In his Christmas address to the Roman Curia, Pope Francis said that crisis can be beneficial to the Church, but conflict is always destructive. The annual address to the Vatican leadership has become a key indicator of papal priorities, and in past years Pope Francis has surprised his listeners with blunt criticism of what he has seen as deficiencies in the Curia. This year, his lengthy address took a different approach, advising against internal conflicts.
“Crisis generally has a posi-tive outcome, whereas conflict always creates discord and competition, an apparently irreconcilable antagonism that separates others into friends to love and enemies to fight,” the Pope said.
“Every crisis contains a rightful demand for renewal,” the Pontiff explained. The key to successful renewal, he said, is to see the problems facing the Church from the perspective of the Gospel. “Those who fail to view a crisis in the light of the Gospel simply perform an autopsy on a cadaver,” he said.
Authentic renewal, the Pope continued, requires “the courage to be completely open.” He contrasted that open attitude with the attitude of those who see a crisis in terms of conflict between different viewpoints.
One in 9 Russians curses frequently, over 60% do so from time to time – poll
Moscow, on December 15, Interfax – Eleven percent of Russians curse frequently; the share is the highest in the group aged from 31 to 45, the Public Opinion Foundation said in a statement seen by Interfax. The number of frequently cursing men is two times higher than the number of such women, 15% and 7%, respectively, the pollster said.
Sixty one percent of Russians use foul language on rare occasions, mostly in the group aged from 18 to 30 (71%).
According to the Public Opinion Foundation, 56% of Russians curse only if they experience strong emotions, 12% do not need such emotions to swear.
A quarter of respondents (26%) told the pollster that they never used foul language; the share was the biggest in the group aged 60 and up (46%), the statement said.
Over a third of respondents (37%) allowed for the occasional use of foul language in fiction books, 60% said that was inadmissible under any circumstances, and 3% were undecided.
The Public Opinion Foundation noted that 43% of Russians often heard foul language on the street, in public areas, and in public transport, and 51% heard people swearing from time to time. Three percent said they had never heard foul language being used in such places, and 3% could not say whether what they heard was cursing or not.
Iraqi parliament formally declares Christmas a national holiday
In a move some have said is already a direct result of Pope Francis’s highly anticipated visit to the country in March, Iraqi parliament earlier voted to establish Christmas as an annual national holiday.
The vote, which took place on Dec. 16, was unanimous and goes into effect this year, meaning that for all of its woes, 2020 will have at least one silver lining for the Iraqi Christian community.
Previously, Christians had been given the day of Dec. 25 off, but it was not considered a holiday for the rest of the population in the Muslim-majority nation.
In 2008, the Iraqi government declared Christmas a “one-time” holiday, but the provision was not renewed.
In recent years, Christmas has only been a public holiday in the province of Kirkuk.
Nationwide post card campaign launched for Swamy’s release
A post card campaign was launched on December 10, the human rights day, to seek the release of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and those allegedly accused falsely in the Bhima Koregaon case
Under the campaign, the “Friends of Fr Stan Swamy” planned to send as many as 100,000 post cards to India’s Prime Minister and home minister demanding the immediate release of the 83-year-old Jesuit and others imprisoned in the case. The campaign also wants the draconian Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act (UAPA).
In Kolkata, eminent human right activist Sujato Bhadra opened the campaign by signing the first post card at Ranu Chayya Manch, near the historic Victoria Memorial. Before signing the card, Bhadra explained how the UAPA has been abused for vested interests.
He was accompanied by Kriti Roy, secretary of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM, Bengal human rights protection front), the organizer of the event in Kolkata.
Jesuit human right activist Father Irudaya Jothi, one of the coordinators of the campaign, explained the reasons for the nationwide program and how it was planned nationally.
Father Jothi welcomed the Jesuit collaborators, teachers, students, parents and alumni of the hundreds of the Jesuit educational institutions who have joined the campaign.
The Jesuit food right activist in West Bengal expressed the hope all who value human rights would join the campaign transcending religion, caste, creed, gender and ethnicity.
Indian state to criminalize interfaith marriages involving conversion
A Catholic leader in India’s Madhya Pradesh State sees a political ploy in a government move to criminalize interfai-th marriages that involve reli-gious conversion.
Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, based in the state capital, said the state government’s proposal aims to appease the majority Hindu community rather than address any real issue.
