Vatican City, Nov 30, 2023 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

A prominent German bishop and steadfast opponent of the controversial Synodal Way has leveled his harshest criticism yet of the state of the Catholic Church in his own country, describing the German episcopacy as deeply “divided”— and warned of potentially catastrophic consequences for Catholic believers.

In the latest in a series of high-profile critiques of the German Synodal Way, Bishop Stefan Oster of the Diocese of Passau did not shy away from identifying profound theological disagreements as the source of division within the Catholic Church in Germany.

“It is a tragedy that we, German bishops, have so little agreement on key issues of anthropology and ecclesiology,” Oster told the Polish Catholic publication Gosc Niedzielny in an interview published Nov. 30.

The divided episcopacy “is obviously a disaster for the faithful in Germany,” said the 58-year-old Oster, who was tapped by Pope Francis to participate in the Vatican’s recent Synod on Synodality assembly after he was not selected as a delegate by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK).

Divisions in the German episcopacy recently came to the forefront when Oster and three other bishops — Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Bishop Gregor Hanke of Eichstatt — boycotted a Nov. 10-11 meeting of a committee of Synodal Way leadership. 

The committee was created with the intent of establishing a permanent synodal council of laity and bishops to govern the Church in Germany — something explicitly forbidden in a January letter from top Vatican officials to the DBK specifically approved by Pope Francis.

While his decision to not participate highlighted divisions in Germany, Oster explained his choice was “aimed precisely at maintaining unity with Rome.”

“I was faced with a choice: to clearly highlight the existing polarization among bishops or to highlight my path of unity with the universal Church,” said the Bavarian bishop, whose diocese is in the southeast corner of Germany and has the highest rate of Catholics per capita.

Growing criticism

The Synodal Way, which began in December 2019 as an initiative of the DBK and the Central Committee for German Catholics (ZdK), a lobby of lay Church employees, has come under criticism in recent weeks as its proponents push forward with efforts to change Church teaching and practice related to human sexuality, sacramental ordination, and Church governance.

In a Nov. 11 letter to four German laywomen who had written Pope Francis to express their concerns about the Catholic Church in Germany, Pope Francis wrote that “numerous steps” being taken by some in the local Church — including the work of the synodal committee — “threaten to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church’s common path.”

One of the Vatican’s top officials, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, also informed the German bishops in an Oct. 23 letter that changes in the Church’s teaching on same-sex sexual relations and male-only holy orders were not on the table in meetings between Rome and Synodal Way delegates moving forward.

In addition, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, wrote to Pope Francis in early October criticizing the Synodal Way, calling many of its resolutions “extremely unacceptable and un-Catholic.”

The leadership of the Synodal Way has largely decried or deflected these criticisms and has shown no sign of backing down from its controversial aims.

A synodal solution

The ratcheting up of tensions between German Synodal Way leadership and other Catholic leaders — especially Pope Francis — has led many to express concerns about the possibility of schism.

But in his recent interview, Bishop Oster was not without hope that a solution could be found.

He suggested that a “way out of the impasse” between Germany and the universal Church could be reached if the German Synodal Way “could now submit” and integrate with the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality — “with a clear acceptance of its content and decisions.”

“This would require great humility and would perhaps even mean withdrawing decisions already made in the Synodal Way,” such as the resolution to bless same-sex sexual unions.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 30, 2023 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

Deaths by suicide grew to “the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history,” reaching nearly 50,000 in 2022, according to new data released by the CDC this month.

The CDC study, which shows the provisional data for 2022, reported that there were 49,449 deaths by suicide last year. Though the sheer number of deaths by suicide was 3% higher than in 2021, the CDC said that the final data for 2022 is expected to show an even higher number.

According to the data, which was “based on more than 99% of all 2022 death records” processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August, the suicide rate for 2022 reached 14.3 deaths per 100,000. This exceeds the previous year’s 14.1, which had been the highest rate since 1941.

The most heavily impacted age group was adults above age 35. These groups saw the largest increases from the previous year, with increases ranging from 3% to 9%. The suicide rate for white females was also among the largest increase of any group in 2022, with a rate increase from 7.1 to 7.3.

