ROBERT JOHN KENNEDY: San Francisco archbishop's account of Oscar Romero...

ROBERT JOHN KENNEDY: San Francisco archbishop's account of Oscar Romero...: San Francisco archbishop's account of Oscar Romero's funeral    Editor's Note: On March 30, 1980, three U.S. bishops...

San Francisco archbishop's account of Oscar Romero's funeral 

 

Editor's Note: On March 30, 1980, three U.S. bishops, including Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, attended the funeral of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, El Salvador, who was assassinated March 24. For the 35th anniversary of the event, Catholic News Service is reprinting Quinn's account of the tragedy written upon his return to San Francisco. It originally appeared April 7, 1980; it has been edited for clarity and style. 
I left San Francisco early on Saturday morning*, March 29. The plane arrived around 11:15 p.m. that night. We were met by a group of priests and seminarians and taken to Sacred Heart School, where we spent the night.
Although I had traveled alone to El Salvador, I arrived at the same time as several other foreign priests and bishops and some representatives of the National Council of Churches from New York. Among the foreign bishops were Bishop Eamon Casey of Galway, Ireland; Auxiliary Bishop James O'Brien of Westminster, England; Bishop William Connare of Greensburg, Pa., and Bishop James Hickey of Cleveland.
On Sunday morning after breakfast, we left at 9 o'clock to go to the basilica where the procession formed. It was a hot and sunny morning. The streets were filled with people who seemed relatively subdued, which matched the weather. There was not even the slightest breeze to alleviate the heat, although there was an occasional cloud to give brief relief from the bright sun.
At the basilica, I met Bishop Arturo Rivera Damas of Santiago de Maria, El Salvador, a bishop from Brazil and another from Ecuador. There were several more there and quite a large crowd in the basilica by the time the procession began to move at 10 a.m. We walked the better part of half an hour from the basilica to the cathedral. There we vested for the Mass and took our places on the front steps of the cathedral, where the Mass was to be celebrated.