Leaders of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the state government, said that during the legislative session starting in December they plan to make legal provisions to stop Hindus from becoming Muslims and Christians for marriage.
State chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused Christian missionaries of converting indigenous people while addressing gatherings in Umaria and Barwani districts, which are dominated by indigenous people.
He also advised missionaries not to offer their services in the hope of converting beneficiaries to their faith.
Madhya Pradesh is among states with strict laws to check religious conver-sion through allurement or force as punishable offenses. The law, ironically named the Freedom of Religion act, was enacted in the state in 1967.
The government has not yet released the bill’s draft to reveal the quantum of punishment and other details. It is also unclear if the government plans to amend the Freedom of Religion Act or to enact a separate law.
Rameshwar Sharma, the state assembly’s speaker, said the government plans to scrap quota benefits meant for women of lower castes or tribal people if they changed their religion and married Muslims or Christians, media reports said.
Archbishop Cornelio told UCA News on Nov. 30 that the Catholic Church is not involved in conversion “through force or allurement” and it “was wrong to paint” the Church’s charitable work as a facade for conversion.
“If the allegation was true, the Christian population would be much more than what it is today,” he asserted.
Stan Swamy given straw, sipper by jail authorities
The advocate of activist Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on December 4 told a special court that Swamy has been given a straw and sipper by the Taloja jail authorities. Swamy, 83, on December 4 filed three fresh applications seeking a direction to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to return his bag (seized by it at the time of his arrest), a clone copy of his hard disk (seized by it) and a direction to not transfer him from Taloja jail. Swamy claimed that he apprehends that he would be transferred from the Taloja prison near here in Navi Mumbai.
After the court rejected his bail application on health ground on Oct. 23, the elderly priest suffering from Parkinson’s disease on Nov. 26 filed a petition seeking regular bail. The court posted the application for Dec. 4 while seeking a response from the NIA.
Kerala bishops back Indian farmers’ protest
As negotiations failed to end the week-long protest by Indian farmers in New Delhi, more than 40 Catholic bishops in Kerala have sought government action to address the farmers’ plight.
Federal agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar led the government team in negotiations lasting more than seven hours with 40 leaders of farmer unions on Dec. 3. Although talks failed, the teams are meeting again on Dec. 5.
“Millions of families of farmers in the country are worried about their future because of the new farm laws,” said Card. George Alencherry after a three-day session of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council attended by 42 bishops in the southern state.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana States, have been protesting in the national capital since Nov. 29 to demand the repeal of what they termed as three anti-farmer laws.
Give what’s due to all communities: Cardinal Alencherry
Cardinal George Alenche-rry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, says India is going through a period of transformation in the democratic practice and the balance of power between major political fronts, essential to a democracy, has been lost.
But he is sanguine about pluralistic forces asserting themselves in a bid to cement the unity of the country through its diversity in the no-so-distant future. “India is a diverse country, but hardly any Indian would not like to be identified as one. Therefore, I am sure that the politically intelligent people will find ways and means to surmount this crisis. The pluralistic forces have to assert themselves to keep India’s democracy and that’s already emerging,” Card. Alencherry said in a free-wheeling chat with The Hindu on the prevailing sociopolitical climate.
People have a right to demonstrate peacefully: UN
“People have a right to demonstrate peacefully and authorities need to let them do so,” said Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary General of the United Nations on December 5, on being asked about the farmers’ movement that has continued despite talks with the Government of India.
The comment is the latest addition to a show of support for farmers who have been protesting in the outskirts of the national capital for the last ten days. The remark from the U.N. comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tru-deau’s support to the protest as “unacceptable interference.”
The comment from the United Nations came even as 36 British Members of Parliament sent a joint letter to U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, calling upon him to bring up the concerns of British citizens over the protests in Punjab and in the outskirts of Delhi. In a two page letter, Tanmanjeet Dhesi, Member of Parliament for Slough, expressed concern about the well-being of the protesting farmers and said, “…These new laws (in India) present the Punjabis with a huge problem, with some describing it as a ‘death warrant’.”
Promoter of Christian-Muslim relations remembered
Colleagues and friends of Ataullah Siddiqui have recalled the UK-based Islamic scholar’s contributions to the promotion of Christian-Muslim relations. They shared their experience with Siddiqui at an online event organized by the Delhi-based Islamic Studies Association on November 29.
Siddiqui died on November 9 of cancer at Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He was 66. The online program began with a recitation from the Qur’an and a reading from the Bible.