraqi citizens are at risk due to the actions of ISIS, Yazidi and Christian minorities face particularly “egregious, devastating, and large-scale abuses, including forced expulsion from their historic homelands, forced conversion, rape and enslavement of women and children, torture, beheadings, and massacres.”

In the report, Iraq is designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” because of ISIS’ presence and government failure to protect religious minorities.

The commission has recommended that the United States and allies combatting ISIS take steps to protect “the most vulnerable communities,” including supporting or sponsoring a referral by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court to investigate ISIS action against ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria; taking concrete action to support Iraqi efforts to protect religious and ethnic minorities, and developing U.S. plans to help protect religious minorities.

The United States should also promote religious freedom within Iraq, the April report said, and should help to resettle refugees fleeing ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

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WORLD NEWS

Christians belong in Middle East, Antioch patriarchs say in call for peace

by CNA/EWTN News • June 10, 2015

The five patriarchs of Antioch at their June 8 meeting in Damascus. (Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch via Facebook/Antiochpatriarchate.org)

Damascus, Syria — The five Christian patriarchs of Antioch met in Syria on Monday, calling for peace in the Syrian civil war while reaffirming that Christians have a place in the Middle East.

The Christian leaders described themselves as an authentic people of the land, who are “deeply rooted in its earth that was watered by the sweat of our fathers and grandfathers, and we confirm more than ever that we are staying.”

“We do not condemn those that choose to leave, but we remind Christians that steadfastness in faith often entails a great deal of tribulation,” they said in a statement following the June 8 meeting. “We call on everyone who claims to have an interest in our fate to help us to remain.”

The five Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch attended the meeting, held in Damascus at the headquarters of the local Greek Orthodox archdiocese. The apostolic nuncio to Syria also attended, Reuters reports.

The patriarchs are Gregory III Laham (Melkite Greek Catholic), Bechara Rai (Maronite), Ignatius III Younan (Syriac Catholic), John X Yazigi (Greek Orthodox), and Ignatius Aphrem II (Syriac Orthodox).

The annual meeting is normally held in Lebanon, but the churches agreed to meet in Damascus so as to reassure all Christians of the region, according to Asia News.

The Syrian civil war and the conflict in Iraq have caused massive casualties and life disruptions for Muslims and Christians alike. Millions of Iraqi and Syrian refugees have been displaced from their homes.

The rise of the Islamic State has also threatened many Christians and Muslims.

The Christian patriarchs of Antioch urged a political settlement of the Syrian. They called on Syrians to be committed to Syrian unity and backed “the right of Syrians to determine freely their own future without foreign interference,” as well as a “political settlement of the Syrian crisis.”

The patriarchs told the international community “to take its responsibility and to stop the wars in our land.” They stressed the need for peace and advocated the return of those who have been abducted or displaced.

They also called for better relations with Muslims. Any extremist forms of Islam must be countered by teaching “a culture of openness, peace and freedom of belief,” they said.

They also noted the centrality of the Palestinian cause in the Arab world, and the “double standards” of the international community.

The statement encouraged Lebanese to be loyal to Lebanon, and to work for the election of a president. Lebanon’s presidency has been vacant since May 2014, due in large part to political divisions over the Syrian war.

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WORLD NEWS

Oscar-winning composer pens Mass for the Pope

by CNA/EWTN News • June 12, 2015

Ennio Morricone. (Gonzalo Tello/Cancha General via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Rome, Italy — The musical settings of Ennio Morricone are more likely to be heard at a movie theater than a church, but on June 10, the award-winning movie composer debuted a new Mass dedicated to the Jesuit Order and named for one of their own - Pope Francis.

“My wife asked me for years for a Mass, but I did not ever decide to,” Morricone told Radio Vaticana in a June 10 interview. However, a request from the rector of the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesu, the mother church of the Jesuit order, convinced him to write a Mass for the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuit order.

“The thing that strikes me most about this task,” he explained, “is the fact that I wrote the music for the film ‘The Mission,’ which is the story of the Jesuits in South America, which after some years, in 1750, they were disbanded.”

“In some way I have participated in their dissolution and now I participate in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of their restoration.”

In addition to composing music for the award-winning film ‘The Mission’ – which won a place on AFI’s list of 25 Best Film Scores of all time – Morricone also wrote the score for “Karol: a Man Who Became Pope” in 2006. Among the other compositions that he has become known for: The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in America, and more recently Django Unchained.

Morricone has received numerous awards for his compositions, including a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2007, five other Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, and dozens of others.

His most recent project is dedicated to Pope Francis. He noted the significance of having the first Jesuit Pope: “It’s amazing! I find in all of these coincidences what I would call almost miraculous.”

The Mass was debuted during a June 10 performance at the Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesu in Rome. Morricone conducted members of the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta and two choirs from the Accademia Santa Cecilia and the Rome Opera Theater.

Commonly known as the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola and approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. However, the order was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 after conflict with several Catholic states. After taking up refuge in non-Catholic countries, the order was restored by Pope Pius VII on June 7, 1814, which the Society of Jesus recognizes as an anniversary day.

The composer commented that while his new Mass does subtly experiment, musically it is tied to the liturgy and to tradition.

“I was faithful to the modality we have in Gregorian music,” he said, explaining his use of dissonance and polymodality in the piece, as well as an overall air of serenity. “The drama, perhaps, is located in the dynamism that there is in some moments.”

Works such as this Mass are testament to the ability to adapt traditional music to modern musical language, Morricone said.

“The greatness of the language of today together with the greatness of the tradition. For example, the two choirs and the use of the modality are in the tradition, which is still there. There are tradition and innovation.”

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WORLD NEWS

Priests needed: As Church growth explodes worldwide, parishes can’t keep up

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 12, 2015

Pilgrims fill St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Wednesday general audience on Oct. 15, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — The global Catholic population is growing – so quickly, in fact, that priest and parish numbers cannot keep up, says a new study on trends in the worldwide Church.

And this poses a challenge: With an overall growth in the number of Catholics, especially in Africa and Asia, but not enough growth in the number of parishes and priests to supplement it, there are fewer opportunities for Catholics to receive the sacraments and participate in their parishes.

“The Church still faces a global 21st century problem of keeping Catholics engaged with parish and sacramental life,” stated the study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.

The study “Global Catholicism” drew from Vatican statistics and other surveys since 1980 to detail where the Catholic Church has grown and shrunk at the parish level and to predict the demographics of the next few decades for the Church.

This growth was examined at the parish level because parish life is ultimately the “brick and mortar” of the Church where Catholics receive the sacraments, associate with fellow Catholics, and participate the most in their faith, the study explained.

It tallied the growth of Catholics, priests, religious, parishes, reception of sacraments, seminarians, and Catholic welfare institutions like hospitals and schools in five regions — Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas.

The overall finding of the report is that the Church is in the midst of a “dramatic realignment.” It is waning in its historical center of Europe, its growth is slowing in the Americas and Oceania, and it is booming in Asia and Africa.

This forecasts a Catholic shift away from the traditional centers of Europe and the Americas and toward the “Global South,” the mostly-developing parts of the world that include Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Oceania, and much of the Far East.

Dr. Mark Gray, a senior research associate with CARA, explained the implications of this shift to CNA in an interview.

One problem highlighted by the study is that most of the world’s parishes are still in Europe and the Americas, where the Church is declining or stagnating in population. The developing world is seeing more Catholics, but not nearly enough parishes to serve them.

“You’ve got all these beautiful parishes,” Gray said of Europe. “You can’t pick them up and send them from one part of the world to another very easily. So in one place the Church is going to have to close parishes, and in another place it’s going to have to build a bunch more, and it’s going to have to figure out how to manage its clergy.”

Another finding of the report is that Catholics are participating less in the Church as they grow older, as seen in sacramental participation rates.