I was standing next to the altar facing the immense crowd of perhaps 100,000 people. Next to me was Archbishop Marcos McGrath of Panama City. The crowd was singing hymns and listening to various instructions pertinent to the funeral Mass. Directly in front of the altar lay the casket containing the body of Archbishop Romero. It was surrounded by flowers, but on the top rested only a crucifix.
After some 15 minutes' wait, there was applause and cheering from the crowd signaling the arrival of Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada of Mexico City, who had come from Mexico as a special representative of Pope John Paul II. In a few moments, the Mass began. During the first reading of the Scriptures, I could see a long column of people marching down the right side of the square near the government buildings. They were quiet, but their left hands were raised as they walked. They were a body of leftist organizations and were carrying a wreath to be placed on the coffin.
At this point, the Boy Scouts, who were in charge of crowd control and who throughout this whole event performed heroically and with consummate skill, closed ranks to prevent the marchers from crossing in front of the area where the altar was set up. Even so, there was no disturbance.
One marcher was allowed to go up and place the wreath near the casket. The rest remained at the periphery of the square. The Mass then continued. Following the Gospel, Cardinal Corripio stood at the altar where he best could be seen by the people and where there was a microphone.
He was approximately two-thirds through his prepared sermon when suddenly there was a sound of gunfire, followed quickly by an explosion at the far right end of the square where the leftist groups had gathered. A sharpshooter had been sighted on top of one of the buildings in the square earlier.
It should be noted that Archbishop Romero was assassinated while he was celebrating Mass and struck down immediately after he had concluded his sermon. Similarly, the trouble on Palm Sunday began during the sermon of the cardinal. He had just quoted some of the remarks made by Pope John Paul II at the general assembly of the Latin American bishops in Puebla, Mexico, in 1979, and was concluding with the words of Archbishop Romero -- "We cannot love by hating. We cannot defend life by killing" -- when the shot rang out.
For a moment, there was an effort by the cardinal to bring calm to the crowd. But then a second explosion threw the crowd into panic. There was a great gasp as if to say, "What we feared most to happen has happened." The crowd swayed to the right and to the left for a moment and then broke ranks when someone near the altar said, "Into the cathedral."
I was only a few steps away from the main door. The crowd began to move toward the door, and instantly I was swept along by the force of thousands of people moving in the same direction. Between me and the door stood the cardinal's chair set on a small, elevated temporary platform.
I realized instantly that if the force of the crowd pushed me against the chair it would go over, and I would go down with it and be trampled to death. Suddenly someone removed the chair, clearing the access into the cathedral.
Within seconds, there were from 5,000 to 6,000 people inside the cathedral. We were packed up against one another as in the old movies of slave ships. It was impossible to move and very difficult for the elderly and children to breathe, both because of the intense heat and because so many of them are of small stature.
News reports which I have read said that nuns and priests were fainting. People certainly fainted. I saw no nuns or priests who fainted. On the contrary, the nuns and priests acted with a tremendous sense of responsibility for the people. Most of them were trying to comfort the people, to help them find a safer spot, to get water for them and to care for those who were injured, sick or in need of some medical attention.
Because of the circumstances and not knowing what might happen, I gave general absolution. A Maryknoll priest near me gave me absolution. We could do nothing to alleviate the situation. We were utterly powerless.
Across from where I stood in the huge crowd I could see a large picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I invited the people to join in praying the rosary, and we continued to pray throughout the ordeal.
I thought of an incident more than 100 years ago when Pius IX was visiting a school in Rome. While he was talking with the teachers and the students, the floor collapsed. The pope exclaimed, "Vergine Immacolata, aiutateci," an Italian prayer meaning "Immaculate Virgin, help us." No one was injured in the collapse of the floor.
Later, this became a favorite prayer of the Roman people, and later when I was a student in Rome, we often used it, too. It came at once to mind, and I said that prayer over and over again as we waited and wondered what would happen next and how it would all end.
There would be moments of calm and we would think that perhaps the violence was over. Then another bomb would explode or a gunshot would ring through the air. At one point, there was a sudden commotion in the crowd toward the front, the side door of the cathedral near the altar. A young girl in a red bandanna came in with a submachine gun. But eventually she left, and there did not seem to be anyone shot.
As we were huddled together in the sweltering heat, a corpse would be carried in from outside and brought over to the side wall. This happened a number of times. There were bodies lying on the front steps of the cathedral. It seemed that most of those who died were trampled or died from asphyxiation.
Among the people confined in the cathedral were foreigners such as Peter Bottomley, a member of the British Parliament, the foreign minister of Nicaragua, the cardinal of Mexico representing the pope and bishops from various parts of Europe, the United States and Canada.
In addition, there were Americans and other foreign news people. They continued to take pictures and seek interviews throughout the ordeal. A reporter from The New York Times spoke with me, and when we finished, I asked him if he would notify San Francisco that when he saw me last I was all right. When I returned, I learned that within the hour word had been received to this effect from the New York office of the Times.
There were a few telephones inside the cathedral for use by the Red Cross. They were very helpful. So I tried to reach the American Embassy in San Salvador, hoping to enlist some assistance to restore order and help the crowd. We were unable to make contact, no doubt due to the condition in the city at the moment.
Near the area where the phones were located was the burial place of Archbishop Romero. As the violence continued outside, the casket was carried into the cathedral and placed at once in the tomb. Cardinal Corripio then said the prayers of the burial, and the tomb was closed while gunfire and bombs continued to explode outside.
And so the waiting went on and on. We did not know whether someone would throw a bomb or sprinkle the crowd with machine gunfire. Still less did we know whether we would be detained as hostages.
After some two-and-a-half hours of this uncertainty, word began to circulate among the crowd that the bishops, priest and religious should go out first so that people would feel that it was safe to leave.
The chief targets of the violence were the bishops, priests and religious, and the reasoning was that if they were able to go back onto the square without being shot, it would be safe for the people. So we went out together and there was no more shooting.
A Red Cross ambulance drove us to the school where we were staying. It was almost 3:30. We were exhausted, drenched with sweat from the intense heat and immensely relieved that it was over and with as little loss of life as there was.
Who was responsible for this sacrilege, for this insult to humanity, for this unbelievable outrage on Palm Sunday?
Government reports from El Salvador first reported a "slight disturbance" during the funeral Mass. The blame was placed on the leftist elements.
The fact, however, is that the leftist elements, which we all saw clearly from the altar where I was standing, were peaceful. The fact is that the first bomb was thrown at them. Are we to believe that they threw the bomb at themselves? The fact is that, having put a wreath on the casket, they would not be likely then to disrupt the funeral.
The fact is that the oligarchy and the government seemed to be entirely absent from the funeral. Their presence, it would seem, would be a major reason for leftists to create a disruption, and this reason was lacking. A sharpshooter was seen standing on top of one of the government buildings in the square. Security troops were spotted at various points in the city that morning.
The situation is admittedly complex. There is the junta, the oligarchy and the leftist groups. In addition, there is the church. The church has a long-standing and well-developed social teaching going back to Leo XIII before the turn of the century and running through the Second Vatican Council, Medellin and Puebla. The latter, it should be remembered, was approved shortly after the final document was submitted to Pope John Paul II.
Fairness demands that room be allowed for exceptions, but the oligarchy as a group is extremely, fanatically rightist. It has never accepted the social teaching of the church and resists any effort at improving the situation of the poor of the country.
The junta is weak, and while it has made some efforts to improve the situation, for example by land reform, it is not strong enough to be in control of the military or of the oligarchy. The oligarchy would like to discredit and bring about the downfall of the junta and so restore its own hegemony.
All of this, in turn, only plays into the hands of the leftist groups who, with some legitimate grounds, can claim that they have no other course and that they are the only organized opposition to the shocking and widespread violation of human dignity and human civil rights.
Archbishop Romero rightly condemned the excesses and violence of all three groups and tried to bring them to respect human rights, to peace and to order for the sake of the whole nation and all of its people.
The enemies of Christ said he was a political figure, that he was seeking the crown when he spoke about the kingdom of God. When he worked miracles and fed the hungry or cured the sick, they said he worked in the power of the devil.
Similarly, when Archbishop Romero spoke about such indisputable biblical points of morality as "thou shall not kill," that every human individual created in the image of God has the right to live in freedom and human dignity with guaranteed civil rights, they said he was "interfering in politics" and that he was a "communist."
This is only another manifestation of the policies of some Latin American governments which use the expression "national security" to justify all forms of repression, including the random murder of citizens. The tactics of such governments are the very tactics we have associated and continue to associate with communist tyranny, tactics which must be denounced wherever they are found.
As Jesus did not let accusations that he was a political figure or in league with the devil deter him, so the bishops and the priests of El Salvador and of other countries will have to accept the ignominy of being called communists if that is necessary to be faithful to their obligation to proclaim the whole truth of the whole Gospel of Christ in all its power and with all its beauty. Rejection and insults are not the criteria of truth. Sometimes they are the lot of those who are faithful to the truth. For, ultimately, the truth will prevail.
While it is difficult for me as a foreign visitor to El Salvador to make a completely accurate assessment of what happened, what I saw and witnessed makes it impossible for me to subscribe to the report that leftists were the cause of the disaster.
A civil authority which makes no seeming effort to control a crowd or to restore order in such circumstances must at least be suspected of some kind of complicity. A government of a Catholic country and an oligarchy notably absent from the funeral of its own archbishop must also be suspected of some complicity.
The question then becomes not who is guilty but rather who is most guilty.
As I conclude these reflections, there come to mind the words of Pope John Paul II on the World Day of Peace:
"Violence flourishes in lies and needs lies. It seeks to gain respectability in the eyes of the world by pretexts that have nothing to do with reality and are often contradictory. ...
"We cannot sincerely condemn recourse to violence unless we engage in a corresponding effort to replace it by courageous political efforts which aim at eliminating threats to peace by attacking the roots of injustice.
"This is why I was able to say with such conviction at Drogheda in Ireland and why I now repeat, 'Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Do not believe in violence; do not support violence. It is not the Christian way. It is not the way of the Catholic Church. Believe in peace and forgiveness and love; for they are of Christ.'
"Truth is the driving power of peace because it reveals and brings about the unity of man with God, with himself and with others. Forgiveness and reconciliation are constitutive elements of the truth which strengthen peace and which build up peace. To refuse forgiveness and reconciliation is for us to lie and to enter into the murderous logic of falsehood." -- Pope John Paul II, Jan. 1, 1980.
*An earlier version of this story misstated the date.

ROBERT JOHN KENNEDY: Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero 'a martyr' - P...

ROBERT JOHN KENNEDY: Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero 'a martyr' - P...: Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero 'a martyr' - Pope Francis Archbishop Oscar Romero's path to sainthood had been stalled fo...

Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero 'a martyr' - Pope Francis

Archbishop Oscar Romero's path to sainthood had been stalled for years

Pope Francis has ruled that Salvadorean Archbishop Oscar Romero died as a martyr, paving the way for his beatification.

Beatification is the step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
An outspoken critic of the military regime at the outset of El Salvador's civil war, Archbishop Romero was shot dead while celebrating Mass in 1980.
For years, the Church blocked the process because of concerns that he had Marxist ideas.
The bishop was one of the main proponents of Liberation Theology - an interpretation of Christian faith through the perspective of the poor.
Unlike other candidates for beatification, martyrs can move to the beatification stage without a miracle attributed to them. A miracle is needed for canonisation, however.
Archbishop Romero denounced the right-wing death squads that operated in El Salvador, and the oppression of the poor, calling for an end to all political violence.

