Military patron saint choice 'inappropriate'
The Church’s most prominent peace group has described a decision to make Pope John XXIII the patron saint of the Italian military as “inappropriate”.
Given his reputation as the “Pope of Peace” and his calls to end the use of nuclear weapons, the decision by the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship to make St John XXIII the military’s patron has been met with bafflement and criticism. Co-president of Pax Christi International Marie Dennis (pictured) said: “The designation of Pope John XXIII as the patron saint of the Italian army seems terribly inappropriate.”
Ms Dennis said that Pax Christi supported Archbishop Giovanni Ricchiuti, president of Pax Christi in Italy, who said the decision was “disrespectful” and “absurd” after it was announced last week.
In his encyclical Pacem in Terris, which was published just before he died, Pope John called for a “cessation to the arms race” adding that “nuclear weapons must be banned”.
As a young man, he served in the Italian Army during the First World War as a chaplain. The congregation cited the then Fr Angelo Roncalli’s “zeal as a military chaplain in promoting Christian virtue among soldiers”.
Indonesian church officials have welcomed a government move to tackle human trafficking by making it easier for migrant workers to obtain legal status. The Government has launched a one-stop service to issue official documentation to migrant workers in Kupang, capital of mainly Catholic East Nusa Tenggara province, which has had at least 1,600 trafficking cases in the past two years.
Fr Paulus Christian Siswantoko, secretary of the Indonesian bishops’ Commission for Justice and Peace, welcomed the move, but urged the Government to make sure the new system stays free of corruption. Fr Yohanes Kristoforus Tara, coordinator of the Franciscans’ Justice and Peace Commission in Timor, also welcomed the move but called for migrants to be provided with skills training.
Author’s visit blocked
The Chinese authorities have stopped best-selling author Fr Anselm Grün OSB from speaking in the country. A Catholic publisher had invited Fr Grün, who has sold more than 50 million books in 30 languages on spirituality, to give 11 lectures in China.
Fr Grün said he had flown out to Singapore at the end of August to speak on Benedictine spirituality, “and one day before I was due to fly [to China], I was suddenly told that the lectures had been cancelled. The state authorities have obviously forbidden them”.
He said he had been labelled an enemy of the country on the Chinese internet because he had once discussed paths to happiness with the Dalai Lama and had attended a service in Taipei, together with the Vice President of Taiwan. He said he hoped that his books and lectures would be a source of hope for Chinese Christians.
Trump’s refugee ban tightens
The US Supreme Court has lifted a temporary injunction against part of President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
The temporary injunction, delivered by a lower court, had permitted certain refugees to enter the US despite the ban. The ban on refugees from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen had narrow exemptions for those with “close family ties”. The lower court expanded that definition to include grandparents and cousins, but the Trump administration objected.
Additionally, the reinstated ban overturned the lower court’s granting admission to those who had completed their resettlement filings with sponsoring agencies, such as the US Bishops’ Conference, but had not yet entered the US.
Bishop Gabriel Malzaire, president of the Antilles Episcopal Conference and the Bishop of Roseau on the island of Dominica, joined European and Caribbean development groups in calling for debt payments to be delayed during the rebuilding process from Hurricane Irma.
Bishop Malzaire wrote to Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, saying that islands such as Antigua and Barbuda should be given extensions to their payment schedules.
The US Bishops’ Conference has announced a nationwide collection to aid relief efforts in those regions that were struck by Hurricane Irma.
Welcome for migrants urged
The Bishop of Rancagua, Alejandro Goic Karmelic, has called on the people of Chile to welcome the increasing number of migrants arriving in the country. Speaking at a Mass for Migrants’ Day, the bishop said: “The Church is called upon to carry out the hospitality of God to migrants.”
Chile’s relative economic prosperity draws migrants from across Latin America and the number of Chilean visas issued to Venezuelans has reportedly rocketed from under 1,000 to around 10,000 since President Nicolás Maduro took power in Venezuela in 2013. For four years the Diocese of Rancagua in central Chile has had a pastoral programme for migrants. It helps them with the paperwork they need to obtain residency and takes other steps to help them integrate in Chile.
Francis greets former hostage
The Pope last week welcomed the Indian missionary who was freed after being held captive for 18 months by Islamist militants in Yemen.
Liberated Salesian missionary Fr Tom Uzhunnalil bowed down to kiss the feet of Pope Francis at his Santa Marta residence. The Pope brought Fr Tom to his feet, and told him that he would continue to pray for the priest, as he had done during his captivity, according to L’Osservatore Romano. Fr Tom, as he is known, thanked the Pope, saying he had “prayed every day for him, offering his own suffering for his mission and for the good of the Church”.
The Religious was kidnapped on 4 March 2016 in a terrorist attack at a residential home of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden. He said he had been unable to celebrate the Eucharist in captivity but, every day, had repeated “in my heart, all the words of the celebration”.
Indian government minister Alphons Kannanthanam said that “extremely complicated diplomatic efforts” were made to secure Fr Tom’s freedom. They had included the help of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and assistance from Saudi Arabia and Oman.
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