In every region, the number of infant baptisms per 1,000 Catholics is greater than the number of first Communions, which is greater than the number of confirmations, which is greater than the number of marriages conducted within the Church.

While this may not be surprising in regions like Europe, which is seeing an overall decline of priests and religious, it is also the case throughout other regions where Church numbers are growing.

The Americas have both a lower Mass attendance rate and fewer marriages per 1,000 Catholics than does Europe, despite the overall American Catholic population growing. Gray admitted that these findings have yet to be explained.

Furthermore, the number of religious priests, brothers, and sisters all declined in the Americas since 1980, even though the number of Catholics and diocesan priests has risen there.

And even in Africa, where the Church is growing the most, there is a steep decline in sacramental participation from baptisms to marriages – the marriage rate is actually as low in Africa as it is in the Americas.

This might have to do with Africa’s population boom fast outpacing the growth of its parishes. The continent leads the world with more than 13,000 Catholics per parish.

“In Africa, more than elsewhere, the Church needs to explore the possibility that some forego or delay sacramental activity due to a lack of access to a nearby parish,” the CARA report states.

Asia, however, is setting the bar in sacramental participation. It leads all the other regions in rates of first communions, confirmations, and marriages.

“Something’s happening in Asia that is remarkable. It’s bucking the trend of everywhere else,” Gray said. Catholic leaders should be paying attention to what’s happening there, he added.

Excluding mainland China, for which the Vatican did not provide data, the Catholic population rose in Asia by 63 percent since 1980. Overall Mass attendance did not significantly decline, either, although some Asian countries reported a higher Mass attendance than others.

The number of diocesan priests more than doubled on the continent since 1980, and the number of religious priests, brothers, and sisters each almost doubled in that time frame.

What are the consequences of having too few priests, religious, and parishes to keep up with the overall growth of Catholics around the world?

In some places, closings and consolidations will lead to “mega parishes.” Especially in Europe and North America, where this is already happening, the result could be a crisis of community where many Catholics experience “anonymity” amidst so many fellow parishioners, Gray explained.

And these “anonymous” Catholics may be less inclined to participate in the life of their parish – donating less, participating in sacraments less and bringing fewer children to Church.

This is particularly difficult for Europe and North America, Gray noted, because historically these regions were well-staffed with parishes and priests, and were used to having smaller local parishes rather than larger mission parishes.

Now, not only might the parishes be larger, but priests could be serving multiple parishes, leaving Catholics with fewer opportunities to associate with their parish priest.

“People for the longest time expected they could go to their neighborhood parish whenever, knock on the door, and there would be a priest there. Especially when someone was really sick,” Gray said. Now this may not be the case.

Europe will see a five percent decline in its Catholic population by 2050, the report predicted, but far more alarming is that the number of diocesan priests and vowed religious has already fallen by 40 percent there since 1980. The overall number of parishes has declined as well.

Consequently, priests from other continents like Africa have already had to come minister to European and American Catholics. This puts a further strain on the African Church, where the significant growth in parishes, priests, and religious has still not kept up with the major Catholic population boom there.

“While some African priests serve internationally in parishes throughout the world this may become more challenging in the coming decades with more pressing needs at home,” the report states.

Of the regions covered in the report, Africa saw the largest increase of Catholics per parish since 1980, jumping from 8,193 Catholics per parish in 1980 to 13,050 in 2012.

Although the number of priests and parishes in Africa have jumped by well over 100 percent in that time frame, the number of Catholics has skyrocketed by 238 percent, thereby increasing the gap between the numbers of Catholics and the number of priests and religious.

The continent’s Catholic moment is a consequence of its population boom, the report said, as fertility rates in any given region are directly connected with the vibrancy of the Church in that area.

Where the fertility rate is below the replacement level of 2.1 children per couple – such as in most of Europe – the Church is struggling.

Where the fertility rate is highest above replacement rate – like in Sub-Saharan Africa where it is 5.15 – the Church is growing rapidly.

And where the fertility rate is approaching replacement rate level – like in Latin America and the Caribbean where it fell from 4.2 in 1980 to 2.18 in 2012 – the Church’s growth is slowing down.

Gray’s explanation for this is simple. Fewer births “means fewer baptisms, fewer first communions, fewer marriages, smaller populations eventually.”

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U.S. NEWS

Knights of Columbus see fifteenth consecutive year of increased charitable giving

by CNA/EWTN News • June 9, 2015

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson announces the Knights’ support of the Special Olympics World Games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, July 14, 2014. (Knights of Columbus)

Bridgeport, CN — The Knights of Columbus have been preparing to welcome Pope Francis to the U.S. this autumn with record-setting charity, having raised more than $173 million in 2014.

The world’s largest Catholic fraternity achieved an all-time record in donations and community service hours in 2014. The Knights of Columbus raised more than $173.5 million and served more than 71.5 million hours.

In a June 8 statement Supreme Knight Carl Anderson commented that “charity has been at the heart of the Knights’ mission for the past 133 years.”

According to Anderson, the Pope will see the Church in America alive “with love of God and love of neighbor, and the Knights of Columbus are excellent examples of this reality.”

For the 15th consecutive year, the Knights of Columbus has increased its charitable giving.

Some major donations the fraternity has given include more than $1 million to the Special Olympics World Games, which “will cover the cost of transportation, housing and meals for the athletes as they travel to the games, stay there during the competition, and return home,” according to the statement.

Another organization the Knights of Columbus has helped tremendously is the Knights of Columbus Refugee Relief Fund, to which the fraternity donated more than $2 million. The relief fund is using the donations to help persecuted persons in the Middle East.

“It has shocked the conscience of the world that people are systematically being purged from the region where their families have lives for millennia – simply for their faith,” Anderson said.

The Knights also made gifts of $400,000 for the humanitarian relief of Catholics in Ukraine, where Russians and Russian-back separatists are fighting the national government in the country’s east.

The last ten years have shown the fraternity’s immense passion for helping out in the community. Cumulatively, the Knights of Columbus has donated more than $1.5 billion and contributed more than 600 million hours of community service supporting charities.

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U.S. NEWS

How to get millennials to marry? Start by sharing your story

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2015

(Brandon Morgan via Unpslash)

Washington, D.C. — While it may be the middle of “wedding season,” the warm months between spring and fall when many couples choose to tie the knot, many young people today are avoiding – or at the very least delaying – saying “I do” themselves.

How to solve this dilemma? According to some marriage advocates, the first step may be as simple as happily married couples sharing their stories.

The reasons behind the marriage avoidance phenomenon are complex – when studies ask about it, they are met with responses ranging from education and career goals to finances and fear of divorce.

Adding to these challenges is an “overarching cultural bias” against the Catholic and traditional understanding of marriage is further leading some young people to avoid entering or thinking about marriage, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., told CNA.

Society’s view of marriage merely as a romantic bond is alien to the Catholic view of marriage, the cardinal explained.

“The current culture presents marriage as a coming together of any two people for whatever duration of time and usually in the context of sexual satisfaction.”

This understanding, he continued, is “detached from some basic human realities such as complementarity, lifelong commitment, a marriage bond that endures even challenges, and of course the fruit of marriage in children and a family.”

However, society’s bias against marriage does not have to go unchecked: married couples and others have the ability to show the fullness of marriage and the family. “Nothing tells the story of true married love better than the witness of enduring human love,” Cardinal Wuerl urged.

Changing Understandings of Marriage

While the Catholic Church speaks of marriage as permanent, faithful, and open to life, a different picture of marriage is seen no further than the front pages of the newspaper.

New apps are explicitly creating more avenues for extramarital sexual encounters, and the choice of some couples are to forego all option of children is gaining support.

For those who do marry, divorce still occupies an ominous space in the public mindset. While in recent years, the overall rate divorce has held steady in the United States and dropped for young adults, when data on divorce is standardized for age, studies show that divorce for some age groups is still on the rise.

