THE VATICAN |
THE VATICAN Caution on justification Just days after announcing the approval of a joint Catholic-Lutheran statement on the doctrine of justification, the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity issued a clarification of that document, citing “erroneous interpretations by the communications media.” The joint statement, the Pontifical Council cautioned, does not represent a change in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Specifically, the statement did not repudiate the doctrinal formulations put forward by the Council of Trent. Rather, the Council explains, in the light of further study and the “convergence” of thought on the topic, the joint statement affirms: “the teaching of the Lutheran churches, as presented in this declaration, does not fall under the condemnations of the Council of Trent.” The condemnations defined by the Council of Trent, the Pontifical Council explains, retain “the significance of salutary warnings, to which we must pay heed both in doctrine and in practice.” But the Lutheran position set forth in the joint declaration does not fall into the errors condemned at Trent. When it was finally approved by both the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, the
joint statement included its own set of clarifications, which were added to the document
after the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expressed concerns about possible
misunderstandings of the original text. While affirming that there is “a consensus on
basic truths of the doctrine of justification,” that Congregation had cautioned that
the theological differences between the two churches were not yet completely overcome. The
Congregation warned readers “that we cannot yet speak of a consensus such as would
eliminate every difference between Catholics and Lutherans in the understanding of
justification.” Pope mourns Armenian prelate At his regular Wednesday public audience on June 30, Pope John Paul II voiced the “deep sorrow” felt upon hearing news of the death of Catholicos Karekin I, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Holy Father said that he felt “a profound tie of affection” for the Armenian prelate. Their personal relationship grew during visits by the Catholicos to the Vatican in December 1996 and March 1999. “I came to admire his spiritual stature, his intense love for the Church, and his care for the unity of all Christians,” the Pope said. During the 1996 visit by Karekin, the Armenian Church leader and Pope John Paul II signed a joint theological statement affirming the nature of Jesus Christ as true God and true man. That statement ended a theological dispute between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Holy See—a dispute that dated back to the Council of Chalcedon, and precipitated a split between the two Christian bodies. John Paul and Karekin had looked forward to the restoration of full communion. Pope John Paul had planned to visit the Armenian prelate, who was dying of throat cancer, on his return trip from his recent voyage to Poland. But when the Pontiff was forced to curtail his schedule because of a bout with the flu, his plans for that personal visit were shelved. “I had very much wanted to be able to make a visit, as an act of brotherly love,” the Pope told his audience. “But circumstances did not allow it.” On Tuesday evening, June 29—the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul—Pope John Paul II mentioned the Catholicos by name during a service of prayers for Christian unity, and asked all the faithful to join in prayers for the repose of his soul. On that same day, the Pope wrote a remarkable letter to Karekin, in which he outlined his thoughts on “the ministry of the Bishop of Rome” as a “service of communion for all the churches.” The three-page letter carried a strong ecumenical message; the Pope called it a “confirmation” of the hope which he and Karekin shared, for the “reestablishment of full communion” between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Holy See. Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, had been designated to carry the papal message to the Catholicos. But when Karekin succumbed to his illness before the prelate’s arrival in Armenia, Cardinal Cassidy instead became the Pope’s personal representative at the funeral services, held in Etchmiadzin on July 8. In his letter, Pope John Paul recognized that the papacy remains “a crucial question on the road to full communion.” He said that he sought in his own pastoral ministry to be a focus of communion among the Christian churches. But he added that all Church leaders must be concerned with that service of unity, and he expressed his hope that the pastors of the Christian churches will concentrate their efforts on that task, “with the greatest possible tact, patience, and love.” The ultimate goal, he said, is nothing less than “to reconstitute the fabric of the undivided Church.” Progress in Romania Ecumenical progress has been made in Romania, too, according to a Vatican official involved in exchanges between the Romanian Catholic and Orthodox churches. Archbishop Francesco Pio Tamburrino, a Vatican representative on a joint commission of Romanian Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic officials, says that the recent papal visit to that country had a “calming” effect, and “created a climate of greater confidence and mutual respect” between the two communions. After a June meeting of the commission, which includes nine Orthodox bishops and six Romanian Catholic prelates, Archbishop Tamburrino noted the “more peaceful” tone of the talks, saying that the discussions were markedly more friendly than on previous occasions. The joint commission was set up in October 1998, to discuss the disposition of church properties which were seized from Catholic parishes by the Communist regime in Romania. The commission had previously met in October 1998 and again in January 1999 before last month’s meeting, which was held in an Orthodox monastery in the town of Ramet. The meeting began with an evaluation of the effects of the papal visit, Archbishop Tamburrino reported, and there was a unanimous agreement that the climate was now more favorable for Church unity. “The Orthodox bishops were struck by the spiritual dimension of the Pope, and also by his simplicity and humility, which were particularly obvious because of his infirmity,” he said. The prelates were also struck by the Pope’s enormous popularity among the people of Romania, and his ability to strike a positive note in his public addresses. The dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox leaders remains “delicate” nevertheless, the archbishop cautioned. He explained that the conversations about restoration of church properties are often complicated by the fact that many individuals—and even entire congregations—switched their religious affiliations to the Orthodox churches during the Communist era, when the Catholic churches were suppressed and persecuted. Since the rule of ecumenical affairs is to avoid any “proselytism,” it is difficult to resolve the ownership of property in these parishes. The next meeting of the joint commission is scheduled for November of this year. Before that happens, the Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist is expected to travel to Rome to express his “fraternal love for the Pope,” Archbishop Tamburrino said. He added that he has seen a shift in the perspective with which many Orthodox leaders regard the papacy, as more Orthodox prelates come to see the Pontiff as “truly a father in faith.” Aswer to an Orthodox request In yet another ecumenical move, Pope John Paul II has introduced a special day of prayer and fasting for Christian unity into the official calendar for the Jubilee Year, in response to a suggestion made by the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. After receiving a delegation from the Patriarch on June 28, the Holy Father designated the eve of the feast of the Transfiguration as a day of prayer and fasting. Both the Latin and the Byzantine churches will celebrate the Transfiguration on August 6, 2000; it is a particularly important feast on the Eastern Church calendar. Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople had proposed the day of prayer, and in greeting a delegation from the acknowledged leader of the Orthodox world, the Pope announced that he would put the date on the official calendar for the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox delegation—which came to Rome on the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, in an annual gesture of ecumenical friendship—was headed by Metropolitan Chrystostomos Konstantinidis of Ephesus. Condom campaign condemned Campaigns to combat AIDS by encouraging the use of condoms are dangerous and unreliable, argued Bishop Elio Sgreccia in an article published in the June 25 issue of L’Osservatore Romano. The bishop, who is vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life,
argued against a condom-use campaign promoted by the Italian health ministry. In
preference to that approach, he supported an educational campaign aimed at encouraging
individuals to avoid risky activity such as extra-marital sex and drug use. That
educational approach, he says, has proven more effective in stopping the spread of AIDS. If the public reaction to AIDS is based on condom use rather than education, Bishop Sgreccia wrote, the result is likely to be a “liberalization” of attitudes toward risky behavior, and consequently an increase rather than decrease in the spread of the disease. Debt-relief campaign advances The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP) found several suggestions “worthy of attention” among the policies suggested by the leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) nations regarding international economic affairs in general, and Third World debt in particular. Msgr. Giampaolo Crepaldi, under-secretary of the PCJP, made that assessment prior to a June meeting of heads of state from the G-7 countries: the seven most highly industrialized countries in the world. That summit, held in Cologne, was preceded by a meeting of G-7 finance ministers, who agreed to propose special measures of debt reduction for 36 of the world’s poorest countries. “On the part of the richer countries, there is greater awareness. They are showing more interest in reducing the debt, taking more initiatives,” said Msgr. Crepaldi. “There is greater agreement among them. We hope this will lead to important steps forward regarding the projects on the agenda.” He added that the most promising initiative suggested to the G-7 leaders was a plan to forgive 80 percent of the overall foreign debt owed by countries which agreed to adopt structural reforms in their economic systems. “The Holy See hopes for a broadening of this concession and an acceleration of its mechanisms to render debt reduction effective,” the under-secretary explained. Msgr. Crepaldi stressed that “the problem must be seen within the wider framework of development. To reduce or cancel debts only partly solves the problems of poor countries: in any case external international funding will be necessary to ensure development.” The PCJP has taken to heart Pope John Paul’s pleas for the cancellation of international debt. Msgr. Crepaldi reported:
