News Briefing: global

Humility in success
Portugal’s coach Fernando Santos dedicated his victory in the Euro 2016 European Football Championship in France to Jesus, making an emotional confession of his faith during the post-match press conference. Portugal beat their French hosts 1-0 in the final. Before taking questions, Santos (above) read a letter he had written weeks ago, after Portugal played Austria in the group stage. At the time, the team was under fire for having managed only two draws. “First of all, I would like to thank God, the Father, for this moment and for everything in my life,” he said. The Portuguese coach went on to thank family, friends and colleagues before adding: “Lastly, but most importantly, I want to speak to my best friend, and His mother, to dedicate this victory to Him and thank Him for having chosen me; for having given me the gifts of wisdom, humility and perseverance to guide this team, and for having guided me and lit my way. That all I do, hope and wish for the greater glory of His name.”  

Pope Francis has met 200 poor, sick and disabled French pilgrims in Rome and has urged them to pray for the conversion of the rich people responsible for their poverty. The visit was organised by a French charity in Lyon and accompanied by the city’s archbishop, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. The Pope told the pilgrims they were “in the heart of the Church” and he wanted to give them a mission “that only you, in your poverty, are able to fulfil ... Pray for those who are responsible for your poverty, so that they convert!” he said. “Pray for the many rich who … feast without being aware of Lazarus at their door, seeking to quell his hunger with the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Smile at them from your heart, wish well to them and ask Jesus to convert them. If you do this, there will be great joy in the Church, in your heart, and in beloved France.”

Guide for converts
As the number of Muslim refugees who want to convert continues to rise, the German diocese of Speyer has published a 36-page handbook for Catholic priests on how to proceed with refugees making such a request. “Many refugees are looking for a new home and also a new faith in which they will feel at home,” Fr Franz Vogelsang, Cathedral priest of Speyer responsible for pastoral affairs, told katholisch.de. Some of the refugees wanted to be baptised Christians and to live their Christianity openly, a desire that they had not been able to realise in their home countries, he said.

The handbook deals with conversion and Islamic law, and discusses at length the danger that some refugees may just want to convert in order to improve their chances of getting asylum. Meanwhile the person responsible for the adult catechumenate in the Vienna archdiocese, Friederike Dostal, has drawn attention to the dangers that converts from Islam often face even in Vienna. Muslim landlords sometimes immediately turn converts out, while some would-be converts had broken off their year’s preparation so as not to endanger relatives in places such as Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Jordan.

The Catholic bishops of  the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have expressed concern over the massacres and escalating tensions in the resource-rich region of North Kivu, eastern DRC. People there face “total insecurity” and the “indifference of the authorities in Kinshasa and the international community”, they say. The bishops questioned whether “their ordeal is not the result of a logic and ideology of depopulation and repopulation” linked to government deals with corporations over resources. This year, seven reception centres for displaced persons closed in North Kivu and populations have been forced to flee.

No capitalism please
In an interview with the Associated Press, the new Archbishop of Havana, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez (above), said he supports the strengthening of relations between Cuba and the US but does not disavow Cuban socialism. Garcia, who was appointed in April, said the Church supports reforms but doesn’t want “capitalism or anything of the sort, rather that socialism progresses in a just, equal and brotherly society”.

Both candidates in the third round of the Austrian presidential election campaign, to be held on 2 October, have welcomed Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s offer to mediate, so long as they agree to conduct a fair campaign. A fairness agreement was crucial to “prevent further polarisation”, Schönborn wrote in his weekly column in the free paper Heute on 8 July. “Mud-slinging is the last thing we need now.” The Cardinal said he was glad that 2 October had been chosen for the election as it was the day that the Church celebrated the Feast of Guardian Angels and “Austria will especially need its guardian angels”, he added.
The far-right Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, whose party up to now has been in favour of Oexit (Austria leaving the EU) announced that “unlike [France’s National Front president] Marine Le Pen” his party was no longer in favour of Oexit. He welcomed the cardinal’s offer to mediate.

The Green Party candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen, also welcomed Schönborn’s offer.

Disappeared remembered
The families of the 43 students who disappeared from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college in Guerrero, Mexico will receive the twelfth “Tata Vasco” award this year. The Mexican Jesuit University System (SUJ) gives the award to groups or organisations that “surpass in their commitment to the defence and promotion of human rights, especially for the most poor and vulnerable”.

On the night of 26 September 2014, 43 students from the Ayotzinapa college were forcibly disappeared in the city of Iguala. Their parents and other family members have campaigned for justice in the case, which is still unresolved.  

Persecution in Pakistan
The Peter Tatchell Foundation has endorsed a report from the British Pakistani Christian Association on the escalating persecution of Christians in Pakistan. “The Government of Pakistan has announced plans to force Islam on young people by making Qu’ranic study compulsory for all school and college students, which is contrary to the country’s constitution and the Islamic precept that there should be no compulsion in religion,” Mr Tatchell said. “This is the latest escalation of the bias against Christians, other minority faiths and non-believers.”