In addition, a push to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples has gained major ground, as both court cases and referenda have removed the understanding of sexual complementarity from the idea of marriage.

The Cost of Delaying Marriage

All of these cultural trends can create pressure – and confusion – among young people planning their futures.

“Young adult apprehension about marriage is often tied to the fact that many of them have seen only a few healthy models of marriage,” explained Meg McDonnell, director of I Believe in Love, an initiative created to help young people promote and support healthy models of marriage around the country

This apprehension is particularly acute among lower-income and economically vulnerable populations, McDonnell told CNA.

In many of these communities, she said, “fear of divorce is high, but lack of dating and relationship norms and loose sexual mores make it so many young adults don’t know the best ways to get to lasting love and stable marriage and family life.”

These shifts in cultural values, combined with financial pressures facing young people leads to a delay in marriage, researchers have found. And while this delay can have benefits for the most wealthy in society, it has a negative impact on the most vulnerable.

The data concerning unmarried births is particularly concerning, the authors of one study say, because children born outside of marriage, even to cohabiting couples, “are much more likely to experience family instability, school failure, and emotional problems.”

These same children born to unmarried parents, including the rising number of cohabiting couples, particularly face challenges when parents separate.

Solving the Problem

To help young people – particularly those without strong models of marriage and family – gain the confidence and tools necessary for a stable union, married couples must bear public witness to married love, McDonnell said.

“Those who are married – young or older – may want to intentionally reach out to single and dating young adults with a listening and supportive ear and a willingness to share what worked on their road through dating and to marriage,” she suggested. “We need to revive a culture where those who are dating and married are sharing ‘best practices’ to finding and keeping love and commitment.”

Programs and initiatives such as I Believe in Love, McDonnell continued, have already begun to give a “resounding witness” to marriage. Furthermore, they give young couples “renewed hope – you can, with a little work and sacrifice, have what marriage promises: permanent and faithful love.”

Cardinal Wuerl also urged couples to share their witness of marriage.

“One of the things that we all need to do is simply share the joy, the beauty of anniversaries that point out how the Church’s vision of marriage, reflective of millennia of human experience, is not only real but is verified every day,” he said.

Married couples also have the chance to be a sign of Christ’s call for humanity to love not only God but one another, the cardinal added. “The love that Jesus and his Church speak of is something much more profound than simple sexual satisfaction or temporary happiness.”

“Love is the ability to give of one’s self and receive the love of another in a way that the couple can make their way through life facing even the daily challenges of commitment, and God willing in the context of their own family, the fruit of their love.”

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Here’s what the U.S. bishops expect from the Pope’s new encyclical

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2015

(Unsplash)

St. Louis, MO — With Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology and the environment to be released next week, the U.S. bishops are reflecting on possible themes of the upcoming document.

“We can be sure that concern for the poor will be a central theme throughout this encyclical,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said June 10. He suggested Catholics should approach ecological topics “with our hearts aimed to the glory of the Creator, and our eyes wide open to the need of our brothers and sisters, including those who come after us.”

Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, N.M. likewise reflected on the encyclical’s prospects for providing a global perspective that helps the poor.

“The Church has come to understand that the health of the global family is dependent on the health of its weakest members,” he said. “Poor nations need to develop in order to reduce poverty, but we must help them to follow a more sustainable path to economic development than the one we took.”

Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Sii,” will be published on June 18.

The two American bishops discussed the upcoming encyclical’s likely themes at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ general assembly in St. Louis. Archbishop Wenski chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, while Bishop Cantu chairs the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, the U.S. bishops’ conference president, introduced their presentation. He said that the U.S. bishops welcome the “tremendous opportunity” to help the faithful receive the encyclical in “a thoughtful and prayerful way” and to help “elevate the conversation” above ideological and partisan divides.

Archbishop Wenski said the U.S. bishops can help ensure that Catholics hear Pope Francis.

“Let us work to create space for people of good will to consider the Holy Father’s message. He has a voice that will transcend the partisanship that has characterized much of the debate on climate change.”

The Miami archbishop expected the encyclical to address concepts like “integral ecology,” which explains “our care for one another and for the environment are intimately related.”

He suggested that the Pope will criticize actions that “casually discard people and the gifts of the earth.”

Cooperation with God’s design applies both to people’s relationship to the natural world and to their relationships with one another, Archbishop Wenski explained. People should resist the “throwaway culture” in favor of a culture of “solidarity and encounter.”

Bishop Cantu said an integral approach to ecology links “the welfare of God’s people and God’s creation, of rich and poor, of our nation and the world.”

He expected the encyclical to offer a global perspective. He noted Pope Francis’ repeated calls to counter the “globalization of indifference” with global solidarity.

The encyclical could also reflect on the link between ecology, human security and health.

Bishop Cantu noted problems like the growing geographic range of tropical diseases, intensifying storms, and rising sea levels that threaten low-level countries and islands.

Poorly regulated mining operations, especially in Latin America, have had “calamitous” public health consequences including birth deformities and premature deaths due to environmental degradation.

These situations can increase violence and pressures to migrate northwards.

In Africa, climate shifts have also worsened drought and desertification, creating pressures that lead to violence, extremism and death.

“Drought in a place like Africa could very well result in the starvation of thousands, if not millions, of people,” Bishop Cantu said.

The bishop also noted the need to protect natural resources to feed humanity.

However, Bishop Cantu criticized what he said is a “false linkage” between ecological problems and population growth. He rejected aggressive population control efforts in developing countries and noted that some ecological problems, like massive greenhouse gas production, are mainly produced by a “small portion” of the world’s population in advanced countries.

He said the real issues in ecology are consumption and waste of resources and unsustainable practices.

Unsustainable practices mean “everyone will suffer from climate impact,” while renewable energy sources and sustainable technology will benefit everyone.

Although there is no advance copy of the encyclical, Archbishop Wenski suggested its outlines can be found in Catholicism’s “rich tradition of teaching about stewardship in creation, rooted in scripture.” He noted precedents in the writings of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.

The archbishop said Catholics have a significant responsibility to ensure the care for creation while resisting a “culture of waste,” working to protect the poor and respecting the “sanctity and dignity of life.”

Archbishop Wenski compared the pollution of waterways to problems like “the pollution of young minds through pornography, or issues like the redefinition of marriage.” These all have effects on “human ecology,” he said.

For their part, the U.S. bishops have issued a statement on the environment in their 1991 statement “Renewing the Earth.” They also issued a climate change statement in 2001: “Global Climate Change, a Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good.”

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Abortion rates are dropping – and it could be thanks to millennials

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 11, 2015

March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 22, 2015. (Addie Mena/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — Abortion rates have declined by 12 percent nationwide since 2010, and pro-life groups say changing attitudes among the younger generation could be the cause.

“We’re seeing the attitudes shift,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of the group Students for Life of America, which conducts pro-life outreach on college campuses. “People are talking about abortion differently.”

Abortions rates have declined in almost every state since 2010, with only two states seeing significant increases since then, according to a survey by the Associated Press.

The biggest declines took in Hawaii – a 30 percent decrease – and New Mexico, Rhode Island, Nevada, and Connecticut, all with over a 20 percent drop.

The declines occurred in both states that recently passed pro-life laws restricting abortion and in states that did not, the AP noted. This is evidence of a “comprehensive trend,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.

Although many factors – including increased practice of abstinence, a change in the use of contraceptives, and more state pro-life laws – are probably behind the shift in numbers, the “bottom explanation is a shift in public opinion,” Donovan told CNA.

“More children are being born and probably raised in families with a pro-life disposition,” he said.

Other pro-life groups shared this assessment. Students for Life of America told CNA that college students increasingly think an unborn baby should receive “human rights” during the first trimester of pregnancy, if not at conception.

