Touting the process as an effort to lead global Catholicism “beyond fragmentation and polarization,” the Vatican published Tuesday the Instrumentum laboris, or “working document,” for a Synod of Bishops on Synodality convened by Pope Francis in October.
However, the specific issues the document lists as matters to be addressed during the summit may actually fuel the Church’s divisions by seeming to favor liberal concerns.
Among the specific topics for discussion the document lists are the ordination of women as deacons and married men as priests, as well as greater outreach to LGBTQ+ Catho-lics and a focus on the poor, the environment and immigration.
On the other hand, the nearly 27,000-word document does not suggest discussion of abortion, same-sex marriage or euthanasia, all typical priorities of more conservative Catholics – indeed, the words “abortion” and “euthanasia” never appear in the text, and “marriage” is mentioned only three times, in the context of remarried divorcees and how to handle inter-church and polygamous marriages.
Although the text stipulates it is “not a document of the church’s magisterium,” meaning its teaching authority, the preponderance of what are often considered progressive Catholic topics nevertheless may further alienate conservatives.
Formally opened by Pope Francis in October 2021, the Synod of Bishops on Synodality is officially titled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” and is a multi-stage process that will culminate in two Rome-based gatherings in October of this year and October 2024.
Though still difficult for many to define, “synodality” is generally understood to refer to a collaborative and consultative style of management in which all members, clerical and lay, participate in making decisions about the Church’s life and mission.
Modi visits Cairo mosque restored by Dawoodi Bohra
After his US visit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a significant stop in Cairo, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
This is the first visit to Egypt by an Indian prime minister in 26 years. During his stay, Modi officially invited al-Sisi to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi in September.
Egypt is one of the countries that have officially asked to join the BRICS group (a global forum that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa set up as an alternative to the G7).
The summit in Cairo also provided the two leaders with the opportunity to sign a series of bilateral agreements on issues ranging from agriculture to the protection of their archaeological heritage.
Culture and religion also played an important part in Modi’s visit, particularly as it might affect India’s domestic affairs. In fact, the prime minister visited Cairo’s 11th century al-Hakim mosque, which was recently restored thanks to Dawoodi Bohra, an Indian Ismaili Shi’a group.
Originally from Egypt, the community of about half a million is concentrated in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where he started his political career that led him to the prime minister’s office.
Relations between Hindus and Muslims in the state remain tense, especially since communal riots broke out in 2002 causing major bloodshed.
Christians applaud Karnataka move to scrap anti-conversion law
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore on June 15 comm-ended the Karnataka government for repealing the controversial Anti-Conversion law, enforced by the previous Hindu nationalist government.
“On behalf of the Christian Community, I express my pro-found gratitude and satisfaction towards the government of Kar-nataka for its decision to repeal the anti-conversion bill,” the archbishop says in a press state-ment issued after the state cabinet decided to withdraw the Act.
Karanataka’s Congress led government, which defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party, June 15 decided to repeal the anti-con-version law and proposed to take steps to officially remove the law in the state legislative assembly’s next session starting July 3.
The Anti Conversion Bill, also known as the Karnataka Pro-tection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, was enacted, ignoring opposition from the Congress party and others, including Archbishop Machado.
The anti-conversion laws in Karnataka and other states have led to an increase in attacks on Christians. They have also fueled doubts, mistrust and disharmony between communities, lamented the archbishop, who heads the Catholic Church in Karnataka state.
Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, a human rights and peace activist, welcomed the Karnataka govern-ment move “as a great step to restore freedom enshrined in the Indian constitution.”
India’s “Greta” seeks Pope’s help to bring peace in Manipur
A young Indian climate activist has urged Pope Francis to help bring peace in Manipur, her troubled state in northeastern India.
Licypriya Kangujam on June 5 met the Pope and briefed him about the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur.
The 11-year-old girl also submitted a memorandum to urge the rich nations to pay the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis to the global south.
