Pope Francis has expressed deep reservations about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany, warning that concrete steps currently being taken “threaten” to undermine unity with the universal Church.
In a striking personal intervention, the pope wrote a letter to four German Catholic laywomen that was published in the German newspaper Welt on Nov. 21.
“I, too, share concerns about the numerous concrete steps that large parts of this local church are now taking that threaten to move further and further away from the common path of the universal Church,” the pope wrote in his letter, which was written in German and signed “Francis.”
Chief among the pope’s concerns is a push to establish a permanent “Synodal Council,” a mixed body of laity and bishops that would govern the Catholic Church in Germany. The pope underscored that this kind of “advisory and decision-making body … cannot be reconciled with the sacramental structure of the Catholic Church,” and referenced a previous prohibition the Vatican had issued on the topic.
Leadership of the controversial German Synodal Way recently met in Essen on November 10. They aim to establish a Synodal Council in Germany no later than 2026.
Daily Archives: November 30, 2023
Spread love without fear, Mar Thoma Church head asks Christians
Christians should serve others without fear or expectations in a multireligious society, says Theo-dosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan, the supreme head of the Kerala-based Mar Thoma Church.
“Whatever place you are, try to do something for the betterment of people around you,” the prelate said while addressing the vale-dictory function of Jaipur’s Mar Thoma parish’s golden jubilee.
The metropolitan, who was the chief guest, urged the parish community to develop a plan to support all the people around.
He also asked the parish community what it has done for the wider community for all the blessings it has received in the last 50 years.
‘Try to do big things for God. One should understand what God is expecting from us and submit ourselves to God’s plan. Spread-ing the message of love makes a parish relevant,” he added.
While interacting with the church executive committee the previous day, the metropolitan said, “In the present multi religious and pluralistic context in India, Christians should spread the message of love, and extend dedicated service to the wider community, without any fear and without expecting anything in return.”
Mumtaz Masih, the chairman of the Rajasthan government’s Voluntary Sector Development Centre, who was the guest of honour at the function, reminded the gathering that the foundation of Christianity is love. “Love means service to others, whether it is in the area of education or health or any other sector. We should reach out to the people in need,” he added.
Indian crusader priest remains defiant despite all odds
An Indian Catholic priest who quit his pastoral ministry “to clean up” the Eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Church remains defiant despite his diocese imposing a set of new restrictions on him, four months after he was suspended from priestly ministry.
Father Thomas (Ajimon) Puthiyaparambil has a new set of restrictions imposed on him by Bishop Remigiose Inchanananiyil of Thamarassery diocese in southern Kerala state through a Nov. 10 letter.
The priest though has vowed to continue with what he termed as his “prophetic mission” to cleanse the Church, especially the Syro-Malabar Church based in Kerala, saying it had deviated from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
“No one has the authority to prohibit a human being from his basic human rights. It’s against the will of God,” Puthiyaparambil said.
Speaking on Nov. 27, he asserted that there was no reason for dismay and depression “as Jesus is always strengthening and consoling me.”
“I accept this humiliation without much difficulty,” the priest added.
Puthiyaparambil has been restrained from conducting Mass, receiving Holy Communion in public, or administering confe-ssion to people unless in case of the death of a person. Other restrictions include curbs on inter-actions with the public, including through media and social media platforms.
The priest is also ordered to stay in the home meant for the retired priests and asked not to stay anywhere else. He is only allowed to interact with his parental home, religious and Cannon law experts.
The prelate suspended the priest on July 18 after he refused to take up a new assignment when he was transferred as the vicar of a parish on April 29. He had made a public announcement to quit pastoral ministry on May 12.
Thamarassery diocese on Oct. 6 announced the formation of an ecclesiastical tribunal to initiate judicial proceedings against him.
The new set of restrictions imposed on Puthiyaparambil is part of these proceedings, according to a diocesan official.
“We expect the priest to comply with them until the tribunal completes its proceedings and declares a verdict,” he added.
The priest, however, refused to heed the restrictions, saying that “many of them are directly in violation of the Indian constitutional provisions of fundamental rights.”
“I still do not want to enter into any legal fight over such restrictions as I am not against anyone including the bishop,” Puthiyaparambil said but added that the restrictions on him are “inhuman and illegal.”
Women discriminated in organ donation, victims of ‘pressure or coercion’
In India, women are also discriminated in terms of organ donation, this according to a report published by The Times of India, based on data collected on transplants between 1995 and 2021.