Archbishop Romero's death is commemorated by large crowds every year

El Salvador formally apologised for the murder of Archbishop Romero in 2010

After his election in 2013, Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, unblocked Archbishop Romero's sainthood process.
The Church restricts the martyr designation to people who were killed out of hatred for the Catholic faith. Doubt over whether Archbishop Romero was killed for his politics in support of the poor or for his faith was one of the reasons his case was stalled.
No date for the beatification has been set.
Pope Francis, who has advocated that the Church focus more on poverty, is considered to be more in line with Archbishop Romero's approach to social justice than previous pontiffs.
In August, Pope Francis hoped for a quick path to beatification, calling the archbishop a "man of God".

Analysis: John McManus, Social Affairs Reporter

It was a murder which shocked Catholics around the world.
But one question which has haunted them ever since that fateful day in 1980 is: If he was killed for his faith, why was Oscar Romero not made a saint by any subsequent Pope?
The answer goes to the heart of one of the Vatican's ideological disputes.
His concern for the poor led some to equate Archbishop Romero with Liberation Theology, a movement that encouraged Catholics to view material oppression as an affront to God which demanded radical action, not just prayer.
Yet Liberation Theology was deeply unpopular in the Vatican, not least because it criticised hierarchical structures - including those of the Church.
Pope Francis was once deeply sceptical as well, but appears to have changed his thinking.
Time and again, he has condemned poverty, calling for everyone to be able to share in the fruits of prosperity.
His declaration of martyrdom is another sign that Pope Francis considers economic injustice to be a terrible stain on the world, which Christians must challenge.
For many Catholics, the declaration that Oscar Romero is a martyr corrects an unfair oversight.

Archbishop Romero was killed on 24 March 1980, aged 62, after ending his sermon in the capital, San Salvador.
In 1993 a United Nations-sponsored truth commission concluded the archbishop's assassination was carried out by a death squad under the orders of Roberto D'Aubuisson, a former army officer who died in 1992.
He founded the Nationalist Republican Alliance, or Arena Party, which governed El Salvador from 1989 until 2009.
No-one has ever been convicted in connection with his murder, but in 2010 El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes issued an official apology for the murder of Archbishop Romero.
Some 75,000 people were killed in the civil war, which began in 1980 and ended in 1992 with a UN-brokered peace agreement.

செய்திகள்-22.05.15

செய்திகள்-22.05.15

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. திருத்தந்தை – இயேசுவின் கூரிய பார்வை நம் இதயங்களை மாற்றுவதாக

2. பேராயர் ரொமேரோ, அருள்சகோதரி ஐரின் முத்திப்பேறு பட்டம்

3. தொழிற்சாலை உரிமையாளர்கள் பூர்வீக இனத்தவரின் வளர்ச்சிக்கு தடை

4. நேபாளத்தில், கத்தோலிக்கத் திருஅவையின் தொடர் பிறரன்புப் பணிகள்

5. தேர்தல் நடைமுறைகளை திருஅவை ஆதரிக்காது, புருண்டி ஆயர்கள்

6. சிறாரை அச்சுறுத்தும் ஆண்டு 2015, ஐ.நா. எச்சரிக்கை

7. உலகளாவிய கலாச்சாரப் பன்மைத்தன்மைக்கு அச்சுறுத்தல்

8. வளர்ந்த நாடுகளில் ஏழை-பணக்காரர் இடைவெளி அதிகரிப்பு 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. திருத்தந்தை – இயேசுவின் கூரிய பார்வை நம் இதயங்களை மாற்றுவதாக

மே,22,2015. இயேசு நம்மை உற்று நோக்குமாறும், நம் பாவங்களுக்காக நாம் மனம் வருந்தவும், நம் இதயங்கள் மாற்றம் அடையவும் நாம் என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும் என்று இயேசு கூறுமாறு அவரிடம் கேட்கவும் வேண்டும் என்று திருத்தந்தை பிரான்சிஸ் அவர்கள் கூறினார்.

ஓர் அழைப்பால், மன்னிப்பால் அல்லது ஒரு பணியால் இயேசு நம்மை கூர்ந்து  பார்க்கிறாரா? என்று நாம் கவனிக்க வேண்டுமென்று, இவ்வெள்ளி காலை சாந்தா மார்த்தா இல்லச் சிற்றாலயத்தில் நிறைவேற்றிய திருப்பலி மறையுரையில் கூறினார் திருத்தந்தை.

இந்நாளைய திருப்பலி வாசகங்களை மையப்படுத்தி மறையுரை வழங்கிய திருத்தந்தை, இயேசு, திருத்தூதர் பேதுருவை, தேர்வு, மன்னிப்பு, பணி ஆகிய மூன்று விதங்களில் உற்றுப் பார்த்தார் என்று சொல்லி, அவை பற்றி விளக்கினார்.

மெசியாவைக் கண்டோம் என திருத்தூதர் ஆண்ட்ரூ தனது சகோதரர் பேதுருவிடம் சொல்லி அவரை இயேசுவைப் பார்ப்பதற்கு அழைத்துச் சென்றார், அப்போது இயேசு பேதுருவை அழைத்தார், இது முதல் பார்வை என்றார் திருத்தந்தை.

இயேசு சிலுவைப்பாடுகள் அனுபவிப்பதற்கு முன்னர் பேதுரு, இயேசுவைத் தெரியாது என மூன்று முறை மறுதலித்தார், அப்போதைய இயேசுவின் பார்வை மன்னிப்பு என்ற திருத்தந்தை, இயேசு உயிர்த்த பின்னர், நீ என்மீது அன்பு செலுத்துகிறாயா என மூன்று முறை பேதுருவிடம் கேட்டு அவரிடம் பணியை ஒப்படைத்தார் என்று கூறினார் திருத்தந்தை பிரான்சிஸ்.

எத்தகைய பார்வையை இயேசு இன்று என்மீது செலுத்துகிறார், இயேசு என்னை எப்படி உற்று நோக்குகிறார், அழைப்போடா, மன்னிப்போடா அல்லது பணியோடா என்று நாமும் சிந்திப்போம் எனக் கேட்டுக்கொண்ட திருத்தந்தை, இயேசு உருவாக்கிய பாதையில் நாம் அனைவரும் இயேசுவால் கூர்ந்து பார்க்கப்படுகிறோம் என்றும் கூறினார்.

இயேசு நம்மிடம் எதையோ கேட்கிறார், ஏதோ ஒன்றிக்காக நம்மை மன்னிக்கிறார் மற்றும் நமக்குப் பணியையும் கொடுக்கிறார், இயேசு இத்திருப்பலிப் பீடத்தில் வருகிறார், ஆண்டவரே, நீர் இங்கே எம் மத்தியில் இருக்கிறீர், உமது பார்வையை என்மீது வையும், நான் என்ன செய்ய வேண்டுமென்று சொல்லும், நான் என் தவறுகளுக்காக எப்படி பிராயச்சித்தம் செய்ய வேண்டுமென்று கூறும் எனக் கேட்போம் என்று தனது மறையுரையை நிறைவு செய்தார் திருத்தந்தை பிரான்சிஸ்.