Four times as many males as females died by suicide in 2022, 39,255 to 10,194, respectively. However, the study does note that “suicides for females are more likely to be incomplete” because “their deaths more frequently involve drug poisonings.”

Notably, the suicide rates for individuals below the age of 35 generally decreased.

Native Americans and Alaska natives continued to be the ethnic group suffering the highest suicide rate, at 26.7 per 100,000.

Dr. Melinda Moore, a clinical psychologist and professor at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), told CNA that though the number of deaths by suicide is at a record high, she believes the number of people suffering suicidal ideation likely “dwarfs” the number of deaths.

“I see a lot of suicidal ideation on my college campus (students, clients we treat in our training clinic at EKU) and also in my private practice,” Moore said. “We know that about 12.6 million Americans indicated they had serious thoughts of suicide in 2021 and, I suspect, this number is increasing as well.”

Moore said that though “there is not one reason we can ever point to that is able to demonstrate why an individual dies by suicide,” the “suicide rates have been steadily increasing for about 50 years” and this is “likely due to a combination” of “reasons why people despair.”

Poor mental health is oftentimes pointed to as the reason behind suicide, Moore said, but she believes that this is “not the sole cause.”

The lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and “the effects of isolation and physical distancing, and, of course, the anxiety created by the uncertainty of our lives, health, future well-being, and productivity” further exacerbated the issue, according to Moore.

Moore said that “while we now have better assessment methods and empirically supported approaches to treating suicide,” these methods are still “not being widely used by professionals who come in contact with suicidal individuals.”

“Suicide is a problem that is not going to go away without better use of the science we have to assess, treat, and manage it, but it must be addressed like the other major leading causes of death and taken seriously by funders, training institutions, and systems of care to address it broadly and systemically.”

Monsignor Charles Pope, a Washington, D.C., parish priest and author who has contributed to the Christian-based Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, told CNA that he believes loss of faith in society plays a large part in the record suicide numbers.

Pope said that “stress plus meaninglessness” can make life a kind of prison or “gulag” for many.

“With the biblical narrative gone and the practice of Christian religion dramatically down, there are only ephemeral and worldly goals to seek,” he explained. “But since we have an infinite longing in our heart and the world is finite, it is a recipe for unhappiness, frustration, and depression.”

“The wisdom of the cross is gone,” Pope went on, adding that it is lacking “even among many practicing Catholics.”

“Faith has been reduced to a kind of therapeutic thing,” he said, “devoid of the call to take up a cross and courageously carry it in faith. So, life has little meaning for people today and neither does suffering, which becomes therefore a total disaster rather than something to get through on the way to something glorious.”

ACI Africa, Nov 30, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Brother Peter Olarewaju recently recounted the horrific kidnapping and torture he and two other monks from a Benedictine monastery in Nigeria underwent, including the murder of one of the monks.

Brother Godwin Eze spent his final hours encouraging his brother monks before he was singled out, shot, and his body thrown in a fast-flowing river.

Eze was kidnapped Oct. 17 alongside Olarewaju and Brother Anthony Eze from the Benedictine monastery in Eruku in the Ilorin Diocese, tortured, and later killed. Unable to find the murdered monk’s body after days of searching along the river where it was thrown, the monastery performed his funeral rites at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Ilorin on Nov. 22.

In one of the gestures that Olarewaju said will be stuck with him forever, Eze is said to have fed his two companions biscuits when the kidnappers allowed them to eat after making them trek barefooted for hours on empty stomachs.

With one free hand, Eze fed the two whose sore hands remained tied behind their backs.

“The men who kidnapped us gave us two biscuits while keeping our hands tied. They momentarily loosened Brother Godwin’s hand to allow him to feed us. I remember him holding up the biscuits for each of us to take a bite in turns. I will never forget the love and reassurance in his eyes when he fed us,” Olarewaju told ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa.

Olarewaju spoke to ACI Africa on Nov. 26, a few days after he was discharged from the hospital where he had been admitted in critical condition.

Frail and with deep wounds on his body from being flogged daily while he was held captive, Olarewaju had slumped into the arms of his brother monks who carried him from the monastery to the hospital. There, he was given 30 injections before he came around and was allowed a few more days to recuperate in a wheelchair.

“We were in very bad shape when the kidnappers finally set us free. One more day with them and we would surely have died,” Olarewaju said.

