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Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for July is: 'That there may be an increase in the number of those who, as volunteers, offer their services to the Christian community with generous and prompt availability'. His mission intention is: 'That the World Youth Day held in Sydney, Australia, may awaken the fire of divine love in young people and make them sowers of hope for a new humanity'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.1

 

Pauline Year

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, Benedict XVI presided at the celebration of first Vespers for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Apostles, which also marked the opening of the Pauline Year. Among those participating in the ceremony were the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and representatives from other Churches and Christian communities.

The Holy Father, Bartholomew I, delegates from other Christian confessions, and monks from the abbey of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls walked in procession to the portico of the basilica where, before the statue of the saint, the Pope lit a candle from a brazier which will remain burning for the entire Pauline year. After the Pope the ecumenical patriarch and the representative of the primate of the Anglican communion also lit candles. The procession then entered the basilica through the Pauline Door.

'We are gathered around the tomb of St. Paul, who was born 2000 years ago in Tarsus in Cilicia, in modern-day Turkey', said the Pope in his homily. 'For us, Paul is not a figure of the past whom we recall with veneration. He is also our master, the Apostle and announcer of Jesus Christ to us too. Hence we are gathered here not to reflect upon a past history which has been left irrevocably behind. Paul wishes to speak to us today'. Thus, the Pope explained, the Pauline Year serves 'to listen to him and to learn from him, as from a master, the faith and the truth in which the reasons for the unity of Christ's disciples are rooted'.

'It is of great joy to me', said the Holy Father, 'that the opening of the Pauline year should have a particularly ecumenical character, thanks to the presence of many delegates and representatives of Churches and ecclesial communities, whom I welcome with all my heart'. They include 'the Patriarch Bartholomew I, ... fraternal delegates of Churches that have especially close ties to the Apostle Paul (Jerusalem, Antioch, Cyprus, Greece) and that form the geographical setting of the Apostle's life before his arrival in Rome, ... and brethren from various Churches and ecclesial communities of East and West'.

'We are gathered here to ask ourselves about the great Apostle of the Gentiles. We ask ourselves not just who Paul was, but above all who he is. ... His faith was the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ with an entirely personal love; it was an awareness of the fact that Christ faced death not for some unidentified cause, but for love of him - of Paul - and that, being Risen, He loves him still. Christ gave Himself for him. ... His faith was not a theory, an opinion on God and on the world, His faith was the impact of God's love on his heart. And so this faith was love for Jesus Christ'.

The Holy Father then recalled how many people see Paul as 'combative' noting that, 'in fact, there was no lack of disputes on the Apostle's path. He did not seek superficial harmony. ... The truth was too great for him to be disposed to sacrifice it in the name of exterior success. The truth he experienced in his encounter with the Risen One was, for him, well worth struggle, persecution and suffering. But his deepest motivations were the fact that he was loved by Jesus Christ and his desire to transmit this love to others. ... Only on this basis can the fundamental concepts of his message be understood'.

Focusing then on one of Paul's 'keywords: freedom', the Pope explained that 'Paul, as a man loved by God, was free. ... This love was the 'law' of his life and, thus, it was the freedom of his life'. Paul 'spoke and acted moved by the responsibility of love. Freedom and responsibility are inseparably united. ... Those who love Christ as Paul loved Him can truly do as they please, because their love is united to the will of Christ and thus to the will of God; because their will is anchored in truth and because their will is not simply their own will - the decisions of an autonomous 'I' - but is integrated into the freedom of God'.

The Pope then went on to consider Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, when the Risen Christ proclaimed 'I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting'. By 'persecuting the Church', said Benedict XVI, 'Paul was persecuting Jesus' Who 'identifies Himself with the Church as one single subject'. This exclamation which transformed Saul's life 'contains the entire doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ. Christ has not withdrawn to heaven, leaving a group of followers on earth to pursue 'His cause'. the Church is not an association that seeks to promote a particular cause' but 'the person of Jesus Christ Who, even when Risen remained as 'flesh'. ... He has a body. He is personally present in His Church'.

'Through all this we glimpse the Eucharistic mystery, in which Christ continually gives His Body and makes us His Body', said the Pope and, noting with regret the laceration of this Body, asked Christ to overcome all divisions so that union 'may once again become reality'.