This conclusion was drawn from the group’s “Human Rights Tour,” which asked students on 27 different college campuses when an unborn baby should have human rights, placing pictures before them of different stages of human development.

Advances in technology like the ultrasound machine shows that life is present even in the womb, Hawkins noted, and the youth are taking notice.

“College students – the first generation that has been able to see in great detail what life in the womb looks like – can easily see that the preborn child is a human being and deserves every right to life as anyone else,” Hawkins stated. “Abortion takes away that life and this generation knows it.”

The group Secular Pro-Life credited “multiple factors” behind the falling abortion numbers, but emphasized that the “biggest change” of recent years “is the ascendance of pro-life millennials.”

“The abortion industry has historically relied on women in their twenties as its primary customer base. That base is shrinking as more and more young people acknowledge the science of preborn human life,” said Kelsey Hazzard, president of Secular Pro-Life and a self-identified member of the millennial generation.

“Increasingly, we view abortion as a human rights violation rather than a religious issue,” she said.

The recent decline in abortions is a part of a larger, longer trend going back to 1980, Donovan said, a decline in abortions that “accelerated” in the early 1990s.

And the trend is also reflected in an increasing number of mothers who carry their baby to term in an “unintended” pregnancy, rather than opting for abortion.

The rate of abortions from “unintended pregnancies” dropped significantly from 1994 to 2008 from over 50 percent to around 40 percent, Donovan said citing data from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group.

He believes that this trend continued past 2008 if the “overall trend lines” are read correctly, that abortions in almost all states dropped from 2008 to 2011.

“Women are changing their minds about keeping their babies,” he said.

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Court ruling means Texas abortion clinics won’t meet safety standards

by CNA/EWTN News • June 11, 2015

Young people hold pro-life signs during the March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2015. (Addie Mena/CNA)

New Orleans, LA — Pro-life advocates welcomed a federal appellate court’s Tuesday decision upholding a Texas law that increased safety regulations for abortion clinics and abortionists.

“Texas women and their preborn children will no longer be subjected to the grotesque reality inside Texas abortion facilities,” Emily Horne, senior legislative associate with Texas Right to Life, said June 9.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who defended the law against legal challenges, also praised the ruling.

“Abortion practitioners should have no right to operate their businesses from sub-standard facilities and with doctors who lack admitting privileges at a hospital,” he said.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to be applied across most of Texas. It recognized as legitimate the legislature’s stated purpose for the law. In the court’s words, the law aimed “to provide the highest quality of care to women seeking abortions and to protect the health and welfare of women seeking abortion.”

Because some abortion clinics cannot afford upgrades to meet the stronger safety standards, the law could mean that as many as 13 clinics will close. That would leave eight abortion providers in the state, the New York Times reports.

The law requires all abortion clinics to follow ambulatory surgical facility standards for their building, equipment, and staffing.

Some backers of the law cited the case of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who in 2013 was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter as a result of negligent practices. The grand jury report in the case said that surgical facility standards for Gosnell’s clinic, like wider hallways for paramedic access, could have saved the life of one young woman who died.

The federal appellate court largely upheld the 2013 Texas law’s requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. On this point the court allowed an exemption for a doctor who performs abortions in McAllen, Texas, on the grounds that in this case the requirement would create an unconstitutional burden on women seeking abortions there.

The same Texas law bans abortions after 20 weeks, on the ground that an unborn baby at that age can feel pain. This provision has not faced legal challenge.

In March 2014 a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned a lower federal court’s decision that blocked provisions of the law. The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked parts of the Texas law in October 2014 pending the decision of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Abortion clinic owners and their lawyers said they would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court; they argue the regulations unnecessary and infringe on constitutionally protected rights.

Texas abortion clinics and doctors asked the 5th Circuit Appeals Court on Wednesday to stay its ruling, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Nancy Northup, the president and chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the New York Times the law could “devastate access to reproductive health care.”

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Bowling with Bishops – and other things to expect at the World Meeting of Families

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 11, 2015

(Ginny via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

St. Louis, MO — Bring your mitre and your bowling ball if you plan on coming to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families this fall, Archbishop Charles Chaput told 250 of his brother bishops June 10 at their General Assembly in St. Louis.

The international gathering of families from across the world is set to take place in the fall and will include activities and events for all ages, the Archbishop of Philadelphia said.

Bowling with Bishops is part of the youth congress activities, which include children ages six through high school. There’s also a Bishop’s basketball event, for those Church leaders who are a little younger and sprier.

“All the activities are focused on catechesis connections, we’re very focused on making it not just a time of recreation and entertainment but a time to grow in the faith,” Archbishop Chaput said.

The World Meeting of Families, which Pope John Paul II established in 1994, takes place once every three years in a different country, most recently in Milan in 2012. This year marks the first time the United States will host the event.

“It’s a blessing for the archdiocese of Philadelphia and it’s a blessing for the United States as we can focus together on family life at a time when even the definition of family is confusing in the minds of many people,” Archbishop Chaput said.

As of June 1, the number of registrants for the family events outside of the papal events reached 11,190. The last World Meeting of Families in Milan had only 7,000 final registrants. Besides U.S. families, the next three countries with the most representation at the event so far are Canada, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic, respectively.

Most events will be in English, with simultaneous translation into Spanish, Italian, French and Vietnamese.

“It’s a truly international gathering of many languages, all of us united in our love for the family,” Archbishop Chaput explained.

It’s not easy pulling off an international event, the pièce de résistance of which is Pope Francis’ visit. So far, the Church has fundraised $39 million of the necessary $45 million for the event, and the city of Philadelphia expects to see anywhere from 1 to 2 million people for the papal events during the last two days of the World Meeting of Families. (For comparison, the 2012 Olympics in London cost approximately $20 billion.)

Pope Francis will arrive the morning of September 26, after visits to New York City and Washington, D.C., and is planning on celebrating Mass at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in downtown Philadelphia at 10:30 that morning.

Later that evening, at 7:30, Pope Francis will attend the Festival for Families on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. At this event, several families from all over the world will give a brief testimony, and the Holy Father will have a chance to respond.

On Sunday the 27th, the papal Mass will take place at 4:00 p.m. at the same location.

When asked at a press conference whether other aspects of the Holy Father’s visit to the United States, such as his address to Congress, will become the real legacy of the Pope’s visit, Archbishop Chaput said he has been assured that the real reason Pope Francis is coming is for the World Meeting of Families.

“I’m not just saying that because I’m from Philadelphia,” he said, “but he keeps telling us the real reason he’s coming is the World Meeting of Families so I take him at his word.”

Registration for the World Meeting of Families is open, and more information can be found at:  worldmeeting2015.org. The Archdiocese is also still looking for about 5,000 volunteers to help with the event.

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Bruce Jenner, the ‘shadow council’ and St. Irenaeus

by Father Robert Barron • June 9, 2015

Two news items from last week put me in mind of St. Irenaeus and the battle he waged, nineteen centuries ago, against the Gnostic heresy. The first was the emergence of Bruce Jenner as a “woman” named Caitlyn, and the second was a “shadow council” that took place in Rome and apparently called for the victory of a theology of love over John Paul II’s theology of the body.

I realize this requires a bit of unpacking. Let me begin with Irenaeus. Toward the end of the second century, Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons, wrote a text called Adversus Haereses (Against the Heresies), and the principle heresy that he identified therein was Gnosticism. Gnosticism was, and is, a multi-headed beast, but one of its major tenets is that matter is a fallen, inferior form of being, produced by a low-level deity. The soul is trapped in matter, and the whole point of the spiritual life is to acquire the gnosis (knowledge) requisite to facilitate an escape of the soul from the body. On the gnostic interpretation, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, who foolishly pronounced the material world good, is none other than the compromised god described in gnostic cosmology, and Jesus is the prophet who came with the saving knowledge of how to rise above the material realm. What Irenaeus intuited — and his intuition represented one of the decisive moments in the history of the Church — is that this point of view is directly repugnant to Biblical Christianity, which insists emphatically upon the goodness of matter. Scan through Irenaeus’s voluminous writings, and you will find the word “body” over and over again. Creation, Incarnation, Resurrection, the theology of the Church, sacraments, redemption, the Eucharist, etc. all involve, he argued, bodiliness, materiality. For Irenaeus, redemption is decidedly not tantamount to the escape of the soul from the body; rather, it is the salvation and perfection of the body.