Kidnapped at night

The monk gave ACI Africa a detailed day-by-day account of what transpired from the moment armed men broke into their monastery in Eruku and took the three of them away.

He said that nine men carrying AK-47 guns, machetes, and other weapons arrived at the monastery at about 1 a.m. on Oct. 17 as the brothers were sleeping. Later, the monks would discover that one of the men was a farmer who had been kidnapped from elsewhere and forced to lead the suspected Fulani men to the monastery. The man’s family would later successfully negotiate for his release ahead of the monks.

“I heard strange voices. At first I thought it was my brothers waking up because we normally wake up very early to pray. But listening keenly, I couldn’t recognize the voices. Something told me it was Boko Haram and so I made an attempt to run out of the room,” Olarewaju recalled.

“I quickly abandoned the idea to run as I felt the men’s presence in our room,” he continued. “Instead, I slid under the bed and hid there for a while. I heard them rough up my roommate Anthony, who shouted ‘Jesus!’”

Olarewaju said the men ransacked the room and found him hiding under the bed. They took him and the roommates joined two other monks, including Eze, who along with another monk, Benjamin, was already outside the house kneeling, their hands tied behind their backs.

Asked to surrender their phones, Eze is said to have calmly confessed that their devices were with Oga, the monastery’s novice master.

“I was scared for our novice master and so I quickly offered to give them my phone,” Olarewaju said. The men then led him by the gun’s barrel back to his room, where he surrendered his phone and the novice master’s phone number.

The gang leader then asked the monks who among them could speak Hausa, one of the Nigerian native languages. 

“Brother Benjamin raised his hand, thinking that the men wanted someone to offer them translation services. To his shock, he was given a hot slap across his face. In fact, it was so bad that he is still being treated for it as we speak. It then occurred to us that the men didn’t want anyone that could follow their conversations in Hausa after they took us away,” Olarewaju said. Benjamin was kicked out of the group following the ordeal.

The other three — Olarewaju, Eze, and Anthony Eze — who didn’t speak Hausa, were led away, embarking on a five-day journey of flogging, starvation, and long hours of walking barefoot in marshes, through thorns and rocky grounds, up mountains, and down valleys.

“They strategically put us in a straight line with one of their men separating us. Our hands were tied behind our backs for the entire five days until we were released on Oct. 21,” Olarewaju said, adding that Eze walked in front of his two companions.

“The kidnappers were very well coordinated. They would send two ordinarily dressed men out in the day to survey the landscape and find the routes we would use during the night. When night fell, they would set us in motion, making us walk very long hours,” Olarewaju recalled. “We were not allowed to complain as they would hit us with machetes, gun barrels, and large pieces of wood. At daybreak, they pushed us in the bushes [and] made us sit out in the open while they surrounded us. Sometimes, we were rained on while they made a fire for themselves away from us.”

The kidnappers had demanded 150 million naira (about $190,000) when they called the monastery a few hours after they took Olarewaju and his companions. The amount, Olarewaju said, was too large for the monastery.

Whenever the ransom negotiations went south, the kidnappers turned to the three monks with their weapons to steam off.

“They took turns to hit us. There is no place on our bodies they didn’t hit us. We tried our best to hide our eyes from the beating. We cried until our voices became hoarse,” Olarewaju said. “I lack words to describe those men. To me, they have lost every sense of humanity. Something else is living in them.”

Sometimes, the men would steal yams from people’s farms and prepare meals for themselves. Monks were made to carry the heavy loads of yams and not given any to eat. 

One night, they were made to lie down under a large tree as it rained. “Unknown to us, we were made to lie in an ants’ nest,” Olarewaju recounted. “The insects bit us and since our bodies were numb, we only noticed the swelling in the morning.”

By 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the three were faint from hunger and no amount of beating could make them move.

“I think our kidnappers thought that we were going to die before they could collect the ransom. One of them brought out six pieces of biscuits and untied Godwin to feed us,” he said.

On the way, the men smoked all kinds of substances, Olarewaju said. “They would pick some leaves, crush them and make them into big rolls, which they kept smoking. At no given point were their lips free from the smoke.”