Still in the black At a July 8 press conference in Rome, the head of the Vatican’s Prefecture for Economic Affairs briefed reporters on the latest financial figures for the Holy See, which show a surplus for the sixth consecutive year. Archbishop Sergio Sebastiani reported that the Holy See had spent $203.2 million dollars during the last fiscal year, while bringing in $204.7 million, leaving a $1.5 million surplus. The budget for the Holy See covers the apostolic activities of the Vatican: the Roman Curia, tribunals, synods, and evangelical works. The finances of the Vatican City State—involving governmental functions such as police work and museum administration—fall under a separate budget. While the most expensive items on the budget of the Holy See were the offices involved in media work, such as Vatican Radio and L’Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Sebastiani observed that these expenses are regarded as essential to the teaching function of the Holy See. While the returns on Vatican investments in real estate and financial markets helped to ensure the surplus this year, Archbishop Sebastiani disclosed that the Holy See would still be running in the red—as it did for many years—if it did not receive contributions from dioceses around the world. “Without the generosity of bishops, priests, religious, and laity in the world, we could not maintain these expenses—which, because of the forthcoming Jubilee Year 2000, are on the rise,” the archbishop said. The annual contributions to the Holy See from bishops’ conferences around the world have increased dramatically during this decade, rising from just over $600,000 in 1992 to nearly $23 million in 1997. Archbishop Sebastiani declined to answer questions as to which episcopal conferences had made the greatest contributions; he pointed out that a $100 contribution from Mozambique can loom larger than $10,000 from the United States, given the comparative resources of the two nations. But he did reveal that the largest grants to the Holy See during the past year had come from private foundations and organizations such as the Knights of Columbus. Sensational charges Italian newspapers were buzzing on June 27 and 28 with reports about a muckraking book on the Vatican that was published earlier this year. According to stories in two prominent dailies—Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica—the Vatican had moved to stop sales of a 288-page book entitled Gone with the Wind at the Vatican, which was released by Kaos publishing house in February. The book deals with stories of intrigue, careerism, and homosexuality, Masonic influence, and the exploitation of workers within the Roman Curia. The author, who wrote under a pseudonym, has now been identified as Msgr. Luigi Marinelli, a priest who has worked inside the Vatican for 35 years. According to Corriere della Sera, Msgr. Marinelli is now being pressed to withdraw his work. “Unfortunately, it is all true,” the paper quoted Msgr. Marinelli as saying. La Repubblica adds that the priest has been called before an ecclesiastical court to answer charges brought by an individual who says he was defamed by the book. Both newspapers add that Msgr. Marinelli does not want to carry the entire blame for the book, since he says that it was actually written by several different authors.
ITALY More clues on the Shroud A new Israeli study has confirmed that the presence of pollen and plant imprints on the Shroud of Turin, which is believed to be the miraculous burial shroud of Jesus Christ, lend support to the idea that it originated in the Holy Land. “In the light of our findings, it is highly probable that the shroud did in fact come from this part of the world,” said Avinoam Danin, a botany professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His study did not address the age of the linen cloth. Some scientists have dated it to the 13th century. But others have replied the 1988 carbon-14 dating tests which produced that result were flawed due to contamination. Danin found the shroud includes the imprints of some plants, and the botanist identified one as the bean caper (Zygophyllum dumosum), which he said grows only in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt’s Sinai desert. Two other plants whose images were found on the shroud were the Rock Rose (Cistus creticus) which grows throughout the Middle East, and the Goundelia tournefortii tumbleweed, believed by some to be the material of the crown of thorns. Traces of pollen taken from the shroud can be traced to plants found in Israel and neighboring countries, including the bean caper and the tumbleweed appearing on the shroud, according to Uri Baruch, an expert on pollen at the Israel Antiquities Authority. The shroud history can be traced reliably back to a 14th-century crusader returning to France from the Holy Land. It has been enshrined in a cathedral in Turin since 1578. IRELAND Surprise victory Irish political pundits were stunned by the European election victory in June of television personality and pro-lifer Dana. She was elected to the European Parliament with 72,855 votes for the constituency of Connaught-Ulster in the northwest of Ireland. The 45-year-old mother of four was once best known in Ireland for her victory in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song All Kinds of Everything. Two years ago, Dana—whose real name is Rosemary Scallon—placed third in the race for the Irish presidency, polling a surprisingly high 14 percent of the vote. Born in Derry, Dana currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where she has a show on Mother Angelica’s Eternal Word Television Network. She plans to move back to Connaught, from where she will commute to the Parliament in the Belgian capital, Brussels. After the results were announced, Dana said she would now be calling for another constitutional referendum on abortion. (Abortion is currently legal—though not widely practiced—in Ireland, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1992 that a woman could terminate her pregnancy at any stage if her life were at risk.) Many of Dana’s campaign organizers and supporters had played an active role in anti-divorce and anti-abortion campaigns in the rural and strongly Catholic northwest of Ireland in the past. Defeated candidate Noel Treacy of the government’s Fianna Fail party said he could not understand Dana’s victory. “This woman has come in from abroad and she is here now for the first time and she is elected. I don’t understand the reasons for it. I’m baffled.” Dana said she believed her win was a victory for people who felt disenfranchised from the larger political parties. She said people had to have the basic human right to work, and to have a roof over their heads. “But there has to be a balance between what is economically viable and what is socially necessary for people. We need ethics and values and principles. “I think family values won out here,” she said. “It is really a universal truth that the stability of the family is essential to the stability of society.” March without incident In Northern Ireland, an annual parade by members of the Orange Order, which had sparked off dozens of violent confrontations last summer, passed more peacefully this year after the Parades Commission blocked the Orange Order from entering into a Catholic neighborhood at Drumcree. No serious incidents were reported as marchers from the Masonic group paraded through the town of Portadown on Monday, July 5. Although some members of the Orange Order had vowed that they would march into Drumcree, the heavy British troop presence made it impossible to fulfill those promises. Facing soldiers and barbed-wire roadblocks outside the Catholic neighborhood, the Orangemen delivered a protest to the British peacekeeping contingent, but then turned away without forcing any further confrontation. After the parade had ended, officials reported one incident in which young Protestants attempted to break into a Catholic cemetery near Drumcree. They were driven away by British paratroopers. Later in the evening about 300 members of the Protestant group—many of whom had apparently been drinking—threw bottles, stones, and firecrackers at police before being driven away from the scene. No serious injuries were reported. The relative quiet of the annual march was seen as a victory for the peace process in Northern Ireland. And that victory was an important one, coming just as negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse, and some observers feared the talks were unraveling. Delicate negotiations British Prime Minister Tony Blair, struggling to shore up support for a peace agreement in Northern Ireland, urged Unionists in the region to join in negotiations with Sinn Fein. Blair, in his own effort to break an impasse in negotiations, proposed the creation of a coalition government, composed of four different parties, including Sinn Fein. Unionists have said such a framework is unacceptable. Peace talks in Northern Ireland foundered over the issue of Sinn Fein’s continued involvement in the discussions, and in any governing body which emerges from the negotiations. Unionists have insisted the Sinn Fein should not be treated as an equal partner because the Irish Republican Army has refused