Six nuns from the Congrega-tion of the Sisters of Saint Anne were kidnapped Jan. 19 while traveling on a bus in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the Haitian Conference of Religious.
Other passengers on the bus also were taken in the abduction, the conference said in a statement.
“These many kidnappings fill the consecrated people of Haiti with sadness and fear,” said the statement, signed by conference president P. Morachel Bonhomme.
Pope Francis appealed Jan. 21 for the release of all the hostages, while praying for “social harmony” in the country, Vatican News reported. In remarks after the Angelus, he said he had “learned with sorrow the news of the kidnapping” of the sisters and the others. “I call on everyone to stop the violence, which causes so much suffering to that dear population.”
Bonhomme in his statement prayed that “the spirit of strength be given” to the sisters “to find a way out of this terrible situation.” “May the solidarity of the consecrated people of Haiti and the world help them overcome this difficult ordeal,” he added.
In a statement published Jan. 19, Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau et Miragoâne prayed “to help us put an end to this bitter nightmare and this tragic ordeal of our people which has lasted too long.” He also offered himself in exchange for the hostages.
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Priests should be allowed to be married
Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who also serves as an adjunct secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, says the Catholic Church has lost “good priests just because they chose marriage.”
Speaking to the Times of Malta, the archbishop said, “Why should we lose a young man who would have made a fine priest, just because he wanted to get married?” Scicluna said priestly celibacy was optional for the first millennium of the Church’s existence, “and it should become optional again.”
Although priestly celibacy is mandated in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, it is allowed in the vast majority of the Eastern Rites, where celibacy is still mandated for bishops. Even in the Western churches, there are some married priests, such as when married protestant clergy convert to Catholicism and are allowed to be ordained priests. Previously married men can also be ordained, if the marriage is annulled or the wife has died.
The Malta archbishop was answering a question from the newspaper about Catholic priests who secretly live in a romantic relationship while they publicly continue to serve their duties as priests.
“A man may mature, engage in relationships, love a woman. As it stands, he must choose between her and priesthood, and some priests cope with that by secretly engaging in sentimental relationships,” he said.
“This is a global reality; it doesn’t just happen in Malta. We know there are priests around the world who also have children, and I think there are ones in Malta who may have too,” Scicluna added.
German bishops express burning concern over rise of AfD
On a snowy Saturday in January 20, German bishops’ conference chairman Bishop Georg Bätzing joined protesters at a demonstration near his residence in Limburg, in the central state of Hesse.
Bishop Georg Bätzing attends a Jan. 20, 2024, demonstration against racism, fascism, and the AfD in Limburg, Germany. .
Bätzing was one of the more than 100,000 people who took to the streets across Germany Jan. 20 in protest at the surging Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which is commonly described as far-right.
Dressed in a flat cap and wearing warm winter layers, Bätzing was photographed holding a German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) banner that said “Our alternative is called… respect and solidarity.”
Nearby stood a man in a wide-brimmed hat — perhaps a photobomber — with a sign that spelled out “AfD” with the words “Apes Fascists Dummies.”
The Diocese of Limburg said that organizers had expected 300 people to attend the demonstration “against racism, fascism and the Alternative for Germany,” but 3,000 turned up.
“The cold, ice, and snow couldn’t stop us,” said Bätzing. “It is important to be here and set an example for democracy, diversity, and tolerance.”
So what is it, exactly, that prompted the head of Germany’s bishops to demonstrate against one of the country’s political parties?
Bishop Georg Bätzing attends a Jan. 20, 2024, demonstration against racism, fascism, and the AfD in Limburg, Germany. © S.Schnelle/Bistum Limburg.
The Limburg diocese had explained the demonstration’s rationale in a press release issued the day before the rally, which was supported by groups including Germany’s Left Party, Green Youth, and the DGB.
“The background to the protests is the recently revealed secret meeting between leading AfD members and fascists and financiers in Potsdam, in which plans for the mass deportation of people after the AfD came to power were discussed,” the press release said.
A Jan. 20, 2024, demonstration against racism, fascism and the AfD in Limburg, Germany, beside the red and white residence of the Bishop of Limburg.
Hostel girls missing: Catholic priest sent on judicial remand
A Catholic priest was sent to judicial custody on January 7 on an alleged disappearance of 26 girls from a hostel managed by the Church in Bhopal district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Father Anil Mathew was reportedly sent to the Bhopal Central Jail after the state government threatened take action against those responsible for the girls allegedly missing from Aanchal (lap) Hostel that the congregation managed at Tara Savania village under Parvalia police station.
