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(Vatican Radio) Vatican Radio) The Vatican’s former diplomatic representative to the United Nations has called for dialogue and inclusive negotiations to resolve the current crisis between the United States and North Korea.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the former permanent observer to the UN in Geneva, currently serves as advisor to the Vatican’s new office for Integral Human Development.

His words came as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric about America’s nuclear arsenal, in response to North Korea’s threats of a missile strikes against U.S. territory.

Archbishop Tomasi told Philippa Hitchen such crises can only be avoided by investing in conflict prevention, rather than in military technology…

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Archbishop Tomasi says the current crisis shows how international relations can easily break down when there is a determination “to violate the minimum standard of common sense in dealing with other people”.

Pope Francis, he says, regularly insists that “the way forward is that of dialogue”  and including everyone in negotiations, in search for the common good.

Invest in conflict prevention

The “way of conflict is always the wrong way”, Archbishop Tomasi continues, which is why “we need to invest time, energy, money, resources” to avoid “arriving at these boiling points of crisis”.

Not walls, but inclusive approach

It is vital to help societies improve the quality of life of their people, he says, “instead of building walls and creating diffidence”. But to do this, he adds, “we need to change the public culture”, insisting that “the way forward is not that of having the latest military technology, but of having an approach of inclusion” and participation in building the common good of the global human family.

World Peace Day message

Archbishop Tomasi notes that ‘active non-violence’ was the theme of this year’s message for the World Day of Peace, in which Pope Francis indicated several ways that we can all work for conflict prevention.

No to threats of force

The former Vatican diplomat notes that the Holy See’s position on the use and possession of atomic weapons has been well defined and is supportive of a new U.N. convention banning such weapons. While some may consider it “an idealistic measure”, he says, nevertheless “123 countries voted in favour”, showing a desire and an expectation that crises are not tackled through the threat of force, but through more peaceful means that are tied to development.

Non-violent engagement

In this context, he concludes, the discussion of non-violence is clearly “not a resignation from doing things, or moving away from reality, but exactly the opposite, an active engagement to promote everything that is good and that avoids confrontation”.

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Vatican City, Aug 9, 2017 / 11:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said he will be going to Russia Aug. 20-24 largely out of a desire to promote peace both there and with the West, and to solidify relations with the Eastern Orthodox.

Conflicts throughout the world, particularly in areas such as the Middle East, Syria and Ukraine, “are constant objects of attention and concern for the Holy See,” Cardinal Parolin said in the interview published Aug. 9 in Corriere della Sera.

“Because of this, the need and urgency of searching for peace and the way to do it will certainly be one of the principle themes” of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he indicated.

In addition to meeting with with Putin, the cardinal is also expected to hold meetings with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, as well as several other high-level authorities in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In his interview, Cardinal Parolin stressed that the Holy See has always held “a special interest for the vast eastern portion of Europe,” which he said “has a role to play in the search for greater stability on the continent and greater unity, including relations between East and West.”

“After the period of ideological opposition, which obviously can't entirely fade from today to tomorrow, and in the new scenarios that have opened up since the end of the Cold War, it's important to take advantage of every occasion to encourage respect, dialogue, and mutual collaboration in a view to promoting peace.”

The visit, he said, is also understood as a completion of the tour he has made of the region over the past few years, which, through official papal trips or visits he has made alone, has brought him to Belarus, the Caucasus nations, the Baltic countries, and Ukraine.

Now “I will have the opportunity to complete the picture with the visit to Russia.”

When asked whether or not he is concerned about rising tensions between the United States and Russia, Cardinal Parolin said he trusts that both parties involved “will know how to act with due responsibility to avoid the escalation of tensions.”

He also voiced confidence that the two nations will be able to recognize “the eventual errors that could have been at the origin of that situation.”

U.S. President Donald Trump recently turned up the heat in the ongoing conflict with Russia, due largely to tensions over their involvement in Syria and Ukraine, and possible meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Recently Trump hit Russia with more economic sanctions due to the country's involvement in the election, prompting Putin to expel 755 people from its U.S. embassy and consulates.

“It would be dramatic if nothing were done in this respect and, as a consequence, relations would deteriorate further,” Cardinal Parolin said, and stressed the crucial role of both Churches and civil society “in encouraging every initiative that leads to creating a more positive general atmosphere.”

The cardinal was also questioned on a comment made by Pope Francis to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a recent audience, when he said it is a “tragic contradiction” to promote unity and persist in war.

Asked if this would be a topic raised in his meeting with Putin, the Vatican Secretary of State stressed that the Church consistently calls on all political leaders “not promote national interests, or in any case, particular interests,” but rather to work for “the common good, to respect for international law.”

“Not the law of force, but the force of the law,” he said, noting that the Church also urges global leaders to make decisions which promote the integral development of man throughout the world, as well as “concord and collaboration among nations.”

“And the method is always dialogue,” he said, and pointed to a quote from a letter written by St. Augustine in which the saint says that for a true leader, “the greatest title of glory is that of killing war with the word.”

In the Latin verb, Cardinal Parolin said, this means “with negotiation, with discussions instead of killing men with the sword, and ensuring that peace is maintained with peace and not with war.”