to surrender its weapons. (Sinn Fein is generally seen as the political arm of the IRA.) The IRA, in turn, had promised to begin the process of surrendering weapons—but only after a political accord was signed. Gerry Adams, the head of Sinn Fein, welcomed Blair’s proposal. But in response to objections from Unionists, Blair issued a new statement on July 6, suggesting a “fail-safe” provision to protect the Unionists from IRA intransigence. He said that a pact should include a proviso stating that if the IRA does not begin turning in weapons promptly after the agreement, the new government would be suspended and Sinn Fein would be excluded from future negotiations. David Trimble, a leader of the Ulster Unionists, promptly rejected Blair’s latest proposal, saying that he would not “gamble with an ineffective and unfair safety net.” He also rejected an invitation to meet with Blair, along with other Unionist members of Parliament. However, the largest party representing Catholics in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic Labor Party, indicated support for Blair’s offering. Seamus Mallon, a spokesman for the SDLP, told a BBC radio audience that he would welcome a test of the IRA’s willingness to abide by the terms of a peace agreement. Next Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern weighed in, cautioning against any effort to exclude Sinn Fein from peace talks. “The Good Friday agreement is first and foremost an exercise in inclusive, collective politics,” Ahern told reporters. He warned that a bid to exclude Sinn Fein could doom the peace process. Ahern and Blair appeared to be engaged in a public disagreement over the implementation of a peace plan which they had jointly put forward to break a logjam in the peace talks on Northern Ireland. But officials for both governments, speaking anonymously, assured journalists that the disagreement was only superficial, and Blair and Ahern remained united behind their proposal. GREAT BRITAIN Cardinal Hume buried Cardinal Basil Hume, OSB, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, died of cancer on June 17. The 76-year-old Archbishop of Westminster died peacefully, with two priests at his bedside. Two months earlier, the cardinal had written to his clergy, telling them he had abdominal cancer, and that it was “not in the early stages,” but he had said he was determined to see in the millennium. Queen Elizabeth II said she was deeply saddened to learn of the death of the cardinal, whom she would remember for his outstanding contribution to the Christian life of the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is married to a Catholic, paid tribute to a man he called “goodness personified.” Blair said Cardinal Hume made an incalculable contribution to the Catholic Church. “Around the world there are people who will miss him deeply and remember him for the extraordinary good that he did,” he said. The head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop George Carey of Canterbury, said: “We worked together closely and productively for many years and throughout that time my respect, admiration, and affection for him have grown.” Australian Cardinal Edward Cassidy represented Pope John Paul II at the prelate’s funeral. Cardinal Hume was buried in a side chapel of Westminster Cathedral, wearing his black Benedictine habit, as he had requested. However, Cardinal Hume continued to make news even after his death. In a video message to American Catholic bishops, which came to light only after his funeral, the late cardinal criticized Vatican officials for their involvement in the life of local dioceses, and called for a more democratic approach to decision-making in the Church. Cardinal Hume said that some messages from the Vatican had made him feel like “a naughty schoolboy caught doing something unacceptable.” He protested that these messages were sometimes signed by lesser Vatican officials, who should not have the authority to issue orders to diocesan bishops. Many bishops, he said, are unhappy with “the form and tone of some letters from curial offices.” Cardinal Hume’s list of complaints against the Vatican included the appointment of mediocre bishops, a failure to consult with diocesan bishops before settling questions of policy, and what he saw as a heavy-handed response to some dissident theologians. The cardinal’s critique of Vatican policies was made on videotape, to be presented before the American bishops at their June meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Cardinal Hume had originally planned to attend the US bishops’ meeting in person, but recorded the videotape when it became clear that his own declining health would prevent him from attending. Crackdown on teen births The British government would deny government housing for teenage mothers, provide contraception to teens without their parents’ knowledge, and go after teen fathers for child support under a $96 million plan unveiled in June. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the plan is part of a major effort to provide sex education and contraception to teens, making both more publicly open and accessible. The plan does not require parliamentary approval. Under certain circumstances, school nurses will be allowed under the plan to arrange with a doctor for a girl under 16 years old to be given birth control pills without her parents’ knowledge. Teen mothers would also be placed in supervised hostels rather than be given government housing. About 93,000 teenagers, 8,000 of them under the age of 16, become pregnant in Britain each year, the highest rate in Western Europe. Just over half of the pregnancies of those under 16 end in abortion. More than a third of the pregnancies of those 19 and under end in abortion. Ann Widdecome, health secretary for the opposition Conservative Party, criticized the plan, saying she doubted more sex education would solve the problem. “I think there is a very clear lesson to be learned from the fact that we have never had so much sex education, so much availability of free advice, so much ready availability of free contraception, and yet we have got record levels of teen-age pregnancies,” she said. Limiting care for the terminally ill On June 27, L’Osservatore Romano raised the alarm about the decision of the British Medical Association which allows doctors to decide for themselves whether the life of a patient should be “prolonged” by food, water, and the use of artificial respirators. The Vatican newspaper noted that the new British policy, introduced last week, allows a doctor to prohibit the feeding of a patient, if he concludes that the patient’s condition is hopeless. The doctor is also charged with the responsibility for judging whether medical care for a terminally ill patient is too costly to be justified. Father Gino Concetti, a moral theologian who writes frequently for the Vatican newspaper, observed that this “disconcerting” new policy removes the primary decision-making role from the patient and his family members. That “substitution of roles” opens the way for many potential abuses, he said, putting severely ill people at the mercy of “doctors lacking in competence, prudence, and solidarity” with their dying patients. From the perspective of Christian morality, Father Concetti wrote, there is an ethical duty to provide appropriate treatment—but not extraordinary or invasive treatment—to patients who are dying. While at times it is difficult to judge what means are “extraordinary,” the provision of food and water is not “extraordinary” treatment—and, by the same token, the deliberate decision to deny food and water to a patient would ordinarily constitute a choice to cause, rather than to accept, that patient’s death. Father Concetti pointed out that doctors can also err in their appraisal of a patient’s chances for recovery; he noted several cases when a patient who was diagnosed as being in a “persistent vegetative state” actually regained full consciousness and health. Because of rapid advances in medical technology, Father Concetti conceded, doctors can often face situations in which they must gauge the potential benefits of medical treatments which may be enormously expensive and unlikely to succeed. The danger, he continued, lies in the possibility that some patients may be denied adequate care because their lives are judged “useless, or too costly.” He concluded with a warning: “The temptation to measure the health of citizens in terms of costs and profits can never be adequately kept under control.” SPAIN Custody for homosexual partner The official Vatican newspaper has denounced a decision by a Spanish court to place an 11-year-old girl in the custody of her deceased father’s homosexual lover. The case before a Seville court involved a man—the acknowledged “emotional companion” of the girl’s father—who acted as a woman and was known to the young girl as “Mama.” The court found that the “marital” relationship between the two men was strong enough to constitute grounds for giving custody to the man. Writing in the June 26 issue of L’Osservatore Romano, Father Gino Concetti remarked that the young girl was being deprived of “the dimension of parenthood which consists of a natural and biological mother and father.” He argued that “the dignity of this little girl has been outraged” by the court’s decision. Father Concetti observed that while this particular case was unprecedented, the decision paved the way for further advances of the homosexual cause, ultimately aimed at gaining legal recognition for same-sex unions. NETHERLANDS Legal status for homosexual partners Sharply criticizing the public policy of a European government for the third time in less than a week (see stories above), the Vatican newspaper sharply criticized a decision by the Netherlands to confer legal status on homosexual unions, making them the legal equivalent of marriages. An article published in the July 2 issue of L’Osservatore Romano said the Dutch policy is “an insult to reason.” Father Gino Concetti observed that the new policy renders the status of marriage “ambiguous,” insofar as the legal rights accorded to married couples are also given to homosexuals. This is an important step toward an outright legal recognition of homosexual “marriage,” he wrote. The Vatican newspaper also objected to the Dutch