Finally, the Holy Father recalled Paul's words to Timothy shortly before his heath: 'Join with me in suffering for the Gospel'. The Pope went on to note that the 'duty of announcement and the call to suffer for Christ are inseparable. ... In a world where lies are so powerful, truth is paid with suffering. Those who wish to avoid suffering, to keep it away, keep away life itself and its greatness; they cannot be servants of truth or servants of the faith. ... Where there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself loses value. The Eucharist - the focus of our being Christian - is founded on Jesus' sacrifice for us, it was born of the suffering of love'.

'It is of this self-giving love that we live. It gives us the courage and the strength to suffer with Christ and for Him in this world, knowing that this is the way our lives become great, and mature, and true'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.2

 

Solemnity of Saint Paul

At 9.30 a.m. on Sunday, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, Benedict XVI celebrated the Eucharist in the Vatican Basilica. Concelebrating with the Holy Father were 40 new metropolitan archbishops, upon whom he imposed the pallium. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I was also present at the ceremony.

The Pope and Bartholomew I entered St. Peter's Square together, preceded by an Orthodox and a Latin deacon bearing the Gospel.

Following the reading of the Gospel in Latin and Greek the Holy Father presented the Ecumenical Patriarch to the assembly, after which each of them pronounced a homily.

In his homily Benedict XVI spoke of the two Apostles, patrons saints of Rome. 'Through their martyrdom', he said, 'through their faith and their love, the two Apostles show where true hope lies. They founded a new kind of city, one that must be formed ever and anew in the midst of the old human city which is threatened by the opposing forces of sin and human selfishness'.

'We could say that their martyrdom was, in the deepest sense, like giving a fraternal embrace. They died for the one Christ and, in the witness for which they gave their lives, they became one single entity. In the New Testament we can, so to say, follow the development of that embrace, the creation of unity in witness and in the mission'.

The Pope highlighted the fact that although Paul 'usually went only to places in which the Gospel had not already been announced, Rome was an exception. There he found a Church the faith of which was the talk of the world. Going to Rome was part of the universality of his mission as an envoy to all peoples, ... it was an expression of the catholicity of his mission. Rome must make the faith visible to the whole world, it must be a place of encounter in the one faith'.

Turning to consider Peter, the Holy Father recalled how 'he left the presidency of the Christian-Judaic Church to James the Less in order to dedicate himself to his true mission, the ministry for the unity of the one Church of God made up of Jews and pagans'.

'The perpetual mission of Peter', he went on, is 'to ensure the Church never becomes identified with a single nation, with a single culture or a single State. That she always remains the Church of everyone. That she unites humankind beyond all frontiers and, amidst the division of this world, brings God's peace, the reconciliatory power of His love'.

Addressing the archbishops who were about to receive the pallium, the Holy Father told them that the gesture of imposing it upon their shoulders 'reminds us of the shepherd who takes the lost sheep across his back, the sheep that cannot find its way home, and brings it back to the fold. In this sheep the Fathers of the Church saw the image of the entire human race, of all human nature, which is lost and no longer knows the way home'; and the Pastor that brings it home 'is the eternal Word of God Himself'. Yet nonetheless, God 'also wants men 'to carry' alongside Him. Being a pastor of the Church of Christ means sharing in this task'.

In this way, he said, 'the pallium becomes a symbol of our love for Christ the Shepherd, and of our loving together with Him. ... It becomes a symbol of the call 'to love them all' with the power of Christ ... that they might find Him and, in Him, themselves'.

Benedict XVI concluded his homily by expressing the view that the pallium 'speaks to us of the catholicity of the Church, of the universal communion of Pastor and flock, just as it is a reference to apostolicity, to communion with the faith of the Apostles upon which the Church is founded'.

At the end of the Mass and before praying the Angelus, the Holy Father pointed out that since this year the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul falls on a Sunday, 'the entire Church, and not just the Church of Rome, celebrates it solemnly'.