On his meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the cardinal said relations between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church would obviously be a big priority, as well as how their respective Churches interact with society in facing the “great spiritual, cultural and political themes of today.”

“From this point of view, it's important to seek a positive and open means to continue to weave inter-ecclesial relations and to contribute constructively, on the part of the Churches, to the resolution of the complex problems which afflict and challenge humanity,” he said.

“It is my living hope, then, that the encounter may serve for an ever greater awareness, mutual esteem and collaboration between Catholics and Orthodox.”

Cardinal Parolin said that while his trip is not intended as a preparation for an eventual visit from Pope Francis, he hopes that “with the help of God,” his visit “can offer some contribution in this regard.”

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Lincoln, Neb., Aug 9, 2017 / 11:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pornography exposure affects men’s attitudes towards women, but in different ways depending on the age when they are first exposed, a new study suggests.

“We found that the younger a man was when he first viewed pornography, the more likely he was to want power over women,” said lead researcher Alyssa Bischmann, a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. “The older a man was when he first viewed pornography, the more likely he would want to engage in playboy behavior.”

The study of 330 male Midwestern university students aged 17 to 54 years found that the average age of first exposure to pornography was 13.37 years old, the American Psychological Association says.

The men in the study were asked about the age of their first exposure to pornography; whether this exposure was accidental, sought out, or forced; and what their answers were to 46 questions designed to measure two “masculine norms.” These two norms were playboy/sexually promiscuous behavior and seeking power over women.

Study co-author Chrissy Richardson, also from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the research provides further evidence that pornography viewing has a real effect on men, especially on their views towards sex roles.

The researchers were surprised by their findings; they had expected that early exposure to pornography would be correlated with promiscuous behavior. This raises more questions to be examined, Richardson said.

About 43.5 percent of the men said their first exposure was accidental, 33.4 percent indicated it was intentional, and 17.2 percent indicated it was forced. The nature of the men’s first exposure to pornography appeared to have no significant association with the men’s attitudes.

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Ana Rodriguez-Soto, Florida Catholic

By Ana Rodriguez-Soto

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (CNS) -- Father Rafael Bercasio pastors perhaps the smallest parish in America -- and the most uniquely situated.

A short walk away from the south rim of the Grand Canyon sits El Cristo Rey Chapel, a small wooden building that serves as the spiritual home of the Catholic families who work at the national park.

El Cristo Rey, a parish of the Phoenix Diocese, has 26 registered families, who are "always outnumbered by the tourists," Father Bercasio said.

The chapel is located within the boundaries of Grand Canyon Village, a residential neighborhood of around 1,500 households that includes a school, a grocery store and a post office. Residents are employed as park rangers and naturalists, maintenance workers, and hotel, restaurant and retail staff. Some live there only six months out of the year, although the park is open year-round.

"You cannot live here if you're not working in the Grand Canyon," the priest explained.

Grand Canyon Village is perhaps more familiar to park visitors as the site of historic hotels such as El Tovar and the stopping point for the most photographed views of the canyon. Visitors can catch glimpses of the village's less visited residential areas as they ride on the shuttle -- a free bus that moves the park's vast quantities of tourists throughout the south rim's hotels and restaurants.

El Cristo Rey Chapel is not on the park's shuttle route. But its Mass schedule -- along with directions for walking there -- was posted near the registration desk of El Tovar, when this reporter was visiting in March.

Father Bercasio, a native of the Philippines, is just completing his first year as pastor. He was appointed last July by the Diocese of Phoenix, which took over responsibility for the church in 1974. He is the first priest to be assigned full time to the chapel.

"We are the only Catholic church within a national park of America," he told a standing-room only crowd of tourists who had gathered for Sunday Mass.

Actually, Grand Teton's Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Wyoming also is located within that national park and is open daily to visitors, although it does not have a resident priest. It is a summer mission of Our Lady of the Mountains Church in Jackson.

Priests from nearby parishes celebrate weekend Masses at the Grand Teton chapel during the busy summer season. Sunday Mass also is celebrated during peak seasons at many other national parks.

From his base at El Cristo Rey, Father Bercasio also ministers to a mostly Hispanic community founded five years ago about 30 miles outside the entrance to the park.

El Cristo Rey Chapel was officially established in 1960, although priests from the Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, began coming to celebrate Mass for El Tovar's workers around 1919-1920.

Father Bercasio celebrates a daily Mass at 8 a.m., and most of the time, he said, he is the only one in attendance. He celebrates two Masses on Sundays, plus a vigil on Saturdays in summer.

Attendance averages seven or eight people in winter. The standing-room crowd in March was highly unusual, he said, but the congregation swells in summer to the point where chairs need to be placed outside.

"Every Sunday is new because I get to meet a lot of people from different states and every country. That's the one thing I don't experience in a regular parish," Father Bercasio said at the conclusion of the Mass.

This is his fourth assignment in his 13 years in the Phoenix Diocese.

Father Bercasio added that he finds inspiration not only in his surroundings, but in the people who visit.

"I always commend the tourists for fulfilling their obligation," he said. "You are in the midst of your gallivanting and still you are here. It is a testimony that your faith does not take a vacation. It's very inspiring."

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Rodriguez-Soto is on the staff of the Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami and the dioceses of Orlando, Palm Beach and Venice.

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