மேலும், "ஆண்டவரே, துன்புறுத்தப்படும் கிறிஸ்தவர்களுக்கு உமது தூய ஆவியாரை அனுப்பி அவர்களுக்கு ஆறுதலையும் சக்தியையும் அளித்தருளும் எனச் செபிப்போம்" என்ற வார்த்தைகள், திருத்தந்தை பிரான்சிஸ் அவர்களின் Twitter செய்தியாக, ஒன்பது மொழிகளில் இவ்வெள்ளியன்று வெளியானது.

ஆதாரம் : வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

2. பேராயர் ரொமேரோ, அருள்சகோதரி ஐரின் முத்திப்பேறு பட்டம்

மே,22,2015. இறையடியார்கள் பேராயர் ஆஸ்கர் ரொமேரோ, ஐரின் ஸ்தெஃபனி, ஆகிய இருவரும் மே 23, இச்சனிக்கிழமையன்று அவரவர் பணித்தளங்களில் அருளாளர்கள் நிலைக்கு உயர்த்தப்படவுள்ளனர்.

இத்தாலியரான அருள்சகோதரி Irene Stefani அவர்கள், தனது 20வது வயதில் தூரின் கொன்சலாத்தா மறைபோதக சபையில் சேர்ந்து Irene Stefani என்ற பெயரையும் ஏற்றார்.

1914ம் ஆண்டில் அச்சபையில் இறுதி வார்த்தைப்பாடுகளை எடுத்து, கென்யாவின் Mombasaவுக்குக் கப்பலில் புறப்பட்டார். ஈராண்டுகள் Nyeriல் தங்கி Kikuyu மொழியைக் கற்றார். அச்சமயத்தில் கென்யா, டான்சானியா ஆகிய இரு ஆப்ரிக்க நாடுகளிலும் முதல் உலகப் போரில் காயமடைந்தவர்கள் மற்றும் பலியானவர்களுக்கு உதவினார் அருள்சகோதரி Irene. இவர் தனது 39வது வயதில் கொள்ளை நோயால் தாக்கப்பட்டு இறந்தார்.

மறைசாட்சியான பேராயர் ஆஸ்கர் ரொமேரோ அவர்கள் மத்திய அமெரிக்க நாடுகளில் ஒன்றான எல் சால்வதோரின் Ciudad Barriosல் 1917ம் ஆண்டு ஆகஸ்ட் 15ம் தேதி பிறந்தார். 

இவர் தனது 13வது வயதில் சான் சால்வதோர் குருத்துவக் கல்லூரியில் சேர்ந்தார். 1977ம் ஆண்டு பிப்ரவரி 23ம் தேதி சான் சால்வதோர் உயர்மறைமாவட்டத்தின் நான்காம் பேராயராக நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். எல் சால்வதோர் நாட்டில் 1980களில் உள்நாட்டுப் போர் நடைபெற்ற சமயத்தில் மனித உரிமை மீறல்களைக் கடுமையாய் இவர் கண்டித்தார். ஏழைகளுக்காகக் குரல் எழுப்பினார். இதனால் 1980ம் ஆண்டு மார்ச் 24ம் தேதி திருப்பலி நிறைவேற்றிக் கொண்டிருந்தபோது வலது சாரி மரணப் படைகளால் சுட்டுக் கொலை செய்யப்பட்டார் பேராயர் ரொமேரோ.

ஆதாரம் : வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

3. தொழிற்சாலை உரிமையாளர்கள் பூர்வீக இனத்தவரின் வளர்ச்சிக்கு தடை

மே,22,2015. இந்தியாவின் ஒடிசா மாநிலத்தின் பூர்வீக இன மக்கள் வாழும் பகுதிகளில் இடம்பெறும் சுரங்க வேலைகளும், அதோடு தொடர்புடைய தொழிற்சாலைகளும் மக்கள் தொடர்ந்து புலம் பெயர்வதற்கும், அவர்களின் வறுமைக்கும் காரணமாகியுள்ளன என்று அம்மாநிலத்தின் திருஅவைத் தலைவர்கள் கூறினர்.

ஒடிசா தன்னார்வத் தொண்டு நிறுவனத்தின் ஒத்துழைப்புடன் இந்திய கத்தோலிக்க ஆயர் பேரவையின் நீதி, அமைதி மற்றும் வளர்ச்சி ஆணையம் Jharsuguda வில் இவ்வாரத்தில் நடத்திய கருத்தரங்கில் கலந்து கொண்ட திருஅவைத் தலைவர்கள் இவ்வாறு கூறினர்.

இக்கருத்தரங்கில் உரையாற்றிய சம்பல்பூர் ஆயர் Niranjan Sual Singh அவர்கள், சமுதாயத்தில் நீதி, அமைதி மற்றும் மாண்பைக் கொண்டுவர வேண்டுமெனில், சுரங்க வேலைகள் நடக்கும் சூழல்கள் குறித்து திருஅவை ஆய்வு நடத்துவது அவசியம் எனவும் கூறினார்.

வளர்ச்சி என்ற பெயரில் பூர்வீக இன மக்கள் புலம் பெயரும்போது, அவர்களின் கலாச்சாரம், வரலாறு மற்றும் தனித்துவம் அழிக்கப்படுகின்றன என்று இக்கருத்தரங்கில் சுட்டிக்காட்டிய, ஜார்க்கண்ட் மாநில சமூக ஆர்வலர் Dayamani Barla அவர்கள், இந்நிலையில் நம் சொந்தப் பூமியில் படைவீரர்கள் போன்று வாழ்கிறோம் என்று கூறினார்.

பூர்வீக இன மக்களின் மனித உரிமைகள், பூர்வீக இன உரிமைகள் மற்றும் நீதி கிடைப்பதற்குப் போராட வேண்டியது திருஅவையின் பொறுப்பும் கடமையும் எனவும் வலியுறுத்தினார் Barla.

ஆதாரம் : CBCI / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

4. நேபாளத்தில், கத்தோலிக்கத் திருஅவையின் தொடர் பிறரன்புப் பணிகள்

மே,22,2015. கடும் நிலநடுக்கத்தால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நேபாளத்தில், குறிப்பாக, உள்நாட்டுப் பகுதிகளில் கத்தோலிக்கத் திருஅவையின் பிறரன்புப் பணிகள் தொடர்ந்து இடம்பெற்று வருகின்றன.

