“I knew absolutely nothing about the world of courts and justice. What is beautiful and powerful about the French justice system is that the picture is clear and you have to listen to others,” in this specific case to the victims, although “I had already met with dozens of them, as well as with their relatives and children.” In an interview with KTO, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, referred back to the trial. “For my part, I was grilled for three hours and I answered all the questions about what I had done in a clear and transparent way.” The goal was “not to say that I did well, but what I did and why.” As for the decision to appeal the sentence, he explained: “I have this right in France,” I follow the advice of lawyers and prosecutors, “and even the Pope agrees.” The cardinal, who still maintains his innocence, reiterated: “I explained what I did, how I did it and why I did it. I am not saying that I did well. I acknowledge that I have made mistakes, but not those I am accused of.” He recalled that when he met with one of the victims in November 2014, who “told me about his sadness for not having reported the facts, I proposed to look into whether there were more young victims, something that this person did.” But none of the two had thought that it was up to the cardinal to report the facts and “the prosecutor in the first instance acknowledged that the victim was in a position to do it.” And he added: “Not reporting the facts myself might have been a mistake, and if I am convicted, it is fine.”
Maltese Catholics Criticize Archbishop Scicluna’s Leadership on ‘LGBT’ Issues
A priest representing Pope Francis’ point man on sexual abuse in the Church, Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, spoke approvingly of homosexuality as created by God and “part of his plan” to a talk show audience. Appearing on March 8th, on the show, called Xarabank, Father Kevin Schembri, who teaches Canon Law at the University of Malta, also told the show’s host, Peppi Azzopardi, that God created people with “different sexual orientations,” and that being homosexual “cannot be something bad, because he created it.”
According to an English translation of his interview transcript provided to the Register, Father Schembri, who is the archdiocesan defender of the bond, went on to say that if a person recognizes he is “a gay person as created by God, he does not need to change,” and he would actually be “harming himself” if he did not accept himself “as a gay person.”
He also said a sincere “relationship of love” between homo-sexuals is as “good” as a relationship of “love between heterosexual couples.” “Where love is, there is God,” said Father Schembri, who is known for his ministry to same-sex attracted Catholics, adding that homosexual love is simply a “variant” created by God. In the TV interview, he also rejected reparative, or conversion, therapy, and said Archbishop Scicluna had also spoken against it. The archbishop spoke publicly against reparative therapy in 2015 and 2016.
Father Schembri’s comments caused considerable anger and frustration among Maltese faithful and clergy who contacted the Register to express their concern. Sources told the Register that the archdiocese has been “inundated” with complaints.
Catholic Church is an ‘integral part of China’
The Catholic Church in China is a fundamental part of Chinese history and can play a leading role in promoting the common good of all its citizens, says Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
“The Catholic Church in China is not a ‘foreigner’ but an integral and active part of Chinese history and can contribute to the edification of a society that is more harmonious and respectful of all,” the cardinal wrote in the preface of the soon to be launched “The Church in China: A New Departure.”
The book edited by Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica comes at a particular moment in the history of relations between the Apostolic See and China, following the signing of the provisional agreement on the nomination of bishops that took place in Beijing last September.
The volume emerges from the “China Forum for Civilizational Dialogue,” a collaboration bet-ween the journal, La Civiltà Cattolica, and Georgetown University. It gathers various studies that have appeared over the last two years in La Civilità Cattolica.
Trafficking in women from Myanmar: young brides held captive in China
Chinese and Myanmar authorities are failing to stop the brutal trafficking of young women, often teenagers, for sexual slavery from conflict-ridden Kachin, a state in northern Myanmar, this according to a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Released on March 22, the report notes that women are often tricked into travelling to China in search of work or kidnapped and held against their will to be sold as “brides” to Chinese men. Most of those taken hostage by Chinese families are locked up and raped, it says. Those who do escape are often obliged to leave children fathered by their tor-mentors.
As a direct result of its one-child policy, China finds itself with 34 million more men than women. This fuels women-trafficking from neighbouring countries, where poverty and social discrimination make women more vulnerable. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are especially affected by the problem.
More than 120,000 people have been displaced by armed clashes between government forces and rebel groups in Kachin and in the northern part of Shan State – conflicts that started up again in 2011. In Kachin alone there are more than 100 refugee camps.
Cardinal Bo calls for ‘ecological reparation’ for indigenous peoples
A leading Asian cardinal says the world’s resources are at the mercy of a minuscule minority, and the “poor are doubly-conde-mned by an economy that favours the powerful and a carbon hegemony that destroys their liveli-hood.”
Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo, the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, was speaking at a March 19 event on the Amazon at Georgetown University.
The Amazon will be the topic of the Oct. 6-27 meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.
During his lecture, the cardinal noted that Myanmar, also called Burma, is one of the poorest countries in the world.
“I have always worked with simple ethnic and indigenous communities. I come from a country where the Church is an ethnic, indigenous church,” Bo said. “We have watched in pain the destruction of the ethnic and indigenous way of life by the onslaught of market economy-oriented colonization. This is the norm elsewhere,” he said.