In particular, of the 36,640 interventions carried out in the country, about 29,000 involved men and only 6,945 women. Overall, four men get organ transplants for every woman.
For the authors of the investigation, more men contribute as dead donors, in a continent where the practice has struggled to be accepted, fuelling the black market and organ trafficking. Conversely, most living organ donors are women.
A study published in 2021 in the Experimental and Clinical Transplantation Journal analysed organ transplants in 2019, showing that women represent 80% of living organ donors, mainly wives or mothers, while 80% of recipients are men.
One reason for women to be living organ donors is likely their greater vulnerability to “pressure” towards “sacrificing” them-selves and donating a body part to save their husband, children or siblings.
“Gender disparity in organ donation is a reality not just in India, but the world over, studies and experts indicate,” said Dr Pascoal Carvalho, an Indian doctor and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, speaking to AsiaNews.
“Cultural and societal norms often view women as caregivers and nurturers, a fact attributable to our society’s mindset and patriarchal society,” he explained.
“We need to find out the reasons for the existing gender imbalance and check it for matters of fairness and undue pressure or coercion on the women for organ donation.”
In the past, the Indian Church has worked hard to promote organ donation, in a country – and more generally a continent – where reluctance to support the practice was and is still strong in many groups.
In 2016, dozens of Indian nuns from different congregations pledged to donate corneas upon their death, as part of a programme promoted by the Claretian Fathers of the Indian Institute of Spirituality in Bengaluru (Bangalore).
Dalit Christians in Purathakudi still discriminated in processions
A group of Dalit Christians in the Purathakudi-Magizhambadi panchayat, Trichy district (Tamil Nadu), have complained about caste discrimination by non-Dalit co-religionists at the St.Francis Xavier parish church, this despite a 2015 high court order allowing them to participate in church activities, inclu-ding the annual festival.
The local parish comes under the Diocese of Kumbakonam and serves about 3,000 households, half of them Dalits and half non-Dalits. Dalit Christians complain that they have been excluded from the church’s annual festival.
“During the celebration, no flag, torch-light, or car processions are carried out in our streets. The dominant Christians do not allow us to touch cars or adorn them with garlands,” some local Dalits said.
“We are completely ignored in all religious and cultural activities of our church. Even after the peace committee met 14 times, there was no consensus to let Dalits participate in the processions,” they explained.
The local festival falls on 3 December. After the court’s ruling in 2016, it was celebrated by Dalit and non-Dalits only in 2017. The Madurai bench of the High Court this year again ordered the authorities, the bishop of Kumbakonam and the parish priest to take the most appropriate steps to involve Dalits in the annual festival.
The top clergy “has taken a stand in favour of the dominant Christians,” Dalits lament, a charge non-Dalit Christians reject, saying that logistical factors explain why the procession avoided some areas.
Father R Arockiadoss, vicar forane in the Lalgudi area, said the diocese is ready to implement the high court’s decision. “Our bishop did his best to bring both groups together to organise the car procession.”
“Although the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court ordered to take the car procession in Dalit streets, this has not been done yet,” said Fr Raj, former national secretary of the Office for Schedule Castes & Backward Classes (SC/BC) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
Indian nuns pledge to eradicate human trafficking
Catholic nuns working agai-nst human trafficking in various parts of India have pledged to li-ve the values of the Indian Consti-tution and continue their mission with renewed vigor.
Around 170 nuns from 80 women religious congregations gathered November 24-26 at Proggaloy, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, to share their adventurous and successful moments as well as the challenges they faced while combating hu-man trafficking.
The meeting was the 13th annual general body meeting of Amrat Talitha Kum India which is affiliated to Talitha Kum Inter-national.
Bishop Shyamal Boss of Baruipur, who led the inaugural Mass, reiterated the significance of working against human tra-fficking and appreciated the women Religious for their tireless and courageous efforts to check the social menace. He also hailed the nuns’ contribution in enhan-cing the Church’s effective pre-sence in the country and the world at large.
PM Nair, a renowned retired police officer who was the re-source person of the day, shared his personal interventions in rescuing children and his attitude of Christ-like compassion to the victims and survivors of Human Trafficking. He said he was “so happy to interact with so many sisters in the divine and universal Mission to work on preventing human slavery.”