Worse day of his life

Eze was killed on Oct. 18 at night. As usual, he was walking ahead of Olarewaju and Anthony Eze in the dark.

“I heard Godwin cry out in a very loud voice. One of the men flashed a torch light and I could see my brother standing in a pool of his blood. A big piece of wood had torn through his ankle, baring his flesh. As he struggled to remove the piece of wood from his leg with his hands tied behind his back, he stumbled and fell into a large pit,” Olarewaju said.

Badly injured, Eze could not walk again. This aggravated the kidnappers’ anger given that their negotiations for ransom were not going as they wanted.

“That night, the beating was worse than the previous occasions. The men had kept threatening us that they were going to kill us. That night, we knew they were going to make good their threats” Olarewaju said. “I heard one of the men cock their guns. I said a prayer: ‘Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.’ A shot was fired. It was Godwin that they shot.”

Olarewaju described the killing of Eze as the worst day of his life.

“Anthony and I were so mad. We screamed at the men, begging them to kill us. We couldn’t take the torture anymore,” he said.

Eze was murdered on the edge of a fast flowing river. His two companions were then forced to throw his body into the river. 

“We tried our best to refuse amid the beating they gave us,” Olarewaju recalled. “After a while, we signaled each other, held the body of our brother Godwin by the arm and leg, and tried to jump into the river with the body. Anthony jumped in first but was quickly pulled out. After that, he received a thorough beating for it.”

“I couldn’t sleep on the day that my brother Godwin was killed. The men promised to kill me on Thursday and to kill Anthony on Friday unless they received money from our families who they had roped into their evil negotiations,” Olarewaju said, adding that the men had dozens of mobile phones and a solar panel that kept their communication with the monastery flowing.

Asked what kept them going, Olarewaju said: “We stuck to our prayers. In fact, it was Bother Godwin’s idea that we continue with our mental prayers. We would signal each other to pray silently since the men didn’t want to hear the mention of the name ‘Jesus.’”

The Benedictine monastery is located in Kwara state, which is bordered by Kogi and Niger states. By Oct.  21, Olarewaju and Anthony Eze had walked up to the Kogi border, miles away from their community. As they approached Kogi, the negotiations between their abductors and their monastery had a breakthrough and they were released.

“We were in a very bad shape,” Olarewaju said. “I could look at brother Anthony and see that he was on the verge of death.”

“I remember taking the back seat on the bus since I was smelling very bad. I hadn’t brushed my teeth for five days. I hadn’t taken a bath and definitely, I hadn’t had a change of clothes,” he said.

Olarewaju said the October ordeal at the hands of his kidnappers has strengthened his faith. 

Prepared to die a martyr

“I joined the monastery hoping to make it to heaven,” he stated. “After my kidnapping and the horrors I encountered, it has become clear to me that I want something more. I am prepared to die a martyr in this dangerous country. I am ready anytime to die for Jesus. I feel this very strongly.”

The monk said he has fond memories of Eze, who has also been described as easygoing and prayerful.

“Brother Godwin was my senior in the monastery. He guided me on many occasions,” Olarewaju recalled. “I sometimes sat next to him in the oratory and he would help me open the prayer book. Some days, as I fumbled with the prayer book, he would sense my struggles and give me his already opened book. He would then take mine and quickly open the page and join the rest of us in the praying or singing. He was that loving and caring. I have no doubt that brother Godwin is in heaven.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Rome Newsroom, Nov 30, 2023 / 11:13 am (CNA).

On the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Pope Francis sent a message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople expressing his “fraternal affection” and reflecting on the “deep bonds of faith, hope, and charity” between the two churches.

The pope opened the letter by focusing on the journey of reconciliation between the two churches, noting that the feast of St. Andrew precedes the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem in January 1964.

“That encounter was a vital step forward in breaking down the barrier of misunderstanding, distrust, and even hostility that had existed for almost a millennium. It is noteworthy that today we remember not so much the words and statements of those two prophetic pastors but above all their warm embrace,” the pope said in his letter. 

“The example of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras shows us that all authentic paths to the restoration of full communion among the Lord’s disciples are characterized by personal contact and time spent together,” Francis continued. 

That meeting was an inflection point in the Catholic-Orthodox relationship, from one of estrangement to one of dialogue, as it was the first time since 1483 that a pope and an ecumenical patriarch met. 

