Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia (above) has written to Pope Francis asking him to cancel the 25-day October Youth Synod in Rome in the light of the abuse crisis.
“The bishops would have absolutely no credibility,” Archbishop Chaput wrote in the letter made public to 300 people at a meeting to discuss the youth of the Church on Thursday last week at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. Instead of the youth synod, planned to start on 3 October, the archbishop proposed one to be held on the topic of the bishops themselves.
A diocese in northern Vietnam held prayers of repentance last Saturday – the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation – to express regret for widespread environmental pollution in the country. The Diocese of Vinh’s Committee for Justice and Peace blamed increasing floods, landslides, land erosion, toxic waste disasters and their consequences on widespread deforestation and on poor management of the nation’s natural resources by the authorities. It voiced concerns about the health risks to local people from contaminated food and toxic chemicals.
Diocese files for bankruptcy
The Archdiocese of San Juan, in Puerto Rico, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday last week, after a judge seized $4.7 million (£3.7m) from its accounts. Retired Catholic schoolteachers have sued the archdiocese for outstanding pension payments.
Church operations have come to a near halt owing to a lack of funds, resulting in the last resort of filing for bankruptcy. The archdiocese says it halted the pension payments because pay-outs exceeded contributions.
It also said it considered the seizure of the funds “illegal and contrary to the constitutional principle of the separation of Church and State”.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese said that people were “taking advantage of this situation to defame, insult and avert the evangelising mission of our Church.”
Envoy’s plea on killings
A senior United States diplomat in Nigeria has called on the government in Abuja to halt the killings that have left hundreds dead in the central and north-east regions of the country.
“There is a climate of impunity where people are committing these terrible crimes, and they’re getting away with it,” said David J. Young, after visiting a camp for internally displaced people – many of them Christian – in the central Nigerian city of Jos.
Further south, violence attributed to militant Fulani herdsmen is at a record high, with more than 1,800 deaths noted in the first half of the year. Mr Young urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure free and fair elections in 2019, devoid of violence.
The United States International Commission on Religious Freedom, which includes Fr Thomas Reese SJ, has highlighted 28 countries for their repression of religious liberty in its annual report, issued on Wednesday last week. The harshest level of repression was noted in Myanmar, the Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The report says these countries “engage in or tolerate particularly severe religious freedom violations”.
A further 12 were listed as countries where “serious” violations occur. They are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Turkey.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced on Friday last week that he was expelling the United Nations human rights team that came to the country to investigate deaths during protests since April. The expulsions were condemned by Silvio José Báez, auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Two days earlier, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a damning report documenting how the Nicaraguan Government is suppressing protests, through violent attacks in the streets and by charging protesters with terrorism in the courts.
According to the UN commission, more than 300 people have been killed and 2,000 injured since protests began in April. At least 300 people are being prosecuted for participating in or supporting the protests.
Bishop Báez wrote on Twitter: “The decision of the Nicaraguan Government to expel the UN delegation sullies the country’s international reputation and does no good for Nicaraguan society.”
Copts close eighth church
A Coptic diocese in Upper Egypt has been forced to close its eighth church following attacks by local Muslims, protesting against its continued use without a licence.
The Virgin Mary and St Mohrael Coptic Orthodox church in El-Zeniqa, near Luxor, closed on 22 August, while Copts were celebrating the Feast of the Assumption.
“We haven’t heard that a mosque was closed down or that prayer was stopped in it because it was unlicensed,” said Gamil Ayed, a Christian lawyer in the nearby city of Esna. “Where is the religious freedom?”
The closure occurred despite an announcement in January this year by Egypt’s Ministry of Housing, allowing Christians to meet in unlicensed churches, pending their legalisation.
The head of the Pax Christi association in the Church in Germany has condemned the German government’s plans to double military spending by 2025, in line with United States President Donald Trump’s insistence that Nato member countries increase their funding of the alliance.
“Overcoming hunger and poverty, and providing education, infrastructure and health care are just as important as the rule of law and peace – we are committed to ensuring Germany pursues these goals and uses its wealth to promote world peace,” the Bishop of Fulda, Heinz Algermissen, said. “We reject Nato’s agreement that member states should devote 2 per cent of GDP to military budgets.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged in July to increase Germany’s defence budget by 80 per cent to reach 1.5 per cent of GDP, bringing the country close to the 2-per-cent target agreed by Nato in 2014, amid fears that President Trump could otherwise scale down America’s military presence in Europe.
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