'Of course', said the Pope referring to the Pauline Year which he officially inaugurated yesterday, 'its focal point will be Rome, in particular the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls and the place of the saint's martyrdom at the Three Fountains. But it will involve the entire Church, beginning with Tarsus where Paul was born, and the other Pauline sites ... in what is now Turkey, as well as the Holy Land and the island of Malta where the Apostle arrived after having been shipwrecked and sowed the fertile seed of the Gospel.

'The truth is', he added, 'that the horizon of the Pauline year cannot but be universal, because St. Paul was, par excellence, the Apostle to those who were 'far off' from the Jews and who 'by the blood of Christ' were 'brought near'. Hence, even today, in a world that has become 'smaller' but where many have still not met the Lord Jesus, the Jubilee of St. Paul invites all Christians to become missionaries of the Gospel'.

'As the liturgy says, the charisms of the two great Apostles are complementary in the edification of the one People of God, and Christians cannot render valid witness of Christ if they are not united among themselves'.

Benedict XVI concluded by inviting everyone to pray 'for these great intentions: the Pauline Year, evangelisation, communion in the Church and full unity among all Christians, entrusting them to the celestial intercession of Most Holy Mary Mother of the Church and Queen of the Apostles'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.3

 

Saint Paul

At yesterday morning's general audience, Benedict XVI began a new cycle of catecheses, turning his attention to St. Paul the Apostle to whom the current Pauline Year is dedicated. The Year began on 28 June 2008 and is due to conclude on 29 June 2009. The audience, celebrated in the Paul VI Hall, was attended by 8,000 people. Paul, said the Pope, is 'an example of complete dedication to the Lord and to His Church, as well as of great openness to humanity and its cultures'. In order 'to understand what he has to say to we Christians of today, ... let us pause to consider the environment in which he lived and worked ... which in many ways ... is not so very different' from our own. The Apostle of the Gentiles 'came from a specific and definable culture, clearly a minority culture, that of the people of Israel and their tradition'.

They were 'plainly distinguished from the surrounding environment, and this could have two results: either derision, which could lead to intolerance, or admiration', said the Holy Father. He also identified two factors that helped Paul in his efforts: firstly, the spread of 'Hellenistic culture which, after Alexander the Great, had become a shared heritage of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East'; secondly, 'the political and administrative structure of the Roman empire' which 'represented a shared and unifying fabric'. 'The universalistic outlook typical of St. Paul's personality', Pope Benedict commented, 'certainly owes its original impulse to faith in Jesus Christ. ... Nonetheless, the historical and cultural situation of his time and his environment also cannot but have influenced his decisions and his actions'.

The Pope recalled how Paul has also been called ''the man of three cultures', bearing in mind his Jewish origins, his Greek language and his privilege of being 'civis romanus', as also evinced by his name of Latin origin. Another factor to bear in mid is the Stoic philosophy which was dominant in Paul's day' and which contains 'exalted values of humanity and wisdom that were naturally taken up by Christianity. ... St. Paul's time was also marked by a crisis in traditional religion, at least in its mythological and civic aspects'. At the end of this 'first rapid excursion into the cultural environment of the first century of the Christian era', Benedict XVI affirmed: 'It is not possible to understand St. Paul adequately without seeing him against the background - both Judaic and pagan - of his time. In this way his figure acquires a historical ... profundity that reveals how he both shared in his environment and brought original elements to it. 'This also holds true for Christianity in general', the Holy Father added in conclusion, 'of which the Apostle Paul is an important model from whom we still have much to learn. And this is the objective of the Pauline Year: to learn from St. Paul, to learn the faith, to learn Christ'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.4

 

World Day of Peace

'Combating poverty. Building peace' is the theme chosen by Benedict XVI for his Message for the 42nd World Day of Peace, due to be celebrated on 1 January 2009. 'The theme chosen by the Holy Father', says a communique published on Tuesday, 'highlights the need for the human family to find an urgent response to the serious question of poverty, seen as a material problem but above all as a moral and spiritual one'. The communique recalls how the Pope - in a Message addressed to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation on 2 June - denounced the scandal of world poverty in the following terms: 'Poverty and malnutrition are not a simple fatality, provoked by adverse environmental situations or by disastrous natural calamities. ... Purely technical and economic considerations must not prevail over the duties of justice towards people suffering from hunger'.