Pope Francis also noted that “it is highly significant that this journey of reconciliation, increasing closeness, and overcoming of obstacles still impeding full visible communion began with an embrace, a gesture that eloquently expresses the mutual recognition of ecclesial fraternity.”

Pope Francis every year sends a message on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle to the ecumenical patriarch, who is the successor of St. Andrew and the “first among equals” in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

This year the pope expressed his “gratitude” and thanked the patriarch for his attendance at the ecumenical prayer vigil ahead of the opening of October’s Synod on Synodality. In a press release before the event, the Holy See said that the vigil was prepared in order to “emphasize the centrality of prayer in the synodal process, which is a spiritual process” and “underline the articulation between the synodal path and the ecumenical path.”

“Your personal support and that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, expressed also through the participation of a fraternal delegate in the work of the assembly, are a great source of encouragement for the fruitful continuation of the ongoing synodal process in the Catholic Church,” Pope Francis said in his letter. 

The prayer vigil was also attended by other religious leaders including Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, Coptic Pope Tawadros II, and Pastor Anne Burghardt of the Lutheran World Federation. 

In Instrumentum Laboris, the Vatican’s working document that guided Synod on Synodality discussions, the theme of ecumenism featured prominently. 

“Indeed, both synodality and ecumenism are rooted in the baptismal dignity of the entire people of God. Together they invite renewed commitment to the vision of a missionary synodal Church. They are processes of listening and dialogue and invite us to grow in a communion that is not uniformity but unity in legitimate diversity. They highlight the need for a spirit of co-responsibility, since our decisions and actions at different levels affect all members of the body of Christ. They are spiritual processes of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation in a dialogue of conversion that can lead to a healing of memory,” the document reads. 

Francis closed his Nov. 30 letter by writing that both churches are “in service to humanity, especially those affected by poverty, violence, and exploitation.” The Holy Father implored for peace. 

“Let us fervently pray to God, our merciful Father, that the clamor of arms, which brings only death and destruction, may cease, and that government and religious leaders may always seek the path of dialogue and reconciliation,” he wrote.

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 30, 2023 / 09:30 am (CNA).

In response to demands for proof that Bishop Rolando Álvarez is still alive, the Nicaraguan dictatorship’s Ministry of the Interior released new images of the prelate, who was sentenced to 26 years and four months in prison in February, accused of being “a traitor to the homeland.” 

The measure was strongly criticized by Bishop Silvio Báez, who pointed out that the video and photos do not justify the regime’s crime.

Báez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua living in exile, wrote on X on Nov. 28 that the dictatorship shouldn’t think “that with their cynical language and with photos and videos of dubious authenticity they are going to justify their crime and silence us.”

“Bishop Rolando Álvarez is INNOCENT and we will continue to shout this injustice before the world. He must be released immediately and without conditions!” he exclaimed.

Other images had been previously released by the dictatorship in March, when various activists and institutions demanded, as they have been doing recently, proof that the bishop of Matagalpa was still alive.

In a Nov. 28 press release, the Ministry of the Interior stated that the video and photos show that “the conditions of [Álvarez’s] confinement are preferential and that the regimen of doctor’s appointments is strictly complied with as well as family visits, the sending and receiving of packages, contrary to what slanderous campaigns try to make you believe.”

The statement also says that the Ministry of the Interior “will continue to fulfill its duty to safely hold Rolando Álvarez in the conditions that ensure his rights in every sense.”

Also shown are photos dating from March 25, May 13, July 28, Aug. 31, Oct. 2, and Nov. 2, where he is seen with his brothers, and other photos where he appears to be receiving medical care.

Images raise renewed concerns

The video shows the thinner, motionless prisoner seated as he blankly stares at a TV set in a living room with furniture and a table with various items on it.

Martha Patricia Molina — lawyer, researcher, and author of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?” — also questioned the images: “The same setting serves as a clinic, living room, dining room. Can someone explain that to me? Do they only change things around for photos?”

Félix Maradiaga, deported former presidential candidate and president of the Nicaraguan Freedom Foundation living in exile in the United States, dismissed the images released by the Nicaraguan dictatorship and expressed his concern for the bishop, noting that these were “presented as a response to complaints about the inhumane and arbitrary conditions of his imprisonment and are a clear attempt to distort reality."