decision to allow homosexual couples to adopt children, or to provide for the birth of their “own” children through the help of a third party—a prospect which Father Concetti described as “completely abnormal and absurd.” L’Osservatore Romano reminded readers that in February 1994 and again in June of the same year, Pope John Paul II spoke out against an initiative that had been introduced into the European Parliament, urging individual governments to “open to homosexual couples all the juridical institutions now at the disposition of heterosexuals.” Father Concetti explained that the Church will always insist on “an anthropology based on distinction, on the complementarity and integration that characterize the human person as man and woman.” He wrote: “Specificity and sexual diversity are a natural element of that reality, and also of human dignity.” YUGOSLAVIA Orthodox Church seeks Milosevic resignation The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church demanded the resignation of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic following the end of the three-month NATO air war against their country. The synod said the resignation of Milosevic and his government was “in the interest of the people and their salvation.” The statement added, “Every sensible person has to realize that numerous internal problems and . . . the isolation of our country on the international scene, cannot be solved or overcome with this kind of government and under the present circumstances.” The synod also called for the protection of Orthodox shrines and monasteries in Kosovo following the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from the region under the peace implementation plan. The church leaders feared that the return of ethnic Albanians and the exodus of Serbs would leave the church’s holiest sites unprotected against those Kosovars who might be bent on revenge. The statement also urged Kosovo Serbs to stay in the region and “remain on their ancient homesteads and not abandon their shrines, convinced of the truth in Christ’s words: ‘Salvation shall come to the steadfast.’” The synod statement in its criticism of Milosevic, however, denounced the international war crimes tribunal’s indictment of Milosevic. The synod said they are “convinced that the final justice is with our Lord and not in the hands of an instrumentalized court in The Hague.” Following up on the statement from the synod, on June 17 the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle appealed to both Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo not to abandon their heritage, history, and holy sites in Kosovo, adding that he would himself move to the Pec Patriarchate in western Kosovo, the chief see of the church since 1253. The patriarch said he would seek assurances from the Yugoslav government and NATO peacekeepers that the Serbs would be safe. “I will plead with all responsible organs of our state and the highest representatives of the international forces in Kosovo for your lives and property, for your protection and safety,” he said. He added that these assurances would be sought for everyone in Kosovo, regardless of religion or ethnic background. Church sources in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, are reported by the Belgrade media to have said that the Monastery of Sveta Trojica (The Holy Trinity), at the village of Musutiste, has been burnt down and 13 Orthodox churches in Kosovo were abandoned in the face of violence by the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army. RUSSIA New warning from the Patriarch The head of the Russian Orthodox Church warned the international community that despite the end to NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the exit of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, the situation in the region could be worsening. Patriarch Alexei II told reporters after a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson: “It is necessary to settle all issues related to the refugees before cold weather sets in: provide them with shelter and normal living conditions.” He added that he is concerned for the safety of 1,887 Serbian Orthodox monasteries and shrines in Kosovo. Robinson, in Moscow after visiting Macedonia and Montenegro, briefed the patriarch on the problems facing the Balkan region. “It is important to ensure the rights of both the returning Albanians and the Serbs who have not left Kosovo,” she said. The patriarch said he and Robinson had also discussed joint projects sponsored by the UN and the Moscow Patriarchate and aimed at providing help to Russia’s poor, particularly children.
ISRAEL Dates announced for papal visit A Vatican representative in Israel has announced the expected dates for a visit by Pope John Paul II next year. Although Israeli officials had earlier announced such a trip was in the works, the Vatican had remained silent on the possibility of a papal trip to the Holy Land during the Jubilee Year, although it was widely known that the Holy Father was anxious to make such a journey. “A papal visit is in the very advanced stages of planning,” Msgr. Richard Mathes, the Vatican’s cultural attaché in Israel, told a conference of religious leaders. He said the Pope is expected to arrive in Jerusalem on March 20, 2000. The final obstacle to an official announcement of a trip is apparently the absence of real progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Msgr. Mathes said a papal visit to Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem would also depend on an end to organized violence in those areas and a period of calm. On June 30, the Vatican released a letter in which Pope John Paul II explains his desire to travel during the Jubilee Year to some of the sites connected with the history of salvation. The Holy Father had alluded to that letter in public remarks a day earlier. The Pontiff wrote that his desire was to make a “special Jubilee pilgrimage” in order to pray at “the principal places which, in the Old and New Testaments, saw God’s interventions.” The sites he mentioned in his letter are Ur in Chaldea, now Iraq, where Abraham heard God’s call; Mount Sinai in Egypt; Mount Nebo, the mountain in Jordan from which Moses first looked out over the Promised Land; Damascus; Athens; and three cities in the Holy Land: Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. If he is able to realize his ambitions for the pilgrimage, John Paul’s pilgrimage would take him to six different countries which he has not yet visited during his pontificate: Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Greece, as well as land now governed under the Palestinian Authority. During his years as Archbishop of Krakow, the current Pope visited the Holy Land twice: in 1963 and 1964. Pope Paul VI traveled to Jordan, and to Jerusalem, in 1964. The papal letter indicates that the Holy Father is most emphatic in his desire to visit the Holy Land itself, and to pray in Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. The Pope’s letter did not indicate when his pilgrimage would take place, and the Vatican has not released any dates for the visits he mentioned. But the Italian daily Il Messaggero reported that the trip to Iraq could take place in December 1999, while confirming Msgr. Mathes’s report that the voyage to the Holy Land—including the visit to Jordan and Syria—might be scheduled for March 2000. The trip to Egypt would then be scheduled for another time in the year 2000, the Messaggero story suggests. Describing the pilgrimage as “exclusively religious,” the Pope says that he would be “pained” if anyone attempted to assign some political significance to his travels. But he does write that the trip could provide “occasions for meeting” with leaders of other religious groups—especially Muslims—and for efforts to promote unity among Christians. Compromise on custody On June 15 an Israeli official warned that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher could become a death trap in case of a fire, and insisted that the problem must be rectified before the arrival of the four million who are anticipated in Jerusalem for the Jubilee. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, on the site of Christ’s crucifixion and burial, can hold up to 15,000 people, but has only one door about six feet wide. “It’s a very dangerous situation. If a fire erupts in the church, many people could die,” said Uri Mor of the department for Christian communities at Israel’s Religious Affairs Ministry. Eleven of the twelve doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem have been sealed for 800 years. After defeating the Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the Emperor Saladin decided to close those doors, thus ending the squabbling among different Christian communities over access to the church. For the past eight centuries, the only keys to that single door have been in the possession of two Muslim families, who handed down their gatekeeping responsibilities from father to son. Even through the 20th century, disputes between the various Christian churches and denominations that control the church have stalled any renovations or changes in the structure of the basilica. Mor said he had tried for years to persuade the Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian administrators to re-open some of the sealed doors. Finally, discouraged by the lack of progress, Mor asked the Israeli government to force the issue. That tactic apparently worked. Less than a week after Mor sounded the alarm, an agreement was struck among the three main Christian communities that share custody of the basilica—Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic—for the construction of at least one new doorway. But the debates may not be fully resolved; in their agreement with the Israeli ministry the Christian representatives did not pinpoint the site of the new doorway, nor did they agree on a gatekeeper. Peace restored On June 19 the Palestinian Authority announced that a solution to the
mounting tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nazareth is near. But the Palestinian
statement was not welcomed by the government of Israel. In a Cabinet statement, the Palestinian Authority said a delegation had been dispatched to Nazareth to help mediate and has made great progress.