Indian nuns focus on unmet needs of elderly members
Sister Anne Mathew spends most of her time in eucharistic adoration in a home for elderly nuns in a southern Indian town.
“Prayer works for me and is my strength,” the 81-year-old former nurse, who had worked for years in Austria and Switzerland, told Global Sisters Report.
India gets four new Catholic bishops
Pope Francis on December 30 appointed an archbishop and three bishops in India. The Pope transferred Bishop Vincent Aind of Bagdogra, a diocese in West Bengal, to Jharkhand state as the new archbishop of Ranchi, the mother diocese of India’s tribal Church.
The two new bishops-elect are Father Peter Rumal Kharadi (photo) as the bishop of Jhabua in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and Father Bernard Lancy Pinto as the bishop of Aurangabad, another diocese in Maharashtra.
Kerala archdiocese’s Buon Natale presents 15,000 Christmas papas
The Archdiocese of Trichur together with the general public has organized the annual Buon Natale (Merry Christmas) presenting nearly 15,000 Santa Clauses, or Christmas Papas.
The colorful and joyful program showed Santa, irrespective of age, dancing, walking, roller skating and on wheelchairs. More than 500,000 people watched the procession that started from St Thomas Ground before returning to the same ground after four hours.
Nepal police arrest spiritual leader over rape charges
Nepal police said January 10 they had arrested a spiritual leader whose followers believe him to be a reincarnation of Buddha over allegations of disappearances and rape at his ashrams.
Ram Bahadur Bomjan, known as “Buddha Boy” among devotees, became famous as a teenager after followers said he could meditate motionless for months without water, food or sleep.
The 33-year-old guru has a devout following but has long been accused of physically and sexually assaulting his followers, and had been hiding from authorities for several years.
“He was arrested after absconding for several years,” police spokesman Kuber Kadayat told AFP.
Police apprehended Bomjan in Kathmandu on a warrant issued for his alleged rape of a minor at an ashram in Sarlahi, a district south of the capital.
They said he was caught with bundles of cash amounting to 30 million Nepali rupees ($225,000) and another $22,500 in foreign currency.
High hopes pinned on new Syro-Malabar leader
The election of Bishop Raphael Thattil as the Syro-Malabar Church leader has brought high hopes for its members, especially the Catholics in the troubled Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
“I am sure he will listen to the sane voices on the controversies concerning the Syro-Malabar Church,” says Capuchin Father Suresh Mathew, former editor of Indian Currents weekly who sees in the new major archbishop “a good shepherd with the smell of the sheep” as he was always seen with the people in the peripheries.
Father Mathew, a member of the Syro-Malabar Church now based in the northern Indian state of Punjab, says the new major archbishop’s success as an administrator will “depend on his capacity to accommodate diversities. His pastoral experience in the mission will be an added asset to him.”
Among those welcoming the new major archbishop are the Almaya Munnetam (laity front) and the Archdiocesan Protection Committee of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
“The faithful and priests of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese are looking forward to the new Major Archbishop with hope,” says Riju Kanjookaren, spokesperson of the laity front that is involved in the liturgical dispute, a vexing problem for the larger of the two Oriental Catholic rites in India.
A statement from the laity front sees “a pointer to the future” in the new major archbishop’s opening statement that the Church is not only for bishops, but for everyone – the faithful, priests and the religious.
“The entire Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese listened with great hope to the new leader’s explanation that synodality is walking with and listening to the faithful and priests. “We also felt assured when he said he would continue to be the same priest and the bishop we are familiar with,” the statement added.
Therefore, the laity front expects the new leader to resolve the problems in the archdiocese, as a first priority after his installation on January 11.
Activists, women hail Supreme Court verdict in Bilkis Bano case
A sense of joy and hope spread across activists and women groups in India January 8 after the Supreme Court set aside the Gujarat government’s premature release of 11 convicted in a gangrape case.
The apex court termed the Gujarat government order a “fraud act” and asked the convicts to surrender in two weeks and return to jail.
“The verdict brings to the entire nation a silver line of hope in the judiciary. People’s trust in the judiciary increased,” says Sister Jessy Kurian, a lawyer who was present when the apex court pronounced its decision.
Sounding the same sentiments, Teesta Setalvad, secretary of the Citizens for Justice and Peace that works for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots, says the apex court has “re-validated the ordinary citizens’ faith in its commitment to the rule of law, the Indian Constitution.”
She noted that the court quashed the Gujarat government’s “brazen conduct” in passing the remission orders, set aside the Gujarat High Court judgement that endorsed the government decision and turned down the federal home ministry’s role in allowing convicts to walk free.