இப்பணிகள் குறித்து பீதெஸ் செய்தி நிறுவனத்திடம் பேசிய நேபாள அப்போஸ்தலிக்க முதன்மை குரு Silas Bogati அவர்கள், இப்பணிகளில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ள திருஅவைப் பணியாளர்கள் அனைவருடன் இணைந்து, அண்மையில் கூட்டம் நடத்தி, இப்பணிகளை மேலும் சிறப்பாக ஒருங்கிணைத்து ஆற்றுவது குறித்து கலந்துரையாடியதாகத் தெரிவித்தார்.

இந்தியாவிலிருந்து பலர் வந்து உதவுகின்றனர் என்றுரைத்த அருள்பணியாளர் Bogati அவர்கள், பன்னாட்டு உதவிகளைக் கொண்டு காரித்தாஸ் நிறுவனம் பல கிராமங்களுக்கு உதவி வருகின்றது என்று தெரிவித்தார்.

கடந்த ஏப்ரல் 25ம் தேதி ஏற்பட்ட நிலநடுக்கத்தில் 8,631 பேர் இறந்துள்ளனர் மற்றும் 21,838 பேர் காயமடைந்துள்ளனர். 4,62,646 வீடுகள் சேதமடைந்துள்ளன. 106 வெளிநாட்டவர் உட்பட காணாமல்போயுள்ள 346 பேரைத் தேடும் பணி தொடர்ந்து இடம்பெற்று வருவதாக நேபாள உள்துறை அமைச்சகம் கூறியுள்ளது. 

ஆதாரம் : Fides / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

5. தேர்தல் நடைமுறைகளை திருஅவை ஆதரிக்காது, புருண்டி ஆயர்கள்

மே,22,2015. புருண்டி நாட்டுத் தலைநகர் புஜூம்புராவில் பதட்டநிலைகள் உச்சகட்டத்தில் உள்ள இவ்வேளையில், அந்நாட்டில் பொதுத்தேர்தல் நடந்தால், அது நியாயமாக, ஒளிவுமறைவில்லாமல், அமைதியான முறையில் நடைபெற வாய்ப்பில்லை என அந்நாட்டு ஆயர்கள் கூறியுள்ளனர்.

ஆப்ரிக்க நாடாகிய புருண்டியின் தற்போதைய நிலவரம் குறித்து பீதெஸ் செய்தி நிறுவனத்திற்குத் தகவல் அனுப்பியுள்ள ஆயர்கள், நாட்டில் பாதுகாப்பும், சுதந்திரமும் உறுதி செய்யப்படுமாறு அரசை வலுறுத்தி வருவதாகத் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

இம்மாதம் 26ம் தேதி நடைபெறவிருந்த சட்டமன்ற மற்றும் பஞ்சாயத்துத் தேர்தல்கள் வருகிற ஜூன் 5ம் தேதிக்குத் தள்ளி வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. அதோடு அரசுத்தலைவர் தேர்தல் ஜூன் 26ம் தேதி நடைபெறும் எனவும் அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இந்நிலையில், அரசுத்தலைவர் Pierre Nkurunziza அவர்கள் மூன்றாவது முறையாக பதவியில் அமருவதற்காக நடைபெறவுள்ள தேர்தலை எதிர்த்து அந்நாட்டில் போராட்டங்கள் தீவிரமடைந்து வருகின்றன.

ஆதாரம் : Fides / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

6. சிறாரை அச்சுறுத்தும் ஆண்டு 2015, ஐ.நா. எச்சரிக்கை

மே,22,2015. அவசரகால நெருக்கடிச் சூழல்களில் வாழும் சிறாரின் எண்ணிக்கை அதிர்ச்சியூட்டும் அளவில் உள்ளதால், அச்சூழல்களில் வாழ்கின்ற இலட்சக்கணக்கான சிறாருக்கு மனிதாபிமான நிதி உதவிகள் தேவைப்படுகின்றன என்று, உலகக் கல்வி குறித்த ஐ.நா. சிறப்புத் தூதர் அறிவித்தார்.

2015ம் ஆண்டு சிறாருக்கு அச்சத்தையூட்டும் ஆண்டாக இருக்கின்றது என்றும், 1945ம் ஆண்டுக்குப் பின்னர், புலம்பெயர்ந்துள்ள சிறாரின் எண்ணிக்கை, இந்த 2015ம் ஆண்டில்  மிக அதிகமாக உள்ளது என்றும் உரைத்த ஐ.நா. சிறப்புத் தூதர் Gordon Brown அவர்கள், பிரச்சனைகளை எதிர்நோக்கும் பகுதிகளுக்கு பள்ளிகள் உதவுமாறு கேட்டுள்ளார்.

போர்கள் இடம்பெறும் சிரியா, துருக்கி, லெபனான், ஜோர்டன், ஈராக், புருண்டி, தென் சூடான், வட நைஜீரியா மற்றும் நிலநடுக்கத்தால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நேபாளம் ஆகிய இடங்களில் பாதிக்கப்படும் சிறாரின் எண்ணிக்கை அதிகரித்து வருகின்றது என்றும் செய்தியாளர்களிடம் கூறினார் Gordon Brown.

உலகில் நாட்டுக்குள்ளே புலம்பெயர்ந்துள்ள 3 கோடியே 80 இலட்சம் பேரில் பாதிக்கும் மேற்பட்டவர்கள் சிறார். அதேபோல், உலகின் 1 கோடியே 67 இலட்சம் புலம்பெயர்ந்துள்ள மக்களில் சிறாரும் உள்ளனர் என்ற புள்ளி விபரங்களையும் குறிப்பிட்டார் Gordon Brown.

அதோடு ஆண்டுதோறும், 8 இலட்சத்து 25 ஆயிரத்துக்கு மேற்பட்ட சிறார் மனித வர்த்தகத்துக்கு பலியாகின்றனர். 86 இலட்சம் சிறார் அடிமைமுறைக்கு உட்படுத்தப்படுகின்றனர். 50 இலட்சம் சிறுமிகள் 15 வயதை எட்டும் முன்னரே திருமணம் செய்து வைக்கப்படுகின்றனர். ஏறக்குறைய 16 கோடியே 80 இலட்சம் சிறார் தொழிலாளர் உள்ளனர் போன்ற விபரங்களையும் அறிவித்தார் ஐ.நா. சிறப்புத் தூதர் Gordon Brown.

ஆதாரம் : UN / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

7. உலகளாவிய கலாச்சாரப் பன்மைத்தன்மைக்கு அச்சுறுத்தல்

மே,22,2015. இப்பூமிக் கோளத்தின் கலாச்சார வளங்கள் தீவிரவாதக் குழுக்களால் தொடர்ந்து தாக்கப்பட்டுவரும்வேளை, உலகின் எண்ணற்ற பாரம்பரிய வளங்களைக் காப்பதற்கு உலகம் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்குமாறு கேட்டுள்ளது ஐ.நா.வின் கலாச்சார நிறுவனம்.