An ethnic clash erupted May 3 in Manipur between the majority Meitei people, who live in the Imphal Valley, and the tribal community from the surrounding hills, including the Kuki and Zo peoples. More than 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the violence that remains unabated. Hundreds of churches belonging to all Christian denominations were torched or damaged in the violence.
Licypriya was among 5 young people selected from all around the world to meet the Pope in his residence in the Vatican. The Pope assured her of every possible effort to bring peace in Manipur.
The young India was in Rome for a five-day official visit. On June 5, she addressed the Green and Blue Festival organized by the biggest media group in Italy as a part of celebrating World Environment Day 2023 at the World’s famous The Colosseum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Opposition resistance to UCC runs against Constitution spirit
The Bharatiya Janata Party government’s predictable move to reignite the controversy over the Uniform Civil Code has invited predictable responses.
Opposition leaders have flayed this move. Questioning the need for the Law Commission to take this up again, several opposition leaders have effectively positioned themselves against the UCC. Muslim organisations have gone a step further and condemned it as a sinister move that is against minorities and the Constitution.
The stage appears set for an ideological battle, both tragic and ironic, with the BJP pushing for the constitutional promise of a UCC and the secular politics arrayed against it.
This is exactly how the BJP must have scripted this debate. It is a mark of our times that secular politics retreats from whatever ground the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP illegitimately encroach upon—Hinduism, traditions, nationalism, and now the UCC.
If this retreat must be halted, secular politics must reclaim the principled and progressive position on the UCC. It must assert that the UCC has nothing to do with customs and practices of any one religion; it is about asserting the uniform primacy of constitutional principles of equality between and within religious communities and uniformly ensuring gender justice. It must realise that opposing the idea of a UCC is poor politics. Besides, it is a bad political strategy in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Manipur archbishop: ‘Violence continues, state no longer present’
“The silence of the prime minister, the incompetence of the interior minister even after his visit to the state, and the indecisi-veness of the local government in ending the violence are worrying. The authorities cannot escape responsibility and shift blame.”
In the face of violence that has now been going on continuously for a month and a half in Manipur State, he is calling the government of Narendra Modi to its responsibilities by the Archbishop of Imphal, Msgr. Dominic Lumon.
He does so in a detailed report issued to all of India’s brother bishops on the situation in the battered northeastern Indian state rocked since early May by serious fighting between the Meitei and Kuki.
“The violence and fires,” writes Msgr. Lumon, “continue unabated, especially in the suburbs of the region. Precious lives have been lost, homes and villages burned or destroyed, property vandalized and looted, places of worship desecrated and burned. More than 50,000 people have lost their homes and are languishing in camps for the displaced. Many have left the capital Imphal and the state to safer places in neighboring Mizoram State, other northeastern states, and metropolises. There is a complete collapse of the constitutional apparatus in the state. In short, there is fear, uncertainty and a general sense of hopelessness.”
The archbishop points out that in the clash between the two communities it is the entire Manipur community that suffers, regardless of affiliations. “In a month and a half,” he denounces, “the elected state government and the central administration in New Delhi have been unable to restore the rule of law and put an end to the insane violence. It can be said that we are facing the collapse of the state machinery at the local level. One wonders why President’s Rule (direct administration by the federal government in New Delhi, provided for in serious cases by Article 356 of the Indian Constitution ed.) is still not considered as an option.”
The prelate speaks of many more casualties than the 100 deaths in the official figures, “Violent activities in the suburbs outside the capital are greatly underestimated,” he writes. “But still house fires continue to occur, even in the heart of the city of Imphal.
Cambodian Catholics honour martyrs killed by Khmer Rouge
More than 3,000 Catholics including bishops, priests, and laypeople in Cambodia participated in a Mass to commemorate clergy, religious, and laypeople who were martyred by the Pol Pot regime in the seventies.
The event was held in Tang Kork District, Kampong Thom Province, about 100 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh on June 17, Catholic Cambodia reported.
During the program, church officials called the martyrs the “fathers” of today’s Catholic community in Cambodia.
“The testimony of the martyrs guides us along the way” Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh and an MEP missionary, said during the program.
Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzález, the apostolic prefect of Battambang, Pierre Suon Hangly the apostolic prefect of Kompong-Cham, priests, nuns, and laity attended the Mass in remembrance of the “Cambodian Martyrs.”
Carmelites of Mary Immaculate, a school for Nepal’s marginalized
On mission in a very poor area of western Nepal. With a big dream that is taking its first steps: that of opening a school in Dhangadhi to give a future to the children of those living in this extreme periphery at the foot of the Himalayas.
This is the missionary frontier of Fr. Ajo Thelappilly, an Indian Catholic priest of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), coordinator of the social works of Nepal Carmel Mata Samaj, an NGO that has been active in Nepal as part of the mission that this religious institute opened in the country for a decade.
“We arrived on March 22, 2011,” Fr. Thelappilly recounts, “at the request of Msgr. Anthony Sharma, a Jesuit who was Nepal’s first local bishop and later died in 2015. We belong to the St. John’s province of our institute, which has missions outside our home country as well as in northern India. Currently here in Nepal we are six missionaries active in four different missions: Punarbas and Parasan in Kan-chanpur district and in Dhangadhi and Phulwari in Kailali district, all in the westernmost part of the country.”
Compared to the capital Kathmandu these are much more underdeveloped areas of Nepal.
“The inhabitants belong mainly to the Magar, Chhetri, and Tharu groups known for their ancient traditions and culture ,” Fr. Ajo continues. ”Agriculture provides them with a basic livelihood, but in local markets for their products they earn very little. Occasionally, then, the region receives heavy rains and subsequent flooding, which makes life even more difficult. There are also landless people who are completely dependent on daily work in neighboring India or in Dhangadhi, the most important city in the area. Most of their children work in hotels and markets as child laborers.”
Vicar of Anatolia warns that the Christian community is at ‘great risk’ after the earthquake
The Christian community “is at great risk” and still reeling from the quake of 6 February. Amid “great desperation”, only a handful of Christians are left in places like Antakya (Antioch), the core of the devastation, this according to Bishop Paolo Bizzeti, vicar of Anatolia.
In Turkey’s quake-ravaged regions, everything has to be rebuilt from scratch – homes, schools, jobs – because, “other-wise, people will leave.” To avoid this, the vicariate met on 13-15 June in Iskenderun (Alexandretta) to discuss the situation and decide what to do in the coming weeks to deal.
“Christians are no different from other minorities,” Bishop Bizzeti said. “They are affected by the same problems like every-one else: housing, jobs, education, daily life, ordinary things. All this will take years to fix. Even today it is hard to say what can be done from the outside to help; the key point is to keep in mind that Christianity’s roots are in these places.’
For the prelate, “Western Churches should pressure on their governments and raise awareness so that they can help and contribute to the Christian presence in the Middle East. I’m talking about serious policies, to put on the agenda.”
The 7.7 earthquake remains an open wound in Turkey. The situation is still one of active emergency in 11 large areas in southern and south-eastern Turkey and in northern Syria.
Report accuses former President Rajapaksa of obstructing mass grave investigations
Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accused of tampering with police records to obstruct investigations into mass graves discovered in an area where he served as a military officer during a Marxist rebellion in 1989.
The charges are contained in a report entitled ‘Mass Graves and Failed Exhumations’ publish-ed by a number of activist groups: Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) and Families of the Disappeared (FoD).
“Witnesses to crimes are gradually disappearing: 178 mothers of missing persons have already died in recent years. We protest and fight for justice, not knowing when we will get it,” said Manuvel Uthayachandra, mother and president of Families of the Disappeared.
The paper highlights how successive Sri Lankan governments have interfered in the investigation of mass graves, pointing out that only 20 mass graves have been partially exhumed in the last 30 years and of over 550 bodies found almost none have been identified.
“None of Sri Lanka’s numerous commissions of enquiry have been mandated to examine the mass graves, while efforts to uncover the truth have been hampered,” says the paper, which focuses on the failure of investigations in Matale district in central Sri Lanka and Mannar town, located in Northern Province, where a mass grave was discovered in 2018.