AFRICA Missionary successes Christianity in the African continent is increasing at a far higher rate than any other continent according to a study by a British researcher released in June. Rev. David Barret, an Anglican minister who has served in Africa for decades, found that the number of Christians in Africa was increasing at a 3.5 percent annual rate, accounting for 6 million new Christians each year. The study found that the number of Christians increased from 9.9 million in 1900 to 203 million in 1980 and that out of 6 million new Christians each year, 1.5 million are adult converts. Barret also found that Christianity in the Third World has experienced massive gains during the 20th century. An estimated 15.4 percent of the total number of Christians in the world are found in the developing countries. The survey was conducted as part of the first World Christian Encyclopedia. “Ghost houses” During a June trip to Europe, where he participated in a series of conferences on African problems, the Egyptian director of the Caritas relief agency said that the incidence of religious persecution and torture in Sudan is wider than Western journalists have reported. Father Henri Boulad, SJ, observed that while Western newspapers reported the arrest of two Catholic priests (Fathers Hilary Boma and Lino Sebit) in August 1998, at least another 25 people are currently facing trial in Sudan on the same charges: conspiring against the security of the state. Moreover, Father Boulad continued, “The scandalous detention of these people, with their confessions coerced by torture, is only a very small part of what is happening in Sudan; there is a multiplication of ‘ghost houses’ in which people are tortured.” Father Boulad suggested that the Khartoum government may be stepping up its campaign to intimidate Christians in the north of the country at the same time that the regime faces a military crisis in the south. He mentioned the opinion of some military observers that just one more significant rebel victory in the south might force the Islamic government to concede autonomy for that region. But he added that “the real problem in the south is the support which France gives to the Khartoum government.” He charges: “It was France, anxious to lay hands on terrorists, which helped the regime to reconstruct its secret services, and also began supplying weapons” which are now being used against the Christian rebels in the south. Ransoming slaves The Trinitarian fathers, founded in the Middle Ages, have decided to return to their old charism; they want to provide education for Sudanese children ransomed from slavery. Five of their members are already preparing for the mission, studying Arabic in Cairo. To build and equip the necessary centers the order has undertaken a fundraising campaign. Funds gathered so far have been made available to the Archbishop of Khartoum and the Bishop of El Obeid to buy back some of the unfortunate children now serving as slaves in Sudan. “We hope that before the end of 2000, we will have Trinitarian fathers operating directly in the territory, in institutions equipped for the treatment of these traumatized children,” Father Isidoro Murciego said. The Trinitarian Fathers were founded in 1198 by Ss. John Matha and Felice de Valois. For centuries the order helped to free slaves—both Christians and Muslims—throughout the known world. Now, eight centuries later, the order is ready to resume its old task, Father Murciego explains, “because, sad to say, in many places where there are Trinitarian missions, slavery has returned.” KENYA Fighting corruption Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi has appealed to Christians to help fight corruption in society, because it has become a threat to the country’s development. Moi said that despite government action against corruption, including the official Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority, it continued unabated. Speaking at the opening of a Pentecostal school in Nairobi, Moi lauded the low cost of construction of the state-of-the-art buildings and said that if it had been done by government contract, it would have cost at least five times as much. He called on Christian leaders to seize their opportunity to instill moral principles such as forthrightness and honesty in an attempt to counter the evils and lack of discipline now afflicting the African society. But he added that the only lasting solution to evil lay in the “true knowledge of God,” and encouraged all Kenyans to read the Bible daily. The president also advised church schools to blend Christianity with positive aspects of African traditions in their efforts to mold their students into upright, disciplined, and responsible citizens. The government, he said, recognized and appreciated the complementary role played by religious organizations and the private sector in the development of education. DEMOCRATIC CONGO Encouraging the negotiators As a long series of on-again, off-again peace talks between the government and rebel leaders yielded no conclusive results, Cardinal Frederic Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi of Kinshasa voiced a forceful protest “against the taking of innocent human lives and the destruction of the country’s remaining infrastructures.” His protest came after bomb attacks in Bukavu, Goma, Uvira, Businga and Binga, in which 27 people —most of them civilians—were killed. In his appeal the cardinal called on President Laurent Kabila to do everything in his power to put an end to the fighting, which continues to inflict suffering on the people now exhausted by war and its numerous consequences. He requests a general amnesty to allow all Congolese to return to their country. The fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—formerly known as Zaire—has involved a complicated series of alliances between native factions and forces from Chad, Uganda, and Rwanda. After accords that called for the withdrawal of the troops from Chad and Uganda, and a cease-fire by the Rwandan soldiers, Cardinal Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi saw hope for a more peaceful future. But he felt the need to protest after new outbreaks of violence, which threatened to push peace further away. He told his countrymen:
SIERRA LEONE Peace accord struck Government officials and rebels have agreed to the terms of a peace pact, apparently ending eight years of civil war in Sierra Leone. UN officials announced on July 5 that President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone and Foday Sankoh of the United Front rebels would sign a peace treaty in Lome, the capital of Togo, after several weeks of diplomatic talks. Although the rebel forces in Sierra Leone have been split into several competing groups, sources in Togo said that all of the important rebel leaders would accept the peace treaty. Negotiations had nearly broken down when Sankoh demanded at least eight positions for rebel representatives in the Cabinet of a new unity government. But Sankoh and his allies backed away from that demand—as they also gave up on a plea for the withdrawal of Nigerian peacekeeping troops from Sierra Leone. Visiting Sierra Leone on the day after the peace agreement was announced, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that a proposed amnesty should not protect the perpetrators of crimes against humanity. While residents in the capital city of Freetown celebrated the end of a long and bloody civil war, Annan cautioned that the UN could not support the peace agreement if the amnesty provisions contained in the document were used to protect individuals who committed atrocities during the war. The conflict in Sierra Leone was marked by an unusually high incidence of brutality, as forces on both sides deliberately maimed their prisoners and engaged in wholesale slaughter of non-combatants. One UN spokesman announced, “Our view is that the amnesty and pardon shall not apply to international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.” INDIA Penalties for large families? A dozen women’s groups, including two Christian action networks, have demanded the rejection of a controversial population bill pending before the state assembly of Delhi, India’s capital. In a memorandum submitted to Sheila Dikshit, the chief government minister of Delhi, on July 8, the women’s groups described the proposed population control bill as “misconceived, unconstitutional, and discriminatory and also objectionably elitist in its assertions.” The bill proposes that any family with more than two children will be denied rations, government employment, job promotions, and other benefits. Parents of such families would be ineligible for housing loans, and could not be candidates in public elections. “These are fascistic measures which have no place in a democracy. It amounts to punishing the poor for their poverty,” said the women’s groups. Pointing out that many poor families have more children as they are not sure of how many will survive, the women’s groups urged the government to increase funds for healthcare, education, and employment. “Where