“We understand that these photographs do not reflect the true situation of Bishop Álvarez. Their appearance, coinciding with international efforts demanding proof he’s alive and the pronouncements of important entities such as the United States Congress and the European Parliament, demonstrates the dictatorship’s intention to create a false impression of normality,” he stressed in a statement sent to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Maradiaga urged the international community to remain “vigilant” and “not be fooled by these maneuvers.” At the same time he asked it “to continue demanding the immediate and just release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez and all political prisoners in Nicaragua. The fight for justice and truth must continue relentlessly.”

In 2021 in the midst of running for president, Maradiaga was arrested by the Ortega regime and spent 20 months in prison before he was deported to the U.S. in February along with 221 other political prisoners in a deal with the U.S. State Department.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

We know your life is busy, especially in the Advent season.  You might be longing for less anxiety and hurry in your life and craving more slowness and peace.  In this first week of Advent, we are excited to share a meaningful...

Vatican City, Nov 30, 2023 / 08:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis told health care professionals on Thursday that he has “very acute infectious bronchitis” and was advised not to travel to Dubai to avoid the extreme change in temperature.

The pope, who will turn 87 on Dec. 17, quipped, “As you can see, I am alive,” as he met participants in a health care ethics seminar in a morning audience at the Vatican.

“Thank God it wasn’t pneumonia. It is a very acute, infectious bronchitis. I do not have a fever anymore, but am still on antibiotics and such,” Pope Francis said on Nov. 30.

Despite feeling under the weather, the pope maintained a very full schedule on Thursday with nine official meetings scheduled for the morning, including an audience with the International Theological Commission, bishops from Canada, and German Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim.

The Vatican has described the pope’s health condition as “influenza” with “lung inflammation” that has caused him some “breathing difficulties.”

Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the airways leading into the lungs (called bronchi) that can be caused by the same viruses as the flu but may also be caused by a bacterial infection.

Bronchitis is a different, but common complication of influenza that can cause a nagging cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain. Acute bronchitis can be contagious, according to the Mayo Clinic.

A CT scan at a Rome hospital on Nov. 25 “ruled out pneumonia,” according to the Vatican.

On Nov. 28, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the pope’s doctors had advised him not to travel to Dubai this week for the United Nations COP28 climate conference because the pope had “the flu and inflammation of the respiratory tract.”

Pope Francis himself explained the decision on Thursday in his off-the-cuff remarks in Spanish to the health care seminar.

“The doctor did not let me go to Dubai. The reason is that it is very hot there, and you go from heat to air conditioning,” he said, noting that this temperature change would not be good for his “bronchial condition.”

Pope Francis was hospitalized in March due to a respiratory infection and complained that he was not feeling well on Nov. 6, following which the Vatican said that the pope had “a bit of a cold.”

In his brief speech to the Ethics of Healthcare Management seminar, Pope Francis said that he was a fan of “preventive medicine.”

“Health is like a contrary thing; it is strong and fragile ... Poorly cared for health gives way to fragility. I like preventive medicine very much because it prevents before events occur,” Pope Francis said.

“I thank you for coming and forgive me for not being able to talk anymore, but I don’t have the energy,” he added.

CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2023 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Israel’s war against Hamas, which began when the terrorist group launched a surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7, continued to rage throughout October and November before an extended truce began this week, though fighting is expected to resume.

The human toll of the war has been catastrophic. The day of Hamas’ attack was the deadliest day for Israel since it became a state, with over 700 killed, according to government officials. Meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has decried what it tallies to be some 12,000 deaths in Gaza amid Israel’s retaliation. 

In addition, the fighting has caused immense physical damage, especially in Gaza. A recent New York Times analysis of satellite imagery found that about half of all buildings in the northern Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war.

Christians around the world have visited Israel and Palestine for hundreds of years, seeking God’s favor as they walk in the holy places where Christ and other biblical figures stood. Many Christians are understandably worried that the holy sites that have been guarded for centuries as places of pilgrimage might be damaged or even destroyed amid the chaos of war. 

