Churches of the World: Newsletter

anti-abortion activist Rhode Island is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its nearly 50 Roe v Wade Sets a precedent for the constitutional right to abortion. On September 13, Catholics for Life filed a 46-page petition asking the court to “clarify whether the unborn have the right to go to court.” In 2019, Cathols for Life and other plaintiffs sued, arguing that a state law was passed that year to codify abortion rights roe violated their rights as citizens of Rhode Island. Two of the plaintiffs were unborn children: a viable 15-week-old fetus and a viable 34-week-old fetus. A Rhode Island judge dismissed Catholics’ complaint against Life in November 2019. The group has been unsuccessful since appealing the decision.

France cannot extradite a former missionary accused of sexual abuse despite plea from Inuit delegation to send 92-year-old Fr Johannes Riva back to France Canada. “In accordance with its constitutional tradition, France will not extradite its nationals,” Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti told them, but Paris will help investigate the case. Dating back more than 50 years, allegations of abuse of at least three minors in Nunavut have exceeded the French statute of limitations. Canada has issued an arrest warrant for Father Riva and requested his extradition. His command, the Immaculate Conception, also commanded him to obey, but he refused. Father Riva insisted on denying the alleged abuse when he received the five-member delegation in Lyon, where he lives in a nursing home. The Inuit also met with officials of the Order and the Synod in France. The former missionary returned home in 1993 when the allegations emerged.

member Brazilian The Bishops’ Conference has been meeting with candidates for the October 2 national elections. They demonstrated their contribution to building a fairer and more united nation, while emphasizing the church’s nonpartisan stance. Topics covered include caring for the environment, social exclusion and poverty. The first meeting between Volmo Oliveira de Azevedo, Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, and Vice Presidential candidate Gerardo Alquemin took place on 13 September. Next Sunday’s general election will elect the president and vice president, update the House and Senate, and elect 27 governors. The polarized and sometimes violent campaign has largely focused on the election of a new president. Among the 12 candidates, the main contenders are the current right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro and the left-wing leader Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who served as president from 2003 to 2011. The bishops invite Brazilians to “vote with conscience and responsibility to choose a project dedicated to candidates who will fully defend life at all stages, without forgetting human and social rights and our common home.”

This Cuban The government has expelled the Jesuit chiefs from the country. “On the morning of September 13, Father David Pantaleon, president of the Cuban Jesuits, left the island because his residence permit was not renewed,” a statement from the Latin American Jesuits said. It stressed that the priest from the Dominican Republic is also president of the Cuban Conference of Religious Men and Women, which, like the Jesuits, defends human rights and accompanies prisoners and their families.

Bishop Joseba Segura Echesaraga of Bilbao, Spain It was announced last week that Pope Francis had ordered a new normative process to investigate the Opus Dei Gaztelueta School in Bizkaia… It concerns Jose Maria Martinez Sanz, a registered member of Opus Dei and a lay teacher.Church courts will be overseen by bishops and other senior officials church personnel. Complaints of abuse date back to 2009 and 2011, when Martinez was convicted by a secular court. he and tPrelature of Opus Dei rejected the allegations of abuse. Earlier this year, the minors involved wrote to the Pope asking him to reopen the case and received a handwritten letter saying a court was being appointed.

an opera star Hongkong After the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II, she publicly apologized and praised her. Law Ka-ying posted a selfie on Instagram while lining up to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth at the British consulate in Hong Kong, with the caption: “Hong Kong was a blessed land during her reign.” The post sparked outrage from nationalists. Luo then posted a video apology in which he regretted the “unconsidered remarks of condolences.”

provincial government in Indian The southern state of Karnataka has approved a law criminalizing religious conversion. The state’s Legislative Council passed the controversial Karnataka Religious Freedom Bill on September 15. Peter Machado, Archbishop of Bangalore, The head of the Regional Bishops Forum described the law as “irrelevant and malicious” and “designed to separate Christians from other religious minorities”. FFreedom of religion is a constitutional right in India.

European Parliament condemns growing repression of Catholic Church in Europe Nicaragua. A resolution passed on September 15 criticized Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa “arbitrarily arrested” and called for the “immediate and unconditional release of him and the others and the cancellation of all legal proceedings against them”.The article also emphasizes deportation Earlier this year, Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, Apostolic Ambassador of Poland.

Damage from heavy rains in August and September in the West Sierra Leone, leading the Director of Caritas Freetown to call on the community to protect their environment and avoid irresponsible waste. “We continue to call on everyone to protect the environment, plant trees and stop irresponsible littering,” said Fr Peter Conté. He is assessing the damage to a Caritas Freetown school to help girls from disadvantaged families. Trash hindered the loss of rainwater, while debris carried by the water, including heavy stones, damaged school buildings.

The rise of water sports Diseases caused by floods that have killed 1,500 people PakistanThe bishops called for more emergency aid. Three parish bishops hardest hit by recent deadly monsoon floods have called for more funding for emergency food, repairing damaged homes and providing medical supplies. Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, Sindh, said the money will help drain flooded land and procure medicines to fight the rise in malaria, dengue and cholera. He worries that poor communities will sink deeper into debt and “the presence of bonded labour in Sindh will increase.”

The court has Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena has been implicated in the 2019 Easter massacre, three of which took place inside churches. Colombo District Court directed him to appear in court on October 14 in response to a private complaint filed by Fr Cyril Gamini Fernando and Jesuraj Ganeshan, members of the National Catholic Justice Committee for Victims of Catholic Easter Attacks, that he lost the Church explosion in the leg. Cardinal Malcolm Rangis, Archbishop of Colombo, accused Sirisena of not responding to warnings that the attack killed 280 people and injured hundreds.

Diocese of Marbell in the South the Philippines Catholic Social Action groups are celebrating last week’s decision by the local government in South Cotabato, Mindanao, to revoke the mining license of the controversial Tampakan gold-copper quarry. Bishop Cerilo Casicas of Marbel has long called for public vigilance “against the open-pit mining methods in South Cotabato”.There are fears that the giant mine will Some 4,000 Aboriginal people have been displaced, polluting rivers and destroying forests and farmland. Meanwhile, Catholic clergy attended protest rallies ahead of the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972.

religious order for catholic women Pennsylvania On September 15, a private oil company argued in a federal appeals court that a private oil company violated their religious freedom rights in 2018 when it seized their farmland to build a gas pipeline. “Since October 2018, as fossil fuel gas flows through our farmland in Lancaster County, so does Transco blatantly disregarding and trampling on the religious beliefs of its worshippers. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission invokes the Natural Gas Act to authorize pipelines Company Williams/Transco seizes cornfields owned by sisters located on pipeline access. The sisters are appealing a federal judge’s October 2021 ruling that dismissed their lawsuit that the pipeline “sullied the integrity of their property.” divine nature”.

This Holy See is a competition to select original musical compositions for the official hymn of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee. The Vatican Department of Evangelism has invited the entrants to provide a text soundtrack to express the essence of the Jubilee event. Work must be original and unpublished.Hymns are designed to have a liturgical purpose and should be able to be read by the church congregation and singer school Deadline for registration is March 25, 2023. Application form for January: www.iubilaeum2025.va/en/inno.html