there has been increase in social-sector programs with direct benefits to the poor, the family size has changed accordingly,” the women reminded the head of the Delhi government. The state has a population of 12 million people, with more than two thirds living in impoverished conditions. “The policy of incentives and disincentives as part of measures of population control must be discontinued forthwith,” urged the women’s groups. Citing a UN document, issued by the Cairo Conference on Population, they said that “the right to have children is a human right and any denial of this is violation of the same.” CHINA Rare criticism of Beijing Cardinal John Baptist Wu of Hong Kong offered rare criticism for China’s Communist government in a pastoral letter on the government’s stand that children born on the mainland to Hong Kong parents do not have a right to live in the territory. The letter warned that the government move will “shake the foundations of the family” and raise doubts locally and internationally about the Chinese central government’s promise of “one country, two systems, with a high degree of autonomy.” Under the territory’s mini-constitution, children born anywhere of resident Hong Kong citizens have a “right of abode” in Hong Kong. In recent months, however, government police, concerned by the flood of immigrants from China, have tried to expel dozens of children and wives of Hong Kong residents. When a Chinese court forced a stop to those expulsions, the Beijing government asked the People’s Assembly to change the laws regarding immigration, restricting the right to move to Hong Kong. In his pastoral letter, Cardinal Wu recalls that in the 1950s and 60s Hong Kong welcomed refugees from the mainland who were escaping from Communism. “Faced today with the question of children born to Hong Kong parents in the motherland, how can we harden our hearts, looking on with indifference and a lack of humanity, and use a new ‘interpretation’ of the law to deny them hope?” he asked. The cardinal assured the government that the Church and humanitarian organizations in Hong Kong are ready to cope with any difficulties caused by the influx of new arrivals. New attacks on underground Church A priest serving the Catholic Church in China has died under suspicious circumstances, a seminarian has been tortured, and four lay people have been arrested and sentenced to “re-education” camps, as authorities in China continue their persecution of Catholics loyal to Rome. Late in June, Father Yan Weiping, the vicar general of the Yixian diocese, was found dead on a street in Beijing, according to a report carried by the Fides news service. The priest—who had been active in the underground Church in Beijing—had been arrested in May while celebrating Mass in a private home. The Cardinal Kung Foundation, an American-based group which collects information about the Catholic Church in China, believes that he was killed and then thrown out the window of a building in Beijing. The Cardinal Kung Foundation also reports that Wang Qing, a seminarian in the Baoding diocese, was beaten, hanged by his hands, and forced to drink a “filthy fluid” after he was arrested while making a pastoral visit to a family in Baoding. On Pentecost Sunday, May 23, government agents tried to arrest a priest who was celebrating Mass in a private home. When their effort was foiled, they arrested the four lay people who helped the priest to escape. Fides also received reports of lay people who were beaten by government officials, and even had their homes set on fire, because they were found to be keeping the sacred vessels used for celebrating Mass. These incidents occurred in the Chinese province of Hebei, surrounding Beijing, which is the home to an estimated one million Catholics loyal to the Holy See. The Communist government of China has aggressively sought to discourage membership in this “underground” Church, while encouraging Catholics to join the government-approved “Patriotic Catholic Association.” Fides believes that the Beijing government is stepping up its efforts to suppress Catholicism, and other religious influences, as the country approaches the 50th anniversary of the Communist government in China. That campaign is particularly urgent because Christianity, along with Buddhism, have become increasingly popular among the Chinese people in recent years. On July 1, during a ceremony for the 78th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, President Jiang Zemin harshly criticized citizens who “believe in superstitions” and urged them to adhere instead to “historical materialism.” And over the space of several weeks the Communist People’s Daily newspaper published a series of articles condemning “religious idealism.” NORTH KOREA North Korea seeks more aid The government of North Korea has criticized South Korea for stopping shipments of 200,000 tons of fertilizer, after a breakdown in negotiations between the two states. South Korea had pledged to ship the fertilizer to the North, and had delivered on half of the promised shipment. But the South balked at continuing the shipments after reaching an impasse in talks about the reunion of Korean families. (Thousands of Korean families have been split since the country was partitioned as a result of the Korean War in the early 1950s.) The Seoul government insists that the agreement to provide fertilizer for the North was contingent on progress toward family reunions. The Communist government of North Korea argues that the two issues should not be related. North Korea is desperate for the fertilizer shipments, since the country is suffering from a famine of enormous proportions. Although few reporters have been allowed into the North, the available reports indicate a catastrophic situation; starvation is widespread, disease is raging, and many families have resorted to crime and prostitution in order to provide food. PHILIPPINES Bishops protest family-planning campaign The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have lamented the start of a new United Nations population control campaign in the Asian country, being kicked off by former Spice Girl, singer Geri Halliwell. Halliwell visited the poor neighborhoods in Manila, including a Planned Parenthood-funded Marie Stopes International clinic. She spoke to several rallies, including ones for health workers and patients. “She’s doing remarkably well. She’s a natural in making contacts with everyone she meets,” said Patricia Hindmarsh, director of the London-based Marie Stopes which advises the United Nations Population Fund on abortion and birth control. “As this is her first assignment as UN ambassador of goodwill, I believe she’s going to have a wonderful career ahead of her,” Hindmarsh said. During a tour of the slums in Manila, Halliwell told reporters: “I believe that if you can’t control your fertility, you can’t control your life, and if you’re having sex, you’ve got to be protected against unwanted pregnancy and infection.” Father James Reuter, spokesman for the bishops’ conference responded:
INDONESIA Church leaders pleased by vote Indonesian Church leaders said they are happy about the country’s first relatively free election, because it increased the people’s confidence to cope with further challenges in the economic and political crisis. Bishop Joseph Suwatan, the president of the bishops’ conference, said the elections were held in accordance with democratic norms, except for some minor incidents of violence in the province of Aceh and the territory of East Timor. The voting, the bishop says, took place openly, although the procedures used in counting the results were far from transparent. “The elections were the first step on the path toward democratization,” Bishop Suwatan said. Father Mudjistrisno, a Jesuit priest and member of the Election Supervisory Committee, acknowledged there were some charges of fraud and vote manipulation, and that some politicians had shown a very emotional reluctance to accept their losses. “They were mostly politicians who inherited the legacy of Suharto’s corrupt New Order regime,” he explained. The losers, he continued, were “precisely those notorious for their ‘money politics’ which shows that the people were unwilling to be deceived in practicing their freedom to vote.” He added that the delay in counting the votes was predictable, and “people were naturally impatient.” But overall he predicts that reform-oriented parties would form a coalition in the newly elected parliament, which will in turn appoint the country’s new president. Dr A.B. Susanto, an adviser to the bishops’ conference, said the campaign and vote had been surprisingly peaceful and calm, contrary to all forecasts. Participation in the vote was high, and so was the risk of fraud. “But the result reflects the aspiration of the people,” he said. He also predicted that the reform parties will emerge as a powerful force in the new legislature, although the Golkar party, which has long been dominant in Indonesia, will remain very strong as well. Susanto reported that several Catholic laymen were candidates for different reform parties in the election, but very few were affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party—which, led by Megawati Sukarnoputri, emerged as the single biggest winner in the vote. Indonesia is mainly Muslim and is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. EAST TIMOR Referendum endangered On June 22 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that a crucial referendum on the future of East Timor would be delayed, because continuing episodes of violence have set back preparations for the vote. The referendum was originally scheduled for August 8; it was set back until late August—while further outbreaks of violence led some observers to predict another postponement. Annan, in a report to the Security Council, did not give an exact date for the rescheduled vote, but UN officials said they expected it to take place on August 21 or 22. While some UN officials prefer August 21, a Sunday, in order to allow the greatest number of East Timor’s 400,000 people to vote on whether to seek greater autonomy within Indonesia or independence, the Jakarta government is said to fear Catholic clergy would use the day to preach in favor of independence. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, invaded East Timor, a former Portuguese colony which is predominantly Catholic, in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move that has never been recognized by the UN. In January, Indonesian President B.J. Habibie said his government would be willing to grant some autonomy to the territory if the people rejected outright independence. Anti-independence militias, which Church sources charge are trained and armed by the Indonesian military, have engaged in violent campaigns of intimidation against the Timorese, leaving scores dead, wounded, or displaced from their homes. “Militia activities continue to have a constricting effect on political freedom, silencing pro-independence activists and their supporters and forcing them into hiding, thus jeopardizing the necessary openness of the consultation [voting] process,” Annan said in the report. Later in June, the first few days of direct talks between opposing Timorese factions produced no progress—although supporters of independence continued to say that negotiations offered the best hope for a peaceful settlement. Jose Alexandre “Xanana” Gusmao, a key independence leader, said that the talks—held in Jakarta under the aegis of the Catholic Church—had set the stage for true dialogue. Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of Dili, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, said all East Timorese, and especially Catholics, must work toward unity and peace. “I call upon all delegates to work together towards a solution that will unite the people of East Timor and bring about prosperity,” he told participants at the Jakarta talks. “The Church is charged with a task of spreading the good news of peace, justice, and love.” But the violence continued. On June 29 a UN outpost was attacked by a militia group, and six people were wounded. The UN had set up several outposts around the territory to organize the August referendum, and UN officials warned that such attacks might make it impossible to carry out the vote. On July 7 the government of Indonesia announced plans to send 1,000 more troops into East Timor, to maintain order there during the weeks preceding the referendum. A spokesman for General Wiranto, the head of the Indonesian military forces, said that the new troops would protect everyone in the troubled region, including UN officials who have come to observe the elections. However, he flatly rejected the notion that UN peacekeeping troops might enter East Timor.
COLOMBIA Isolating the guerrillas On June 15, rebels affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) released 33 of the hostages whom they had seized in a shocking May raid on a Catholic Church in Cali. But 20 other hostages remained in custody, and the Catholic bishops—who had been carefully acting as mediators in Colombia’s civil warfare—stepped up their own campaign against the ELN. The hostages who were released on June 15 were marched with great fanfare into Cali and delivered to members of a special commission on kidnapping, in front of a live television audience. One of the freed prisoners, Father Humberto Cadavid, decried the carnival atmosphere surrounding the release. “The Colombian state is being held hostage,” he said. “If the rebels can abduct an entire church full of people, where is the security, where is the tranquillity in Colombia? We’re living in fear.” In addition to the remaining Cali hostages, ELN also continued to hold 24 people captured in the hijacking of an Avianca Airlines flight on April 12. Two days after the initial release of hostages, Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali said that he had been informed the ELN had demanded ransoms from some of the families of their victims. “They want to make money at the expense of the pain and suffering of the hostages,” said the archbishop. A spokesman for the ELN later admitted that ransom had been sought. “The government charges taxes and fees,” said Antonio Garcia, the ELN deputy commander; “We also have the right to do so.” Archbishop Duarte had excommunicated all ELN members after the raid on the Cali parish church. When asked by reporters whether he would lift that sanction when the hostages were released, the archbishop demurred. “After these brutal acts, the ELN has turned into a terrorist group and they will have to show a concrete, dramatic change in their attitude and strategy,” he said. On June 29 he followed up on his denunciation of the rebels by filing formal charges against the ELN at a human-rights court run by the Organization for American States. “Only the international isolation of the ELN will force them to comply with human rights and to engage in concrete peace talks,” the archbishop said. On July 6 Archbishop Duarte took another step to isolate the rebels, calling upon Europeans to stop funding the rebel group. The Cali archbishop asked European bankers to freeze ELN accounts. The rebel group has been highly successful in raising funds from European donors, and is believed to hold millions of dollars in continental bank accounts, which are used to support military adventures. Archbishop Duarte also urged European political leaders to curtail the public activities of ELN spokesmen and fundraisers on the continent. “It is incomprehensible that while Colombian citizens traveling in Europe have their documents meticulously inspected, the guerrillas can move about easily under false documents,” he complained. That statement was an obvious reference to the recent trip around Europe by Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista—better known as “Gabino”—the leader of the ELN. In his statement, Archbishop Duarte emphasized that the Church acknowledges the need for “profound social change” in Colombia, and remains committed to “the path of dialogue” with responsible rebel groups. But he argued that the ELN, by its brutality, has forfeited any claim to represent the aspirations of the Colombian people. BRAZIL New efforts for drug users The increasing numbers of drug addicts in Brazil have moved the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (CNBB) to designate the ministry to substance-abusers as one of the top priorities for 2000 and beyond. The Pastoral Commission of the CNBB officially announced that the guidelines for a ministry to help drug addicts will be discussed during the episcopate’s general assembly, “but the importance of the issue is beyond discussion, since it has been proposed by a large majority of Brazilian bishops,” said a CNBB spokesman. CNBB also announced that the “Fraternity Campaign” for 2001 will be focused “on drug abuse, drug addicts, and drug trafficking.” Both the official name and the motto for the campaign will be discussed during the August meeting. The Fraternity Campaign is the most important pastoral and financial effort carried out jointly by all dioceses in Brazil. Each year, a particular field of interest is chosen according to the pastoral concerns of the majority of bishops, and the campaign is launched on Ash Wednesday with the reading of a message sent by the pope. In past years the Brazilian bishops have supported projects for land reform and the development of collective farms around the country. URUGUAY The Uruguayan Conference of Catholic Bishops has strongly criticized a proposed law that would legalize in vitro fertilizations in the country. The bill being discussed in the Uruguayan senate would not only make in vitro fertilizations legal for couples, but would also allow sterile single women to bear a child with the sperm of an unknown donor who would have the right to remain anonymous. The Uruguayan episcopate, which rarely intervenes in the public arena, issued a document stating that “the human embryo is not a ‘thing,’ but a human being, even in the first stage of his development; therefore he cannot be submitted to manipulation, and cannot be bought, sold, or