According to Reuters, Hamas posessess rockets that are capable of a 150-mile range, though with limited accuracy. Although these rockets could theoretically make it to holy sites in Jerusalem and beyond, Israel’s vaunted “Iron Dome” missile defense system has historically intercepted most rocket attacks from Gaza. Rocket attacks have also been reported coming from the north, launched by the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally. 

In the face of this uncertainty, what is the outlook for the Holy Land’s many precious sites?

To find out, CNA contacted the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which has maintained the holy places of Christianity in the region for more than 800 years. In 1342, Pope Clement VI gave the Franciscans the official mandate to be guardians of the holy places for the Catholic Church. 

Today, the Franciscans care for 65 of the most significant Holy Land sites, including Bethlehem’s Basilica of the Nativity, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jerusalem’s Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The bulk of the sites span across Israel and Palestine, while a few are located in present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. 

Father David Grenier, OFM, is commissary of the Holy Land for the United States, meaning he is responsible for promoting the Holy Land’s sites to the people of the U.S. He said this week that none of the sites under the Franciscans’ care are currently under threat from the war — at least directly from hazards like bombs or rockets.

“So far, we are blessed because there’s no direct threat from the war,” Grenier told CNA in an interview. 

“[T]here’s no direct threat from the bombing or the rockets that are being thrown. We must say that we’re lucky we haven’t had any of our shrines damaged, or at risk to be damaged.”

Instead, he said, the threat facing holy sites in the region is more intangible — a lack of financial support from international pilgrims. The normally steady supply of tour groups from the U.S. and elsewhere has largely dried up as pilgrimage organizations anxiously wait to see how the war will play out.  

In a place like Bethlehem, which is located in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, Grenier said some 90% of the Christians living there are doing work that is directly tied to catering to pilgrimage groups — working in restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops, as guides, or in the shrines themselves. 

The lockdowns and restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic hit these workers hard for several years, he noted, and now the normally bustling streets of Jerusalem are empty once more. The ongoing war has even forced the cancellation of public Christmas celebrations in the town of Jesus’ birth. 

“It was planned to be a record year for the number of pilgrims, and with Christmas coming … the people, they feel discouraged. They cannot work,” Grenier said. 

“A lot of people at the moment are thinking about leaving,” he continued.

“Many, many Christians, especially the young generations, are saying, ‘What’s the point? What’s the point to stay here? Better go and live somewhere else.’ That would be very sad, because this is still the place where the Church was born. And to have that place without a local community of Christians would be very saddening.”

The Franciscans are a beneficiary of the Vatican’s annual Good Friday collection, which will be collected this year on March 29. Traditionally, 65% of the collection goes to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and the remaining 35% given to the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches to support seminarians and priests as well as educational and cultural activities. In 2022 the collection brought in more than $9 million. 

In the meantime, the Franciscans have launched an emergency campaign to raise funds to support Christians in the Holy Land and the priceless sites they guard. 

“There’s a very tense climate right now that is hard on everyone,” Grenier said.

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 30, 2023 / 05:50 am (CNA).

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) is deliberating a case that has the potential to legalize abortion throughout Latin America. The abortion lobby has seized on the case of Beatriz, a Salvadoran woman who was seriously ill and pregnant with a fatally disabled child who died shortly after birth.

The lobby is exploiting the case to force the issue of abortion as a solution to hard cases and thus open the door to abortion on demand.

In an effort to prevent such a decision by the court, more than 40 organizations demonstrated this week in front of the IACHR’s building in Costa Rica to demand that the judges not issue a verdict in favor of the “abortion industry.”

The demonstration, called by the National Front for Life, was held in the town of San Pedro de Montes de Oca, where the judges are in session.

The participating organizations are demanding that the judges recognize the right to life of Leilani, the baby girl in the case of Beatriz v. El Salvador.

The court’s deliberations could end in a ruling that legalizes the practice of abortion throughout the continent, endangering the right to life of unborn children.

The Beatriz case

Beatriz, a vulnerable woman who suffered from lupus, was pregnant with her second daughter, who was diagnosed with anencephaly. It was an at-risk pregnancy, but it did not endanger the life of Beatriz, as long as she was given appropriate prenatal care.