யுனெஸ்கோ இயக்குனர் இரினோ பொக்கோவா அவர்கள், உலக கலாச்சாரப் பன்மைத்தன்மை நாளையொட்டி இவ்வியாழனன்று வெளியிட்ட அறிக்கையில், கலாச்சாரப் பன்மைத்தன்மையின் முக்கியத்துவத்தைச் சுட்டிக் காட்டியுள்ளார்.

சிரியாவிலும், ஈராக்கிலும் இடம்பெறும் சண்டையில் ஐ.எஸ். இஸ்லாமிய அரசின் தீவிரவாதிகள், சிரியாவில் வரலாற்றுப் புகழ் வாய்ந்த பழம்பெருமைகொண்ட Palmyra நகரைக் கொள்ளையடித்துள்ளனர், இது, மத்திய கிழக்கில் மிக முக்கியமான பாரம்பரிய வளங்களையும், மக்களையும் கடும் அச்சுறுத்தலுக்கு உள்ளாக்கியுள்ளது என்றும் பொக்கோவா அவர்கள் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

2002ம் ஆண்டு டிசம்பரில் ஐ.நா. பொது அவையால் அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்ட உலக கலாச்சாரப் பன்மைத்தன்மை நாள், ஒவ்வோர் ஆண்டும் மே 21ம் தேதி கடைப்பிடிக்கப்பட்டு வருகிறது.  

இரண்டாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கும் மேலான பழமை மிக்க Palmyra நகரம், உலக அதிசயங்களில் ஒன்றாகப் பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது மற்றும் இது பாதுகாக்கப்பட்ட தொல்லியல் சின்னமாக வரலாற்று முக்கியத்துவமும் பெற்றுள்ளது.

ஆதாரம் : UN / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

8. வளர்ந்த நாடுகளில் ஏழை-பணக்காரர் இடைவெளி அதிகரிப்பு

மே,22,2015. பெரும்பாலான வளர்ந்த நாடுகளில் ஏழை மற்றும் செல்வந்தர்களுக்கு இடையேயான இடைவெளி கடந்த முப்பது ஆண்டுகளில் இல்லாத அளவுக்கு, பெரிய அளவில் அதிகரித்துள்ளது என்று ஓர் ஆய்வறிக்கை கூறுகிறது.

வளர்ந்த நாடுகளின் மக்களில் ஐந்தில் இரண்டு பகுதியினர் கடந்த பத்து ஆண்டுகளில் மிகச் சிறிய அளவே இலாபம் ஈட்டியுள்ளனர் என்றும் தெரியவந்துள்ளது.

பொருளாதார ஒற்றுமை மற்றும் வளர்ச்சிக்கான பன்னாட்டு அமைப்பான OECD வெளியிட்டுள்ள ஆய்வறிக்கையில், அதிகரித்து வரும் இந்த சமத்துவமின்மை பொருளாதார வளர்ச்சியை பாதிக்கிறது என்று கூறியுள்ளது.

அதுமட்டுமன்றி அந்த இடைவெளியானது சமூகச் சூழலுக்கு ஊறு விளைவித்து, நிறுவனங்கள் மீதான நம்பிக்கையை குறைத்து மதிப்பிட வழி வகுத்துவிடும் எனவும் அந்த ஆய்வறிக்கை எச்சரித்துள்ளது.

OECDயில் உறுப்பினர்களாக உள்ள 34 நாடுகளில் இருக்கும் 10 விழுக்காட்டுச் செல்வந்தர்களின் வருமானம், அங்கு ஏழ்மை நிலையில் இருக்கும் 10 விழுக்காட்டு மக்களின் வருமானத்தைவிட பத்து மடங்கு அதிகமாக உள்ளது என்றும் அந்த ஆய்வறிக்கை கண்டறிந்துள்ளது.

தனது உறுப்பு நாடுகளில் கல்வி, பயிற்சி ஆகியவற்றில் அதிக முதலீடுகள் தேவை என்று கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ள அந்த அமைப்பு, வேலை வாய்ப்புகளை ஊக்குவிக்கும் வகையில், அதிலும் குறிப்பாக, பெண்களின் வாழ்வாதாரம் மேம்படும் வகையில் கொள்கைகள் வகுக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என OECD வலியுறுத்தியுள்ளது.

ஆதாரம் : பிபிசி / வத்திக்கான் வானொலி

Why accountability in Sri Lanka still matters

Country must help all its ethnic communities transition from a divided past.

By Mytili Bala
Sri Lanka:  Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war ended six years ago amidst allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious abuses by both government and rebel forces. In 2011, a UN panel concluded that “the conduct of the war by [both sides] represented a grave assault on the entire regime of international law designed to protect individual dignity.” A UN investigation is complete, but its report has been deferred to September.

The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena has made welcome promises to hold perpetrators on both sides accountable, but it has yet to show tangible progress. Its decision last Friday to promote Jagath Dias as Army Chief of Staff raises real concerns: Dias is alleged to be responsible for serious international crimes during the last phase of the war.

Six years after the war’s end, here are six reasons why accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity remains critical.

Accountability will help war-affected communities heal from a violent past. As one Tamil woman explained in her recent letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Each and every family in the Vanni region has been affected by the war.” Unless there is accountability, Sri Lanka’s war-affected families will never know what happened to their disappeared loved ones or be able to rebuild their lives.

Accountability may help deter future human rights abuses. Sirisena’s predecessor failed to deliver on promises of accountability, and troubling reports of post-war violations emerged. In 2014, Sri Lanka Campaign published a report pointing to post-war crimes against humanity committed against Tamils in the Northern Province. Another report documented systematic post-war torture and sexual violence of those perceived as having ties with the defeated LTTE. From an atrocity prevention standpoint, impunity paves the way for new human rights abuses to occur.

Accountability will help restore the rule of law and faith in a united Sri Lanka. Accountability matters to strengthen institutions and reestablish a commitment to the rule of law for all of Sri Lanka’s communities. Without accountability, there is the risk that Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority will feel little purchase in a united Sri Lanka, losing faith in the ability of state institutions and courts to deliver justice. Accountability will finally end decades of impunity for crimes by the LTTE, Indian Peacekeeping Forces, Sri Lankan armed forces, paramilitaries, and the JVP (People's Liberation Front of Sri Lanka).

Accountability will promote reconciliation across ethnic divides. By apportioning blame on both sides, accountability will help challenge nationalist myths within the Sinhalese and Tamil communities about the Army and the LTTE and help shift blame from whole groups to the individuals responsible for alleged crimes. In particular, many war-affected Tamils would like to see prosecutions of senior officials on all sides — army, LTTE, and paramilitaries — rather than lower-ranking foot soldiers. Pursuing accountability for those most responsible could therefore lay the groundwork for broader conflict transformation across ethnic divides.