eliminated, as the bill proposes.” The bishops also said, “Besides the moral problem posed by the manipulation and destruction of human beings,” the bill will bring social problems since “the number of children without a father will increase dramatically.” The proposed law would provide a legal framework for in vitro fertilizations, which have been performed in Uruguay since 1989. At least 60 Uruguayan women have given birth by this method. NICARAGUA Violence stems from loss of faith Bishop Leopoldo Brenes of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, has decried a recent outbreak of violence in his diocese, and called upon law-enforcement officials to make a new drive against crime. Bishop Brenes argued that the crime wave, which has already caused several deaths, reflects a crisis of morality—which in turn suggests a crisis of faith. He attributed the violence to “the absence of the Lord from our homes.” In a similar statement released in June, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo of Managua agreed that the fundamental problems of Nicaraguan society are primarily spiritual rather than political or economic. GUATEMALA At least 12 bodies of torture victims have been found in a hidden graveyard at a convent in northern Guatemala, and officials have indicated that hundreds more could be uncovered. Dutch anthropologists digging at the site found the 12 bodies, believed to be victims of the country’s 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996. Most of the churches and convents in Quiche province were abandoned in 1980 after three Spanish priests were killed during an army campaign against Marxist rebels. “There could be some 300 people buried in this convent, but there will have to be new excavations in the patio and the rear of the convent,” said Mario Gilberto Alessio, the local justice of the peace. Archdiocese wants prosecution The Catholic human rights office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City has called for the prosecution of six former Marxist rebels. The surprise announcement from the archdiocese came after a series of public complaints, aired by military officials and their political allies, that the archdiocese has invariably sided with rebels in the investigation of human-rights violations. A report released by a Catholic human-rights office last year indicated that the Guatemalan army and allied paramilitary groups were responsible for the vast majority of the deaths during the country’s civil war. The principal author of that report, Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, was murdered two days later in what some called retaliation. The latest charges brought by the archdiocese involve not a clash between guerrillas and military officials, but an intramural dispute among the rebel groups; the individuals named in the archdiocesan complaint are charged with the deaths of six other rebels. But the indictment named some highly prominent political leaders, including Gustavo Meono, the director of a foundation created by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu; and Yolanda Colom, the sister of a presidential candidate for the leftist political coalition which included the former rebel groups. New charge on bishop’s death A former judge has filed a complaint against Guatemala’s new defense minister and two other military leaders, accusing them of planning the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera last year. Judge Juan Carlos Solis Oliva did not reveal his evidence in the
complaint, but named Gen. Marco Tulio Espinoza Contreras and other officers as the
masterminds of the killing. Prosecutors will investigate the complaint to see if charges
should be filed. The Archdiocese of Guatemala City was cautious concerning Solis Oliva’s claims. “We want to be able to see his evidence. Until now, as far as we know, he hasn’t presented any actual evidence,” said Mynor Melgar, legal counsel to the archdiocesan human rights office. Solis Oliva has previously said that his information comes from a confidential military source. But some Guatemalans believe that he is trying to divert attention from a few of his relatives, whose names have come up in the investigation. CUBA In the final days of June, Cuba’s Catholic bishops held a three-day conference on social issues in the Communist-ruled country, and launched a push for wider political and social freedoms. The meeting brought together bishops, clergy, and lay leaders from throughout the country for meetings on topics including “Globalization and Solidarity” and “Civic Participation and National Reconciliation.” The latter conference was led by Dagoberto Valdes who called for political pluralism, amnesty for prisoners, and greater freedom of expression and respect for human rights. Archbishop Pedro Meurice Esitiu of Santiago de Cuba said in an opening conference that great progress had been made in Cuba since Pope John Paul II’s visit last year, including a rise in the number of baptism and an increase in ministries in parishes. Archbishop Meurice was sharply criticized by Communist officials during the papal visit for a speech in which he said some “have confused patriotism with a party.” When pressed to comment on the government’s current stance, the archbishop simply called on Cubans to weigh the positive and negative aspects of the Cuban revolution, and draw their own conclusions. UNITED NATIONS The Holy See has issued a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the results of a UN conference on population, held in New York the last week in June. The Vatican statement alluded to two different areas of keen concern: the passages of the statement which undermined the rights of parents and the neglect for questions of economic development. Parental rights came into play in the conference when activists succeeded in inserting new language into the UN documents affirming the right of adolescents to sexual freedom. The question of economic development was almost wholly ignored, as conference participants focused their attention exclusively on plans to control population growth. The UN conference was a follow-up to the Cairo Conference of 1994. The Holy See has consistently protested that the New York meeting was charged with the responsibility for judging the implementation of policies approved by the UN membership at Cairo—rather than introducing controversial new policies, such as the affirmation of teenagers’ sexual freedoms. Archbishop Renato Martino, the Vatican’s permanent observer at the United Nations, did express some pleasure at the fact that the final document approved by the New York conference eliminated a favorable reference to “emergency contraceptives.” These drugs, also known as the “morning-after” pills, are abortifacients, and the use of abortion as a means of family planning was specifically excluded by the Cairo Conference. Joining with many Muslim countries and Latin American nations, the Holy See had lobbied intensively against several proposals which were approved by the New York conference, including a measure which would have allowed teenagers to obtain abortions and contraceptive devices without notifying their parents.
UNITED STATES Baptists rebuke President The Southern Baptist Convention issued a public rebuke of President Bill Clinton, himself a Southern Baptist, after the President proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. “We’re not going to allow the president, especially since he is a Southern Baptist, to say that homosexuality is good,” said the Rev. Wiley Drake of Buena Park, California. The resolution by the two-day annual convention also condemned Clinton’s appointment of the country’s first openly gay ambassador, James Hormel. The delegates also passed resolutions urging the UN, NATO, and Congress to take steps to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo; condemning the American Psychological Association’s publication of a study saying adult-child sex may not be harmful to children; and calling on Congress to maintain a ban on the use of federal research that results in the production and destruction of human embryos. Churches as key to 21st century Cardinal Francis George of Chicago told a June conference at the Library of Congress that Christianity and Islam will have more effect on the shape of the next century than national governments. “In the next millennium, as the modern nation state is relativized and national sovereignty is displaced into societal arrangements still to be invented, it will be increasingly evident that the major faiths are carriers of culture,” he said. “The conversation between Christianity and Islam is not yet far advanced, but its outcome will determine what the globe will look like a century from now.” The cardinal also denounced “divorce of freedom and truth” in the Western democracies, “the seemingly indiscriminate and sometimes disproportionate use of the military,” and the advancing “culture of death.”
Back to Catholic Information Center on Internet's Main Periodical Page Back to Catholic World Report - August 1999 - Table of Contents |