Malaysia Christian body snubs state program over Xmas song
A major inter-church group in Malaysia’s Christian-ma-jority Sarawak state has reje-cted an invitation to participate in a state-sponsored Christmas program after the organizers declined to replace a popular but commercial song for the celebration. The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) president Donald Jute said the group will not be involved in “A Christmas Carol, Sarawak in Diversity” program on Dec. 3 after the main organizer TV Sarawak (TVS) claimed it could not meet its request to replace the song Jingle Bell Rock with O Holy Night, the Malay Mail reported on Nov. 24. “The association expressed its regret that the request was not entertained by TVS,” Jute said in a letter to the Sarawak Unit for Other Religions (Uni-for), a focal body for various religious bodies to liaise and interact with state and federal agencies. The broadcaster said it rejected the request to change the song due to “religious elements” and “protocol” from the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission, he said.
The trust-deficit in China’s authoritarian regime
A recent surge in pneumonia cases in China highlights a significant trust deficit that exists between the Chinese population and the government.
On Nov 13, a notable surge in respiratory illnesses, particularly affecting children, was reported by China’s National Health Commission. The release of its report brought back echoes of the pandemic, sparking concerns among social media users about the emergence of a “new virus from China.”
In response to these fears, the World Health Organization (WHO), which had previously criticized Beijing for a lack of transparency during the Covid pandemic, called for additional information from China.
In turn, Beijing reassured the public that “there has been no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens.”
Chinese authorities attributed the increasing cases to the lifting of Covid restrictions, the onset of the cold season, and the presence of familiar pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
It is believed by Chinese experts to be linked to the emergence of an “immunity gap.” This gap arises from a decline in antibodies against respiratory pathogens within the general population. While the outbreak was primarily noted in the capital, Beijing, it also affected north-eastern Liaoning province and other regions in China.
“China’s approach to handling the outbreak highlighted the limitations of a tightly controlled media environment”
But was the Chinese public convinced by this explanation?
Sri Lankan minister flays Cardinal Ranjith on Easter attack probe
A Sri Lankan cabinet minister has accused Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of not cooperating in the ongoing probe into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which rights activists say is making tardy progress after 55 months.
Tiran Alles, public security minister, criticized the head of the Catholic Church in the Island nation while speaking in parliament on Nov. 23.
The cardinal’s “actions were fuelling racial and religious conflicts,” Alles said.
The minister said that the probe into the 2019 bombings inside three Christian churches was nearly 90 percent complete. But the 76-year-old cardinal lacks urgency, he alleged.
Alles said 23 people are in remand in connection with the case “but the cardinal is reluctant to provide updates.”
Church sources said they have no information on the update the minister expects from the cardinal or Church officials.
“The problem needs to be solved or else the same thing will continue for another ten years,” he told lawmakers. The cardinal has been critical of the ongoing investigations and court cases, claiming that they were biased.
In September, the cardinal called for an international probe into the Easter bombings after a UK-based broadcaster claimed the country’s worst-ever terror attack was an inside job by the government.
“Cardinal Ranjith has issued letters to the authorities against various officials who follow different religions in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks,” Alles further alleged.
Thousands, mostly Christians, flee besieged Myanmar town
Sylvester and his family had no time to think before fleeing their home amid non-stop aerial bombardment and artillery shelling in the civil war-hit eastern Myanmar.
The 65-year-old quickly packed some clothes and important documents like the national registration card and left Loikaw along with his wife, son, and 91-year-old mother in a car on Nov. 14.
“We realized we can no long-er stay safe, especially due to our concern for my elderly mother,” Sylvester, who goes by a single name, told on Nov. 22.
Sylvester’s family is among an estimated 40,000 people, mostly Christians, who are said to have fled Loikaw, a town of some 51,349 residents as per the 2014 census.
Ever since the junta took power in February 2021, armed resistance has been developing against it. The junta targets Christian churches and villages, reportedly suspecting them to be hiding grounds of resistance forces.
The shelling since then destroyed several churches in eastern Kayah state (formerly Karenni) and the recent offensive also da-maged the Christ King Cathedral in Loikaw.
The latest exodus began as fighting intensified between ru-ling junta forces and armed rebel groups, including the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, over the control of Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state.
Loikaw, which serves as a nerve centre of the junta administration in the region.
became a war zone as the junta retaliated with indiscriminate air strikes and artillery shelling to keep the rebel forces, which included Christians, at bay.