Now you might think that this is all a bit of ancient intellectual history, but think again. As I hinted above, the gnostic heresy has proven remarkably durable, reasserting itself across the centuries. Its most distinctive mark is precisely the denigration of matter and the tendency to set the spirit and the body in an antagonistic relationship. This is why many thinkers have identified the anthropology of René Descartes, which has radically influenced modern and contemporary attitudes, as neo-gnostic. Descartes famously drove a wedge between spirit and matter, or in his language, between the res cogitans (thinking thing) and the res extensa (thing extended in space). In line with gnostic intuitions, Descartes felt that the former belongs to a higher and more privileged dimension and that the latter is legitimately the object of manipulation and re-organization. Hence he says that the purpose of philosophy and science is to “master” nature, rather than to contemplate it. One would have to be blind not to notice how massively impactful that observation has proven to be. Echoes of Descartes’s dualism can be heard in the writings of Kant, Hegel, and many of the master philosophers of modernity, and they can be discerned, as well, in the speech and attitudes of millions of ordinary people today.

All of which brings me back to Bruce Jenner and to the “shadow council” in Rome. In justifying the transformation that he has undergone, Jenner consistently says something along these lines: “Deep down, I always knew that I was a woman, but I felt trapped in the body of a man. Therefore, I have the right to change my body to bring it in line with my true identity.” Notice how the mind or the will — the inner self — is casually identified as the “real me” whereas the body is presented as an antagonist which can and should be manipulated by the authentic self. The soul and the body are in a master/slave relationship, the former legitimately dominating and re-making the latter. This schema is, to a tee, gnostic — and just as repugnant to Biblical religion as it was nineteen hundred years ago. For Biblical people, the body can never be construed as a prison for the soul, nor as an object for the soul’s manipulation. Moreover, the mind or will is not the “true self” standing over and against the body; rather, the body, with its distinctive form, intelligibility, and finality, is an essential constituent of the true self. Until we realize that the lionization of Caitlyn Jenner amounts to an embracing of Gnosticism, we haven’t grasped the nettle of the issue.

And just a word about what took place in Rome last week. I want to be careful here, for I’m relying on a few reports concerning what was intended to be a private gathering of Church leaders and intellectuals. I certainly want to give all of the participants the benefit of the doubt and I remain sincerely eager to hear their own accounting of what was discussed. But what particularly bothered me — in fact, it caused every single anti-gnostic sensor in me to vibrate — was the claim that the secret council was calling for a “theology of love” that would supplant the theology of the body proposed by John Paul II. For Biblical people, human love is never a disembodied reality. Furthermore, love — which is an act of the will — does not hover above the body, but rather expresses itself through the body and according to the intelligibility of the body. To set the two in opposition or to maintain that an inner act is somehow more important or comprehensive than the body is to walk the gnostic road — which is just as dangerous a path as it was in the time of St. Irenaeus.

Father Robert Barron is the founder of the global ministry Word on Fire (wordonfire.org) and the Rector/President of Mundelein Seminary. He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

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Apostolate of the Laity: An Overview

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • June 10, 2015

Not until Vatican II was the vocation of the laity brought into sharp focus. Two thousand years earlier, the early Church was made up of bishops and lay disciples, at first Jewish converts, followed by those from all walks of life. The timid and the weak came. The deeply religious followed. Paul of Tarsus embraced The Way only after being knocked to the ground. Then he summoned others to serve as his emissaries.

How did the apostolic Church grow from a few frightened men and women to large numbers? Wasn’t it a high crime to join a sect that refused to worship pagan gods? A community, ablaze with fervor and revealing the face of God, prompted others to ‘come in.’ Nothing could surpass being gathered round its bishop celebrating the Eucharist.

These baptized laity took their vocation so seriously that, if it became necessary, they were ready and willing to die for their belief in Jesus Christ. And many did. In the third century, Tertullian could say in his Apologeticus that “the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church.” As the persecutions intensified, converts multiplied in number. The crime of belief in Jesus Christ would likely be followed by cruel death, a phenomenon that is today being repeated throughout the world.

The Middle Ages and Beyond

By 315 A.D., Christianity was the established religion of the Roman Empire. In the next century, the clerical and monastic states of life began to organize, expand, and win high praise. Priests and monks separated themselves from ordinary lay people. Nuns were already cloistered. Whereas some monks entered a completely enclosed life, Benedictine monks educated sons of the rich but within the confines of the monastery. A sharp hierarchical division arose: first bishops, clergy, then monks and friars who disparaged the material and ‘evil’ world, and finally, the laity.

Vatican II and Beyond

98 percent of the Catholic faith-tradition is composed of the lay faithful, defined most often as the People of the New Covenant, the People of God, or more precisely, the Body of Christ. In the years leading up to Vatican II, lay movements such as the Grail began to spring up not only in Europe but here in this country. They attracted young men and women to weekly gatherings that worshiped around the Eucharist. Vibrant social apostolates like those of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin welcomed these young people.

It was not until the conciliar Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity and later, the 1987 World Synod on the Laity that the vocation of the laity was placed on equal footing with the clergy and those in consecrated life. Holiness, they affirmed, is a universal call.

On the eve of Vatican II, Pope John XXIII assembled a group of prominent theologians: Jesuits Henri De Lubac, Jean Daniélou, and Karl Rahner; Dominicans, Yves Congar and Edward Schillebeeckx, and diocesan priest, Josef Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI). They saw the need of rekindling the fiery zeal of the early lay Christians and to revitalize their apostolic roles.

A Variety of Ministries

Standing shoulder to shoulder with others, lay people take their place in public life and in the social milieu. The roles in the Body of Christ are varied, and everyone has a specific ministry that must be fulfilled. No substitutes will do.

Lay faithful act as leaven in the masses bringing Gospel values directly to the world, their specific mission. According to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, the ministry of the Body is done through the duties inherent in the work of each member.

A bishop builds up his Local Church; a mother and father build up their family as the Domestic Church. Secular institutes of men and women serve the world differently from the communities that follow the spirit of St. Bruno or Charles de Foucauld. A person in public service ministers differently from those in the social milieu. No one was more aware of his ministry than Tim Russert who died in 2008. America lost a dedicated and shrewd journalist, a devoted family man, and a devout, Catholic gentleman.

The manner is ordinary, as John LaFarge, S.J. wrote years ago. What appears ordinary is far from ordinary however. It is the “sacrament of the present moment,” a phrase used by Jean-Pierre Caussade, S.J.

Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Brentwood, NY, holds degrees in philosophy (Ph.L), musicology (Ph.D.), theology (M.A.), and liturgical studies (Ph.D). She has taught at all levels of Catholic education and writes with a particular focus on a theology of beauty and the sacred arts. Her e-mail address is jroccasalvo@optonline.net.

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Woman and Redemption

by Alice von Hildebrand • June 10, 2015

Dedicated to his Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke

Any reverent reading of Genesis sheds abundant light on the key role played by woman in the economy of redemption. She was created last – the apex of creation – and her body was the only material creature taken from the flesh of a person. Whereas Adam’s body was taken from the slime of the earth – an un-aristocratic beginning – her body was taken from the one of Adam honored by having an immortal soul. Worth mentioning is also Adam’s joy when waking up from his sleep and seeing her for the first time: he exclaimed: “blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh” acknowledging thereby that she was worthy to his companion. Then he declared her to the “mother of the living” – proclaiming that she has received the unfathomable privilege of giving life. However he himself is not called “the father of the living”. God also states that man is to leave father and mother and adhere to his wife. Between woman and man there is a unique bond, but they had to differ from each other for their reciprocal mission is to complement each other. The fullness of human nature is to be found in their union.

