News Briefing: The Church in the World

Colombia peace deal
The final text of the peace agreement between the FARC rebel group and the government in Columbia, ending the five-decades-long conflict, has been welcomed internationally. “The end of the armed conflict is near,” said Clare Dixon, head of Cafod’s Latin America section. “We hope this deal will bring an end to the violence and fear that has devastated the lives of over seven million people, particularly those living in rural areas; farming communities, Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples.”

The Catholic Church in Colombia has played a discreet but central role in the peace process, organising truth and reconciliation hearings to enable all sides to understand the impact of violence.

Days after the signing of the peace accord, Pope Francis used the longest video message of his pontificate to urge the Church of the Americas meeting in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, to show “mercy” in its pastoral care. In a speech to cardinals and bishops gathered from North as well as South America, the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos (above), used the Pope’s address to underline the importance of forgiveness.

The number of monks at the Cistercian monastery of Heiligenkreuz in the Vienna woods reached a new record high on 14 August when six new novices were clothed.

There are now 97 Heiligenkreuz monks, according to the monastery website. Founded in 1133, Heiligenkreuz is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian monastery.

The perceived continued harassment of the South African finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, by the Priority Crime Investigation unit of the South Africa Police Service, the “Hawks”, will lead to a ratings downgrade which the country escaped last year, the Jesuit Institute South Africa, has warned. Mr Gordhan, 67, has been facing charges that he set up an illicit investigative unit during his time as head of the South African Revenue Service. “If this disturbing attack on Mr Gordhan by the Hawks continues, a ratings downgrade will become a reality with devastating consequences for South Africa – especially the poorest of the poor,” said the Jesuits’ director in South Africa, Fr Russell Pollitt. In December last year, President Jacob Zuma was pressured into appointing Mr Gordhan after his decision to replace the respected Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister with lawmaker Des van Rooyen sparked a large sell-off of the rand.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge (above), says the 2020 Plenary Council for the Australian Church, the first in more than 80 years and the first to involve lay people, must consider whether parishes have a future in a more missionary Church.

The Archbishop of Brisbane told his diocesan paper, The Catholic Leader: “The Church’s response to the diminishment of our apostolic orders, the relationship between the newer communities and our older communities, by which I mean our parishes, the whole future of the parish is a major question. Do we need a new paradigm?”

Taskforce to tackle crime
The presidents of Central America’s “Northern Triangle” – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – have formed a joint task force to combat organised crime in the region. The initiative, known as the “Elite Security Group” was proposed by the Honduran president to combat the criminal groups known as “maras” that operate throughout the Northern Triangle, Mexico and the United States. Catholic leaders across the region have spoken out against gang violence, including the Archbishop of San Salvador, where the meeting was held. José Luis Escobar Alas referred to statistics that showed that in July alone 374 people were murdered in El Salvador. “There is also the pain of people who are targeted for extortion, and forced immigration,” he said.

Russia’s Orthodox Church has condemned the exclusion of the country’s athletes from the Paralympic Games in Rio, following accusations of a government-sponsored doping programme. “I see this as a crime against moral principles,” said Archpriest Andrei Alexeyev, the Russian team’s chief chaplain. “These people are vulnerable – and harming such people has always been considered a grave sin”.

Meanwhile a huge Russian Orthodox cathedral complex is to be dedicated in October in central Paris, at a ceremony attended by Patriarch Kirill and President Vladimir Putin. “This centre will provide a great educational environment,” said premier Dmitry Medvedev. “Its main pearl will, of course, be the Holy Trinity cathedral.” The Moscow-funded €100 million complex at the Quai Branly will dominate the skyline close to the Eiffel Tower and Pont de l’Alma. Moscow saw off a rival bid from Saudi Arabia to use the site for a giant mosque.

In Mexico, the Church is defending itself against criticism from two Mexican political parties in the debate over gay marriage. President Enrique Peña Nieto of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) introduced an initiative to legalise gay marriage nationwide in May, a move that has drawn criticism from Catholic leaders across the country. The centre-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) leadership also supports the measure and PRD Senate President Jesús Zambrano Grijalva has called for an investigation into the Church’s “militancy” against the gay marriage initiative. The Mexican Sub-Secretary of Population, Migration and Religious Matters, Humberto Roque Villanueva, said on 19 August that the Church has not broken the law in speaking out against the gay marriage initiative, but if the initiative is passed into law, it could be found in violation.

Blasphemy appeal date
Asia Bibi (above), a 51-year-old Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy six years ago, will have her appeal heard by Pakistan’s Supreme Court in the second week of October. The date is the final legal avenue available to avoid execution for the mother of five. She will argue deficiencies in the case include poor investigation and manipulated evidence. Bibi is the best-known victim of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws. In June 2009, after a row over drinking water with Muslim women farmhands in a field where she was working, Bibi was attacked by a mob in her village near Sheikhupura and accused of defaming the Muslim prophet Muhammad.