The communique continues: 'The scandal of poverty reveals the inadequacy of current systems of human coexistence in promoting the realisation of the common good. This imposes the need for reflection on the deep roots of material poverty and, consequently, also on spiritual poverty which makes man indifferent to the suffering of others. The answer, then, is to be sought first and foremost in the conversion of the human heart to the God of charity, so as to achieve poverty of spirit in the terms of the Message of salvation announced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.5

 

Africa?

Pope Benedict XVI might travel to Africa next year, according to the Vatican Secretary of State. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told the Italian daily Avvenire that the idea of a papal trip to Africa is being actively considered for 2009. No plans are yet in place, the cardinal said. Such a voyage would be the first trip to Africa by Pope Benedict since his election in April 2005. Although the Holy Father has indicated that he does not plan to travel extensively, he has made trips to North and South America, as well as a number of shorter trips within Europe. In July he will make the longest voyage of this pontificate, traveling to Australia for World Youth Day. 'The Church in Africa deserves a trip by the Pope,' Cardinal Bertone told Avvenire. The likelihood of a visit in 2009 would be affected by security considerations and by questions about the likely political impact of a papal trip, he said. [CWNews] 1461.6

 

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinoiple

In the Vatican on Saturday, the Holy Father received His Holiness Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, who has come to Rome to participate in the opening of the Pauline Year and in the celebration of Mass for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. In his remarks, Benedict XVI spoke of his happiness at learning that the patriarch had also called a Pauline Year to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle of the Gentiles. 'This happy coincidence', he said, 'highlights the roots of our shared Christian vocation and the significant harmony of feelings and of pastoral commitment we are experiencing. For this I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who guides our path to unity with the strength of His Spirit. 'St. Paul', the Pope added, 'reminds us that full communion between all Christians has its foundation in 'one Lord, one faith, one Baptism'. ... To the Christians of Corinth, among whom discord had arisen, St. Paul did not hesitate to make a strong call for them all to remain in agreement, for there to be no divisions among them, and for them to unite in the same mind and purpose'.

The Holy Father noted how in our world, with its 'persistent divisions and conflicts, men and women feel a growing need for certainty and peace. However, at the same time, they remain lost, as if ensnared by a certain form of hedonist and relativist culture which throws doubt upon the very existence of truth. The Apostle's guidance in this matter is extremely helpful in encouraging efforts aimed at seeking full unity among Christians, which is so necessary in order to offer humankind of the third millennium an ever more resplendent witness of Christ, Way, Truth and Life. Only in Christ and in His Gospel can humanity find the answer to its deepest hopes'. 'May the Pauline Year', he concluded, 'help Christian people to renew their ecumenical commitment, and may there be an intensification of joint efforts on the journey to the full communion of all Christ's disciples. And as part of that journey, your presence here today is certainly an encouraging sign'. [Vatican Information Service] 1461.7

 

SSPX statement

The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has issued a public statement confirming that its leader, Bishop Bernard Fellay, has responded to a Vatican message outlining the requirements for reconciliation. Bishop Fellay did not accept the terms of the Vatican's message, which the SSPX regarded as an 'ultimatum,' the statement confirms. But the Lefebvrist leader did replay to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the president of the Ecclesia Dei commission, who promptly acknowledged that reply. The SSPX statement reveals that Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos presented the Vatican's demands during a June 4 meeting with Bishop Fellay in Rome.

The SSPX expressed dismay that the cardinal's letter became public, and as a result 'to the urgency of the ultimatum was added media pressure.' The statement says that the terms outlined by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos were 'very general-- not to say vague.' The traditionalist group reiterated its own stand that, rather than discuss the requirements for 'an atmosphere favourable to a further dialogue,' the discussions with the Holy See should focus on doctrinal issues. Nevertheless, the SSPX statement did comply with one of the Vatican demands, clearly asserting: 'The SSPX does not claim the exercise of a magisterium superior to the Holy Father's, nor does it seek to oppose the Church.' [CWNews] 1461.8

 

 

The Family

 

 

Cardinal Zen's pastoral letter

Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong is proposing the letters of St. Paul to shed light on the challenges faced by families in Chinese society.

The Cardinal, in a pastoral letter for the newly inaugurated Pauline Jubilee Year, emphasized St. Paul's teachings on the theology of the body and the family.