However, Salvadoran abortion groups reportedly convinced Beatriz that she was going to die if she didn’t have an abortion and that her baby was not really alive. Fearing that her first child would become an orphan, she requested the Salvadoran state to authorize an abortion.

After a medical examination that determined that the pregnancy did not put the mother’s life at risk, the state rejected the request, and on June 3, 2013, Beatriz gave birth to her daughter, an anencephalic baby.

The little girl, named Leilani, died five hours later due to her condition. Contrary to what abortion groups maintained, Leilani breathed, cried, received the love of her mother, and had a birth certificate.

Beatriz recovered well from the cesarean section, and months later, under pressure from the abortion lobby, she filed her case with the Inter-American Court, requesting that abortion be legalized so that no other woman would have to suffer what she experienced.

However, Beatriz visited her daughter’s grave in the cemetery and brought her flowers. In 2017, Beatriz died as a result of a motorcycle accident, and there is no evidence that her death was related to the birth of Leilani.

The court’s decision

If the Inter-American Court gives in to pressure from abortion groups, the practice could be required throughout the continent, since, although the sentences issued by the court are mandatory for the Organization of American States (OAS) member states directly involved in the case, it is debated whether the court’s rulings are also binding on all the states that belong to the organization.

With this ruling, the right to be born throughout Latin America would be put at risk, especially for people with disabilities and in vulnerable situations.

In countries where abortion is legal, a large percentage of children with Down syndrome are killed before birth and the practice is extended to different types of disabilities, even in situations of extreme poverty.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Asking pardon for speaking plainly, Pope Francis told members of the International Theological Commission that "one of the great sins we have had is 'masculinizing' the church," which also can be seen by the fact that only five of the commission members are women.

The pope, who appoints the 28 members of the commission, said the church needs to make more progress in balancing such bodies because "women have a capacity for theological reflection that is different from what we men have."

Pope Francis met members of the commission at the Vatican Nov. 30. He handed them a prepared text, which he described as a "beautiful speech with theological things," but said that because of his ongoing respiratory problems due to bronchitis, "it's better that I don't read it."

But greeting members of the group, the pope said that perhaps his conviction about the importance of women theologians comes from the fact that "I've studied a lot the theology of a woman," Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, and her work on Father Romano Guardini, a German priest, philosopher and theologian, who died in 1968.

Coincidently, Gerl-Falkovitz is one of four German women who wrote to Pope Francis about their concerns regarding the German Catholic Church's Synodal Path. In a letter published by a German newspaper Nov. 21, Pope Francis responded to the women saying, "I, too, share this concern about the numerous concrete steps that are now being taken by large parts of this local church that threaten to move further and further away from the common path of the universal church."

Pope Francis told members of the commission that at the next meeting of his international Council of Cardinals, "we will have a reflection on the feminine dimension of the church."

Providing no other details, he repeated what he has said in the past: "The church is woman. And if we do not understand who women are, what the theology of a woman is, we will never understand what the church is."

The problem "is not solved in a ministerial way, that's another thing," he said, repeating his belief in the concept that in the church there is a "Petrine principle" and a "Marian principle" that describe the important but different roles women and men play in the Catholic Church.

"You can debate this, but the two principles are there," the pope said. "It is more important to have the Marian (dimension) than the Petrine," because the church is the bride of Christ.

Pope Francis said having more women on the commission would help, but the theologians also need to dedicate more energy to studying the issue and to "de-masculinizing" the church.

"I talked too much, and it hurt," the pope told them before joining them in reciting the Lord's prayer.

In his prepared text, Pope Francis encouraged commission members to continue work on "an evangelizing theology that promotes dialogue with the world of culture," and decides what questions and challenges to focus on by listening to concerns that come from the grassroots.

The pope also focused on the commission's work helping the Catholic Church prepare to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

A rediscovery of the council and its teachings, he said, can help the church in evangelization, in growing in synodality and in the search for Christian unity.

"At Nicaea, faith was professed in Jesus the only-begotten Son of the Father; he became man for us and for our salvation and is 'God from God, light from light,'" the pope said. His is "the light that illuminates existence with the love of the Father."

Theologians, the pope said, need to help "spread new and surprising glimmers of the eternal light of Christ" in the church and "in the darkness of the world."