When Eve gave birth to Cain, she joyfully exclaimed: “with the help of God I have brought a man into the world”. Adam is not mentioned. I can picture him in the background, sheepishly muttering: “I too had a role in the becoming of my son”. Why this omission? The reason is obvious: Eve proves to be a budding theologian: for what Adam gave her was his semen generously put by God in his body and over which, once given to his wife, he has no control whatsoever. He can do nothing to guarantee that it will fertilize her egg. Crucial is to recall that the very moment a new living substance comes into existence, an amazing thing takes place: God simultaneously places a new soul into this new animal body which, through the divine action, becomes the body of a person. The latter has an immortal soul which can be produced neither by father nor mother. All they can do is to give a chance to what God Himself has placed in their bodies, to produce a new physical organism. Animals too have living bodies but are denied personhood. It is only when God Himself who at the very moment of fertilization, places a totally new soul which He alone could create and places into the woman’s body that a new human person comes into existence. The newly conceived person has a dignity that no other material being possesses. This divine intervention sheds light on the horror called “abortion”. Hence, Eve was fully justified in giving God credit. Let us also not forget, that whatever has been touched by God has a note of sacredness. This is why Eve’s body is blessed. This divine contact gives her body a dignity that calls for awe and veiling; it is in this light that we should understand the command of St. Paul that women should be veiled in church. It is sign of their privileged dignity. How it is to be hoped that a Christian husband, worthy of this name remembers this when he embraces his wife. But today, alas, the secularists have persuaded feminist numbskulls that the very make-up of the female body is a sign of her metaphysical inferiority.

The reading of a fact will depend on the mind’s approach to this fact. It will inevitably be differently interpreted by a “liberal” mind and one blessed with humility, that is the only adequate posture for reading God’s message: on one’s knees. The validity of Biblical scholarship depends upon the metaphysical position adopted by the scholar: this explains why his work leads to either a deepening of one’s faith or to a “liberal” interpretation, inevitable when one reads this sacred book with the deforming lenses of human pride. Liberal scholars have arthritic knees. Such a scholar’s mind is set upon refusing to be “baptized”.

Feminists have fallen victims to the spirit of the time which is definitely not the Holy Spirit. The way the female body is “read” gives us a key to the moral status of a society. Alas, this carries with it a condemnation of our contemporary world where not only is the female body shamelessly “unveiled”, but as a result it is more and more seen as an object of pleasure – thereby objectively denying her dignity. We only need go to a mall or looking at a fashion magazine to see how low we have fallen. The key virtue of reverence, that – to quote Dietrich von Hildebrand – might be called the mother of all virtues, has definitely been “buried”.

How clever the Evil one was in convincing our decadent society that wearing a veil indicates some sort of inferiority: purposely ignoring that we paradoxically veil both what is sacred, and what is filthy (it is said in the Bible; “I shall cover their nakedness”) but obviously for radically different reasons. To some, veiling plainly indicates that what is covered is “filthy”, and indeed this is the deplorable puritanical view.

God had given permission to our first parents to eat the fruit of any tree found in the beautiful garden of Eden, except from for one. Then the serpent comes in: he is astute, he is sharp, and devises a very clever way of bringing Eve to disobey the divine order. He is too clever to challenge it: he “only” raises a question. Can’t persons raise questions? Is it not typical of their dignity that they can raise them? Animals do not raise questions. But there is a wide gamut of possible questions: some are plainly stupid: “Why can’t two plus two be five?” There are meaningless questions, there are coarse and vulgar questions (why can’t I spit in your face?) There are intelligent questions, and there are questions which, by the very fact that they are raised, condemn the person raising them. Here I would like to write in large letters: CAVEAT. Alas, it is tragically typical of our “time” precisely to raise questions that it is shameful to raise. Teaching has taught me that we can judge a student’s intelligence and moral integrity by the questions that he raises. The serpent cleverly asked Eve why she was not permitted to eat of the fruit of one particularly tree inviting her to question God’s ‘right” to give commands. The answer is clear and prompt: because if we do, we shall die. Then the Serpent – the father of lies – practices his “trade”: he tells her a huge lie. It is confirmed by the Spanish proverb: the cake and the lie should be big (“la torta y la mentira, gorda”). He arrogantly asserts: No, you shall not die; you shall become “like God”. This could be the object of a long chapter. To challenge an order given by a legitimate authority should be condemned because it denies his right to give orders. God being God is fully entitled to prohibit certain things: to question this right is already to step into forbidden territory. Eve falls into the trap, and engages in a conversation with the Evil one, when in fact, she should have said: “Vade retro, Satana”. The drama will pursue its course. The perennial temptation of rebellions for creatures is to resent their being “only” creatures. Therefore Lucifer declared proudly: “non serviam”. Much of modern philosophy – let us recall Feuerbach and Nietzsche – makes is clear that God’s existence is not welcome. Nietzsche tells us “honestly” in his book, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” that he does not want God to exist: it would limit his “self-glory”.

Once Eve has tasted the sweetness of the forbidden food, she gives it to Adam who does not make any objection and thereby shares in her disobedience and guilt. Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked: that is, stripped of the beauty that God had given them. For it is God Himself that gives us “wedding gowns” without which we are unworthy to attend the Wedding of His son and partake of his divine meal.

The punishment is immediate and fearful: death, that is, not only the brutal separation from their Creator but also the separation of the human body from its soul. Moreover, man is condemned to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow (something that some men try desperately to escape from), and a curse that Eve shares with him. She, being the main culprit, is severely punished in the sphere that was her glory: to give life. Indeed, “a woman in labor” means being in excruciating pains. There is a deep symbolism in this “curse”. She has eaten the fruit of death, and pays the price by suffering in giving life.

God then tells us that there will be an enmity between Satan and the woman, and that one day his head will be crushed. In the course of time – after centuries of darkness during which the majority of women were abominably used and abused by men – God created a female child, born without the curse of original sin, tota pulchra, blessed by God from the moment of her conception; her name was Mary who by declaring herself to be the handmaid of the Lord, received the unfathomable privilege of being fecundated (fertilized) by the Holy Spirit. Christianity was born in her womb, and changed the world. The birth of this blessed a creature – a female – must have been puzzling and upsetting to the Evil one. He had achieved a great victory in defeating Eve. How will he face this new challenge? One trump is to try to stain Mary’s honor. Could the child she has conceived be the fruit of sin? But an angel protects her and informs Joseph in a dream, that she is all pure and has been fecundated by the Holy Spirit. From this moment on, the very existence of Mary will baffle the Serpent. He realizes that the enmity between him and the Woman has now taken a totally new turn: Eve was defeated. Mary will conquer by declaring herself to be the Servant of the Lord. Through her fiat, the Evil one will suffer a crushing defeat.