Accountability will reaffirm and strengthen international law. In winning the war, Sri Lankan armed forces allegedly engaged in serious violations of international law, resulting in an “unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe.” Yet, after the war, Sri Lanka’s Defense Ministry held annual conferences to propagate the “Rajapaksa Model of fighting terror.” Israel, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Colombia, and the Philippines have reportedly studied the Sri Lankan approach. Unless the record is set straight, the Sri Lankan experience could stand as a dangerous model and threaten international laws meant to protect civilians during armed conflict.

Accountability will help Sri Lanka rejoin the international community. Under the previous government, Sri Lanka became increasingly isolated from the international community, leading the UN Human Rights Council to pass three successive resolutions to promote reconciliation and accountability. As UN Special Rapporteur Pablo de Greiff stated after his recent visit, by committing to accountability, Sri Lanka will be “rejoining the international community of rights,” through “an international system which Sri Lanka contributed to constructing.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi likewise expressed India’s hope that Sri Lanka “accommodates the aspirations of all sections of society, including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, for a life of equality, justice, peace and dignity in a united Sri Lanka.”

In short, Sri Lanka has a real chance to help all of its ethnic communities transition from a divided past to a shared, peaceful future, if it commits to accountability. Six years after Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, accountability remains more important than ever.

Mytili Bala is the Robert L. Bernstein International Human Rights Fellow at The Center for Justice and Accountability, an international human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world and advancing the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress.


Source: Groundviews

Communist China's unlikely Catholic outpost: Tibetens

Why many Catholic Tibetans have maintained the faith despite decades of persecution.

China:  Opening the church door in Baihanluo reveals a large portrait of Pope Francis — something of a paradox in an ethnically Tibetan area of Communist China.

The village is only reachable on foot or by horse, and surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks.

But despite its remoteness, French missionaries built the church — with a curved, Chinese-style roof — at the end of the 19th century.

Pope Gregory XVI assigned Tibet to the Foreign Missions Society of Paris, shortly after China was forced to open its doors following its defeat in the First Opium War.

Heading up the river valleys into the hills, cut off by snows in winter, they established "lost missions" in a still largely traditional and theocratic society.

At times it was a bloody cause, with evangelists martyred by monks opposed to Christ invading their Buddhist territory.

"It was China's far west. In Chinese, the Nu River was nicknamed the Valley of Death. The saying was you had to sell your wife before going because you didn't know whether you'd come back," said Constantin de Slizewicz, author of The Forgotten Peoples of Tibet.

After the Communist victory in China's civil war in 1949, foreign missionaries were arrested as "agents of imperialism", maltreated and expelled.



Decades without priests

"The churches were closed, or converted into schools or barns. Christians could be jailed for having religious objects, and those who had important roles were persecuted or taken for re-education," de Slizewicz said.

But Catholicism persisted among the rural peasantry, their fervor as enduring as their poverty.

"Tibetans are mad about God. They dedicate their lives to their faith. Tibetan Catholics don't convert by half," said de Slizewicz.

"In nearly 50 years without priests or sacraments they did not lose a single word of a century of the fathers' teachings."

The mayhem of Mao's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution brought with it another round of destruction.

But as well as maintaining the missionaries' tombs, the Tibetans have continued to recite the catechism — some in Latin — and celebrate Easter and Christmas, replacing the donkey and ox of the stable with a mule and a yak.

Now, in a less intolerant climate, as many as 500 parishioners gather for festivals in Baihanluo, perched on a mountain spur in the southwestern province of Yunnan, and recall the Nu patriarch Zachary, who died around a decade ago aged more than 100.

He escaped the Communist purges by fleeing to Taiwan, but returned after 30 years of exile to join in the local Catholic revival.

"Zachary put holy water from Lourdes, diluted in spring water, in every church in the neighborhood," said Zha Xi, 32, baptised Joseph. "One drop was given to a sick believer, and three days later he was virtually cured."

A Baihanluo native called to the priesthood, Joseph has studied at seminaries in Kunming and Chengdu, and is now preparing for the ministry.

There are 16 churches in the area and farmer Yu Xiulian, 75, said: "There are more and more Catholics here. We ordinary people want to make the churches bigger but there isn't the money."



Dalai Lama

Parish priest Han Sheng, 39 — known as Father Francis — says there are more than 10,000 Catholics in Tibetan areas of China, half of them in Gongshan district, which includes Baihanluo.

China's Communist authorities require religion to be supervised by the state — in the case of Catholics, by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which oversees the churches of Gongshan.

A separate "underground" Chinese church recognises the authority of the pope.

The vast majority of religious Tibetans are Buddhists, more than 130 of whom have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest at Chinese rule, most of them dying.

Beijing accuses the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of separatism and has called him "a wolf in monk's robes", accusing the Nobel laureate last month of backing "ethnic cleansing".

He was denied a meeting with the pope when he visited Rome in December, apparently as the Vatican sought to avoid upsetting Beijing.

Father Francis echoes the official line on the issue. "Speaking of the Dalai Lama, we regard him highly as a religious leader," he said. "But we don't want him to carry out separatist activities."

He attributes the growing number of faithful to the missionaries' historical legacy, rather than a contest of beliefs between Buddhism, Catholicism and Communism.

At night, an icy draught blew through one of the district churches as women and children sat on one side of the aisle, men on the other.

Simply dressed, their skin tanned by altitude and field work, they knelt one by one to whisper confessions of their sins to a priest by the altar.

"If we follow Your Words, we will go to Heaven," the congregation chanted tirelessly.

Source: AFP/UCAN

Catholic perspectives on balancing climate change with economic growth

Protecting the environment need not compromise sound business policies.

A woman rides her bicycle through flooded streets in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in October, 2014

International:  Is economic growth the enemy of saving the environment? In an international forum on economic growth and environmental sustainability, Catholic leaders and experts in the field argued that rather than being opposed, the two go hand-in-hand, and can lead to greater prosperity all-around.

“Protecting the environment need not compromise legitimate economic progress,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington said May 20.

“There is an increasingly clear harmony between efforts on behalf of the environment and those that promote integral – including economic – human development. This is the ‘human ecology’ to which our efforts must contribute,” he said.

Cardinal Wuerl made his comments alongside a panel of experts during a half-day May 20 conference on “The New Climate Economy: How Economic Growth and Sustainability Can Go Hand in Hand.”

Held at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the event was organized by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the World Resources Institute, the New Climate Economy organization and the Embassy of the Netherlands to the Holy See.

Other attendees were Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace, Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, ambassador of the Netherlands to the Holy See, and experts in various fields of climate and the economy.