Hong Kong is celebrating the Year of the Family in conjunction with the Pauline year.

As 'premarital sex, cohabitation and trial marriages have become more socially acceptable,' the cardinal wrote, 'the traditional concepts about love and sex have become more vague.'

Cardinal Zen lamented that local Catholics encounter a variety of marriage and family problems common in Hong Kong.

He hinted that the situation of Catholics today was already described by Paul in the Letter to the Romans: 'For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?'

In view of this, Cardinal Zen said in his pastoral letter, released Sunday, that the letters of Paul are among the treasures the Church avails of to tackle this problem.

He recalled what St. Paul said: 'Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.'

The Hong Kong Diocese had designated 2007-2008 as the 'Year of the Family' -- with 2008 focused on the virtue of chastity -- before Benedict XVI announced the Pauline Jubilee.

Cardinal Zen noted that 'the diocese launched the 'Year of the Family' because the vision of Hong Kong society regarding the family and marriage is often in opposition to the plan of God.'

The prelate affirmed, however, that the Pauline year and the Year of the Family are good complements.

The 'pastoral objective of the diocese is to give us a general orientation for our activities, and the teachings of St. Paul can precisely help us to better specify the objective and give us impetus to achieve it,' he said.

The Hong Kong Diocese celebrated a solemn mass at the cathedral for the opening of the Year of St. Paul, though Cardinal Zen was absent, attending the inauguration led by the Pope at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. [Zenit] 1461.9

 

The Primary educator

The following letter has been published in this week's Catholic Herald.

Sir - Mary Kenny's "Seven Lessons for Sex Educators" (27th June) is interesting and I agree that the 'best way to halt underage pregnancy is to support marriage'. However, in this whole debate about what is age-appropriate sex education and who ought to deliver it? We need more emphasis upon the role of the parent as the primary educator.The Rite of Baptism reminds us in the blessing over the father, that they 'be the first and best of teachers' of their children. Lex orandi, lex credendi f what we pray really is what we believe -then there needs to be more
realistic investment of resources in dioceses to inspire parents in the moral formation of their children in the home and not to leave schools perhaps unsuspectingly] to resort to thoroughly subversive initiatives such as "Speakeasy" - an initiative funded and backed by the Family Planning Association which does not hide its contempt for Catholic
teaching in its aims and objectives.

Dioceses will be employing professional marriage and family life ordinators as a result of grants awarded from the Bishops Conference, 'Celebrating Family Fund'; but perhaps we would do well to emulate the excellent work pioneered by the Schoenstatt Movement in Salford? "The Holy Family Project" provides married couples with solid formation in fulfilling their matrimonial apostolate. Among topics covered are:

Keeping Kids Catholic - who me? - You can do it!
Open Forum: Why Kids leave the Church. - Scene Setting
Keeping Parents Catholic/Making your Home Catholic
Training kids in Catholic Morality

Due to the projects success, it will be launched in Motherwell diocese and has had interest from Liverpool and Westminster dioceses. Essential to the dynamic of the project is its being underpinned by theology of the body. This provides a more positive approach to sexuality than one of "Fear of Sex is Essential for Civilisation" - a debate held by the FPA in October 2005, at which curiously Mary Kenny is stated as speaking for the proposal.

Edmund Adamus
Director, Department for Pastoral Affairs
Diocese of Westminster
Vaughan House
Francis Street
SW1P 1QN

1461.9a

 

 

United Nations

 

USA withholds UNFPA funding

The Bush administration has once again withheld nearly $40 million from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), marking the seventh consecutive year that the U.S. government has refused the organization the funds. The Population Research Institute has issued a statement saying that it applauds this decision, which honours the Kemp-Kasten amendment of 1985 forbidding tax dollars from going to programs of forced abortion.

The groundwork for this decision was laid by the Population Research Institute, headed by Steven W. Mosher, which has sent teams of investigators to China over the years. These investigators have found that the UNFPA was deeply involved in programs of forced abortion and coercive sterilization in that country. The evidence presented to the U.S. Congress and the White House left no doubt that the UNFPA was operating in China in violations of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.