The Middle Ages – called the “dark ages” by those blinded by the light of faith – is a glorious period in the course of which the devotion to the Blessed One Among Women will blossom and, give birth to the noble male virtue called “chivalry”. It will be a constant source of inspiration to great saints, great writers, and great artists. St. Bernard sings her praise in words that have the perfume of the supernatural. Dante’s love for Beatrice reminds women of the beauty of their mission. St. Dominic has a special devotion for the blessed one. Jacopone da Todi adds his voice to the choir of those honoring her through his sublime Stabat Mater Dolorosa. The Middle Ages is indeed Satan’s dark ages. But he refuses to accept defeat. The Renaissance gives him an opportunity of spreading the germs of secularism, and the so-called Reformation will be marked by a radical decrease of the loving devotion that Mary had enjoyed during the Middle Ages. He spread the lie that Catholics adored the Holy Virgin – thereby offending her Son. Many ill - informed Protestants assume that Mary is deified and thereby justify their abandoning any sort of devotion to the mother of the Savior. Let us recall Joyce Davidson’s book “Smoke over the Mountain” (later she became Mrs. C.S. Lewis) in which she writes that a Catholic priest, praying the rosary along the St. Laurent’s river, was severely chided by Christ himself reminding them that “you have only one Master”. The priest gets the message; the devotion to Mary is offensive to her son. It is not by accident that feminism was born in Protestant countries. Once the Blessed One Among Women is denied her rightful place in the drama of redemption, women will be the victims. The abuse of the “weak” sex always threatens a society where Mary is ignored. The time was ripe for launching feminism; a very talented writer, Henry Ibsen, wrote a play entitled “The Doll’s House” which, inevitably, was to spread the disease in Scandinavian country. For, the most powerful tools for spreading ideas are plays, movies, TV shows, and even songs. This play was going to trigger a female revolt which must have delighted the Evil One. Feminism was now fully justified. Following its course (most diseases are contagious, health is not) it will spread like wildfire, and in the course of time, invaded Catholic countries where the cult of cult given to Mary (hyperdulia) was still flourishing.

All Satan needed do was to enlist the help of a famous and talented woman. He found one in Simone de Beauvoir – already famous because of her friendship with J.P. Sartre – whose philosophy was conquering a country devastated by a Second World War in less than 26 years. She wrote a book that following in the footsteps of Saul Alinski, she should have dedicated to Satan, entitled “The Second Sex”. It is a masterful combination of errors and lies. The purpose is clearly to convince women that their “mediocrity”, their social and political insignificance, are to be traced back to their biology. Let us listen to her message: whereas Man, the male, is a human being; she is “only” a “female”. She dares tell us that a woman is not a complete reality but rather a “becoming”. She suffers from a castration complex, conscious that there is something missing in her anatomy. It matches in stupidity the remark that ‘a young niece of mine aged six, the oldest of three girls who seeing a little boy for the first time at a doctor’s office, diagnosed him as having a tumor’. No valid excuse can be found for her! According to her, the woman is purely passive, whereas the male is active. Here she falls victim to the famous mistaken claim of Aristotle that man is superior to woman because he is “active”; she is only “passive”. Granted that activity is superior to passivity, The Philosopher, as St. Thomas calls him, makes a very grave confusion between passivity and receptivity – the latter being one of the noblest human attitudes. For in fact is there anything in our lives that we have not received?

The female feels “alienated”; whereas the man is “transcendent” – one of the many ambiguous words in our vocabulary.

She writes further that “women are disgusted by their own body”. Granted that men and women share in the humiliation of ejecting their excrements – to bleed or giving one’s blood has always been viewed as heroic: Christ has shed his blood to save us; martyrs gave their blood for their faith; heroes give blood for their country. It would be shocking indeed if one said: “So and so has sacrificed his urine and his excrements for his country!” This is a coarse remark indeed, but sheds light on the stupidity of her claim. Moreover De Beauvoir has the right to speak for herself, I deny her the right to speak in the name of other women, blessed by the consciousness of the greatness and mystery of their body. Any woman deserving to be called one, has an innate feeling of reverence toward her own body. But any lie, when cleverly presented, will be used as a trump card by the Evil One and alas, many numbskull females will buy this diabolical merchandise.

Feminists are the greatest enemies of femininity, and their punishment is that they have succeeded in murdering chivalry – so prevalent in the Middle Ages and so deeply Catholic. Today one is pleasantly shocked when meeting a male who still understands that chivalry is one of their noble missions toward the other sex. It is a necessary fruit of their awareness through faith that women have the very same body as the Mother of our Redeemer who has a mother and no earthly father. This is no longer possible in a society where men and women are “rivals”; they compete on the human theatre where earthy fame, money, power, control are the cherished prizes.

Her poisonous eloquence tells us further that “women produce nothing” (sic) for to give birth to a child does not deserve praise: after all, it is done better by animals. The prison of women is their despicable body. A woman should therefore liberate herself from the bonds of maternity. She once wrote the phrase: “I hate babies”. When a woman wrote such words, the sun sets. Marriage should be abolished altogether: “it diminishes men; annihilates women”. It is obscene to make a duty of something that should be the fulfillment of a spontaneous urge. Attack on the family follows suit. Children – when and if they are wanted – should be taken care of by the state: for such educators will inevitably be better than mothers who tend to be irritable being by personally involved, and thereby hurt their progeny. In other words, Socialism (at one point she definitely refers to the great Soviet Union) should give hope to women – a country that liberates them from the mediocre duties of house hold duties and enables them to enter the work force thereby contributing to the glorious “wheel of progress”.

From what we have said, we can draw the sad conclusion that the contemporary world is at a cross road and prey to a deadly disease. We need courage to acknowledge it and diagnose it. From what I have said, it seems luminous that the devilish attack on marriage and the family is the main cause of a disaster that will destroy not only our nation, but the world. Once the bond that God has established between man and woman, – poisoned by the mendacious propaganda of the news media – is accepted a propagate in so called education; once the woman loses sight of her glorious mission, and opts for death, the world is, humanly speaking, doomed. Once truth and error are no longer distinguished, moral good and moral evil are willfully confused, the serpent has achieved his greatest victory since he convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden news. Should we opt for despair? No, indeed, for God will have the last word but a new army of martyrs is called for.

What is crucial is to identify among all the dangers facing us and the one that should be challenged first. The future of our society will depend upon our willingness to SEE that no society can survive if our vision of what a human life should be, is lost sight of. Our educational system has betrayed its children: relativism, opening the door to all sorts of moral and intellectual distortions, has dominated our schools and university for many years; the awesomeness of the natural moral law has been ridiculed and viewed as an attack on our “freedom of choice”.

The diabolical attack on maternity should be our first concern because once accepted as legitimate, and justified by “freedom of choice”, the very foundation of human life will be shaken to its very roots: religious, moral, intellectual, social and political. We are driving toward an abyss and should open our eyes and see the danger. Neither political power, nor money, nor the amazing technology that “we” have has conquered it. Far from solving the problem, it has made it worse because without a sound philosophy, it will be misused and inevitably lead to suicide. We can now glorify ourselves that if we cannot as yet create the world by a fiat, we can destroy it by using the same word.

The future of any society, nay of the world, depends upon the soundness of its “heart”, that is, its relationship to God, and his awareness of the moral law, the dignity of the word “truth”, and the key role that women have been called upon to play from the very beginning of creation. May God have mercy on apostates and apostasy which is much worse that the most decadent paganism. It is a betrayal.

Alice von Hildebrand is a lecturer and an author whose works include The Privilege of Being a Woman (2002) and The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand (2000), a biography of her late husband. She was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory by Pope Francis in 2013.

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Are angels on the Catholic endangered species list?

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • June 11, 2015

In both New Age spirituality and Christian fundamentalism, belief in angels is very high. However, in contemporary mainstream Christianity (including Catholicism), belief in angels has fallen on hard times. Many Christians no longer believe in angels and find the idea of such creatures no more than a lovely myth. Angels seem to be out of place in a rational, scientific world.

But, as John Macquarrie, the distinguished Anglican theologian, has pointed out, it is strange that modern people would close their minds to the possibility of angels. In a world of space exploration, we are learning more and more about the inconceivable vastness of space and the infinite proliferation of worlds beyond our own. At the scientific level, we are more and more open to the possibility of life on other planets.

Surely, modern people, then, should be open to the notion that God has created other orders of beings beyond those who live on earth.