In his speech, Cardinal Wuerl said that the need for sustainable development is both “a moral imperative and an economic incentive as a business issue,” and that to commit to taking the task up is “pro-business.”

“Government has a role, and we clearly need strong international agreements. But in moving ahead, business and economic interests necessarily play a significant role,” he said.

“We need to harness that wisdom and creativity in the service of the common good. Such collaboration aligns private and public interests, and reduces the gap between the privileged minority and the world’s great majority.”

He referred to the issue of sustainable development as a “sign of the times,” and said that in addressing it in his upcoming encyclical – set to be published this summer – Pope Francis is following in the footsteps of his predecessors, beginning with St. John XXIII in his revolutionary encyclical “Pacem in Terris” at the height of the Cold War.

Bl. Paul VI also gave heavy attention to the social and political changes of his time in his encyclical “Populorum progression,” while St. John Paul II provided the encyclical “Centesimus annus” as a reminder of the Church’s social teaching amid a time of societal transition, particularly in Europe.

In his encyclical “Caritas in veritate,” Benedict XVI connected fraternal and ecological development, as well as the environment and the development of people and technology, Cardinal Wuerl noted, saying that Francis is continuing their work.

The cardinal also stressed the importance of the role of the Church in the discussion, particularly in providing a moral framework to build on which puts the human person at the center.

In comments made to CNA, the cardinal noted how God created the world and gave it to humanity “to cultivate and to see that that world, which is now the great gift to all of us, is passed on to the next generation.”

“So talking about the environment, and talking about human flourishing and economic development, all go together, under the understanding that we are stewards of creation and that we’re meant to care for one another.”

In his opening address for the event, Cardinal Peter Turkson said that “God has done great things for us” in creating the world and giving humanity charge over it.

However, “we have been poor stewards of creation” and have failed in our obligation of maintaining a planet that continues to nourish and sustains us, he said. He pointed specifically to fossil fuels, saying that if we continue using them “at the current rate, we are on the road to ruin.”

Cardinal Turkson spoke with CNA after his speech, saying that the current dependence of fossil fuels “does a lot of damage to the environment,” and is a key point of contention in the debate surrounding economic growth and environmental development.

“The fear is that calling for climate change and wanting to do something about the climate is going to affect the economy and these sources of energy,” he said.

Rather than calling this fear a threat, the cardinal said that “it’s a challenge,” and that when referred to in this way, it invites all parties to consider the various opportunities that could come from a shift away from such potentially damaging forms of energy.

He recalled how the Industrial Revolution of the mid 17-1800s opened up new avenues for humanity to discover how to satisfy their needs, but that the energy for the growth which boomed during those years was taken from whatever was available at the time.

Now, after more than 150 years of using these sources of energy, “we begin to see the impacts (and) that is where the conflict is.”

While there is dispute on whether or not the environmental impact is real, the role of the Church is to “recognize that whether this is real or not, there is the other side to look at: the human person.”

The primary concern, the cardinal said, is “not just about statistics and graphs, it’s about those who are now being thrown out of their houses, who cannot feed themselves…So that’s why from the point of view of the Church the discussion has never been purely climate and science, but it’s been the human person.”

Cardinal Turkson spoke of the need for an “integral ecology” which takes both the needs of the environment and those of the human person into consideration.

“So (economic growth and development) go hand in hand. If, whatever the environment is, it does not promote to the well-being of the human person we have every reason to see what we can do to improve upon the conditions for the human person. That’s all.”

In his comments to CNA, Cardinal Wuerl said that in the United States, he believes the issue of the environment is something people are “just coming to grips with.”

One of their greatest tasks for the future, he said, will be to help people understand that current issues surrounding the topic “are able to be dealt with in a way that satisfies the needs of everyone.”

Source: Catholic News Agency

President Xi urges China’s religions to shun foreign influences

Warning comes amid rise in Islamic extremism and dialogue with The Vatican.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is pictured in Moscow in 2013

Beijing:  President Xi Jinping yesterday urged China’s religions to shun foreign influence amid concerns over Islamic extremism and the role of The Vatican among the country’s growing Church community.

Xi said that the government must value religious leaders and in turn direct them to better serve China’s development and unification, a reference to restive Xinjiang and Tibet.

“Active efforts should be made to incorporate religions in socialist society,” Xi said in his speech to the United Front Work Department, an agency tasked with aligning groups with the aims of the Communist Party.

“We must manage religious affairs in accordance with the law and adhere to the principle of independence to run religious groups on our own accord,” he added.

Following a rise in Islamic separatist attacks in Xinjiang and western China that left at least 500 people dead last year, Xi’s administration has taken a tougher line on China’s myriad faiths.

Last year, authorities closed dozens of madrassas and banned under-18s from visiting mosques in Xinjiang, home to 12 million minority Muslim Uyghurs.

Authorities reportedly confiscated passports near the Kazakh border in Xinjiang earlier this month as the state cracks down on Muslims travelling to and from the region.

Beijing has cited the influx of Chinese fighters joining ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and the presence of Xinjiang separatist militants in northern Pakistan as a justification for restrictions.

State media recently announced plans to enlarge the only Muslim training center in Xinjiang in a bid to seize firmer control of Islamic teachers and their interpretation of the Qu’ran.

“[Chinese policy] has included extensive curbs on Islam through state administration of religion and engineering a diminished role for the Uyghur language in education,” the US-based Uyghur Human Rights Project said in a report published yesterday.

Similarly, in Tibet where Buddhist monasteries have traditionally led cyclical uprisings against Chinese rule, the government has introduced an advanced education course to develop patriotic lamas and monks.

The student handbook notes the first task is to cultivate and build a reserve of Tibetan Buddhists who are “politically reliable, educated and venerable”.

Last month, the Communist Party chief in Tibet announced new classes for monks that would teach Chinese law and a program to supply radios and newspapers to remote monasteries in an apparent bid to more widely diffuse China’s shackled media.

Beijing recently rejected the exiled Dalai Lama’s proposed ‘Middle Way’ for Tibetan rule which would see greater autonomy according to Buddhist principles.

The government has engaged with The Vatican in recent months as talks continue over an enduring impasse on bishop appointments, but Beijing has given no sign it may be willing to cede any meaningful control of the process to the Holy See.

Meanwhile, Zhejiang has continued a crackdown on Christianity that has seen at least 470 crosses removed and more than 35 churches destroyed since the end of 2013.

During his tenure, Xi has regularly distinguished between “foreign religions” – particularly Christianity and Islam – and homegrown faiths by actively endorsing Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.

China’s state media has published frequent Confucian references made by Xi, a series that was compiled and published as a book in March.

“The most dangerous situation is when apparently everything seems fine, but there breeds hidden danger,” reads one quote, among the most frequently cited by China’s president. “If one only sits and watches, the situation would worsen and there would be no turning back.”

Source: UCAN