Reacting to PRI's findings, President Bush in 2001 decided to redirect $34 million away from the UNFPA's coercive family-planning programs into child survival programs, anti- trafficking programs, and other programs. The UNFPA's subsequent efforts to cover up its involvement in China have been to no avail. No U.S. population funds have gone to the UNFPA for the past seven years, costing the organization a total of $235 million.

'The evidence demonstrates that the UNFPA continues to aid and abet China's barbaric one-child policy,' says PRI's President Steven Mosher. 'It doesn't deserve one penny of U.S. money.'

Mosher is the author of the newly published Population Control - Real Costs, Illusory Benefits, which documents the undeclared war that the Chinese government has carried out on its own population. His book is available at PRI's web site here [LifeSiteNews] 1461.10

 

Europe

 

 

Homeschoolers appeal

A German family that fled to Canada for refuge from Germany's persecution of home-schooling is taking its case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The family escaped Germany after police made an unsuccessful attempt to storm their home and seize the children to put them into state custody.

The International Human Rights Group, a legal organization that has been representing Germany's persecuted home-schooling families, filed an application at the European Court on behalf of Andreas and Kathrina Plett.

Nearly two years ago, German police stormed into the Plett residence and arrested Kathrina Plett for homeschooling her children. The police stormed the house in the dead of night after Mrs. Plett opened the door to a knocking plainclothes policewoman.

The children sought by the police were not at home, but out with their father. Mr. Plett, apprised over the telephone of the situation by Mrs. Plett, who was in the Gelsenkirchen jail, immediately took his family over the border to Austria to set up a new residence.

The family then fled to Canada about a month ago after German authorities threatened to seize the children from their parents in Austria.

Joel Thornton, president of IHRG, is arguing on behalf of the Pletts that the state violated Articles 8, 9, 10, 14, and Protocol 1, Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in its treatment of the Plett family.

According to the brief submitted to the Court, the IHRG argues that the family's right of religious expression and freedom to impart ideas to their children were violated. The family is seeking remuneration and cancellation of all fines levied by the government.

'The Plett family has suffered the deprivation of their rights guaranteed under Article 8 of the Convention in that respect for their private and family life has been violated without demonstrated necessity for national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, the prevention of disorder or crime, the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others,' reads the brief.

The IHRG is also asking the Court to recognize that Germany violated the right of parents as the primary educators of their children as laid out in Protocol 1, Article 2, which says, 'in the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the state shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religions and philosophical convictions.' [LifeSiteNews] 1461.11

 

International news

 

 

 

Argentina  Morning-after-pill ruled illegal

A judge in the province of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina has ruled that the sale of the 'morning after pill' is illegal, because it causes abortions. Judge Guillermo Penza of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, reportedly issued his ruling in response to a suit brought by the public defender of Ushuaia, Julián De Martino, against the province. The ruling follows a similar ruling in 2007 by Judge María Rapossi, of the same jurisdiction, who prohibited the use of the pill in public hospitals. The new ruling extends that prohibition to private medical care as well. Although the Argentine Constitution does not mention abortion explicitly, it has historically been interpreted to prohibit the practice.

The law, however, provides no penalties for abortions in cases in which the life or health of the mother is threatened, or if the unborn child was conceived in the rape of a mentally disabled woman. In recent years, under President Nestor Kirchner, the government's Ministry of Health has supported further decriminalization of abortion, and a current in the Argentine congress has pushed for the change. Kirchner's health minister, Ginés González García, contested the 2007 decision but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. Kirchner's successor, Kristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has stated her opposition to abortion and her cabinet ministers have shown little inclination to support it. [LifeSiteNews] 1461.12

 

Argentina  Falkland Islands

Argentina's government has expressed opposition to the establishment of a new Catholic Diocese of Tierra del Fuego, which would not include the Falkland Islands. Argentina claims legal sovereignty over the Falklands, an isolated archipelago in the southern Atlantic. But Argentina's assertion of control was defeated by British military force in the brief war of April 1982. In 2002, the Holy See named a British priest, Father Michael McPartland, to head the apostolic prefecture of the Falklands. Nevertheless, the Argentine government objects to the suggested boundaries of the proposed new diocese, which would weaken Argentina's claims on the islands. There are about 3,000 residents of the Falkland Islands, of whom 300 are Catholics. 1461.13