In Macquarrie’s words, “The panorama of creation must be far more breathtaking than we can guess in our corner of the cosmos, for there must be many higher orders of beings whose service is joined with ours under God.” The doctrine of angels tell us that human beings live in a universe created by God that is infinitely more wondrous than we know.

In the Church’s liturgy, the Christian belief in angels finds its fullest expression. Early Christian commentators remind us that the Church’s liturgy is embraced by an invisible assembly of angels.

St. John Chrysostom wrote, “The whole sanctuary and the space before the altar is filled with heavenly powers come to honor Him who is present on the altar.” Believers, he says, have been judged worthy “to join the powers of heaven in singing the praises of Him who is Lord of all.”

Chrysostom continues: “The angels are present here. The angels and martyrs meet today. If you wish to see the angels and martyrs, open the eyes of faith and look upon this sight. For if the very air is filled with angels, how much more so the Church!”

The Catholic funeral liturgy provides two beautiful antiphons referring to the angels. The first reads: “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.” The second proclaims: “May choirs of angels welcome you and lead you to the bosom of Abraham; and where Lazarus is poor no longer, may you find eternal rest.”

The angels are invoked not only in the funeral liturgy, but in many other rites of the Church, particularly the Eucharist, in which the worshipping assembly is called to join its voice with the angels in singing the Holy, Holy (Thus, singing the Holy, Holy should be the norm; it makes less sense, even at weekday Masses, to recite the Holy, Holy).

The Church’s teaching on angels tells us that all creation is called into existence in a communion of life and mutual service. The angels exist not as hostile and dangerous creatures. The unknown world is not full of evil and horrible creatures of which we should be fearful. Angels are called into being to love God and humanity. Because angels dwell in it, the invisible and mysterious universe is lovingly disposed toward us.

Finally a complaint: If the angels are present at the liturgy, why in modern church buildings have they been expelled from iconography and statuary?

Out of sight, out of mind!

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.

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‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ is a selfless tale of true friendship

by Carl Kozlowski • June 12, 2015

Anyone lucky enough to have been around in the 1980s regarded it as the greatest era of teen movies ever, as John Hughes served up classics like “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and Cameron Crowe bookended the decade with “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Say Anything.” These were movies that treated teens with respect, showing both the humorous highs and the angst-filled lows of high school life in a way that resonated universally with viewers.

Things have changed a lot in the decades since, with dreary dystopian fantasies like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent” series being the most successful teen movies being released nowadays. Just when it seemed like it’s time to give up hope of ever seeing a teen movie that doesn’t center on kids having to kill each other to win a competition, along comes the funny, touching and profound new movie “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.”

The winner of both the critic and audience awards for best film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “Me and Earl” follows a Pittsburgh-area boy named Greg (Thomas Mann), who has little self-esteem and tries to just sneak through life at his high school by being just friendly enough with every social group. He has only one friend, an African-American boy named Earl (RJ Cyler), and the two spend most of their free time filming ridiculous spoofs of famous movies.

One day Greg’s mom tells him that a girl named Rachel (Olivia Cooke) that he barely knows has been diagnosed with leukemia. She orders Greg to go befriend Rachel and help bring joy into her life, since he’s so easygoing. Greg feels he’ll be rejected and doesn’t want to do it at first, but he gives it a try and he and Rachel find that they hit it off immediately.

This is the point where a thousand other teenage movies would make Earl and Rachel fall in love, but this is one movie that refuses to follow the easy path in any direction. Writer Jesse Andrews (adapting his own hit young adult novel) and director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon use unconventional elements like stop-motion animation to bring Greg’s internal thoughts to life, while the interspersed clips from Greg and Earl’s spoofs also offer an inventive and humorous counterpoint to the overall sadness of the story.

But what’s truly unique about the film is the fact that Greg and Rachel never fall in love, as neither one of them is attracted to each other romantically, even as they become the best of friends. To see a teen story play out where the cliché’s of prom night dates or first sexual encounters aren’t front and center is a refreshing change of pace. These are kids dealing with low self-esteem and death, but help each other through these issues with humor and grace.

”Me and Earl” is also refreshing in its depiction of the relationships between the kids and their parents, with veteran actors Connie Britton, Nick Offerman and Molly Shannon all given meaty roles that transcend the usual teen movie clichés of portraying parents as being clueless adversaries. It’s a film filled with characters whom audiences will relate to and fall in love with, and these veteran actors are clearly thrilled to be sinking their teeth into meaningful material.

But it’s the film’s trio of young stars who are truly magic, in the kind of breakout performances that launch major careers. Mann is a terrific Everyman, giving Greg a combination of humor and heart that could easily make him this generation’s John Cusack, while Cyler plays Earl with a mix of world-weariness and droll with that makes him seem decades wiser than his years.

Yet it’s Cooke who has to win us over the most as we follow her long day’s journey into night with as much light as her spirit can find. She gives a performance for the ages, in a film that stands an excellent chance of being a major Oscar contender.

The movie is rated PG-13 for one F word, and about 30 or so S words scattered throughout, plus about 10 uses of God’s name in vain, including about 5 GD’s and one or two JC’s. Greg also jokes crudely about masturbation in two scenes, but of course nothing is shown. However, anyone who has ever known a teenager knows that they hear this kind of language all the time and it would be a shame to keep any teen away from a movie that emphasizes friendship between boys and girls rather than sex, and which portrays an utterly selfless and beautiful tale of true friendship and caring for a fellow human being.

The movie never directly deals with religion or Christianity, but that display of selflessness is one of the finest displays of Christian love for others I’ve ever seen on screen in a mainstream Hollywood movie.

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” opens today, Friday June 12 in New York and Los Angeles, and will be open nationwide by July 3.

Carl Kozlowski has been a professional film critic and essayist for the past five years at Pasadena Weekly, in addition to the Christian movie site Movieguide.org, the conservative pop culture site Breitbart.coms Big Hollywood, the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant and New City newspaper in Chicago. He also writes in-depth celebrity interviews for Esquire.com and The Progressive. He is owner of the podcasting site radiotitans.com, which was named one of the Frontier Fifty in 2013 as one of the 50 best talk-radio outlets in the nation by talkers.com and will be relaunching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

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SUNDAY • JUNE 14, 2015

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Ez 17:22-24; NRSVCE)

Thus says the Lord God:

I myself will take a sprig

from the lofty top of a cedar;

I will set it out.

I will break off a tender one

from the topmost of its young twigs;

I myself will plant it

on a high and lofty mountain.

On the mountain height of Israel

I will plant it,

in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit,

and become a noble cedar.

Under it every kind of bird will live;

in the shade of its branches will nest

winged creatures of every kind.

All the trees of the field shall know

that I am the Lord.

I bring low the high tree,

I make high the low tree;

I dry up the green tree

and make the dry tree flourish.

I the Lord have spoken;

I will accomplish it.

Second Reading (2 Cor 5:6-10; NRSVCE)

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

Gospel Reading (Mk 4:26-34; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to the crowd, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

MONDAY • JUNE 15, 2015

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 6:1-10; NRSVCE)

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:38-42; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

TUESDAY • JUNE 16, 2015

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 8:1-9; NRSVCE)

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints — and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you — so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:43-48; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

WEDNESDAY • JUNE 17, 2015

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 9:6-11; NRSVCE)

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

THURSDAY • JUNE 18, 2015

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 11:1-11; NRSVCE)

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:7-15; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“Pray then in this way:

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us to the time of trial,

but rescue us from the evil one.’

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

FRIDAY • JUNE 19, 2015

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 11:18, 21-30; NRSVCE)

Since many boast according to human standards, I will also boast. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone dares to boast of — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman — I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:19-23; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

SATURDAY • JUNE 20, 2015

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 12:1-10; NRSVCE)

It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows — was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:24-34; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”