Indonesian nun dedicates life to making elderly people happy
Despite her advancing years and having to walk with the aid of a stick, she continues to help dozens of lonely elderly people from various religious backgrounds at a home she runs in Purwokerto, in Central Java.
Sister Indrawati of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph established the Panti Wreda Catur Nugraha home more than a decade ago to create some love and help elderly people abandoned by their families.
From just a few people, it now cares for 52 senior citizens from across Indonesia. Most were hardly able to look after themselves.
“The trauma of being rejected by their relatives is a heavy burden to carry through the last stages of their life,” Sister Indrawati said.
“All they need is love.”
She says it’s her mission to make them as happy as they can, even though to fulfill their daily needs, she has to knock on people’s doors for support.
“Other people have to help,” she said, saying she actively seeks donations and volunteers to come to the home to provide some of the residents some much-needed company.
Caring for people like them was a goal even before she became a nun, Sister Indrawati says. “Since joining my congregation in 1971, I have cared for marginalized people, particularly the elderly,” she said.
Prior to setting up the home, Sister Indrawati worked at several care homes run by the Soegijapranata Social Foundation, which was named after the first native-born Indonesian prelate, Jesuit Bishop Albert Soegijapranata.
This gave her invaluable experience in taking care of the elderly and knowing what makes them happy.
Two hundred families in Karachi flee after three young Christian women are accused of blasphemy out of revenge
A group of Christians was attacked in West Bengal by Hindu fanatics during a prayer meeting at the home of a Church member, Shibu Thomas speaking told AsiaNews.
Thomas is the founder of Persecution Relief, an organisation that defends Christians from persecution in India.
Rev Anand Hari, pastor of the Full Gospel Evangelical Church, who was leading the prayer, was severely beaten. He is now in hospital in serious condition.
The attack took place in Panch Gachia, a village in Paschim Bardhaman district, around 7.00 am (local time). “The attackers did not spare even women,” Thomas lamented. In fact, in addition to the pastor, “there were eight women and two teenagers.
“About 15-20 minutes after the meeting started, 20 people suddenly broke into the house and started hitting everyone present with fists, kicks and sticks. Then they fled, leaving the wounded on the ground.”
The leader of Persecution Relief explained that the incident attracted the attention of others, who took the reverend to a government hospital where he is still recovering.
The aggression against worshippers at prayer represents a serious example of religious intolerance, less than a month before the general election.
“In India, it has become difficult even to pray in private homes used as places of worship. Churches are attacked, destroyed, torched and vandalised,” Thomas said, this despite the fact that “The Indian Constitution recognises freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.”
“The faithful were only praying,” he explained. If people get together and pray for the sick, their country, their family and even politicians, they are not doing anything wrong.
National council of churches prays for new government
India’s largest forum for Protestant and Orthodox Churches on March 24 launched weeklong prayers for a new government. “Constitutionally, the Indian state cannot have any appeasement to any religion whether majority or minority. The contemporary tendency to polarize people in the name of religion, for political gain, has to be countered,” says a statement from the Policy Governess and Public Witness of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI).
About 80% of the Indian population is Hindu. Muslims make up almost 15% and Christians are 2.3%.
The Indian Constitution upholds the country as a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic that does not discriminate people on the basis of religion, caste, language, gender or ethnicity. “Indian secularism is not the same as that which we see in the Western countries. Our secularism is neither antagonistic nor religiously charged. It is neutral to all religions but respects all religions and non-religious ideas,” the NCCI statement explains.
Brexit dominates Irish primate’s message for St Patrick’s Day
Brexit’son-going political and economic uncertainty was the focus of the St Patrick’s Day message of Archbishop Eamon Martin, the Primate of All Ireland. The United Kingdom’s impending departure from the United Kingdom is especially affecting the island of Ireland as it would place the EU border at Northern Ireland. Not only does this threaten to re-impose border checks between north and south, but it would even divide some Irish dioceses – including Martin’s Archdiocese of Armagh.
Survey measures US Catholics’ perceptions of the global persecution of Christians
According to a new poll, 46% of US Catholics say the global persecution of Christians is “very severe”—an increase of more than 16% compared to a year ago; and 58% of US Catholics say they are “very concerned” about the plight of their fellow faith ful—a figure up by more than 17% from February 2018. Yet, other global issues are cause of greater concern for US Catholics than the persecution of Christi-ans: they rank human trafficking, poverty and the refugee crisis as more urgent problems than the persecution of Christians.
The annual nationwide poll examining the views of US Catholics on the global persecution of Christians was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates on behalf of Aid to the Church in Need-USA. The survey aimed to measure:
The extent to which American Catholics are aware of the persecution of Christians around the world;
The countries and regions where they consider Christians to be most severely persecuted;
Specific measures and policies they want the US and other Western governments to pursue to help and protect persecuted Christians;
The extent to which they feel that the Pope, their bishops and their parishes are making the issue of the persecution of Christians a priority;