 

Australia  Euthanasia

Two Australian territories are engulfed in a battle over a bill that would legalize euthanasia. Both the Northern Territory and Australian Capital territory are seeking to allow the grisly practice and a debate over it has split a Senate panel and the Australia Parliament could eventually fight the issue. Greens leader Bob Brown proposed a private members bill to allow euthanasia in the territories and Labor senators Patricia Crossin, Linda Kirk and Gavin Marshall said the bill should be allowed to proceed. However, Liberal senators Guy Barnett, Mary Jo Fisher and Russell Trood, along with Labour's John Hogg said the current law prohibiting euthanasia should remain in effect.

Democrat senator Andrew Bartlett said the bill should not proceed and urged national laws regarding euthanasia and assisted suicide. Major parties are expected to allow members of Parliament to have a vote on the bill but the government may not grant the measure a debate and vote. The government of Prime Minister John Howard gave a previous private member's bill time for discussion but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd may not follow suit. Yet a spokesman for Rudd said a debate would likely be allowed despite the fact he is opposed to the legislation. Brown says his bill would merely give the territories the right to set their own laws on euthanasia rather than allowing Parliament to set the law for them. [LifeNews] 1461.14

 

Belarus  Cardinal Bertone reports

Belarus is characterized by a healthy dialogue between faith and reason, says Benedict XVI's secretary of state. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone mentioned this aspect of the former Soviet nation in an interview with Vatican Radio, L'Osservatore Romano and the Vatican Television Center about his June trip there. There is a lot of thirst for this dialogue, the cardinal said, 'a lot of thirst for God and for God's reasons in respect of man's.' The faith-reason dialogue, 'suffocated during the Communist dictatorship, is re-emerging,' he explained. 'At the state university of Minsk there is a wonderful theology faculty frequented by Orthodox and Catholics,' as well as by 'non-believers who want to find the reasons of faith.'

The cardinal also mentioned the meetings he had with the country's president, Aleksandr Lukasenko, the foreign minister, and president of the Religious Affairs and Ethnic Minorities Committee of the Council of Ministers. 'The meetings were very positive and we arrived at concrete results,' the Vatican official said. 'Above all, there is a prospect that is opening up, to stipulate a real agreement with Belarus.' He further lauded the 'climate of collaboration at the diplomatic level. I believe that in Belarus, as in other countries of the Eastern European area, we have opened new avenues that until recently were unthinkable,' he said. 'This reflects the opportuneness of personal meetings, of face to face meetings with leaders of civil life and of the governments of the various nations.' Cardinal Bertone also highlighted the positive ecumenical and interreligious situation in the country. In Belarus today, 'not only is there a climate of tolerance but also of concord, of true concord between the different confessions, especially between the Christian confessions,' he said. The cardinal affirmed he was especially impressed by 'the climate of virtually idyllic concord, respect and reciprocal promotion of the initiatives of the different Churches.'

The Vatican official noted the participation of the Orthodox hierarchy in the solemn events over which he presided. And he noted the agreement with Metropolitan Filaret over the need to encourage a religious presence in society. 'There is a healthy imitation and collaboration in the construction of churches. He showed me the gallery of all the new churches built while he has been metropolitan; he also appreciates the Catholic Church's building of these signs of the presence of God in the midst of men.' Moreover, the relationship between the Latins and Greek-Catholics is 'very fraternal,' the cardinal affirmed. Cardinal Bertone also mentioned the representatives of the Lutheran Church and of the World Biblical Alliance, as well as the representatives of the Muslim community, at the trip's closing celebration in Minsk.

The Pope's secretary of state noted that the nation's Catholic community is 'a minority, but numerous and active, which professes its own faith publicly, I would say enthusiastically. Catholics contribute through the testimony of values, which are appreciated by the society and public authorities: the value of life, of the family, of education, of healthcare, with many initiatives of a solidary and social character,' he said. The prelate particularly noted the work of Caritas, ministering to the victims of the Chernobyl accident and other needy people. He also recalled the large number of youth who form part of the Catholic communities, and provide 'a continuous presence in all the public celebrations and manifestations.'